Mary and I are certainly settling into to the life over here!
It´s been getting hotter and yesterday we nearly melted because we had a long days walk and didn´t get into the town until 3.30pm!! (Should have woken up earlier!) This morning we stopped at a cafe for breakfast and the weather was on the TV - I´m not sure why they bothered as it just showed an outline of Spain covered in suns! The heat makes walking after midday very hard, but other than that we´re loving the sunshine!
We quickly learnt that there´s no point trying to find a shop or a cafe between 2 and 5 because the locals have all mysteriously disappeared for a sleep!! Most of the towns we stay in are tiny and the main purpose of them seems to be to cater for pilgrims - but even so, if you arrive in the afternoon there´s not a local in sight!!
Our morning slog is often well rewarded by joining in the local sleeping customs in the afternoon and then cooling off in the evening with a nice cool glass of sangria!
But don´t be too fooled by this, we are working hard and making good progress with the walking. Every sign post, pilgrim and guide book seems to have a different idea about how long a kilometer is, but according to our guide book we have reached the half way mark!!!
390 down, 390 to go... (ish!)
Helen and Mary :)
P.S. Hope England is enjoying the Olympics!!
Monday, 30 July 2012
Saturday, 28 July 2012
No greater love has a pilgrim...
...than to drain and bandage another pilgrims blisters!!
In the last few days we´ve seen some pretty serious blisters, but in the same place there is always a fellow pilgrm who comes to the rescue with a needle and thread and some compeed! It´s a pretty amazing spectacle of human kindness, and very much in the spirit of the camio.
We´ve really been enjoying the company of other pilgrims this week - today we walked up a big hill (the guide book said this week was flat!!!) and when we got to the top there was a big board on which people had written little messages to each other, and we were about to leave when Mary spotted one which said "Helen and Marie" on it, and it wasn´t a coincidence - a father and daughter from America who we had been walking with a few days before has left us a note congratulating us on getting to the top and hoping they´d see us in a few days! It was really cool to get it, and hopefully we´ll catch up with them in Leon! We´ve also been walking with a Canadian couple who have been furnishing us with hilarious stories of their camino so far - Debbie´s limited Spanish resulted in her being served a coke and calamaris when she thought she had ordered lemonade!!
Thankfully we´ve been getting by a little better with the Spainish, although yesterday in the pharmacy I struggled to explain tendenitis in Spainish, and after 10 minutes of playing a sort of comedy charades, the pharmacist went into the back and came out with a massive dictionary and plonked it on the desk!! (We got there in the end!!)
Today´s albergue is amazing - there´s a huge garden and even a swimming pool!!! Sadly we sent our swimming stuff home thinking we wouldn´t need them, but we´ve spent a really nice afternoon in the garden! I´ve been sitting with my right side to the sun in an attempt to even out the tan which is in danger of becoming the weirdest tan ever - we both have sock lines, and lines on our shoulders from the rucksack, I have a white patch on my left knee where a bandage has been, and to top it all off the sun is always on the left because we´re always walking East, so my left side is browner than the right!!!! We might have to walk home again to even it out!! Disclaimer: when I say brown I mean slightly less pale than when we started.
Lots of love from sunny Spain next to the pool at our albergue!
Helen and Mary
:D
In the last few days we´ve seen some pretty serious blisters, but in the same place there is always a fellow pilgrm who comes to the rescue with a needle and thread and some compeed! It´s a pretty amazing spectacle of human kindness, and very much in the spirit of the camio.
We´ve really been enjoying the company of other pilgrims this week - today we walked up a big hill (the guide book said this week was flat!!!) and when we got to the top there was a big board on which people had written little messages to each other, and we were about to leave when Mary spotted one which said "Helen and Marie" on it, and it wasn´t a coincidence - a father and daughter from America who we had been walking with a few days before has left us a note congratulating us on getting to the top and hoping they´d see us in a few days! It was really cool to get it, and hopefully we´ll catch up with them in Leon! We´ve also been walking with a Canadian couple who have been furnishing us with hilarious stories of their camino so far - Debbie´s limited Spanish resulted in her being served a coke and calamaris when she thought she had ordered lemonade!!
Thankfully we´ve been getting by a little better with the Spainish, although yesterday in the pharmacy I struggled to explain tendenitis in Spainish, and after 10 minutes of playing a sort of comedy charades, the pharmacist went into the back and came out with a massive dictionary and plonked it on the desk!! (We got there in the end!!)
Today´s albergue is amazing - there´s a huge garden and even a swimming pool!!! Sadly we sent our swimming stuff home thinking we wouldn´t need them, but we´ve spent a really nice afternoon in the garden! I´ve been sitting with my right side to the sun in an attempt to even out the tan which is in danger of becoming the weirdest tan ever - we both have sock lines, and lines on our shoulders from the rucksack, I have a white patch on my left knee where a bandage has been, and to top it all off the sun is always on the left because we´re always walking East, so my left side is browner than the right!!!! We might have to walk home again to even it out!! Disclaimer: when I say brown I mean slightly less pale than when we started.
Lots of love from sunny Spain next to the pool at our albergue!
Helen and Mary
:D
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Happy Feast of St James!
We're celebrating the feast of Santiago by taking a rest day in Burgos, rather ironic I suppose. But we went to midday Mass for the feast in the Cathedral and prayed for all our family and friends and the rest of our Camino.
We'll be back on it tomorrow, we have a fairly flat week or so to Leon and then we'll be back in the mountians with the final 300km to go!
Happy Feast Day,
Helen and Mary
We'll be back on it tomorrow, we have a fairly flat week or so to Leon and then we'll be back in the mountians with the final 300km to go!
Happy Feast Day,
Helen and Mary
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
You know you get up too early when...
...you thought 9.30am was the afternoon!!
Sorry I've not posted for a while, we've had some long days since I last wrote and reaching Burgos today our grand total is now 290km!! After two weeks hard work we're treating ourselves tonight to a hotel room - so excited for a nights sleep without the snoring of a group of pilgrims and the creaking of 20 bunk beds! We gt momentarily excited about having a wardrobe, but quickly remebered that we were wearing one set of clothes and needed to wash the other so there wasn't actually anything to hang in it!!
A highlight of the last few days has been Santo Domingo where we stayed at a hostel run by Cistercian nuns and joined them for vespers and Mass. The cathedral there was also amazing, and there was even a coop inside with a live chicken and a live hen!! The story is that the leader of the town hung a young boy who was mistakenly accused of theft,and as proof of his innocence he didn't die. St Dominic saw this and went to the leader to ask him to take him down and let him live,but the leader didn't believe him nd portested that the boy was no more alive than his dinner which he was about to eat, at which point the chicken and he hen came to life!! (We were assured that the animals are well looked after and changed every 15 days). As well as bringing peoples dinner to life St Dominic also improved the road for pilgrims and cured the sick, so while we were there we got a special blessing of St Dominic.
We've been doing and seeing and learning so much already on our camino,and it's hard to get that across on here. After two weeks we've nearly adapted to the slower pace of life which at first was a shock to the system after busy terms and for me the business of graduating and leaving Durham. We're learning one of the biggest lessons of the camino and of life which is to be content with the present. Moving to somehwere new and unknown every day teaches you not to get to attached but to be content with the present and just to live the moment you are given. Ths is very easy to say as I sit on my comfy clean hotel bed, but we are learning that "yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery and today a gift - that's why it's called the present". I'm not sure this does justice to our experience but we are lerning lots about ourselves and about life and about God.
And of course we're having lots of fun as well as contemplation.
With love from our very much appreciated hotel room in Burgos,
Helen and Mary :)
Sorry I've not posted for a while, we've had some long days since I last wrote and reaching Burgos today our grand total is now 290km!! After two weeks hard work we're treating ourselves tonight to a hotel room - so excited for a nights sleep without the snoring of a group of pilgrims and the creaking of 20 bunk beds! We gt momentarily excited about having a wardrobe, but quickly remebered that we were wearing one set of clothes and needed to wash the other so there wasn't actually anything to hang in it!!
A highlight of the last few days has been Santo Domingo where we stayed at a hostel run by Cistercian nuns and joined them for vespers and Mass. The cathedral there was also amazing, and there was even a coop inside with a live chicken and a live hen!! The story is that the leader of the town hung a young boy who was mistakenly accused of theft,and as proof of his innocence he didn't die. St Dominic saw this and went to the leader to ask him to take him down and let him live,but the leader didn't believe him nd portested that the boy was no more alive than his dinner which he was about to eat, at which point the chicken and he hen came to life!! (We were assured that the animals are well looked after and changed every 15 days). As well as bringing peoples dinner to life St Dominic also improved the road for pilgrims and cured the sick, so while we were there we got a special blessing of St Dominic.
We've been doing and seeing and learning so much already on our camino,and it's hard to get that across on here. After two weeks we've nearly adapted to the slower pace of life which at first was a shock to the system after busy terms and for me the business of graduating and leaving Durham. We're learning one of the biggest lessons of the camino and of life which is to be content with the present. Moving to somehwere new and unknown every day teaches you not to get to attached but to be content with the present and just to live the moment you are given. Ths is very easy to say as I sit on my comfy clean hotel bed, but we are learning that "yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery and today a gift - that's why it's called the present". I'm not sure this does justice to our experience but we are lerning lots about ourselves and about life and about God.
And of course we're having lots of fun as well as contemplation.
With love from our very much appreciated hotel room in Burgos,
Helen and Mary :)
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Ventosa
Hola! Buenas Dias!
Since our rest day we've done 2 days of 20km,fairly slowly so I can ease off the tendenitis which is still playing up, but getting better. Yesterday we got to Logrono and decided to make use of the post office to send some things home - we manged to make our rucksacks 2kg lighter!! (Mum and Dad, there is a parcel on its way to you- open it because there is a postcard in there for you).
We're now in the county of La Rioja, most of the day we spent walking through vineyards and in the evenings we have been sampling their fruits in liquid form! most places have a pilgrim menu for 10euros and you get a 3course meal with bread and wine included - its great!
The weather is gorgeous, but too hot for walking past 1pm, which means early starts and this morning I was woken up at 4.30am by the first pilgrims leaving! Yesterday it was 40*c!! But today was cooler with a breeze and a few clouds. We're getting some impressive tan lines from the boots and socks!
Hope all is well back in England,
Helen and Mary
:-)
Since our rest day we've done 2 days of 20km,fairly slowly so I can ease off the tendenitis which is still playing up, but getting better. Yesterday we got to Logrono and decided to make use of the post office to send some things home - we manged to make our rucksacks 2kg lighter!! (Mum and Dad, there is a parcel on its way to you- open it because there is a postcard in there for you).
We're now in the county of La Rioja, most of the day we spent walking through vineyards and in the evenings we have been sampling their fruits in liquid form! most places have a pilgrim menu for 10euros and you get a 3course meal with bread and wine included - its great!
The weather is gorgeous, but too hot for walking past 1pm, which means early starts and this morning I was woken up at 4.30am by the first pilgrims leaving! Yesterday it was 40*c!! But today was cooler with a breeze and a few clouds. We're getting some impressive tan lines from the boots and socks!
Hope all is well back in England,
Helen and Mary
:-)
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Torres del Rio
Heyy everyone!!
We´ve had a slower few days over here - annoyingly I twisted my knee and then get some tendenitis or something which has made walking pretty painful. We probably walked walked too far yesterday and so today we´re having a rest day to try and get the knee better!
Other than that we´re having lots of fun, yesterday the albergue had a swimming pool (well, a large paddling pool which you could do about two lengths in!) so we had a very relaxing afternoon by the pool with some of our new friends! Mary is enjoying the fruit and veg over here - yesterday she came back from the shop with quarter of a huge watermelon which she then managed to eat almost all of! And for dinner enjoyed a large bowl of green peas!! She´ll be like Popeye with spinach soon!!
love from Spain,
Helen and Mary
P.S. please pray for the knee!! muchos gracias!
We´ve had a slower few days over here - annoyingly I twisted my knee and then get some tendenitis or something which has made walking pretty painful. We probably walked walked too far yesterday and so today we´re having a rest day to try and get the knee better!
Other than that we´re having lots of fun, yesterday the albergue had a swimming pool (well, a large paddling pool which you could do about two lengths in!) so we had a very relaxing afternoon by the pool with some of our new friends! Mary is enjoying the fruit and veg over here - yesterday she came back from the shop with quarter of a huge watermelon which she then managed to eat almost all of! And for dinner enjoyed a large bowl of green peas!! She´ll be like Popeye with spinach soon!!
love from Spain,
Helen and Mary
P.S. please pray for the knee!! muchos gracias!
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Hola from Estella!
Evening all!!
The last few days have been B E A Utiful!! The sun has been shining and we´ve been walking through the amazing countryside of Northern Spain. Lot´s of ups and downs which are hard on the knees, but our legs are slowly getting used to the 6/7 hour morning drill, and the views have more than made up for the work!
A highlight has been walking through fields of sunflowers!! From a distance they looked like the yellow rape seed we have in England, but close up they were stunning, and the flowers almost seem to follow us on our way as they followed the sun!!
The mornings are getting earlier as it gets hotter so we can avoid the heat of the day - a few days ago I was woken up by a cock crowing on a nearby farm, sooo much nicer than any alarm clock! Although I felt like I should be getting up to milk the cows or something!! It´s amazing how much you can do in a day when you´re up before 6am!!
Mary tells me that we´ve walked more than 100km already, so we´re making good progress, hope all´s well back in England!
Lots of love from sunny Spain,
Helen and Mary :)
The last few days have been B E A Utiful!! The sun has been shining and we´ve been walking through the amazing countryside of Northern Spain. Lot´s of ups and downs which are hard on the knees, but our legs are slowly getting used to the 6/7 hour morning drill, and the views have more than made up for the work!
A highlight has been walking through fields of sunflowers!! From a distance they looked like the yellow rape seed we have in England, but close up they were stunning, and the flowers almost seem to follow us on our way as they followed the sun!!
The mornings are getting earlier as it gets hotter so we can avoid the heat of the day - a few days ago I was woken up by a cock crowing on a nearby farm, sooo much nicer than any alarm clock! Although I felt like I should be getting up to milk the cows or something!! It´s amazing how much you can do in a day when you´re up before 6am!!
Mary tells me that we´ve walked more than 100km already, so we´re making good progress, hope all´s well back in England!
Lots of love from sunny Spain,
Helen and Mary :)
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Hola!!
Apparently the Pyrrenees don´t feel the need for wi-fi, so here´s an update of the last few days!
We decided to take it easy on Monday as I still wasn´t feeling well, so we walked 8km and had a more relaxed day.
Yesterday we ascended the mountain...in a cloud! There was so much cloud and hill fog that we could only see 5m in front of us. It was a shame to miss what I´m sure would have been spectacular views but such is life... we had fun!! Comedy moment of the day - we stopped to eat lunch (briefly, as it´s cold inside the clouds!) and Mary dropped her apple, which promptly rolled down the mountain with Mary in close pursuit!!! You´ll be glad to know she caught up with it and ate it anyway, funny!!
After the first few nights in small rooms we encoutered our first proper Albergue last night - 72 people in one room, on bunk beds! I had ear plugs, but Mary tells me that the snoring wasn´t too bad!
Today we were up bright and early for our walk to Larrasoña. It started in the clouds again but as we came down the foothills of the Pyrrenees they began to lift - after a few hours we even saw blue sky, and by mid-morning we were in shorts and t-shirt enjoying the sunshine. And the mystery of the Pyrrenees was revealed in some beautiful views!
We have just finished our pilgrim meal - plenty of food and wine, and of course pilgrim banter (a great way to overcome language barriers)
Tomorrow we go through Pamplona (the biggest place yet on our route!) This week is the bull running festival - I´m not sure I can run away from a bull with walking boots on and a 9kg rucksack though!!
We´re loving our trip so far - the Camino spirit is great and we´ve met some wonderful people from all walks of life!!
Saying lots of prayers for everyone,
Love Helen and Mary :)
(P.S. I said I could be in touch with people via email but the kindle won´t load gmail so this will have to do for now!)
Apparently the Pyrrenees don´t feel the need for wi-fi, so here´s an update of the last few days!
We decided to take it easy on Monday as I still wasn´t feeling well, so we walked 8km and had a more relaxed day.
Yesterday we ascended the mountain...in a cloud! There was so much cloud and hill fog that we could only see 5m in front of us. It was a shame to miss what I´m sure would have been spectacular views but such is life... we had fun!! Comedy moment of the day - we stopped to eat lunch (briefly, as it´s cold inside the clouds!) and Mary dropped her apple, which promptly rolled down the mountain with Mary in close pursuit!!! You´ll be glad to know she caught up with it and ate it anyway, funny!!
After the first few nights in small rooms we encoutered our first proper Albergue last night - 72 people in one room, on bunk beds! I had ear plugs, but Mary tells me that the snoring wasn´t too bad!
Today we were up bright and early for our walk to Larrasoña. It started in the clouds again but as we came down the foothills of the Pyrrenees they began to lift - after a few hours we even saw blue sky, and by mid-morning we were in shorts and t-shirt enjoying the sunshine. And the mystery of the Pyrrenees was revealed in some beautiful views!
We have just finished our pilgrim meal - plenty of food and wine, and of course pilgrim banter (a great way to overcome language barriers)
Tomorrow we go through Pamplona (the biggest place yet on our route!) This week is the bull running festival - I´m not sure I can run away from a bull with walking boots on and a 9kg rucksack though!!
We´re loving our trip so far - the Camino spirit is great and we´ve met some wonderful people from all walks of life!!
Saying lots of prayers for everyone,
Love Helen and Mary :)
(P.S. I said I could be in touch with people via email but the kindle won´t load gmail so this will have to do for now!)
Sunday, 8 July 2012
St Jean Pied du Port
Evening all!
We're here in our pilgrim hostel in St Jean Pied du Port. just enjoyed a lovely meal with the other pilgrims and sorting ourselves out for the hike in the pyrrenees tomorrow.
Unfortunately I caught a stomach bug so I spent almost all of Lourdes in bed, but Mary was a very good nurse and I think it was a 24 hr thing, praying that I have my full health for tomorrow - it's going to be long and tough!
Buen Camino :)
We're here in our pilgrim hostel in St Jean Pied du Port. just enjoyed a lovely meal with the other pilgrims and sorting ourselves out for the hike in the pyrrenees tomorrow.
Unfortunately I caught a stomach bug so I spent almost all of Lourdes in bed, but Mary was a very good nurse and I think it was a 24 hr thing, praying that I have my full health for tomorrow - it's going to be long and tough!
Buen Camino :)
Friday, 6 July 2012
Arrived in Lourdes
We've arrived in Lourdes in one piece! Pretty tired after 5hrs sleep last night and a 10hr train journey, but we manged a trip to the grotto before dinner.
So far so good!
So far so good!
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Fundraising Plug
Heyyyy!
Mary and I are trying to raise a bit of money for charity as we go on our crazy walk. We're going to split what we raise between CAFOD and St Luke's Hospice which is our local charity hospice place. If you fancy donating anything then here's the link:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Hunts2Santiago
Only a few more days to go... getting very excited, and quite scared - we realised that our first days walk involves climbing higher than the equivalent of Ben Nevis and further than we went on our practice walk the other day!! We'll let you know how that goes!
Peace out! :)
Mary and I are trying to raise a bit of money for charity as we go on our crazy walk. We're going to split what we raise between CAFOD and St Luke's Hospice which is our local charity hospice place. If you fancy donating anything then here's the link:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Hunts2Santiago
Only a few more days to go... getting very excited, and quite scared - we realised that our first days walk involves climbing higher than the equivalent of Ben Nevis and further than we went on our practice walk the other day!! We'll let you know how that goes!
Peace out! :)
Sunday, 1 July 2012
The Practice Walk!!
Yesterday Mary and I had an adventurous day walking along the canals in Cheshire.
In the morning the sun shone and we plodded along very happily, and we got home in one piece about 5 hours later, but not before getting drenched while eating lunch, being attacked by a swan and being watched by some cows!!
So after 21km with 10kg rucksacks we learnt a few things:
1) 10kg is heavy!!
2) Swans can be vicious
3) This trip is going to be FUN!
We have 4 days now to sort out all the last minute stuff and to get 6 weeks worth of stuff down to 8kg!!
As we can't upload pictures from my kindle here's one from yesterday:
Helen
:)
In the morning the sun shone and we plodded along very happily, and we got home in one piece about 5 hours later, but not before getting drenched while eating lunch, being attacked by a swan and being watched by some cows!!
So after 21km with 10kg rucksacks we learnt a few things:
1) 10kg is heavy!!
2) Swans can be vicious
3) This trip is going to be FUN!
We have 4 days now to sort out all the last minute stuff and to get 6 weeks worth of stuff down to 8kg!!
As we can't upload pictures from my kindle here's one from yesterday:
Helen
:)
Buen Camino!!
Hey everyone,
Welcome to the blog! :)
I've set this up so that I can update it from my Kindle while we're away so you can all keep track of where we're up to and how it's going!
Feel free to leave messages for us, and pray for us (I'm sure we'll need it!) We'll be praying for you all too,
Helen (and Mary)
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