Raging Bull - Final Final Chapter

Jerry is entering the ring. He is headed
to his right..hard to find..red cap. 

After everyone has entered the ring, they shut it off and let in a young bull (with rubber tips on the horns) to give everyone another chance to "play" . These youngsters will run at anything that moves so there is as much action happening during this part as on the actual run. The runners try to see how close they can get and most end up being flipped and/or stepped on. They leave the bull in the ring for about 10 minutes and then the herders bring in an oxen who finds the young one and has him follow him out of the ring. This entire procedure is repeated five more times so plenty of time for people to get battered and bruised. Two were carried off, one with a broken leg and the other one was knocked out cold.  Yesterday, one of the bulls made it up the first block, turned around and headed back to the corral. Unfortunately, the gate had been closed and he was not a happy camper. He raised all sorts trouble and had everyone scrambling for cover before the herders realized what had happened and rushed back. The bull's name was Curiosity( I kid you not). It is the first time in the history of the run that this has happened and, if my Spanish didn't fail me, I understand they saved him from the evening bullfight. Hey, it was only fair since he is now famous. 

The oxen has come to get the young bull.

 

The bull has someone down and is
starting to maul him...he was rescued.

 

Raging Bull, Final Chapter

The next morning we returned to the bullring again to enjoy the pre-run festivities. They would rival  any major sports event with a band in the ring playing songs that the crowd all knew and the wave was spectacular since everyone was in white with red scarves. A huge screen  televised what was going on along the route and then followed the run from the opening of the corral to everyone entering the ring. It's the only place to see it all! Jerry will confirm that the most dangerous part of the run isn't the bulls but the runners pushing and tripping other runners. The security forces remove any that are obviously drunk or will not follow their instructions when they ask them to move to other parts of the course or to give up cameras, phones, backpacks, loose clothing or wine bolos. They clear everyone in order that the streets can have a final cleaning and then try to distribute the runners which doesn't always sit well with those that have tried to stake out their spots. They remove approximately 300 runners every day.

Another victim of the same bull.

 

The bull stepping on a runner's head..
42 stitches and one heck of a headache.
Jerry ran into the ring just ahead of this bull.

Raging Bill Part 2

Ready to run...that's not his blood!

He did it!!! Jerry ran yesterday while I had a seat in the bullring so I could get a photo of him coming into the ring. He entered the ring just ahead of the 600kg black bull who had stopped for a moment to crush some other runner's head. The bull made the front page news however he didn't fare as well when he headlined that evening's bullfight.  Jerry made it without any loss of blood or broken bones so that constituted a very successful run.  Before the run he was interviewed by an Italian film crew who insisted he was a Hemingway look alike so now he is an international  film star. He truly enjoyed it but when I mentioned that there was time for him to run again this morning he didn't take me up on that suggestion. Guess it is one of those once in a lifetime things with the emphasis on once.   

 Jerry is near the wall..smart man...to the
right of center. The bulls look slow but
they really are running.

Raging Bill, Part 1

We finally arrived late morning in Pamplona for the long awaited run with the bulls and we wasted no time in getting to the festivities. They had finished the first day's run and the streets were solid with  people celebrating with wine flowing in and on most of them. They must figure that wine stains on your clothing looked a lot like blood and was some sort of badge of courage. Actually, the running is just part of The San Fermin Fiesta although it has become the most famous part. San Fermin, born in Pamplona, was the first Bishop of Pamplona, met martyrdom and was beheaded in 303AD. The festival was first held in 1386 and has been held on July 7 since 1591. We have walked the route many times but thought it would be smart to see firsthand just how the run was managed so we rented one of the balconies overlooking "dead man curve", where the route takes a 90 degree turn and where most of the spills have taken place. Of course they now spray a anti-skid solution on this

From the balcony just
before the start.

area..spoil sports.

Balcony looking back at where the
bulls will start the run.

It was a fabulous spot even if the bulls failed to do anything dramatic. Jerry was also able to make decisions about where he wanted to position himself, so he are off and running!!

How about these cool vintage Converse
running shoes!

Marathon Man (maybe not so much)

Jerry running with the bulls

Jerry has used the last few days to get into the "Zone" for the big run. He has created his own fortified diet and has strictly limited his intake of pastries to the number of  fabulous Spanish donuts he can consume before noon. We were fortunate to find some regional bulls so he has been diligent about training with them. They may not be of exactly the same physical stature as those he will encounter but he has developed his technic and has consistently out run them.

Hey, these don't look that tough!

 

The City that Never Sleeps

view of the plaza from the
lower terrace of the cathedral..

We are giving a huge shout out to Dr Erausquin from Vitoria which we understand is his hometown. We have spent the last few days exploring this beautiful city at the center of Basque culture. We discovered a little known Camino that links Norte with Camino Frances and it literally travels through the center of Vitoria. Since we have never found a Camino that we didn't want to hike, we set out to track this one down. Remember the caminos were developed to bring the pilgrims to the church and hospital where they would be provided food, shelter and care.  Following this camino, we passed two cathedrals, four churches, a large hospital, three palaces, government buildings, five museums and more beautiful parks than we have seen any where. Needless to say, it took us all day but we finally reached the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca and the monument to the Battle of Vitoria. And yes Dr. E, we climbed all those steps of the cathedral. Our room was across from Florida Park and the music & dancing went on all night. The keychain was given to us by a wonderful little lady as a memento of our stay at her lovely B&B.  We are now off to Pamplona and the big run.

A tribute to their love of jazz.
The bench has the names of
the great jazz musicians. We
will miss their big jazz festival
next week.

Symbol of Basque culture "laouburu"
which means 4-head cross, representing
water, air, earth, fire on Solar Circle. 

Ordinary People

We thought it would be fun to mention some of the people we have met along the way.
**One was a delightful 73 year old lady from San Francisco who has walked 8 Caminos. She has walked the Camino Frances 4 times, 3 Caminos in France, and one on Portugal. She recently had a double mastectomy and has to return for more treatment after her walk.
**Another was a teammate of Dean Potter, the pioneer in Xtreme sports, who was killed in early May attempting a wingsuit flight in Yosemite. The teammate and his wife were doing the Camino in Dean's memory because no matter how extreme the sports were that he did, he always planned to do the Camino.
**In Santiago, we met a blind gentleman with white cane and beautiful seeing eye dog who had just completed the Camino from Sarria to Santiago (the required 100 km). His wife was with him pushing their young son in a carrier.
**Just before the Iron Cross,we walked with a young mother carrying a six month old baby girl with her five-year-old son walking beside her. The little boy carried his own pack which held their food while Mom had a pack for the baby and the baby needs. The little boy talked or sang to her the entire day but never seemed to complain and no matter how many times she stopped to feed the baby, they made good time. Any other kids we have seen have had carriers but he walked in his tennies.
**Unfortunately, our friend Jurgen feel ill from food poisoning and had to abandon his Camino. We felt so sorry for him because we knew how much this trip meant to him and only hope he will have another opportunity to walk.
**Then there were the British schoolteachers who in 2002 were 10 months into their RV tour of the US when the were stopped in New Mexico and held for 10 days in a detention center. They had a valid visa but failed to understand that they had to validate it every 3 months and got caught up in the paranoia of that time. Amazingly, after that and thousands of dollars to straighten it all out, they had wonderful memories of the USA.  

We swear we met this guy only he had
added juggling pins and a guitar to his
pack which he used to entertain for
funds to continue his trip.

       

Home on the Range



There were 40 cows and their genealogy
was hung above each one. No riffraff allowed.

We decided to plot our escape from France before another train strike stranded us and we would be forced to hike out. We had just crossed the bridge at the border when we were greeted with gun shots, fireworks and hundreds of drummers. They were reenacting an important victory over the French so of course Jerry joined right in. The next day we were hiking and as we were coming out of the mountains, we heard music and discovered a huge celebration known as the Tres Vacas (three cows). It seems that there was a dispute between Spain and France over grazing rights and two years of fighting left over 600 villagers dead from both sides. They finally reached an agreement in 1375 granting the French grazing rights for an appropriate tribute paid to the Basque Spaniards which was determined to be three cows and that tribute has been paid for the last 638 years.  Today was the  selection to determine the three best of show. Cows were being pampered with brushes, hairdryers, and special scented spray. There were even special people who had been given poop duty. They provided the paperwork to assure that the rear was clean. The cows were then paraded, judged, and ranked. Not sure what the actual fate is of the ones that are selected. Honestly, they turn out in hoards for any reason to celebrate.

Our view of the finalists

Leap of Faith

The Grotto, built on the exact spot where Bernadette had her visions. The candles represent the burning bush and to the left are fountains from the spring where you can wash your face, hands or feet or fill containers to take with you. There are stone baths to the right of the Grotto that accommodate  nearly 400,000 people each year. Since the first healing, as many as 7000 healings have been claimed but only 68 are recognized as miracles. The grounds contain a huge hospital and other medical facilities and hundreds of nurses can be seen in starch white uniforms. Several times a day, they bring the patients/pilgrims in special wheelchairs to visit the Grotto. Although mostly older patients, there were young patients and we saw many paraplegics which of course made us think of our wounded warriors.

 

 

 

 

St. Bernadette of Lourdes



Immaculate Conception
Basilica

 

When we routed our departure from our "remote" French hamlet, we discovered we were going to be very near Lourdes and decided we had to add another day in order to visit. We both agreed that our experience was indescribable so we are not going to try. Suffice to say we are so glad we didn't miss it.  We will just post some photos with commentary. The bottom left photo is the area just to the right of the entrance to the Basilica. The bottom right is the nave in the Basilica.

A prospective on the size of the gold crown.
That is a medieval fortress in the background.

 

Throw Momma from the train

Bus, bus, train, bus, bus, train and bus are the modes of transport that finally got us to our destination in the Pyrenees. A Socialist Movement protest had shut down the trains and the taxis were on strike protesting Uber so it was an interesting time to be in France. Jerry mentioned a five star spa at the end of our Camino but somehow we ended up at a French hamlet in an obscure location in the mountains. The appeal to come here was the Freedom Trail. The trail was developed in 1942 as an escape route into Spain for those fleeing the Nazi oppression in France, including  downed Allied airmen. This route was the longest and most difficult (but most often used) of several routes which made it difficult for the occupying forces to maintain control. More than 33,000 escaped along these routes. The guides for the route were often shepherds, farmers and hunters and more than 2000 of them were hunted down and killed. Unfortunately, we only had time to walk part of the trek. You have to admire anyone who would attempt this route understanding that they did so with very limited supplies including clothing and extremely harsh terrain and weather.

Did I mention that this was an obscure hamlet?  It may be, however today it is hosting the conference on "High Performance- Linear and Non-linear Methods for Large Scale Applications."  The brochure explains  that "both sparse linear algebra kernels together with dense linear kernels are the key". Thank goodness someone is on top of that development! 

Still snow on the peaks

 

Part of the trail.

Road Warrior

We have hated to jinx our fabulous weather by mentioning that we have been weeks in Galicia without a drop of rain. We think this may be a record. Jerry's goal was to hike a 1000 miles on this trip (funny but somehow he forgot to mention that to me) and we are currently a "little" short of that. We do feel however that we are finally in good enough shape to tackle the big one...the Pyrenees,both on and off the Caminos. So we took the milk run train from Santiago to Pamplona...10 hrs+. A  drunken conductor caused the train to be over 30 minutes late for our connection but the minute we stepped onto the platform we had at least three railroad personnel guiding us to a train that they were holding for us. Not sure how popular we were with the other passengers, but at least they moved so we could have seats together. Once we arrived at our hotel, we found that it was one of the new fully automated hotels without any type of reception, only a kiosk where you enter your confirmation number and theoretically it spits out a key. Thank goodness our taxi driver stayed(it was after 9pm)and used his phone to call the manager who finally arrived. So much for new technology. Now we are waiting to take a bus to Saint Jean Pied in France which is the trailhead for the Camino as well as a great starting point to explore the Pyrenees.

The definition of multi-tasking..
brushing teeth and drying sock
with the hair dryer.

A gang of graffiti artists were just arrested for stopping

trains on order to paint them. Spain actually encourages artists and lots of painted

trains are actually being used.

The Quiet American(s)

We finally arrived back in Santiago and obtained our compostela  for The English Way. A fitting description for this Camino would be solitary. On the entire Camino, we only saw four other pilgrims actually on the Camino with us.  We did see some others at cafés or in the hostels, but just not out on the trail. Of course we made another tour of the Cathedral knowing that we would probably not return. The plaza is always filled with tired but overjoyed pilgrims and performers. Another "The Way" observation, recall that as part of the ritual when they entered the Cathedral they placed their hands in a handprint on a column. Although you can still admire the worn handprint, they no longer allow anyone to touch the Tree of Jesse which is part of the Portico of Gloria. As we were leaving the pilgrims' office, we were asked to participate in a project to "Put Wings to Duck."

We will tame our pilgrim duck, Pape, "fly" him home, send a photo of him back to the Official Cathedral Bookstore who will publish his photo on Facebook. Stay tuned as we will be announcing the next leg of this odyssey!

  

 

???

The best way to describe this Camino is to envision a letter Y.  We have completed the right leg (Ferrol) and now are leaving the tip of the left leg( A Coruna)headed for the intersection of the two which then leads into Santiago. Since we had already walked so much of the city, we felt entitled to hop on a bus to the outskirts of the city. Now the trick was to locate the Camino.  I was positive that the Camino had to be to the right but Jerry insisted that he saw two yellow arrows to the left so of course we head to the left. Wouldn't you know, those two arrows turned out to be the golden arches but I have to admit that an egg mc muffin never tasted better. By the way, the drive-in is called "MacAuto". Then off to the right  and the Camino.  A long difficult hot day, punctuated with steep climbs and no cute villages to offer relief, all to reach a place called Bruma at the intersection. Remember those villages that we have mentioned with the population of one, well this is a village of population ZERO! There was a relatively new alburgue but even the hostess didn't live there and only came to open it up. There was a very sparse kitchen (but no place to buy groceries)and a vending machine with a couple bottles of water. We inventoried our survivor food and found a can of sardines(Jerry's), a can of tuna fish, a can of pate and a few cookie crumbs. Our only other option was to walk another 3kms off the Camino to a another small town...so off we went.  We did find one of the last rooms and then tired and hungry went in search of something to eat.  Now this is a town of approx. 500 people however the only two restaurants did not open until 9pm!  We were absolutely astounded! We are in bed by then. We finally found a tiny store where we bought water, bread and bananas and retuned to our room and finished off our survivor rations. (remember to send the titles to our email)

How could we get lost, assuming of
course that I can get them on correctly.

The Gladiator

Port Authority building made
entirely of glass.

A continuation of our stay in A Coruna. Title hint: Russell Crowe is referred to in the movie as " The Spaniard from Galicia".  At one point on the walk, we were directed by the police to go to a terrace to view the award ceremony. They obviously thought we were part of the invited guests and we were not about to argue with them.

The Legend of Hercules

A Coruna was the other landing area for the early pilgrims especially from England guided by TheTower of Hercules. The tower built by the Romans in the 2nd c (restored in 18th c) is the oldest functioning  lighthouse in the world. So what do a couple of hikers do when they want to tour the city. Of course, walk the magnificent 15km seaside promenade. It is also known as the City of Crystal because the windows along the shoreline reflect so much sunlight they can be seen for miles out to sea.

16th c Castelo de Santo Anton

Obvious a Viking who ate too
many Spanish pastries.

 

The Emerald Forest



A couple of  beautiful days for walking. On The English Way we drape
around the coastline so we have views of the water to our right and mountains to our left. We have walked for over 50km and now we are going to divert to A Coruna which is the trailhead for the other portion of The English Way and we will walk the 78+km from there to qualify for our compostela. Now I'm sure we have totally confused everyone. But stay tuned it will make sense. The landscape has changed to tall trees with a carpet of ferns and flowering bushes. Reminds us of the Pac NW. We only saw two pilgrims on the trail in the morning other than that we were alone. The day was very long without a place to replenish water or food so late afternoon we literally stumbled into the first café we saw. A huge pasta salad (the best I have ever had) and lots of drinks and we finished out our day. 

The rushing stream had washed away
the trail. Thank goodness someone put
down a log so we would have had to swim.

 

  

 

The Game (important!)

You really didn't think we would have a blog and not have everyone participate did you? As you have noticed, all (well most) of the titles have been movie titles courtesy of Jerry's encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. So we thought it would be fun for us to describe one of our typical  days and post it without a title and ask all of you to submit a movie title that you think bests fits that day. We won't post it for several days from now in order to include as many of you as possible. Since commenting has been problematic everyone should send their suggestions directly to our email and we will also allow several days for everyone to submit.  Jerry has suggested that we submit your entries to the local monastery or convent for their "expert" opinion. Now we know you are all waiting on the edge of our seats to know what the prize might be... so are we!  Whatever, we will  repost the blog with the winning title and the prize will be awarded over Thanksgiving in San Carlos.

The New World

We are headed to the most northwestern point of Spain to tackle yet another different Camino..The Camino Ingles. There are two starting points for this Camino, Ferrol and A Coruna. Ferrol will be our starting point as it is 118km from Santiago which is required for a Compostela. In the 12th c, pilgrims from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia came to the shores of Spain by boat, landing in one of these two ports. From here they started their journey to Santiago and establishing The English Way.  When King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic church he essentially put an end to these pilgrimages and it was centuries before this route was revitalized. In Spain it is known for its difficulty with long stages and significant elevation changes.    

Lost in Translation



Galicia is truly unique and trying very hard to stay that way. The language, Gallegos, is part Castilian Spanish, Portuguese and Gaelic. We have finally come to a part of Spain where we are finding it difficult to communicate in any language other than sign language. It might be called The English Way but little English is spoken here. In fact, one the strangest things we have seen is that they are attempting to remove the letter "j" from their signs and replace it with an "x" (more of those darn xs). We are still unclear as to the pronunciation. Towns too poor for new signs are just painting a large black X through the letter. Even the old monastery had the new spelling on the sign even though the original spelling was on the building. Our first challenge was to find the trail head at the port of Ferrol,

 supposedly where the early pilgrims stepped ashore. After that it was a wonderful day with the trail hugging the estuary for most of the way. It went past the Spanish Naval UDT Training Center which brought back memories for Jerry. All along the fence at the shipyards you would find where workers had hung their work coveralls in protest about the shutdown of the yards.

       

 

The Long Way Home

Street scene looking at the
Cathedral

This day is always exciting and the weather gave us a beautiful day with blue skies the entire way. The mood on the Camino definitely takes on a different vibe as everyone has a lighter step and smiles from even the most weary. We have said many times that we were so glad we had done this before because, as with all things, nothing stays the same. We felt a pang of regret for those first time pilgrims as the Cathedral is such a magnificent sight however they are doing a great deal of work on it and nearly a third of it is covered in scaffolding.

They have installed printed vinyl
to show what the Cathedral
will look like. Not quite the same.

Rooster Cogburn

Any chance I get!

This is our last night before walking into Santiago. We had such a great experience here at a small b and b that we decided to break our own rule and stay there again. Of course they remembered Jerry and insisted that we talk on the phone to their son who was away working in a nearby hotel. Jerry gave them one of his especially designed thank you notes and I thought they were going to cry. They did all our laundry which was the best thing ever. The only downside was the neighbor's totally confused rooster who crowed from afternoon, through the night and was still going strong when left the next morning.

Five Stars

Well, maybe not quite. Our accommodations have been interesting and varied to say the least. Alburgues with bunk beds, several renovated 17th c pilgrim hospitals, 17th c stables and boat houses just to name a few. It is important to point out that in Europe what we consider the ground/first floor is considered the zero floor.  So when you are given an attic room or the manger loft on the third floor (and no lift), you will be carrying everything up three full flights of stairs. Add to that the narrow staircases and dim/no lighting and you understand the challenges we faced just getting to our beds. It really helped that I had my own personal Sherpa.

 

A Walk in My Shoes

 

Those are brass shoes with a lily draped
over the top. Someone took the time
to create a very fitting tribute.

We are now within a couple of days of Santiago, so we are pretty pleased with ourselves. Today's highlight was being approached by a documentary film maker and asked to be interviewed for their film. Jerry gave a very eloquent statement about our reasons for walking the Camino so maybe we will see him on the big screen. We stopped at this very touching monument to Guillermo Watt who was a pilgrim who died on this spot only days away from his destination. We also saw a pilgrim in full dress including sandals coming from Santiago. We tend to forget that the pilgrims had to walk from their home to Santiago and walk back. We respected his wish not to be photographed.