Completing the Blog May 2014

May 1, 2014 What a lovely collection of memories I have discovered in re reading this blog that I put so much of my heart and soul into over the time I was walking the Camino. It was especially important for me to track my progress for family who were following my journey, but more importantly, it was a way for me to record the journey of how my life was changed as a result of this long and difficult walking experience. Since I have completed these walks, I have changed my life completely. I still find joy and solace each morning in my daily walks around my neighbourhood and I am deeply committed to my health and lifestyle balance. It is a joy to have the freedom of retirement from a terrifically stressful work life and to be able to structure my days and my life around the activities and people that I love. I have become addicted to my yoga practice, finding the peace of mind and strength in my physical well being that I gained from my walk along the Camino. In addition, I have discovered lovely new friends and acquaintances who are committed to similar intentions about life and wellness. I find myself at a different stage of life these days. I feel that I am getting older but more settled in knowing who I am and what inspires me each day. There is a calm place mentally and physically which I can access from my experience of walking in Spain. This has been a source of happiness for me, just to realize that anything is possible really - who would have thought I could walk all those miles across Spain, especially the mountains in the northern route. If I could do that adventure on my own, then I am capable of coping with whatever comes my way. I have a great sense of peace from this awareness. My intention now is on my health and wellness, keeping strong physically with walking and yoga classes and spiritually balanced with the practice of yoga and my other interests. I am creating - music and art - through my piano playing and the interests that I have in photography and knitting, painting and writing. My goal is to accomplish a repertoire of music that I can record, to develop a craft that I can use as gifts for others and a sense of creative outcomes for myself. Ah - how the structure of my work life intrudes into my process with the need for goals and outcomes still! My intention around writing has been developing thru short stories about my life and while my idea always was to write more seriously in the form of a book, I have not yet had the courage to lay it out. There is something I have been brewing over the past decade regarding life and relationships; the challenge of living out a happy life amidst the everyday and the unexpected hurdles that we face. This will come with time I am sure. I had meant to complete this blog some time ago and have realized that it is helpful to people still - who are contemplating a journey such as I have undertaken in walking the Camino Frances and the El Norte. Because there is still 'traffic' on my posts, I am happy to see that the entries that I made are of interest to others. In completing this blog, I am actually using it as the launch of another - more focused on the journey that I am on now in this lovely stage of my life. I am married once again to a lovely man that I met after completing the El Norte. I have 5 grandchildren now and am happy to watch my 3 lovely kids reach middle adulthood with great marriages, successful careers and lovely homes. I am inspired by my daily conversations with my Mother - who will be 93 this summer. Her energy and enthusiasm for life is unbounded and provides me with the kind of role model that few other people have the good fortune to experience. I live in several places, having a lovely home in Florida for the winter months and a beautiful cottage in the north for the summer months. I an indeed fortunate to have the abundance that life has provided to me in the past 8 years since I first launched myself onto the Camino - looking for hope again following the death of my husband Chris in 2006. Who could have imagined it would all turn out like this and the great news is that I have a new life ahead of me, once that will be healthier, happier and more creative that the past, simply because I have learned so much about myself and life along the way. So thanks to all of you who have read this blog and been involved in my journey. I wish you well on your own way. A few thoughts: Happiness is in the doing not in what you want. We are the sum of the moments of our lives. It is the insignificant of the everyday that provides meaning for the vagabond. Meaningful life is about imagination. Imagination is the creative side of the brain that we do not give ourselves permission to dwell in because it does not appear as productive visually in our world - or as much of a contribution. So much to learn from the simple experience of just living. The experience of walking brings all of life's moments together in one place. Buen Camino Maggee (maggee60@yahoo.ca)

Sept 30 Santiago to Finisterre

Nothing surprises me now. Jette and I are walking to the bus station to get the bus to Finisterre when we are approached by a man who offers to drive us there in his van along with 5 other pilgrims that he picked up. This means a 1 hour trip instead of 3 and so we jump on into the van, trusting in his good intentions. It is a good ride to Finisterre and he is a man who just tries to make some extra money this way. We are impressed with the scenery and his good humour along the way and meet some new and interesting people in the process.
We arrive in Finisterre which is wonderful and the day is perfect.
We spend some time at the beach and with the tide all the way out, there are many shells to pick from and such a wonderful afternoon to spend lying in the sun. There are a lot of people here, some having walked all the way from Santiago which would take 3 to 4 days and others coming by bus like us. We have a lazy day and then meet to do the final ritual which is to walk up to the light house near sunset to burn our socks and watch the sun go down over the sea.
There are so many pilgrims there, burning clothes and hanging others from the tower on the rock. It is kind of weird actually, and you would have to be a pilgrim to understand the ritual. Lots of people spread all over the rocks with the sun setting over the sea and it is such a place of beauty and peace and a wonderful way to complete such a journey. It is a long walk up to this place, nearly 3 kms and so we are walking down again in the dusk and with others who are going our way.
It strikes me that many people - more than we can imagine have come this way, done these rituals and then gone home again to change their life in some small way. Surely there must be a change in the world as a result.
A post at the top of the hill near the light house says "may there be peace on earth" and perhaps this is what somme are looking for, first of all in their hearts and then in their community.
It is not surprising to me to wake to rain the following morning as it is a signal that I should get mmoving along with the rest of my journey and so we are on our way once again.
Maggee

Sept 29 Santiago

And so we find each other! I am looking for Jette and Sonja all through the wonderful Pilrgims Mass in the morning at the church and when I go out to walk along with the rest of the people leaving the church, there sits Sonja on the stone wall, as if she were waiting for me. It is a warm and wonderful welcome and reunion of friends. The mass was just as important as the first time that I sat in the church after the Camino Frances was completed in 2008. This time I chose a seat in the cross of the church and so had a much better view of the mass itself and when they prepared to swing the botefumeiro, it was a spectacle worth waiting for. It goes so high up and then comes barrelling down such that you actually duck, thinking that it will surely hit you on the head. It doesn´t, but what a feeling being there in that space once again.
Sonja and I go for lunch and have a wonderful talk and a walk and then agree to meet later for a drink and hopefully find the rest of our friends. This is accomplished with Chris, the American fellow we have met many times, the Korean couple and then along comes Jette. We have a wonderful time with a drink and then a dinner together with a lot of other people that we know from our travels. So much laughter!
I am feeling ready to leave here, but will stay for one more day to tour around and see what I have missed on other occasions.
Jette and I spend a wonderful day touring around the museums which I had not noticed before. There is a lot to see in the underground of the church with the architecture and then some access to the cloister up above the main church. We are impressed with the things we get to observe and then make a reservation to tour the roof of the cathedral later in the day. This turns out to be the most impressive of all of our explorations. We are taken through the palace which dates back to the 13th century and then high up to the balcony that runs around the sanctuary of the church. This is a place where the pilgrims of the past were allowed to sleep once they arrived in Santiago.
The stairs that led to the roof are old and worn and we are soon on the very top of the cathedral roof. We are able to walk all over the area as the roof is made of cement plates that form slanted steps on the roof top. We walk around the various bell towers and over the main sanctuary and then over the dome that covers the tomb of St James. We are able to look over balcony railings to the streets below and then to listen to the bells as they chime the hour and the call to mass. We are told many stories of the past and see the Cross of Rags which is beside a cement basin in which the pilgrims uses to burn their clothes. This was moved to the roof of the catherdral many centuries ago.
After this wonderful tour, we go down to the square for a great dinner and then we remember on our way home that the church across from the cathedral holds a vespers service in the evening and we are in luck. As we enter, the nuns have just begun to sing their mass for the evening prayers and so we sit and listen to the music and the atmosphere is very special.
It is a great way to complete our visit to Santiago with all of the things that we have seen and learned about this place.
Maggee

Sept 28 Santiago

It is actually very exciting to be here in Santiago and amidst the great vibe of people arriving from all over the world to this spot. It is a special feeling of happiness and accomplishment and excitement to be near the cathedral which is a place that people have been heading to through many challenges and difficulties over the past many days of walking.
I have met so many people today, that we walked with along the way, including Sonja who I found outside the church after the mass this morning. Have yet to locate Jette, but she has been spotted and we have everyone on the lookout to help us find her.
We are going to meet with several of the people that we walked with for dinner this evening which will be lovely. Quite a few are heading to Finisterre tomorrow to complete this journey. I will do that also on Thursday, either walking or by bus depending on how I feel. I will sit tight tomorrow as no one is sure about how this country wide strike will affect things locally.
Last night I spent the evening having dinner with the group that Linda and Jim have been walking with for the past 10 days, a wonderful collection of individuals who have done the camino in their own way. One thing that struck me was the vibe of good feelings in the group who did not know each other before and the other was the intention that each had to get to know the other during this trip as they seemed to have some solid friendships between them.
I thought that Kirsten and Alvina and I had a pretty complicated system for sharing costs and settling accounts at the end of the day, but this group which included 3 bankers topped the pile. All that was missing was one of those adding machines with a roll of paper trailing out the back! IN the end, the individuals bills were accurate and complete and the waiter only needed minor resuscitation before we left.
It also struck me how language has played a big part in this journey for me. In the beginning of the journey, French was the most common language and so for most of it I could understand but not really participate in the conversation. This marginalizes you in the experience of being together and I once again regret my single languge capability when some others seem to speak so many.
For the next part, Spannish predominated outside our little group, but we spoke English with the people we walked with and then struggled with Spannish when we had to interact with the local people. Always there is an awareness that communication is a challenge even to do simple things, like buy food or find your way.
Last night it was an English blast, fast talk, good humour and all Canadian which I had not experienced for some time. I realize how much we take for granted in being a generic common language group in our daily life and how little we have to think about getting our message across or understanding what is being said to us, as has been the case for the past 5 weeks on this trip. It was good for me to have a good Canadian feast of communication with others from my own country and even some who are neighbours in my new community back home.
Today, a wonderful day with the sun shining and people happy all around. My room is an attic room at the top of a little hotel, just beside the cathedral and across from the pilgrims office so lots of action all day long. At night, the dark sky is lit by the lights from the cathedral and the silence late at night broken by people happy in the streets and then the sound of the church bells ringing in the hours. It is a joyful place, overflowing with ancient history and rituals that have endured for centuries as people arrived here from walking the Camino from all over the world.

"It is not important to know where we are going, nor to find a place to go. The world is open to our appetite. It opens. It spreads perspective, widens the stems of a piece of herb until it reaches the forest, and the window entirely. We travel only when we let go" Frantz Bartlett

Maggee

September 27 Santiago

What a difference arriving here by bus instead of on foot. It was beautiful ride through the mountains to Lugo and then to LaCoruna and then to Santiago. It took about 4 hours, a journey on foot of about 2 weeks. I enjoyed the new experience of travel and then of being in this city once again.
It is crowded and accomodation is tight, so tight that I am in an expensive hotel which I do not mind at all. In fact it is treat to be close to the cathedral for a few days and in a place which will be wonderful for resting and collecting my thoughts AND feeling better.
I had such a surprise!!! I did not expect to meet anyone once I got here as the city is big and full of people, tourists and pilgrims alike. But the karma of life aligned and there on a corner of the street was my friend Linda and her husband Jim, who had just completed the Camino Frances yesterday. Linda was the one who had to leave the CF in 2008 with knee injury and so to meet her here like this was just to miraculous and wonderful.
(Note to Michael - can you please sms to Kirsten and Alvina that I found Linda as I have no way to do this myself and I do not think they will have e mail for a few days)
Linda and I spent the afternoon together walking around the church and the landmark sites that we visited as an original group 2 years ago. It was such a wonderful completion for us and so good for me to find someone like this in this way. It just felt like all the gods have been aligning around me to make this trip work out in a way that is a surprise to me, yet with unexpected bonuses at every turn.
So I am here for a few days. It is crowded and accomodation is tight as there are many people as well as conferences going on in the city. I am lucky to have a room tonight
The cathedral is cordoned off so that you cannot enter by the main entrance way and must use the back entrance. Still Linda and I went to lie down and look at the spires upside down as was recommended to us 2 years ago. The only way to get to the apostle and the tomb is to line up with the tourists to go through the holy door which will not be opened again until 2021 or so. So it is all together different.
Weather continues to be great, but everyone is a bit nervous about the pending general strike across Spain on Wed. Not sure how this will affect services and travel so will sit tight and wait and see
Maggee

Sept 26 Ribadeo - still

Well here we are still in Ribadeo. Kirsten has been quite sick for the past few days with a flu and not able to continue to walk, so we have had some quiet time and a lot of rest which is good for all of us.
The tempo of the Spannish way of life is addictive and we are sleeping later and enjoying the afternoon siesta when everything shuts down anyway, so there is no where to go.
We are on the town square right across from an ancient church that was commissioned by St Francis when he walked the camino so there is much history here. We have seen one funeral and two wedding while watching through the window or from the balcony that Kirsten and Alivina have in their room. The funeral was a procession with the family walking behind the hearse to the church and the weddings were smimilarly unique with the bride walking along the street with her father anf followed by her family in one of the weddings. Lot of excitement through the wedding service with people coming and going to the bar and at one point a whole band playing in the bar while people waited for the bride and groom to leave the church.
Tomorrow,I will take a bus to Santiago as I am not feeling well enough with this cough to continue the walk for the next 150 kms. Alvina and Kirsten will walk on their own through the mountains and perhaps we will meet up in Santiago later.
Life presents many unexpected options and so I am going to stop walking to rest and fell better and get rid of this cough before I do anything else.
All is as it should be and I will learn from this as well. It is just my camino going a differnt way than I thought
Maggee

Sept 25 Ribadeo

Well, we are still here spending a third night in the hostel that I found a few days ago. We are tired and both Kirsten and I have been unwell, so we have stopped for a rest and it is doing us a lot of good to just spend some quiet time to ourselves and to re arrange our thoughts about how we are handling things as a group. The past few weeks have been challenging in many ways with the adventure of the walk and the interests of many people to include in how we make decisions, so we are planning to simplify things and to continue to walk tomorrow on our way to Santiago.
We have a commitment to arrive together and it seems to be such a short way to the goal that we set out so long ago.
Resting like this is something that I never allowed myself to do on the Camino Frances 2 years ago and I think it is a good thing for re establishing my balance and re directing my energy.
Ribadeo is a pretty place on the sea and the town is very typical of Spannish places with the local square being the meeting place for families and old people in the evening. Because it is not too big, the prices are very reasonable and so the food and the lodging are nice, comfortable and cheap for us.
Alvina gave me this yesterday when I was feeling a little down about the whole thing and it has helped me to just figure out what to do next.
"Any path is only a path, and there is no affront to oneself or the others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you" Carlos Castaneda
Not sure what the next step will be and will just see how I feel and how it goes over the day and the night.
Every trip like this brings surprises and it is not what happens rather how we respond to it that matters in the end.
AND I figured out how to get into my e mail, so it is like I found myself once again too!
Maggee

Sept 24 Tapia to Ribadeo (14kms)

Quite an adventure changing tactics. I was feeling so unwell last night that I just knew it would be a very bad idea to walk today so decided to take the bus to this next stop. Getting confused about directions and finding my way to the right side of the road for the bus was something. However, the bus arrived and I got on. There is quite a bit of political turmoil in Spain at the moment with the economic down turn and the unrest among the workers here. There is talk of a national strike on Sept 29 which will shut down everything for the day. We are told that the bus may be late because the miners are blocking the traffic in places and so this may hold things up.
We are now in Galicia which you can see by the hills and the change in the camino shell signs. they point in the opposite direction from what we have been following up to now.
the alberque in Ribadeo is again dissappointing, not very clean and very sparse. There have been no hospitaleros for the past 4 or 5 albeques and this makes such a difference to the places. they sit open and people come and go and you are not sure who cleans and takes care of the places. It is so different from the Camino Frances where there was always a choice between the private and the municiple alberques and the quality was much better.
I have found a nice little hostel with a small room and bathroom included for 20E and this is worth the price! When I meet up with the others, they have already given up on the alberque, having suffered through a noisy and stuffy night previously and we all end up at the hostel that I have found. We are all tired now and Sonja and Jette are preparing to depart on the bus the following day to get closer to the Camino Frances and to shorten up their journey.
I discover that someone has hijacked my e mail account along the way and I cannot access it. I have learned from this trip that there are very few and isolated places that provide internet access. WiFi or wiffy as they call it here is available everywhere for free and this seems to be the mode of choice for most people. I also think there is a greater risk of personal security begin violated by using all of these public computers so will not do this in future. Hopefully I can figure out how to get into my e mail account, but it seems that someone has changed the password and I cannot remember the secret code that I set it up with 2 years ago and in addition, the alternate e mail is not longer functional. Makes you realize that you need to be very sure about your technology before you leave on such a trip as this.
From the past few days, I have realized that I have not been paying attention to the balance of energy between my body mind and spirit as I walk. I have learned that my physicial ability is enough for the challenge of the mountains here, but I have not been able to rind te time and the space to get balanced in other ways, contemplation and quiet time to absorb the impact of what occurs each day. Hard work and walking each day are taking it toll and so I think this is why I am not feeling well again.
So I think a lot during the day and the night about why I am doing this trip and what I want to get from it. It is an adventure certainly and the beauty and the experience of walking in the north is really something. I do want to go home feeling like I have accomplished something for myself in all dimensions, and not just the physical work of doing the walk, but more the experience of being whole while doing this.
I have walked a very long way through many hardships and moments of joy and triumph. there have been times when I have never felt happier and times when I have felt discouraged and so tired. the experience of walking brings all of life´s moments together in one place and so I take this as a metaphor for how I want to continue and what I will take home with me. it has tested my limits for sure and at this point I am comtemplating what I want to get from the rest of the trip and how I want to go forward.
We are about 150 kms or so from Santiago. Ahead lie 8 days through the mountains and then 2 days on the Camino Frances. Weather still looks good though and that is something for this part of the world.
More later
Maggee

Sept 22 Navia to Tapia de Casariego (20kms)

We had a wonderful picnic supper at the hostel last night and slept well in our nice rooms and were up early for a good breakfast provided by the host. this was a good start to the day. I am feeling sick again which really annoys me and I am not happy that this will slow me down. I know that it is from the long trek of 3okms from a few days ago as I find the long days of hill climbing to be quite a challenge. Still we walk through lovely countryside again and meet such friendly people who are so helpful to us at every turn. You know they will even go way out of the own way to lead us to exaclty where they are trying to direct us because we do not have the language to make sure we are clear about what they are saying. This happens time after time in each town.
the weather is great once again and we have some very special breaks in wonderful spots along the way. It is not such a long walk, but with the hot sun and the ashphalt roads that are part of the way today, it seems long. When we arrive at the alberque for Tapia, we find it along the clilff side of the ocean in a beautiful spot, but again it is crowded and not so clean. I take one look at this and know that there is no way I can sleep there feeling as ill as I do. So the others choose their beds and I head off into town to look for an alternative.
This is a new experience for me, searching my way through an unkown place and wondering what to do as I know that I need to slow down the pace and the rythm that I have been walking. Eventually I stop feeling sorry for myself and realze that this is an adventure and an opportunity to learn something about myself and my life. So as I turn a few corners, I find a nice little hotel with a cheap and clean room and am quickly settled into a place to sleep and rest.
This turns out to be the best decision for me as I can sleep much better and then catch a bus for the 13kmo Ribadeo which is the next planned stop for the group. Eventually I connect with them again and we make a plan to meet the following day and then decide what to do. I need to stop for a few nights and slow down to feel better. Sonja wants to head on a bus to the French route and Jette will also do the same. So we find ourselves at a cross roads as a group and will make a decision about how we will disburse from here
This is how it goes I think. You travel together as it works our and we have been a group of 3 for 4 weeks and a group of 4 for 3 weeks and a group of 5 for 2 weeks. this is pretty extraordinary as we spend so much time together and have so many decisions to make each day regarding simple things like directions, food, accomodation, timing etc. Well, another learning experience along the Camino is in the works I expect for me and the others. We need to be prepared for the unexpected always when you travel like this and then take the challenges as opportunities to learn something about yourself and your life. In the end, I must decide how to do this based on what will work for me and how to accomplish what I set out to do, which was to reach Santiago, with joy and satisfaction and accomplishment as well as hope for the future.
I have walked 560kms now and have about 175 or so to get to the church in Santiago. This I really want to do.
Maggee

Sept 21 Luarca to Navia 19kms

Up from the harbour in Luarca it is another steep climb from our starting place. this seems to be the normal way to start the day in this route. It is awkward because it is cool and then when you start to climb, you immediately begin to sweat and are cold in the wind which blows off the sea. So it is a matter of keeping moving or being ready to grab the fleece that you have just put away. It is still sunny so it becomes hot as the morning passes. We are following provisional signs most of the way again because of the construction around us, so the guide book is way off base again. we just have to trust that the yellow arrows will take us to the same destination that we have in mind. Sometimes the yellow arrows provide a diversion around the towns and the coffee breaks we are anticipating!
In spite of all of this we are feeling strong and good and enjoying the beautiful views and the wonderful scenes that we pass through every hour. We arrive in Navia by 3 pm which is a treat and sit down at a bar for a drink to cool down and figure our where we will head to find accomnodation. this is solved quickly as we head for a great little hostel which provides us with rooms at a very reasonable cost. We are finding that the alberques in this end of the camino are not very clean or as adequate as they were at the beginning of our trek and so they are not the choice for sleeping. We are also spoiled with the wonderful clean pensions that we find for around 15E per person, sharing a room together.
I am getting tired again and find that the push to walk every day is requiring a lot of energy. We have walked more than 500kms now and are getting to the last third of the journey and the hills ahead are going to be bigger as we head towards Santiago. We do not rest much in this little group as we are here to walk and not laze around, but I can tell that the stress on me is more than I want to experience. I am lucky that my feet are great and I do not have any complaints of sore muscles or tendons as I have seen with others. It is just a matter of finding my rythm and getting the balance of the effort required each day with my energy levels.
Maggee

Canero to Luarca Sept 20 (11 kms)

Well we are pretty tired after the long haul from yesterday and decide to have a rather short walk today and stay in Luarca which is a lovely town for the night. We hd a wonderful dinner last night which restored our faith in the pilgrims menu and we had a deep sleep only waking at 0800 hours this morning which was great for our tired bodies.
After a wonderful breakfast in this lovely little hotel we start off with the usual hike up a massive hill and head off to our destination. The walk is lovely as usual and we are directed pretty well by following the yellow arrows which are not the same as the books that we have because of the construction that is evident all around us for the new highways which seem to be everywhere.
We eventually make our way into Luarca and find a nice pension mentioned in the guide book which we highly recommend. It is called the Pension Moderna and is on the camino way through the city, a very old flat with large rooms and a wonderful lady who seems to run the place. We have a lovely balcony to hang clothes to dry.
We spend the day resting and wandering around and meet the Norwegian boys and Chris the American once again, which is nice to see them.
We have a lovely lunch with a bottle of wine on the sea wall at the harbour and then go for a siesta as everyone else does here in Spain at 2 pm.
We have a great seafood dinner in the harbour area and then head for bed early in our lovely rooms.
We feel lucky to be in a good place with a nice bed and clean sheets and are getting used to the idea of spending a little more on a pension to get away from the crowded and not so clean alberques that we have passed lately.
Maggee

Sept 19 Soto de Luina to Canero 31kms

yes 31 long kms today and we are nearly dead at the end of it. we were up and out of the albegue as soon as the daylight was sufficient and it was a wonderful walk, although hard because for most of the day , it was along asphalt and hard pavem ent. We were advised to take the road as the camino was a very steep up and down route along the sea from Soto. We did this for about 15 km and then diverted to the newly marked route which was surely a very steep up and down way along the sea. We are getting better and better at the hills, although some of the down ward paths are tough to manage with the uneven surface and the rocks. At one point , we meet some poor guy who had tried to go up a difficult steep path with a motor scooter which of course had failed and he war trying to push it up, and then down to get himself out of this predicament. We or course struggle with our back packs on such hills and could not longer push a motor scooter than fly to the moon at this stage of the climb. So we wish him well and push on.
We arrive at our destination to find that the alberque is a very small place, black mould on the ceiling and 10 beds in a cramped quarter with capacity to expand to 5 more on the floor later. SO............... it does not take much discussion to press on for another 7 kms to find a hostel. Now when you take a decision like this, you are usually in much better shape than you are one hour later, being half way through the trek. So we are pretty drained as we approach the destination. Again we follow the guide and with its precision, we are waiting for the hostal to appear around the next corner. Imagine our panic when the village is 3 houses and no sign of any hostal and 3 kms to the next village and us in an exhausted condition.
Well, when we pressed on around the next corner of the road, there sat a wonderful little hotel all by itself in the middle of the country, including a Spannish woman we had met earlier to translate our need for 5 beds and dinner.
We wishes we could have stayed there for a week as it was so nice. We had wonderufl rooms for E15 each and a delicious dinner which we really enjoyed. We closed the shutters and slept until 8 am in the morning and felt like we had been reborn with the great rest.
we can push ourselve beyond what we think we can do, but realize that this has a price. I feel the effect of walking more than 30 kms and so the next day we decide to shorten up so that we can not stress ourselves.
We are doing fine our little group and with the great weather and the many laughs we have along the way, we are heading very strongly towards the mountains that lie between us and Santiago.
Life is lives in the moments and we realize that the way in which we choose to enjoy the wonder and to deal with the challenges is what makes our spirit strong.
Maggee

Sept 18 Muron to Soto De Luina 23kms

We are up early and ready to go with a very fond farewell to our host of the night before. We are clean and and our clothes are fresh and what could we ask from this. It is all up hill from here and we are getting stronger as there are few complaints from the group as we climb the first of many hills this day. Our guide book both saves us and takes us into disaster today. we ignore the danger warnings from the first section and inspite of the fears of an overgrown jungle, we are in a wonderful forest which takes us up and around to a little village. really if tarzan were to swing from the trees behind us we were ready for him!. At one point, Kirsten stops to call her husband Michael and she sings Happy BIrthdaty to him and we all cry listening to her. We are so far away from the people that we love and sometimes it strikes me that we are choosing an adventure which is enlightening and inspiring to us each as individuals, but that life carries on without us at home.
We decide to take a diversion from the route which turns out to be magical and we decsend into a gem of a village which is build up on the mountain side near the sea. Cudillera is not to be missed on this route as it is wonderful. It is quite a tourist haven, but we are there early enough to have coffee and breakfast before the buses arrive at the top of the town. It is a long way down and then a very long way up.
Here we get into trouble as the construction along the road interfers with the markers for the camino. we follow the old road as described and then try to find our way. Eventually we end up high above the new highway. in the midst of a mightyt overpass construction site, having to scramble through tough bushes and brambles hoping that the guide book is accurate. We come to a place which requires us to slide down into a gravel road way and eventually we find the way, an old tunnel under the highway and into a small village and down to the sea. Here we take off our boots and spread out our delicious lunch which has become a standard fare of bread, cheese and tuna out of a can and sometimes baby tomatoes. You cannot imagine the tase of this as the sea rolls in front of you and the sun shines in the clear blue sky and there is no sound except for the nature that is all around. You have no idea where you will go next, except to follow the markers. You have a kind of an idea of where the next bed will be, but no certainly if there will be an empty one for you and all you have is in your back pack which has become a part of your world as you move from day to day.
We have been walking now for 24 days or so and are nearing the 500 kms mark of walked kms. We have taken buses and trains for about 60kms and will not do that again in order to feel like we have really walked this route.
So we leave our lunch spot and then head up. We learn later that the orange arrows that we follow are for the tourists and not the pilgrims and so we are led on quite a fancy route for the next 5 hours. We walk through wonderful villages and forests once again, but are directed onto a road for the last 5 kms that is quite gruelling and completely finishes us off.
We get to our destination at Soto de Luina eventually and into a pretty mediocre albergue which is not the best after such a day. We are lucky though and realize that all the pilgrims got lost this day and some even arriving after 10 pm, from walking through the forests late a night. Some of the young people do not have the funds to stay in other than the alberques so they have to walk until they find it which is a problem, when the directions are not clear.
So for anyone reading this and planning to walk this way, the route from Cudillera to Sotto de Luina should probably be taken following the road all the way and not the arrows.
It worked out for us in the end, but we learned a lesson about the albegues in they process. WE DO NOT LIKE THEM VERY MUCH. This one was not that clean and had one bathroom for each of the men and women. ALL night long we were awake with the stuffiness of the room and a poor women who coughed consistently until she fell asleep exhausted and then the snorers kicked in. It is not a great experience sleeping with 22 other people in the same room and we decide to look for cheap pensionnes as we can find them along the rest of the way.
Maggee

Sept 17 Gijon to Muros de Nalon 15kms

we did not sleep well last night thanks to an erupting sink in our room and so we found ourselves laughin as Alvina stuffed a towel in the drain of the small offending sink around 2 am. We met up with everyone including our group of 5 and Sally and Thise and then Anita from Norway at 8 am and left to find our way to the bur-train station. we had decided to take a bus out of the city as there is a pretty long period of industry after Gijon and toward Aviles. Sally and Thise are heading for the Camino Frances as their time is short and they want to complet the journey to Santiago soon. So we are a trail of pilgrims in the early morning dark of the busy city and eventually figure out that we are all better off on the train. After a quick breakfast which we are beginning to enjoy very much (Cafe con lech, tostadas and zumo naharje), we say our good byes and head off.
We get lost on the train can you imagine. We get the right train and ride through some pretty bleak areas of big manufacturing places and then at the station for Salinas, we cannot open the door, so travel to the next station. It all works out with the help of our fellow travellers and we are soon deposited a few kms closer to our chosen destination. We do realize that we are cutting off our walking kms by douing this and determine that his is the last time for transportation of this kind.
From Piedros Blanco, we find food and head off to the camino once again. When you follow the arrows and the conchas (blue shells) generally the experience is wonderful and so it is today. We are walking through forest and villages and remote areas once again and quite enjoying the enviroment. It threatens to rain all day, but does not really amount to much so we are luck not to have to don our rain gear as it is so hot.
we are heading for a hostel in San Estoban. So we take our time, having lots of kms to do in lots of time, and eventually see our destination in the distance. As we round a corner off the roadway, there waits a woman with a small car. I think she has car trouble, but no, she is waiting to offer us a place in her home for a good price. Now we have been in private accomodation for 4 nights in a row, have seen no pilgrims in all that time and are anxious to be in the throngs of our fellow travellers. It is a tough decision as she offers to wash our clothes for us, imagine the luxury of a washer and dryer, it is like having your mother waiting around the corner for you. So we agree to follow her up the hill to her casa and take advantage of her offer. We are soon in a wonderful apartment of 3 bedrooms, kitchen and sitting room and she carts off our dirty clothes while we shower and go for food.
We have a wonderful time here, wine, good food and clean clothes, could life be more complete than this. We sleep like babies in the quiet of the country and the good after effects of the wine and of course so much laughter. I don´t even recall what we laugh about except for Sonja worrying about how to get into the very small shower in the bathroom and Jette telling her to just hop into the biday and then into the shower. this was only topped by Sonya yelling with the cold in the shower which had water that was very intermittently hot and cold. All the while, Jette is giving a foot massage to Alvina which she has never done before and we are amazind that Alvina trusts her to do this!
It is something to trust people we learn. We are so suspicious of the good intentions of people and with this women, as with others along the way, we are not sure if we should be going with the flow or questioning the choices that we are presented with. We decide from this experience to allow life to happen and to go with the opportunities as they occur and to trust the inherent good intentions of the people that seem to cross our path.
Maggee

Sept 16, 2010 Villavicoisa to Gijon 23 kms

Today was a great day. When you are faced with a mountain to climb in the morning, it kind of takes the wind out of you before you even begin. I am worried about this even before I get up this morning. So we are 7 today as Sally and Thise are walking with us on their last day on the El Norte. We walk for quite a long way and as I have one of the two books that is our guide, I must pay close attention to the directions. I must say that I have finally figured out the way to work with the Confraternity of St James guide book for this route. First you have to tear out the pages that you want and place them in a handy pocket. Then you must cross out the routes you do not want to follow, then you must be vigilant in following the directions of the chosen route. Once you do that, the guide book is detailed and for the most part quite helpful. We have been following the yellow arrows mostly which work out quite well most of the time. There are a few times when the route is not well marked, but if you choose the upwards direction when there is a choice, you seldom go wrong.
So we walk....... We arrive pretty quickly at the demarcation between the route to the south along the Primitivo and then the Routa de la Costa which we prefer. After this, for the first time, we meet pilgrims going in the opposite direction to Santiago and it is a bit different to see this. They are mostly Spannish people at this point.
The climb is serious when we reach this point. Up for 400 m and most of it up a very steep rocky path on the mountain which is covered in mist when we arrive at the top. I am worried about keeping the group together and so warn everyone that we must keep in contact as we climb this way. It is quite an effort, but we all make it, even with Yette shouting for taxis and telling us not to talk as it is too hard to breath as well.
The way down is along a road and it is a 4 km stretch of downward walking that is enough to kill the soles of your feet and give you blisters in places that you have not experienced before. I still have no blisters and should not even mention this as it may destroy the foot karma that I have now.
We are laughing a lot and having a wonderful time, splitting into little groups to chat and just to walk slowly down towards the town we are heading for. It is a long haul into the city of Gijon, and quite a long walk along the pavement even with a good break in the afternoon.
We are all quite worn down with the walk and discouraged with the size of this large city as we walk and walk and walk into the centre of it.
Well the Camino Angels continue to appear out of no where and when we are just about to start a desperate scramble into an expensive hotel, a man approaches us and asks if we are looking for a pensionne. Then he leads us like a group of lost sheep. We are at the same time not sure of his intentions, but in the end we are taken to a pensionne where we all get a bed and the cost is E10 to each of us. So here we are, first aperatif in place and waiting for a good hot dinner together.
Sally and Thise will take a bus to the French route tomorrow and will walk for another week together there. We hear that people ar running for beds there and actually sleeping during the day and walking at night to make sure they get some sleep as the beds are scarce. Sally will SMS us to tell us how it really is.
The 5 of us will now take a bus to Aviles to avoid the cement and the industry out of Gijon that is not pleasant or necessary to walk through. We will likely take another bus out of Aviles as it is also a big city and then walk to the next alberque which is about 15 kms furthe along.
We miss the alberques as there are not a lot and so when we stay in the pensionnes, we do not see the pilgrims.
I am finding this route to be so different from the French route. We walk longer days and usually arrive after 4 pm now, Often there are no alberques and if there is a hostel, it is full when we get there. Regardless, it is now cheaper for us as a group fo 5 to stay in a small hotel or a pensionne as it is cheaper or the same price as the hostel or alberque and certainly much more pleasant.
Will go for dinner and hope we can find something hot and good now as the group is waiting for me to provide the communiçation to all who are waiting to hear from us. We did not get much to eat today as the stores were closed for the fiesta when we arrived last night and so we had to scrounge for food today along the way.
Last night Alvina wrote this for me on the paper table cloth during dinner, which is most relevant for my journey.

"My true home is where I become who I want to be" Yeng Chin
Maggee

Sept 15 La Vega to Villavicoisa (35kms)

We intended only to walk about 25 kms today but because the albegue in Sebroya was so awful, (dirty beds and pillows and an overflowing toilet) we headed on the extra 6 kms to Villaviciosa. The day tomorrow is supposed to be over the mountain to Gijon which is 23 kms and 400 m and then 200 m to climb so we have prepared to make this manageable by staying here tonight.
Today was beautiful and we enjoyed such a wonderful walk along the beach to La Isla and then a great coffee. All day we have loved the walk through the hills with the sounds and the vantage points and the feeling of the earth and the energy of the ocean and the moutains which surround us at every turn. You need to stop and just listen to the ocean from time to time to feel the energy that is coming towards your very soul and to absorb the majesty of the possibilty of strength that is available if you stop to take it all in.
I am feeling better at last and hope that this flu is OVER as it is not pleasant to be sick along the camino.
We arrived in Villavicoisa around 6 pm having walked for about 35 kms or so to get here and so of course ended up in a small hotel. This is fine because of the fresh sheets on the bed and the private bathroom and the towels. Such luxury for a tired and sweaty pilgrim.
We have found Sally and Thise from Denmark from a few days ago and so we had a big reunion tonight and they will walk over the mountain with us tomnorrow and then divert to the Camino Frances to shorten up their trip as they have only a week to go before their flight home.
It is peaceful and quiet to walk with this group, except for the laughter which erupts often from the back quarters and the funny comments from our friend Yette. On the hardest hills she can be heard to yell for a taxi and she also shoutys out very ouldy CAR when one approaches so that we can junmp safely out of the way. this becomes a bot ridivulous when we are in the busier places and she is calling out the cars as they pass by. She is so free and funny with her observations, Nothing passes by her without comment, sp we are sure to observe far more with her around.
We are all tired and have had no time to write or absorb the impact of the day we have had on this wonderful journey. Today for example, we walked with Sonja, Yette and I and were munching in walnuts that she picked from the trees overhead. Then she surprised us with pulling a fruity off a large cactus tres and peeling it with my knife to give us a wonderful taste of cactus fruit.
I am tired and going to bed in clean sheets with the windows closed to shut out the noise of the fiesta that is raging here tonight. they seem to have these very large parties during the weeek and we wonder when anyone gets any work done as they are all coming home drunk and singing when we are getting up at 0630 am.
Maggee

Ribadesella to La Vega Sept 14, 2010 10 kms

what was supposed to be a short hopover the mountain carrying our wine and dinner and breakfast food, turned out to be a bit longer when we followed the arrows instead of the book. By the time we realized that we had taken a wrong turn, we were 3 kms DOWN the mountain from our planned destination and had arrived at a beautiful beach village called La Vega. So we took time for a drink, summed up our options and quickly took a room in the nearest bar which overlooked the most magnificent beach so far.
Our first aperatif was on the beach with the sun shining and the waves crashing and such a wonderul environment that we realized this was where we were supposed to end up on this day.
We had a wonderful night in an empty place with no one even wanting to drink and party in the bar below.
So we wer up early and on the way to La Isla for coffee along a beach track that was worth the diversion the day before.
Such is the camino. It takes you to where you need to be
Maggee

Sept 14, 2010 Pria to San Esteban (13km)

We are up early and it is wonderful again. Morning sun on the mountains and a good walk into Ribadesella where we have coffee and a break. We are leaving later in the morning now as the day does not get light until after 0730 am. We have done only 10kms today, but wiull walk a little further for 5 kms and then rest at the albeque there. There are not so many places to sleep along this way now and so we are being a little carelfu with the plan for walking each day.
We have a plan to take it easy for the next two days as we are all tired and it would otherwise mean walking 25 - 30 kms to get to the next bed. We have no problem taking a pensionne if it is availabe as it is often not much more expensive and so much nicer.
I will write more on this day later, Not sure if we will have access to internet before Villavicosa which is 2 days away now.
Maggee

We know that there are many people reading this blog and wondering about our journey. We send our love and thanks to all of you and especially to Ilana who is now home and resting in Bremen. So many people touch our hearts along the way and others who are following us in spirit and wondering what has happened to us, when you do not hear about our daily adventures through this blog. It is fun for me to be the scribe of the process and so we just want to tell you that we all appreciate that you are out there as our guardian angels.
From the
Camino Sisters

Sept 13, 2010 Llanes to Pria (20kms)

What a better day with the sun shining on us from the early morning. We leave early hoping for a good coffee break as we did not have time to buy food yesterday with our late arrival. It is not long before we get to a wonderufl little bar and are happy with the first Cafe con leche. The walk is wonderful, through little villages and then what a path along the coast, It is breathtaking and we are stopping every 10 feet to take pictures and to enjoy the feeling of the sun and the sea.. We are only walking a short distance today so we take our time with more breaks and talk with th epeople we meet as we come up to them.
One stop is at an abandoned monestary which is now occupied by 2 horses. Lots of people seem to come here to visit the place and it should really be restored as it is an ancient and special place. We continue walking and eventually come to the little village that we had anticipated finding a bed. The alberque in Pria is closed and there is nothing there except for a church!
Luckily for us and perhaps this is how it goes, there is a home with a women who adversites beds for peregrinos for E10, We stop in there with two other people we have met and can you believe it, she provides us 5 wtih an apartment, 2 bedrooms, a sitting room and kitchen as well as bathroom AND the use of the washing machine. It is like heaven for us. She then offers to take us back to town for food as we did not bring any with us for dinner.
So we have a wonderful evening,. clean clothes, good pasta dinner and a wonderfu sleep in a very quiet village with a kind lady taking care of us. Turns out that there are about12 people that end up staying in the accomodation that she has there and it is very nice, clean and new and wonderful. a blessing along this way.
I am walking with an ache in my knee today and wondering if it just the effect of all of the long days of the past weekend and the pavement. I am taking my time and getting good massage from Alvina who is a master at this. I feel like I am just walking walking walking now and while I enjoy the environment and the wonderful friendships, I am wondering about purpose and intention for myself.
This morning I realize that this is how life goes, you just carry on and deal with things as they occur. You can take the time to relish the moments or you can just pulg away waiting to arrive. I am learning from myself as I walk that there is much to alter in the way that I approach each situation and each moment ie as opportunity or as just one more thing to deal wtih.
We have increased our group to include Sonja and Yette now and they bring so much fun to us. Yette, especially is such a wonderful person. She is jolly and happy and we laugh a lot with her.

Sept 12, 2010 Unquera to Llanes (32kms!!)

Well, the rain all night did not bode well for us in the morning, It was dull and overcast and before we had walked 1 km, we had to put our rain gear on. It was rain and rain and rain all day long, sometimes light drizzle and sometimes more of a steady downpour. The environment was beautiful in spite of the weather and so we did enjoy more beauty and solitude. This morning we followed the bread man in his little truck, as he went his way up through the hills, honking and honking to bring the people out to buy their bread from him. The bread man delivery is a very importan part of the day here in Spain. Luckily we were able to find places both for coffee and for lunch this day and wer able to come in out of the rain to dry of a bit.
Walking in rain gear is for sure an experience,. You are wet from the sweat on the inside and wet from the rain on the outside. The only think that keeps you wark is the body heat that warms up the water proof interior of your garments which are totally soaked inside. This means that you cannot take anyting off as you are immediately chilled.
We follow a route that is not the Camino wanting to avoid the coast which we fear is slippery and hilly and so not want the danger that we had a few days ago. So we are on pavement all day - hard on the feet and joints and the day is very long. It is beautiful as we are walking the hills of Asturtia now and the mountains in the distance are wonderful.
Our big excitement comes near the end of the day when we realize a lot of activyt is setting up along the road side. Eventually comes a lot of vehicles and motorcade and sports vans and the helicopters which are following hte cyclists racint eht Tour de Spain. They are about 100 riders, all in a tight pacl and whiz past us very fast, but the entourage with them was very impressive.
We do not arrive in Llanes until 6 pm, totally drained and done in. We are wet and hungry and so exhausted. We reject the first alveque which is expensive and like a prison cell and in short order find ourselves a wonderful pensionne for 22E. We are unpakced, dried off and have the room hung like a laundry room with our wet gear all over the place in no time.
We get a few SMS messages from Ilana that she is heading to Bilbao now with Christanne to head for home in Germany.
At dinner that night, it is like a miracle, as we sit there finishing our food. All of a sudden comes Christianne with Franco and Robert who we also have met a few times. C has just returned on the bus from Bilbao after getting Ilana on the airplane to Germany and even has a picture for us to see. We have a wonderful time wiht her and it completes the worry that we had for both of them in the past two days.
Christianne is from Geneva and has been walking for months, intending to complete 4000 kms before she gets home, I don´t think we will see her again as she is walking very fast now and we are getting tired. it was intended that she find us that night just to complete the circle of care that we had around Ilana.
Maggee