Galicia – My Long Walk 2019

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Today I offer some statistics for #MyLongWalk2019

1 – French region walked through

1 – working monastery stayed in

2 – number of countries walked in

2 – number of achy feet

2 – number of hostals stayed in

3.7 – average speed in km/h for #MyLongWalk2019 including all stops

4 – municipal albergues stayed in

4 – Spanish autonomous regions walked through

5 – 3* or 4* hotels stayed in

7 – Spanish provincias walked through

10 – number of kms in taxi to avoid Burgos airport and industrial estates

20 – number of albergues privado stayed in

28 – number of km missed on day I was too ill to walk.

30 – total number of days walked

34 – total number of pilgrim nationalities I walked with

108 – total number of sellos in credencial

118 – number of Camino hierro photos taken (drain covers)

200 – plus 22 minutes is total hours walked

738.87 – total km walked

1,164 – total number of photos taken on #MyLongWalk2019

13,029 – total amount of vertical ascent in metres

1,165,635 – total number of steps walked on #MyLongWalk2019

As for today’s walk… very short. Into city past the random starfish and into an empty Praza do Obradoiro. Later it was packed. Picked up Compostela. Went back to Albergue and lay down after a shower. 4 hours later I woke. Unscheduled siesta. Body obviously needed it.

That’s all folks!

Invasion of the Decathlon pilgrims

Say what you like about the masses of peregrinos that join the Camino at Sarria but they have certainly spent a huge amount of money in Decathlon in order to complete their 118km hike. There can’t be many small rucksacks left in the stores in Spain at this time of year. Almost everyone carrying one has the tell tale squiggle and Quecha emblazoned the nylon backpack.

Before I continue with this post, I confess I am walking in Decathlon shorts everyday on Camino, I also use their walking poles and one of my three pairs of socks are also their brand. I also possess, as does almost every pilgrim I have encountered at albergues, one of their microfibre, quick-drying towels. The washing lines are jam-packed with a multi-coloured patchwork of them, green ones, orange, real, blue purple, black, red, pink, yellow – there seems to be no end to combination of towel and trim. They dry very quickly, but are not great at their primary purpose of drying the body! This great multi-coloured Quecha invasion was evident from the moment I walked out of Sarria on Sunday. The bright array of coloured backpack rain covers was a sight to behold. They stretched as far as the eye could see. Moving like a giant, sponsored, multi-coloured worm into the mist and rain.

Today was the same, this time, as it was dry, the bags were uncovered and the colours slightly toned down. But I estimate over 75% of bags too small to have walked further than from Sarria were Quecha on the Camino today. There was also a huge proportion of these Sarria 118km pilgrims wearing Quecha or other Decathlon branded clothing and shoes. The sportswear megolith is taking over the Camino.

As for today’s walk … nice to be back to dry walking. It was certainly the coolest day of my Camino thus far, the sun broke through occasionally but the warmth was checked by a chilly wind. I kept my arm sleeves on all day. It is supposed to be heating up again through the week. Scenery wise today was like walking in the West Country – sometimes almost moorland, others times pine forest but all the time very, very green with lots of heather and gorse. Some horreos, crossed the rio Miño, which further west becomes the border with Portugal, a weird tortoise and an abandoned Bianchi : but most of all, all day ‘Tourismegrinos’ everywhere. Again queues for coffee were mind blowing compared to previous 3 and a half weeks. Very pretty little albergue for tonight – Paso de Formiga – Just 12 beds and not a bunk in sight!

34km tomorrow to get to Arzua, famous for it’s cheese apparently. Regarding the walk itself, just for some perspective, if I had walked north from Reading I would now be past Aberdeen!

Three people

There is great deal of alone time on the Camino, there is also a great deal of time spent in conversation with fellow peregrinos. This may be the first time you’ve met, it may be someone you spoke with or walked with a while the day before, or someone you met on day 1 and bump into every three or four days when your paths meet.

However, if you are doing the Camino alone, as I am, there is also a huge amount of ‘me’ time. I got thinking … if I could take any three people, alive or dead, on Camino with me – who would they be. Firstly a bit of a disclaimer, I have walked at least 75% of my Camino totally alone, and whilst I like meeting people and chatting, many of my favourite moments and times have been in splendid isolation.

So who would I bring… it would have to be a comedian, a storyteller/songwriter and someone truly inspirational.

I have thought long and hard about this, and have come up with a shortlist of 3 for both comedians and storytellers but just 2 truly inspirational people on my list. However, before I get onto those who made the cut, a special notable mention to Eddie Murphy in his Shrek role as Donkey. Having a donkey on Camino has it’s obvious benefits but on this occasion is excluded from consideration for my comedian as it is a fictional cartoon character.

3 comedians on shortlist; Robin Williams (Just the funniest person ever and would be able bring a whole array of characters to the Camino); Ellen de Generes (funny, shows great empathy, never shirks a challenge and happy to laugh at herself) Peter Kay (after Robin Williams, the man who has made me laugh out loud the most, he would love the vast spectrum of people you meet on Camino. A master of observational comedy)

3 storytellers/songwriters on shortlist; David Bowie (a vast back catalogue of songs to sing along to, but also an extremely creative mind and so many interesting stories to tell from 50 years at the top); Michael Palin (from Monty Python and all that nonsense, to his adventures as one of the foremost travel writers and presenters of the age, a wealth of experience. The epitome of the sublime to the ridiculous); David Attenborough (not really a storyteller but when he speaks the world listens. Would also be a great help knowing exactly what we are looking at. Just has a voice I love to listen to)

2 inspirational people on shortlist; Muhammed Ali (for whenever I need a pep talk or the proverbial ‘slap across the face’ the Greatest would certainly help get through most difficult moments); Barack Obama (Quite simply the finest speaker and inspirer of a generation I have ever heard. A true leader in every sense of the word, but also a remarkable human being)

My three pilgrim companions would be.

Ellen de Generes – a real people person who I think would genuinely enjoy the Camino experience and would not be phased by any of it. She has a great combination of being really funny but would also make a wonderful Camino companion.

David Bowie – quite possibly the most interesting entertainer of the my lifetime. So many amazing experiences and tales to tell. And who wouldn’t want to sing Starman, Heroes, China Girl, Rebel Rebel or Under Pressure … out loud … all the way across the Meseta

Barack Obama – for me the most remarkable human being for generations. Humble, dignified, intelligent, funny, caring and genuine. An ideal Camino companion for when the going gets tough.

What do you think?

As for today’s walk …. it was wet. Drizzly rain for most of the 24km. I passed through Sarria and as predicted by every guidebook and previous peregrino – it immediately got busy. Like leaving the quite country lanes of Berkshire and suddenly finding yourself on the M4 motorway. But more on the Sarria pilgrim tourists tomorrow. There were lovely stretched of path, more interesting ironwork and street art, a lovely old lady selling raspberries from her garden wall and I passed the 100km to go marker.

Faith in humanity

Before setting off to St Jean Pied de Port to start my Camino, there were a few things that worried me. The feet one has been raised before – (just a note on the state of my feet – they are doing great right now, still tired, but just tired, no blisters or sores!), I was also worried about not being able to find anywhere to sleep … with a week to go the ‘It’s so busy in July and August, you’ll have to race for a bed’ hype has been totally disproven. Even without reservations I would have been able to stay in town or village of my choice.

My biggest concern, not a worry, was that the litter created by thousands of pilgrims would make it like walking through a giant basura – municipal tip! Spain, for anyone who has driven or cycled much here, is a pretty filthy country when it comes to roadside trash. Bottles and tins of water, soft drinks and beer/wine are biggest polluters. Cigarette packets also blight the landscape. However, much to my surprise, and excluding the urban sections, there has virtually zero litter. Excepting the masses of tissue paper that, as mentioned in an earlier post is like a back up waymarker, I can hardly remember seeing any deliberately discarded pilgrim trash. Just the occasional shred of wrapper from something and the odd water bottle, more likely dropped by accident than jettisoned. Well done peregrinos you have done the Camino proud. Whether this is the Camino population being more environmental or the clear push to be cleaner and greener by the regional government, it is certainly working. The Camino is a beautiful, natural place, often a wilderness, and as pilgrims we are just passing through. It is our duty to leave it as natural as possible for all the plants, critters, birds, lizards and all the elusive larger wildlife. I saw a piece of street art/graffiti on an underpass that sums it up. ‘Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories’ …. here, here.

As for today’s walk… this was certainly the toughest day since Day 1 to Roncesvalles. 18km uphill to the Galicia frontier. In that 18km there were over 900m of vertical ascent. O Cebreiro was at 1286m! Add in the heat and some pretty tough surfaces underfoot, and I am one very tired pilgrim tonight. The views at the top made sure the all the sweat and effort was well worth it – that real top of the world feeling. I head further into Galicia tomorrow and hopefully see my first horreo.

Flores

Not many words today … I know nothing about flowers and flora in general. All I do know is that there are some beauties at the side of the Camino – and bearing in mind how hot, dry and dusty it is – they must be tough little buggers too. So some photos. ID any if you wish.

As for today’s walk… the start of the 30km climb up to the border with the province of Galicia at O Cebreiro tomorrow. The first half today wad through the picturesque vineyards of Bierzo, many vines already showing ripening dark purple Mencia grapes. This is the growing area of one of my personal favourite wines – Petit Pitticum. From Villafranca it was 8km along the old N-VI road up a river valley to the beautiful old albergue in Trabadelo, Casa Susi, where I am staying tonight.

Notice – no bunk beds! Amazing.

And finally – a genuinely decent size reptile today. Not one of the scurrying lizards that I see hundreds of a day. This was a proper foot long, nose to tip of tail, beauty. And it was pleased to pose for a picture.

Galicia – the spiritual third

It is the home of Santiago, the end of the camino and I am just one more whole day away from entering the final province of my Camino – Galicia….

Apparently the camino is split into thirds – the first being the physical third. I have to agree that scaling the Pyrenees and the journey across Navarra and La Rioja were taxing on the body – my feet in particular. It was also a complete journey into the unknown, having only walked two consecutive days previously for a total of 57km.

Then the mighty Meseta, with it’s big skies, endless corn fields and arrow straight paths alongside the omnipresent N120 road. This is the middle, mental third. As discussed previously, many choose to skip it and it is their loss. I am, however, very pleased it is behind me.

I am now in the final third, known as the spiritual third, which mostly comprises of Galicia. It’s similarity, both in terms of appearance and the nature of the people, lend to comparisons to celtic lands like Ireland, Wales and Brittany. I can’t wait to cross into Galicia.

For me, in addition the lure of Santiago – Galicia has many other rewards awaiting me

Tarta de Santiago
Estrella Galicia
Zamburiñas
Pulpo a Gallego
Horreos
Albarino
Empanadas de atun
San Simon cheese – tetilla
Fisterra … and much, much more.

More details on all of these in the final week.

As for today’s walk … I crossed the high point of the Camino today at 1520m and it was basically 15km up then 15km down into Ponferrada, the seat of the Knights Templar and their magnificent castle. There was also the slightly underwhelming Cruz de Ferro and a whole series idyllic villages from Rabanal all the way to Ponferrada.