I Arrive at the Cathedral, October 8

 

I walked into the square in Santiago on October 8, about 12:30. My goal was to arrive around 1pm, Sarah, from Lancaster, whom I met early on at Portugalete, and hiked with off and on all the way to Villaviciosa, was going to leave Santiago around 1:30. 

There were several people who left the Northern Camino at Villaviciosa to hike the Primitivo over the mountains and this was my chance to say congratulations and goodbye.

Here’s Rachael who I hiked with alot. She liked to swim when we got to a beach. No matter how cold it was.

And I did get to see Sarah:

And, a very nice surprise was spotting Angela, my friend from Australia who I only walked with the last 5 or 6 days, but didn’t get to say goodbye to. She arrived a day sooner than I did, and took a different Camino into town.

We got to have supper together Wednesday night and catch up before she left to go visit some other places and friends in Spain.

These are repetitive but traditional and there’s a whole bunch more I won’t post.

In Santiago I got a room in an albergue around the corner from the cathedral. I like being close to it, but unfortunately in the old town are lots of bars and really loud behavior. Till 4am, in the case of my first night here.

Here’s my room, I got a bottom bunk. Here’s a little balcony that I can sit out on, and below in the street, pilgrims come by all day long on their way to the Pilgrims’ Office to sign in and ask for a Compostela, a certificate of completion.

Our balcony:

And the street and café below me, where pilgrims are arriving all day long:

Night Before Santiago Day: October 7-8

 

Last night there was a spectacular moonrise I watched from the albergue patio.  I was sitting with Bernard, who Has a German accent, so I thought was from Germany. Turns out he was born in Austria but has lived the last forty years in Greece. He’s a potter, married to a Greek woman and raised four children on an island there. 

He walked the French way. In Pamplona he met a group from California who came to do a pilgrimage with their priest, only he got sick and couldn’t come with them. They prayed for a priest, and met a young priest named Father Matthew who came alone to the Camino, and he has been accompanying them across Spain on the French Way. So Bernard has been to lots of masses. He said sometimes they were outside, sometimes concelebrated in the local churches with the parish priest.

Hearing Bernard talk about the California group he walked with reminded me of the Malaysian group I met, they finished yesterday.

Today I will arrive in Santiago. What an amazing and challenging walk it has been. I have spent a lot of the time just thinking, inside my head, marveling at nature, I think of my kids and my grandkids, of the friends wbo sent me notes on the way, I think about God, about all the people I have met. The photos are coming in now from different friends who have already arrived at the Cathedral.

Right now it’s 4:22am in this last, very large albergue where I am staying. Lots of people are already up and packing their packs. I want to leave early but it’s going to be dark for a long time. (Spain is tacked onto a bunch of European countries’ same time zone. The sunrise here is not until 8:30) I am hoping to leave around 7am.

Cruce de los Caminos: Crossroads of the Caminos

Today I walked the last stretch of the Northern Way to a town called Arzúa. Up till now if we met anyone there was a better than 50-50 chance we would’ve seen them before, known their name, or knew mutual pilgrims.

Lots of pilgrims on a square at night

There are fewer albergues on the Northern Camino, which means again, there’s an increased chance that when you arrive you will know someone or many people, even.

I forgot all about this huge bubble of pilgrims on Monday and foolishly told Angela, a pilgrim friend from Australia, that I would see her in town when we arrived. I didn’t know the name of her albergue or her contact information.

I haven’t seen her yet. I’m hoping I find her in Santiago tomorrow.

Here’s our picture at the Monastery in the cloister.

It was a nice walk into Arzúa. It’s hard to believe we will be in Santiago on Wednesday afternoon.  

Filled Church at mass in Pedrozou. Crowds everywhere now.

Sunday Walk to the Monastery

 

Tonight I am staying at a Monastery albergue. We got to attend evening vespers at 7, and the monks’ singing was beautiful. I will attend mass tomorrow at 7:45 before I walk 12 miles to Arzua. Only 60 km remaining to reach the cathedral in Santiago!

Today’s walk was beautiful. I’m falling asleep but wanted to post this before I do. Forgive all errors!

This was the delicious kind if path I got to take through the woods today.  Here’s another:

Here’s a little flock of goats and sheep cleaning out the area around my mile marker. The funny thing was that the pack of dogs who were supposed to be guarding them were all lovked up, across the street.

And here is the Parga River, where I began my walk this morning at 9:15. Buenas noches!

Variedades

 Today is Sunday. It’s almost 9am and I’m one of the last to leave the beautiful nature preserve albergue,

Last night I asked our hostess if she had a place for us to put our food. I had cheese, yogurt, hummus, some fruit and a little bread. I was thinking she didn’t want it in her bedrooms. She said she could put it in her fridge. Unfortunately the kitchen is locked and I don’t know when the cleaning crew is coming. If they’re not here at 9 I’ll have to go without it. I was hoping maybe a neighbor would be coming in to start washing sheets etc.

Here is Luis, a pilgrim from Madrid. He is a wealth of history and knowledge of the Caminos. I love this umbrella. He was dry yesterday when I was wet. Luis told us that on Friday 3,700 pilgrims came in to Santiago from all the different paths. Everyone is scrambling to make reservations.

I jumped a day ahead by leaving my friends at Baamonde. I walked with Claire for 4 or 5 days, and will see her again in Santiago when she arrives.

Something I’ve been meaning to write about is the eucalyptus forests that abound in Asturias and Galicia. They are beautiful to look at and smell wonderful, but are an environmental disaster. They are raised as a cash crop, and can be harvested in ten years, for paper pulp. They are invasive and spread easily and no animals eat them or use them for habitat. We have been seeing hunters (Sundays and Thursdays, but not if it’s a holiday) but the only remaining animal now is the jabalí, the wild boar. All the deer, rabbits, and little ground animals and birds are gone.

Here are some harvested eucalyptus logs. You can see how fast they grow by how wide the rings are. 

October 4: An Albergue Like a Spa

 Saturday there was a light rain all day. Many of us chose a short walk- like 12 miles— to Baamonde, a town 100 km from Santiago.

This was very exciting but we arrived so early the town albergue was not yet open. It was only 12:30. A friend a few days ahead of me wrote to tell me about an albergue that was on a slightly different hiking path headed in the same direction. If I followed it, I would shorten my Camino by several kilometers. Plus it goes through a nature preserve. The only kicker is, you must hike a 25km section the next day.

I decided to push on; the albergue was 8 miles from Baamonde. Here’s a picture of the Camino markers, one heading north, one south. I don’t know if you can read the kilometers, but I decided to go for it.

The albergue was indeed really nice. Here is a picture of the living room, with a view out the back window.

At supper I sat with Angela, a nurse from Australia who’s here on her third Camino, a couple from Sweden and a couple from Spain.

On Sunday I am walking 15 miles to a famous old monastery that has been restored.

Friday, October 3: Two Camino Friends

 Nearing 100km left in our walk to Santiago. There are two nurses from Barcelona who I keep running into. 

Aine, a nurse from  Barcelona

I first met them sitting on a bench in the woods a week or so ago.. I hadn't seen them before; it was their first day and they asked if I needed to sit down, and made space for me on the bench. They were so delightful I stopped to talk with them and have seen them almost every day since. Yesterday I mentioned that the chest strap in my backpack was broken, and that not having it operational was hurting my shoulders. Aina looked at it and fixed it in less than a minute, and Andrea asked me for a needle and thread, and sewed a couple rounds to keep it from coming apart again.

Andrea, one of the “ Barcelona Girls”

Tonight we ended the day in Abadín. I took some pictures in town, evidently a big cattle and animal sale area, because they had a lovely new sale barn in the center of town.

On the sale barn was posted a big homemade sign advertising natural, environmentally-sensitive lawn mowing services:

Offering sheep, goats or llamas to come trim your lawn the natural way.

There was also a big community building, a pavilion with glass sides. Posted all over the two buildings and also all around town were posters that I took to be an invitation to a wedding.

“This Saturday there won’t be a referee, but there will be a priest”

There are two players but the woman is wearing a wedding dress and a photo-shopped face. But if it actually did refer to a real couple marrying-why wouldn’t the groom’s face also appear? I asked Andrea and Aine, and they thought it was a prank.