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.

North by Northwest

As you no doubt surmised by now, we decided to continue on the Camino Frances into Santiago and then we head north to Ferrol and will hike the Camino Ingles back into Santiago. We are trying to take alternate routes and/or detours whenever possible to make it a little different than before. One such choice was to go out and around Melide, the town famous for its octopus, pulpo Gallega "sprinkled" with paprika. Jerry swears his mouth still has not recovered from last time and he didn't want to come anywhere near it.  I think he said something like..been there, done that. Then again it might have been something stronger...    

A very unusual woven basket
sitting in front of the church.

A Room with a View

 The view from our room.

Today, we stayed in an albergue called the Mirador overlooking a lake created by a dam which created a new resort/recreation area. Unfortunately, the water level was too high this time to see the old Roman road and part of the old town. The towns people dismantled the old church stone by stone and rebuilt it into a fortress church on the hill where the town was to be relocate. It was both a place of worship and defense with four towers and battlements.

Up the Down Staircase

What goes up must come down!

We have left Sarria which is the point where tour groups join the Camino. In order to fulfill the criteria of a bona-fide pilgrim, you are required to walk the 100km from here to Santiago and get two sillos (stamps) each day in your credencial in order to obtain the Compostela (certificate). So of course the tour groups pour out onto the Camino, walk to the nearest café, get a stamp and board a bus for their hotel.  It makes the first part of the day crowded but by mid-morning things return to normal. There are many true hikers who are joining here because of time constraints or have joined up from other Caminos so it is just naturally more crowded. Yes Jerry the Camino goes up the stairs .



Stone

 In this particular area, we can see the ancient quarries that provided the limestone used in the building of  the Santiago Cathedral. Medieval pilgrims would carry as much of the stone as they were able approximately 75km. to the lime kilns. All along the way you see stacks of stones being left to symbolize the burden they carried. The ancient Roman roads have been deconstructed and the large flat stones used to provide a path up and out of the water.  

An enterprising person as all of this
had to be brought in on foot. 

The Scottish Tale

The deep rooted Celtic presence in Galicia is apparent in so many ways.  This particular area would be called pastoral with its green lush fields with grazing cows and sheep. There is a distinct fragrance that accompanies us all along the way not to mention the evidence that is left all over the trail.  We are convinced they herd them up and down the trail several times a day to make sure everything stays fresh!   All of a sudden we thought we heard music accompanying the new dance steps we were using to avoid wearing the evidence. Then we were certain there was not only music but bagpipe music out here in the middle of nowhere. He really was excellent performing everything from Amazing Grace to the theme from Brave Heart.  Then not a mile down the trail, we came upon a gentleman hiking wearing a kilt so it really was a Scottish day.

Picnic

note the fancy linens

With all the deserted villages along this stretch of the Camino, we had to be sure to bring our own picnic supplies. It used to be impossible to find peanut butter in Spain, so we grabbed this the minute we saw it in Leon and have been rationing it carefully. Anyone trying to sneak an extra portion has to forfeit their share the next day. Not just any old peanut butter either... white chocolate... and you thought we were roughing it!

Jerry found the perfect hideaway for short
nap.

Monks

 Interior garden at the Monastery

Jerry decided that the Monks might be his best chance to plead his case.

The Black Robe

The Monastery of Samos(Abbey of San Julian de Samos) is one of the largest and oldest monasteries in the western world build in the 6th century. It was nearly destroyed and had to be abandoned due to the Muslim invasion, but was restored in 755. It was the spiritual, social and cultural center during the Reconquest. We decided to take the first tour of the day which was perfect as the only other people were two Italian gentlemen from New York. However, after that there were tour loads of people. Although there is gold trim everywhere, the interior is certainly austere in keeping with Benedictine order. There were as many as 1100 monks living here at one time but only eleven here now and can be seen wearing the long black robes. Jerry suggested that with black they could just add a string of pearls for evening wear.

The Monastery

Shaded trail lined with ancient
stone walls

We crossed into Galicia today. Probably the most beautiful part of Spain and another language to confront. They understand Spanish but we cannot understand a word when they talk to each other. We took an "optional"  trail today so we were nearly alone the entire day and through green lush landscapes. The villages are nearly uninhabited as the young people have left for employment leaving the elderly to still tend to the land.

The view overlooking the monastery was
our reward at the end of the day.
 

Monuments Men

crocheted tree in the lobby of
our hostel.

While we were in Leon, there was a theatrical production of "I Married an Artist" billed as a musical (dark) comedy with the posters showing a woman with her head buried in her hands in despair. As we were walking among the vineyards we came upon what could be that artist's attempt to sculpt the next great work of art (?)To each his own! The hostel had a wine cellar with a high display of wines of the region and greet you with a sample. If you order wine or if wine comes with dinner it is served in a large ceramic pitcher..pour at your leisure. They also had fabulous preserves made from
all the different grapes of the region.

Back to the Future

 A centuries old church with a bright
 modern play ground

A beautifully manicured English garden
across the street from the church.

After a few minor adjustments in direction, we came to a delightful town that you felt was really struggling to find that compromise between  tradition and progress.  

 

The riverside pathway, leading under the
old stone bridge, lined with bright exercise
equipment.

The Knights Templar

After walking for several hours, we were rewarded with this magnificent view while we sipped our cafe con leche. Castillo de los Templarios was built in 1178 when this area fell under the protectorate of the Templar.  They were disbanded by the church in 1312, but certainly left their mark along the Camino. Walking through an industrial town always presents problems trying to follow the Camino, so when took a detour and found ourselves at a mall displaying the golden arches, we couldn't resist taking a break and having a taste of home. They don't call it Mc Donald's but just refer to it as "big mac".