Camino 201 class next Saturday!

Jim Martin and I will be teaching a Camino class next Saturday at the Dunwoody Nature Center.
Camino 201

I am looking forward to the chance to work with future pilgrim in their planning.
Hope to see you there!

Day Twenty: Santiago and the Route of Routes

As if we had not gotten enough walking on this trip, we spent the day touring Santiago on a walking tour that takes you along the traditional entry routes of all the Caminos into the city. We started at the oldest church there that is a Romanesque building that is very unusual because all of its walls are leaning outward upon added buttresses. It appears to be collapsing and is very unusual. We also stopped at a Benedictine convent where the nuns make cookies and sell them from behind a rotating doorway so that they are not seen. We walked the way of the Caminos Ingles, Portuges, Norte, Primitivo, de la Plata, and Frances. We also saw many arts of the city we did not know about and visited the pilgrim museum and a Monestary where they had a huge museum of prints and relics. 

That evening, we went to the Pilgrim's mass where they swing the giant incense burner, the botofumeiro. This is not done at every mass, so it was very special to get to see it. 

We then went out to eat with a large group that we had met along the Camino and shared stories and rememberances. 

Day Nineteen: Finesterre and Muxia

It is legend that pilgrims, after reaching Santiago and paying their respects, would continue on to Finesterre, the Westernmost point known to man at that time. Here they would burn their clothes they had used during the journey as a symbol of their rebirth. 

We started our day with a traditional Spanish breakfast of churros and chocolate. 

Afterwards, David and I packed up and made our version of this trip by car. We stopped on the way at a store and bought new clothes to be worn on the flight home, got some uniquely Spanish foods to take back, and drove to Muxia. 

The famous church here burned at Christmas and then was even more damaged by a severe storm in the following days. It is now closed and under full reconstruction. But the location is beautiful and we enjoyed walking the rocks at the sea and having lunch in the sleepy little fishing town. 

Finesterre has a lighthouse and several monuments to pilgrims and the conclusion of the Camino. Here we saw the mile 0 marker showing there was no further to walk. We also saw where many folks had burned items or left their boots. 

Normally you would stay here for the sunset, but it was a cloudy day and we needed to get back because I had a surprise for David. 

He thought that we did not have a place to stay in Santiago and that we had to find somewhere. As we walked back into the city from the car rental, I asked David if he wanted to get our final stamp in our credentials from the historic Hospital de Los Reis, which was now a parador hotel. He was shocked when we not only got stamps but checked in! This was our celebration for having accomplished our Camino. 

Day Eighteen: Santiago- Walking a marathon

I should have never said a thing...

It took one comment to get it into David's head. I only said "Caroline and I walked the rest of the way in from Arzua to Santiago in one day, and we are only 2 miles from there." David's competitive nature kicked in and he is looking at the maps. "Dad, we are 26.2 miles from Santiago. Isn't that the distance for a marathon?"

Next morning we got up at 5am (we weren't the first) and headed out in the dark. It was the earliest we had walked and the cool felt good. It is interesting to see how towns and villages wake up. 

We walked through fields and forest of  Eucalytus trees that have been taking over this area of Spain. On through Santa Irene, and past our original stopping point. With only a short stop for drinks, we soon found ourselves on Mount Gozo, facing the city of Santiago. There you see the church spires for the first time. 

Here is a famous sculpture there of two pilgrims pointing to the church as they crest the "mountain of joy". From there, the heat, the traffic, even the lack of Maria cookies would not stop us. 

We pushed on into the city and to the cathedral. It is quite a feeling to enter the square and see the front of the church and know you really did finish it. We will have walked 300 miles by the end of our trip. After celebrating with hugs and pictures, we went to the pilgrim's office to receive our compostelas, that show our completion of the pilgrimage. We also went to the Franciscan church and received a special compostela in honor of St Francis' pilgrimage 800 years ago. 

Then food, a hotel, and a shower. I was bushed!

Day Seventeen: Ribadiso

Want to know a perfect albergue, come to the xunta one in Ribadiso. It is not modern, or overly clean or new, but it is a collection of stone buildings right next to a lovely river.

Here you can soak your feet, sun, and catch up with pilgrim friends that you know you may not see again. We have run into Vince from Charlotte the last several evenings and kept him company as he ate dinner. He is  the avid hiker just finishing section hiking the AT. Having just retired, HHS decided to come do this because it sounded interesting.

In the albergue, the rooms are cool but not too crowded and the clothes drying lines plentiful. There is a good bar next door, and lots of space to relax outside. Earlier all the young adults were playing in the river and now they are taking naps or talking at the bar. 

It is sunny and warm and beautiful in this little place. I realize that this adventure will soon end and our days as pilgrims are almost over. But for right now, life is pretty good. 

Day Sixteen: Palas de Rei

I realized today I am walking with a machine. David again charged through a 20 mile day and still wanted to watch Germany and Portugal play in the World Cup (Germany won 4-0 if you weren't paying attention.) He is one of the strongest hikers I have been with and can seemingly continue on with nothing more than chocolate, Maria cookies, and the occasional Kas Limón. When we get to a hill, he seems to get faster and we pass people right and left.

He never complains, always looking at the churches and testing me "So what style is this one?" (Fortunately for me, we are in a part of Spain right now where they are mostly Romanesque.)

It has been interesting comparing the pilgrimages with both my kids. Each brings a special quality to them that I will always cherish. I was talking to an Italian girl today that was doing the Camino with her father and she made the point that out here it is timeless. You have time to enjoy your relationship together and not be bounded by responsibilities. 

I wish we all had more "timelessness" with our kids. We would remember how very special they really are.

Day Fifteen: Ferrerios

Today was another 20 Mile day and not as easy as we thought. Normally we're awakened at 6am by the hospitalero turning on the lights of the refugio, but today he did not do it until after 6.30, so we were late getting out and then we had to eat breakfast in Samos because there was nowhere else for 3 hours of walking. This made us late the whole day, but it did not help any that we had a craving for Italian food and had a place recommended as we came to Sarria. Here we met up again with Lucy, the Aussie that we had shared several days with and walked on till she stopped and we continued on in the heat. We luckily got the last room in the hostel where we are staying. It is quite a purple one with everything some shade of the color. 

It is a bit more than an albergue, but we were beat, as you can see from David crashed on the bed. What a wonderful way to spend Father's Day--with my son on the Camino de Santiago!