Day 3 - Sept 30, The Test

As a group we are learning that the km indicated on the map does not necessarily coincide with the actual distance we have to travel.  For today - we walked 33.33 km on the Camino Trail, which may not seem much more than 31 km, but with a tired achy body - it is quite a bit more!  Where is my masseur?  Could really enjoy a great massage right now.  We all started off the journey today, not as a group.  Dave and Kathleen went ahead and I followed 10 or more minutes behind them.  It was dark but there was a full moon.  I was in luck, remember I bought a flashlight on the train from Madrid?  Well, do you think I could find the silly thing  - probably in my suitcase, safe.  However, what a great way to walk, more silence and having the moon illuminate the way.  It was peaceful.  The sunrise - a bright orange-red was spectacular.  I remembered in that early morning hike that I had also forgotten to bring gloves, it gets cold at that time of the morning, something else I need to shop for (I still need a headlamp - I was glad I had returned the one at the airport - I saw not one person wearing a headlamp that had a flashing red light!

Again, we met many interesting people again today (Brazil, Hamburg Germany, California, Washington, Christchurch New Zealand and Poland!). This day was by far the longest but also the most challenging.  We climbed 450 meters and then our decent was about 1000 meters - very hard on the quads, shins and of course the knees.  Some of colleagues wisely listened to their bodies and took an interesting taxi ride to Ponferrada with a taxi driver that did not speak English.  However, he did stop several places along the way for photos and the like (picking up other passagers along the way (and charging them extra - pretty astute businessman I would say).  The highlight today was the cross where we laid our stone on (the one we brought from home)...it was very touching to be there. You get really moved by the experience and the memories of those you lost bring you to tears.  I was glad I was alone then.

The villages you walk through are really quaint, some had slate tiling on their roofs, others had moss, quite a contrast.  There was a donkey in a field just outside Foncebadon - I bet he is the most photographed donkey in Spain.  I leaned over the fence and told him he should be charging a euro for every picture taken of him and he would be rich....he just shook his head as if to say, you try to collect the euros! Ponferrada is a large city of 60,000.  The castle and Basilica are a must see here - both are amazing.  When I was at the Basilica - I could hear Dave saying that I need to repent my sins - okay I took an apple from a tree that was near the road (this was on the first day - and he has still not forgotten about it), so I repented.  The Basilica was beautiful and outside of a nice lady named Heidi, we were alone, lots of time for reflection and prayers.

We are finding out a lot about our group and ourselves.  The youngest of our group (Amanda) is often the last to arrive but the one with the most pictures.  Maybe her allergy stems from her camera use?  Meg is quite a fast walker, but like Amanda - she likes to take lots of pictures so also arrives with the last group.  She may be the shortest one of the group, but walks a great pace!  Marilyn is a very seasoned walker, and likes to get into a rythmn and walk at that, regardless of the terrain.  She really enjoys this kind of journey and we are delighted that she allowed us to experience this with her.  Kathleen and Dave are fast, and even as fast as they are, they like to kick it up a notch too (and anyone walking with them)!  I am sure that Kathleen has her sites on a cycling holiday - maybe even some of the Camino.  Gail, as this is her first walking "holiday", is the wise one, listening to her body and making decisions based on how she is feeling and the challenges that lay ahead.  She enjoys meeting people, taking pictures and practicing her Spanish.  Me, well anyone that knows me, knows that I will not be last, so I am kinda a mixture of the above.  I found that today, despite the distance, one of the best days.  Walking in the early morning on my own and then meeting up with some of the others ahead of me later was a nice balance of solitude and socializing.  We have an amazing group and are enjoying getting to know one another and sharing our experiences of the day with each other.  The hot shower, change of clothes and the meal we share with each other is a great way to end the day.  We will all sleep well tonight!  Chow for now, Sandy

Day 2 - Getting into a Rythmn

Sept 29 - A much shorter day for us - 21 km and counting, hardly even broke out a sweat.  The weather was cooler, with cloud cover and much different terrain.  It was mostly flat - flat enough that the visual of those with poor bladder control are not a discreet as they think they are, in fact, as a word of advice, white is very visible from any angle.   We passed a wire mesh fence that stretched at least one km - it was lined with wooden crosses of all descriptions and sizes.  It was pretty moving and made one reflect on those that are no longer with us...it was quite touching.

I have to share some experiences that we have had so far - so - some of us did a great job with the items they packed, others (me) did not.  I had a warmer coat in my hand before we left, and decided, it would be too warm for that coat - so chose a lighter one, big mistake.  Did not pack my headlamp, not enough CLIF bars (decided to leave half of them at home) for protein and so forth.  So was on the hunt for a headlamp.  I was thrilled to find one at the airport in Leon, and went back to the group to show of my great purchase - quickly putting in the batteries and turning it on.....it was a RED light!!!!  How could that be - a headlamp that was red - if I wore that - people would get the wrong idea.  So back I went to return this purchase.  So I still needed to buy something warm to wear and a headlamp.  As luck would have it, after we boarded the train from Leon, a gentleman came onboard selling small little flashlights (only 2 euros each), it did not matter that he was rattling on in Spanish (did not understand a word), smelled of booze and only had one front tooth - I bought the much desired flashlight (it gets dark quickly and the sunrise is after we leave in the morning).

Yesterday, the long journey really tested our physical and mental endurance, as the previous post indicates.  About 6 km to our final destination, there is this fellow Dave on the Camino trail - offering free fluids, water, snacks, fresh fruit and a place to rest your weary body, free with whatever donation you wanted to leave....a real hippie - walking around with barefeet, pony tail, etc.  Marilyn and I arrived first and found this break just perfectly placed.  We enjoyed the ice water, juice and snacks while we waited for the others to show up.  Finally about 1/2 hour later, everyone arrived.  Because of the extra distance and late start we had, we were going to arrive later than what we planned.  There was concern whether the luggage would arrive and because we were going to arrive late.  Marilyn and I left to go to the hotel first.  Just as we took off - already had walked 27 km, Marilyn says - "well we should pick up our pace" - I thought that we were already doing a good clip, so as my colleague suggested, we picked up our pace, even with the last km being all uphill!

So far, we have managed pretty good outside of a full body rash, blistered feet, cramped quads and calves, shin splints, and achy feet!  Ibuprofen and moleskin flow freely amongst us, not to mention topical benadryl, and other pharmaceuticals!  We are thankful for the medical knowledge amongst us!  Will sign off for now, stay turned - we have 31 km trek tomorrow with quite the elevation and decent.  It will be interesting to see how we cope with this.  Cheers for now, Sandy

After one day of our trek - we are the weary pilgrims!

Sept 28 - Just to catch up for the past couple of days, the flights were excellent - meals were great on the plane and in fact, the plane ride was quite quiet and nice , although it is hard to sleep on a plane.  The train ride from Madrid was super cool - we were going about 157 km/hour and it was so quiet - tried to catch a few winks - but too excited!

Now for our adventure today - everyone was up early, excited to start our pilgrimage...So we walked to the bus stations (it was at least 36 km that we had to walk today) so we figured we should try a bus right to Hospital de Orbigo to cut our first day walk to 15 or 16 km, we arrived early, had breakfast at the bus station and waited for our bus.  It ended up that there was some miscommunication and we missed our bus - we could wait 2 more hours for another bus and tour more of Leon, or rent a couple of taxis and have them take out to the outside of the city - it would increase our walk by 6 km or so, but the ambitious group we were - we went for that idea,  Well, we walked, and we walked, we talked, and we talked (and we snacked a bit too),, found some nice shady eating area outside and rested a while...filled up on water and we were off again.  We walked and we walked, and we talked and we finally arrived at our destination in Astorga after having walked 32.04 km (we actually walked more - this was just from the hotel to the bus, and from where the taxis dropped us off).  Needless to say, we are now the weary, tired and for some, achy pilgrims!  We have to find our calculator - as the 21 km turned into 32+ km!!!!   There is good news though, this will be our longest distance we are walking - yeah!!!  A nice hot shower and a change of clothes makes a person feel wonderful (for some of us, it was quite the test of our footwear - no blisters for me - thank you Running Room for your amazing socks).  Oh and another rule - never pass up an opportunity to use a bathroom or fill your water bottle!  One of our colleagues new to this kind of experience did amazingly well.  I am sure she will look back and be amazed and what she accomplished today!

It was actually a very hot day, just a light breeze every now and then, it was actually a great day for us to start on.  This long journey gave us an opportunity to meet pilgrims from many countries (Austria, Ireland, Germany, France and so forth).  The terrain was a mixture of rolling hills and walking by fields of corn, grapes, vegetables and of course apple orchards.  The temptation to try one was so great, so I did - I shared the most delicious tasting apple - it was crunchy and sweet - maybe an ambrosia.  We saw the biggest beefsteak tomatoes we ever saw, amazing that the vines could hold them up.  Okay, it is almost 8 pm our time, all this talk of food is making me hungry, time for supper!  Oh yes, one more thing, when you bring your own flat iron (even with a converter), it sometimes gets extremely hot, blue smoke coming from your hair when you are using it, may mean that you are burning/frying/ your hair....it that ever happens to you, stop right there and do not use it again, unless you want really short hair.  Talk again soon, Sandy

Tigin's Pub- Dallas, TX

Before...

The Pilgrims in Dallas

Our flight to Dallas was incredibly smooth, new plane and great company.  Met my neighbors at the airport - if you can believe they were on the same plane, could have saved waking up my roommate to drive me to the airport at 3:30 am!  We are gearing up for our trek by exploring all the wings of the Dallas airport - you can imagine all of us stumbling around, with our backpacks on and looking like tourists!  We finally found a restaurant that we want to eat at - the menu and food looked delicious on the information kiosk - and of all the luck - it was closed!  So we will continue to scout out another great restaurant - we only have 5 hours till we take off!  We have been sampling some Hennesy Cognac at the Duty Free shops and found that if you go from Duty Free to Duty Free, we can continue to sample this free - kinda like Costco, except the cognac is about $300 US/Bottle.  Pretty smooth though.  Cheers for now!  Sandy

Love it….great work Amanda (and at the eleventh hour!)