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.