Monday, 20 August 2012
Saturday, 18 August 2012
SANTIAGO!!!!!!!!
On the 40th day of walking... Helen and Mary made it to Santiago :D :D woop woop!!!
On Thursday we ended up walking another 30km day and we met some friends from a week or so ago and decided that it would be cool to sleep under the stars for the last night. So we had a big meal at the 20km town and stocked up on food (and wine!) and walked another 10km where we found a perfect spot in the porch of a church just outside the town. We had some wine and watched the sun go down and then the stars come out. It was a really cool evening... except for one moment when were were almost asleep and it was pitch black and we opened our eyes to see a young boy coming into the porch, he hadn´t seen us and we screamed and he ran off!! It was scary, but then hilarious!! (I think the poor kid is more traumatised than we were!)
That meant that yesterday we had a 10km walk to Santiago - we left at 7ish and arrived in Santiago at 10am. It´s hard to describe how it felt to get here - we went into the Cathedral and both knelt down and said a tearful prayer. We arrived at a perfect time because there was hardly any queue to visit the relics of St James (last year we queued for nearly 2 hours!) and we got to spend a bit of time there. The pilgrim Mass at 12noon was packed, and everyone looked how we felt - exhausted but overwhelmed to be there!
We´ve bumped into quite a few friends who we had lost along the way which is really cool. And last night we went out for some amazing tapas and lots of sangria with the guys we walked the last few days with. It´s really cool to bump into so many fellow pilgrims and share the excitement of Santiago with them.
Looking forward to enjoying a few days in Santiago catching up with more people and celebrating!
Love from SANTIAGO!!! :D
Helen and Mary
x
On Thursday we ended up walking another 30km day and we met some friends from a week or so ago and decided that it would be cool to sleep under the stars for the last night. So we had a big meal at the 20km town and stocked up on food (and wine!) and walked another 10km where we found a perfect spot in the porch of a church just outside the town. We had some wine and watched the sun go down and then the stars come out. It was a really cool evening... except for one moment when were were almost asleep and it was pitch black and we opened our eyes to see a young boy coming into the porch, he hadn´t seen us and we screamed and he ran off!! It was scary, but then hilarious!! (I think the poor kid is more traumatised than we were!)
That meant that yesterday we had a 10km walk to Santiago - we left at 7ish and arrived in Santiago at 10am. It´s hard to describe how it felt to get here - we went into the Cathedral and both knelt down and said a tearful prayer. We arrived at a perfect time because there was hardly any queue to visit the relics of St James (last year we queued for nearly 2 hours!) and we got to spend a bit of time there. The pilgrim Mass at 12noon was packed, and everyone looked how we felt - exhausted but overwhelmed to be there!
We´ve bumped into quite a few friends who we had lost along the way which is really cool. And last night we went out for some amazing tapas and lots of sangria with the guys we walked the last few days with. It´s really cool to bump into so many fellow pilgrims and share the excitement of Santiago with them.
Looking forward to enjoying a few days in Santiago catching up with more people and celebrating!
Love from SANTIAGO!!! :D
Helen and Mary
x
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
The rain in Spain...
... falls mainly on the pilgrims! In preparation for coming home we´ve had three days of rain, and we´re wondering why we only brought shorts!! But we´ve been ok so far, so shorts it is :) and we´re told it´ll be dry again from tomorrow.
Yesterday we were feeling really really tired, but we soldiered on and thankfully found beds without the stress of the day before. Today we were feeling much more with it (I think we were graced with some divine energy because all mine was gone!) and we walked a whopping 30km! Which means we are 40km from Santiago... woop woop!! While we were full of energy today we talked about walking the next two days in one and getting to Santiago tomorrow, but we´ve decided against it as the pilgrim Mass is at 12noon so if we do two shorter days of 20km we can get there in time for Mass on Friday. (And 10+ hours of walking in one day with tired legs is a bit mad really!)
We´ve been saying goodbye to some camino friends which is strange, but we´ve also been catching up with people we thought we´d lost, and it´ll be cool to walk the last few days with them. Our American friends who were running out of time and had to catch up a few days sent us a message yesterday saying they´d arrived in Santiago. And Bill and Debbie, our Canadian camino parents who we had to leave because Debbie was ill, have sent us a message saying they´ll be in Santiago by Sunday, so we´ll have a jug of Sangria waiting for them!
So after 5 weeks walking we are almost finished... 2 days to go!!
Hasta Luego,
Helen and Mary
Yesterday we were feeling really really tired, but we soldiered on and thankfully found beds without the stress of the day before. Today we were feeling much more with it (I think we were graced with some divine energy because all mine was gone!) and we walked a whopping 30km! Which means we are 40km from Santiago... woop woop!! While we were full of energy today we talked about walking the next two days in one and getting to Santiago tomorrow, but we´ve decided against it as the pilgrim Mass is at 12noon so if we do two shorter days of 20km we can get there in time for Mass on Friday. (And 10+ hours of walking in one day with tired legs is a bit mad really!)
We´ve been saying goodbye to some camino friends which is strange, but we´ve also been catching up with people we thought we´d lost, and it´ll be cool to walk the last few days with them. Our American friends who were running out of time and had to catch up a few days sent us a message yesterday saying they´d arrived in Santiago. And Bill and Debbie, our Canadian camino parents who we had to leave because Debbie was ill, have sent us a message saying they´ll be in Santiago by Sunday, so we´ll have a jug of Sangria waiting for them!
So after 5 weeks walking we are almost finished... 2 days to go!!
Hasta Luego,
Helen and Mary
Monday, 13 August 2012
When 7am is a lie in...
Hola!!
Wow, the last 2 days were 2 very different days!
On Sunday we treated ourselves to a lie in and felt recharged after sleeping until 7am :) then we had an easier walk of just 18km up and then down a hill. We arrived in Sarria excited that we were just over 100km from Santiago and had a relaxed afternoon before finding an evening Mass and heading to bed.
Then this morning we got up as usual (sadly not at 7am!) and were on the road in good time, only to discover that the number of pilgrims had increased... A LOT!!!! Sarria is the biggest town just over 100km from Santiago, and to officially walk the camino you need to have walked at least 100km so it turns out that most people start in Sarria! We stopped for coffee at a very packed cafe, and sat on the pavement outside as all the tables inside and out were taken. As we sat there we counted 169 pilgrims walk past in about 10 mins!!! I think the days of quiteness and solitude are well and truly over! It´s a bit of a shock to the system, but the energy and enthusiasm of the new wave of pilgrims is infectious (well, at least when it´s not iritating it is :P ) The downside is that there is suddenly a lot more demand for beds, as we sadly discovered when we arrived in Portomarin (tonights stop) and the people in front of us in the queue got the last beds in the albergue. So we hunted down the private albergues and after three full ones we found two beds for 10euro each in a fourth one!
It seems like for this last week we have to either get up super early and race to the albergues, or do what most of the newbies are doing and book the private albergues the day before...
In other news... we are now 90km from Santiago!! And we have booked our flights home :) (trains were complicated and expensive and the ferry option would have taken 3 days!!). All being well we´ll be home on 20th (a week today!)
The final countdown has begun... if we arrive on Fri as we´re planning it´ll have taken us 40 days from St Jean to Santiago - very symbolic!
Love Helen and Mary!
Wow, the last 2 days were 2 very different days!
On Sunday we treated ourselves to a lie in and felt recharged after sleeping until 7am :) then we had an easier walk of just 18km up and then down a hill. We arrived in Sarria excited that we were just over 100km from Santiago and had a relaxed afternoon before finding an evening Mass and heading to bed.
Then this morning we got up as usual (sadly not at 7am!) and were on the road in good time, only to discover that the number of pilgrims had increased... A LOT!!!! Sarria is the biggest town just over 100km from Santiago, and to officially walk the camino you need to have walked at least 100km so it turns out that most people start in Sarria! We stopped for coffee at a very packed cafe, and sat on the pavement outside as all the tables inside and out were taken. As we sat there we counted 169 pilgrims walk past in about 10 mins!!! I think the days of quiteness and solitude are well and truly over! It´s a bit of a shock to the system, but the energy and enthusiasm of the new wave of pilgrims is infectious (well, at least when it´s not iritating it is :P ) The downside is that there is suddenly a lot more demand for beds, as we sadly discovered when we arrived in Portomarin (tonights stop) and the people in front of us in the queue got the last beds in the albergue. So we hunted down the private albergues and after three full ones we found two beds for 10euro each in a fourth one!
It seems like for this last week we have to either get up super early and race to the albergues, or do what most of the newbies are doing and book the private albergues the day before...
In other news... we are now 90km from Santiago!! And we have booked our flights home :) (trains were complicated and expensive and the ferry option would have taken 3 days!!). All being well we´ll be home on 20th (a week today!)
The final countdown has begun... if we arrive on Fri as we´re planning it´ll have taken us 40 days from St Jean to Santiago - very symbolic!
Love Helen and Mary!
Saturday, 11 August 2012
The magical and misty mountains!
Buenas dias todos! Tonight´s albergue has computers and internet so you don´t have to wait so long for a post this time :)
As it´s been so hot we´ve been setting off early so we can get a good day´s walking in before we melt. So for the last few days we´ve set off in the dark which is really odd (before we were setting off at sunrise). Yesterday we walked along a road so it wasn´t too bad, but last night we were in a little hamlet called La Faba which is half way up a mountain, so we walked to the top of the mountain by moonlight (and an Italian ladies spare torch!), it was really magical and as we got to the top the sun was beginning to peep into the valley and as the mist lifted we watched the sun come up over the mountains :) the mountains in the distance were still covered in mist but the tops were poking out and looked liked islands! B E A Utiful!
Our walk today brought us into Galicia and although the guidebook warned us of steep climbs and descents we aren´t complaining too loudly as the views are well worth the effort! Beige wheat fields and bland views have turned into lush green fields and trees and mountains! (I feel like I should be writing a poem, not a blog entry!)
Pilgrims are a funny breed of person, and I think we´ve just about seen it all! Today we saw the first pilgrims on horseback which was pretty cool. And the other day there was even a man walking with a donkey carrying his luggage!! Two days ago we saw a couple who were walking with their young baby and their dog!!! The baby had a seat built into one of the rucksacks... and the dog was carrying paniers!!! No joke, the dog was carrying it´s share of the luggage!!!! Sadly I didn´t get a picture and we haven´t seen them since!
The newest breed of pilgrim is less entertaining, they are the fresh-faced, springy-limbed, rucksack-free pilgrims who bound past you on their second day of walking wishing you a "buen camino" as your 650km tired legs hobble down the mountain!!
We get a mixed reception from the locals of northern Spain, today we went through a tiny little village and a lady popped out of her house with a plate of freshly made pancakes for us, for a small donation! It was a wonderful moment and the pancakes were really good!!
Less than a week to go... (although we realised yesterday that cyclists who were leaving St Jean would arrive in Santiago at the same time as us!!!)
Love from Spain,
Helen and Mary :)
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Villafranca
Hey everyone!
Sorry for not posting all week, the kindle screen is bust so had to wait until we found an internet cafe to get on here!
We´ve had a good week - it´s getting hotter though, today it topped 40!!! But Mary and I were very resourceful and redefined pilgrim fashion by soaking our scarfs in water and wrapping them round our head/neck so the water dripped off and kept us cool (well as cool as it´s possible to be walking in 40 degrees!!)
We´ve been walking quite far, and on Sunday we walked 32km!! As of yesterday we have less than 200km to go, and we´re starting to get excited about Santiago next week :)
The scenery has completely changed after our week of near-death-boredom! Two days ago we climbed to 5,036ft and had a 360 panoramic view of the Spanish mountains - it was seriously cool!! We also got to Cruz de Ferro where pilgrims leave stones which they have carried with them on their pilgrimage as symbols of the things they want to get rid of in their lives - so hopefully we are now free of all burdens and insecurities and issues!!!
Sorry for not posting all week, the kindle screen is bust so had to wait until we found an internet cafe to get on here!
We´ve had a good week - it´s getting hotter though, today it topped 40!!! But Mary and I were very resourceful and redefined pilgrim fashion by soaking our scarfs in water and wrapping them round our head/neck so the water dripped off and kept us cool (well as cool as it´s possible to be walking in 40 degrees!!)
We´ve been walking quite far, and on Sunday we walked 32km!! As of yesterday we have less than 200km to go, and we´re starting to get excited about Santiago next week :)
The scenery has completely changed after our week of near-death-boredom! Two days ago we climbed to 5,036ft and had a 360 panoramic view of the Spanish mountains - it was seriously cool!! We also got to Cruz de Ferro where pilgrims leave stones which they have carried with them on their pilgrimage as symbols of the things they want to get rid of in their lives - so hopefully we are now free of all burdens and insecurities and issues!!!
Friday, 3 August 2012
We made it to Leon!!
Hey everyone!!
Despite declaring in the last post that we are walking East, we have miraculously made it to Leon! :)
But we staved off most of the boredom, and made up for it with some fun evenings. A few days ago we ended up cooking for a group of other pilgrims which was fun - we made pasta and they brought bread and wine and cake!! And we had a lovely evening sitting outside enjoying our feast!
Yesterday we arrived in Leon and we decided to take a rest day here so we could see the city properly and have a lie in! We had a great day today looking round the Cathedral (which is stunning!) and then lying in a park all afternoon catching up on our journals (and some sleep!). Last night we caught up with our Canadian friends who took the bus into Leon a few days ago to recover from injuries, was great to see them again and share some more sangria!
It seems that measuring temperature in Spain is as haphazard as measuring kms - yesterday after we saw 4 or 5 different signs with temperatures ranging from 23 to 37!!! On the news we saw that its 40 down south, so we´re glad to be away from those temperatures and are coping with the heat up here, however hot it might be!
Tomorrow we press on towards Santiago - I think we´ve got about 320kms to go, estimated arrival in Santiago is probably about the 17th of August. It seems much closer now we´ve made it this far :) (Mary pointed out to me that this is because it is closer!!)
Love and prayers from Leon,
Helen and Mary :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)