Wednesday 12th May 2010 (Santiago de Compostela)

It seems so long that we had the luxury of a sleep in, which we did today.  Felt really good.  After breakfast we went to attend the noon mass at the Cathedral.  Because of the large turnout everyday, we decided to arrive by 11.00am so that we will have the chance of seats.  But .. the cathedral was already full.  Imagine, people show up way before 11.00am for the noon mass!  Most of the congregation were pilgrims and tourists.  I didn't understand a single word but it didn't matter - just being there to soak in the atmosphere was more than enough.  I thought I could do some shopping after lunch but nothing opens in the afternoon in Spain - it's siesta time!!  So I hardly bought anything except for a few boxes of Santiago Tart (one must never leave Santiago de Compostela without their famous Tart!).  We had a nice evening tonight - excellent dinner and great entertainment from Steven (telling stories of the old days!).  This is our last night with Li Leng, Steven and Teddy.  They are on an early flight in the morning to Madrid to connect on a Qatar flight to Singapore.  They arrive on Friday afternoon!!  We will all have an early breakfast and then we will see them off.  Then it will be our turn to pack and head for the airport at noon for our flight to Barcelona where we stay a night and then I am on a morning flight on Friday morning for Singapore .. Home Sweet Home!!  This is my last posting on this blog.  See you all soon!!

Tuesday 11th May 2010 (Arca to Santiago de Compostela - total distance walked 663.53km)

We have arrived ... We have survived ... the road to Santiago de Compostela.  Today at 5.00pm Spanish time, we arrived at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and that marks the official completion of our walk on the Camino Frances after 28 days of walking.  The atmosphere at the Cathedral defies descripition.  Hundreds of happy pilgrims sitting around the square - exchanging stories of their journeys, sharing experiences, elated to meet up with friends they have made along the way or just simply happy to see familiar faces.  We are part of these happy pilgrims.  It was like one big reunion gathering.    We felt very relieved and at the same time rather proud of ourselves for being able to see it through.  Our success is due in no small part to the enormous support and encouragement (that we have been receiving throughout our journey) from our families, relatives, friends and team mates.  It has not been an easy journey but everytime we suffer the pain and discomfort from blisters, muscle aches and pain, we think of the cause that we are doing it for and we just have to endure it and soldier on because we know that it will make a difference to those we are doing it for.  Right now I still find it hard to believe that I have actually walked 663.53km.  If I had not fallen sick and taken 2 days off, I would have walked the 708km.  I have been wearing an ID tag around my neck on this walk.  I have my emergency information engraved on it.  In addition, there are three little words that constantly remind me of what my mother has always instilled in me - NEVER GIVE UP.  Each time I bow my head as I am walking, I will see my ID tag and invariably these three words will stand out.  I have drawn strength from them so very often on this walk.  Another extraordinary thing that I have done on this walk is pray.  I have friends who have asked me to say a little prayer for them when I am walking the Camino (friends who are not in good health, or are very stressed or just simply in need of the extra blessing) and with all the quiet time that I have while walking, I find myself fulfilling these requests and soon I found myself being rather prayerful, and I feel good.  Perhaps all the mysterious ways that God has worked during our walk is because I believed.  Talking about prayers, we prayed that our walk into Santiago de Compostela will be in good weather.  After 3 days of continuous rain, we had beautiful sunshine and lovely cold winds today.  Now, what can you make of this?  Back to today's final leg of our walk.  We did not set out till 9.05am.  With only 21km, we were going to do it leisurely, no rush.  The initial route was still muddy from the overnight rain but after 8km, we were on packed gravel and later asphalt - rather welcomed because it is really a yukky feeling to walk through mud.  Although the sun was shining most of the time, the cold winds compensated for the heat and made our walk truly wonderful today, despite the several long and rather steep ups and downs.  What a great way to finish.  I thought we have seen the last of the ups and downs in yesterday's walk but they continued, even right here in Santiago de Compostela.  On a lighter note, Li Leng has donors who would pledge $50 for every blister that she has.  So she has been counting her blisters and today she discovered five!!  You will never be able to imagine how she can be so happy every time she finds a new blister.  Poor Steven, by the time we finished today he was literally dragging his feet.  My legs are feeling really tired today - it is as if my body knows the hard work is over so now it does not need to hold up.  We were issued with Certificates and mine will definitely take pride of place amongst my prized possessions.  Each time I look at it, I will remember how determination, courage and having the heart in the right place has made me achieve one of the biggest efforts in my life.  But now it is time to relax and enjoy tomorrow (our only full day in Santiago de Compostela) before we fly to Barcelona on Thursday to take the flight home on Friday morning.  They volcano ash from Iceland continues to wreak havoc so we are praying hard that the airports in Spain will not be closed and that our flights will take off as scheduled.

Saturday 8th May 2010 (Portomarin to Palas de Rei – total distance walked to date 601.14km)

The weather forecast continues to be dim – more rain. Without ponchos we were not able to continue with our walk, not when the rain goes right through our rain coats. So, the first thing we did in the morning was to go in to the village to get some. Today was supposed to be a 24km walk but we managed only 8km from Areixe to Palas de Rei due to time constraint. The route today was a little boring as most of the terrain was asphalt. We just found out that Li Leng is terrified of worms (of any kind) and because of the very wet weather, lots of worms are surfacing on the muddy tracks. She actually freaks out!! Today there were so many that she lost count. Steven is still suffering from his blisters and pain on his feet (reminds me of the time when I started so I know exactly how much he is suffering). Teddy is Mr Cool – no problems of any kind (the lucky man). Our accommodation at Palas de Rei was at Casa Benilde. I thought I had booked us in a Hostal but it turned out to be a Hotel. The service was excellent – best so far. At check-in the lady gave us a rundown of where the restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies etc were located. That really helped because we did not have to spend time looking for them. We went to the 8.00pm mass at the Cathedral. Although in Spanish, it is really quite easy to follow. At Church we met Ted and Diedre Braun, an American couple who is also walking the Camino. We invited them to join us for dinner and we had a very nice time exchanging stories about why we were walking the Camino, our experiences on the Camino so far, etc. One of the factors that make walking the Camino interesting is that it brings people together, people from all over the world, from all walks of life and of different ages – and in time, perhaps these acquaintances become good friends.

Sunday 9th May 2010 (Palas de Rei to Arzua – total distance walked 621.58km)

The bad weather interrupted our programme again today. Once again we had to cut the front section and started walking from Melide for 20.44km to Arzua. The route saw quite a number of up and downs with particularly sharp descents in two locations. Rain brought lots of mud to the paths and tracks and that took some joy out of the walking. Not forgetting that when the paths and tracks are muddy, it is very difficult to differentiate dung from mud and I really do not relish stepping on poo! Since Sarria we have noticed an enormous increase of dung on the route. Along with it comes the smell of it too. We were fortunate that we missed the section that many have described that “it stings to high heaven”, but ... we did pass it in the taxi on the way to our start at Melide and it really did stink to high heaven. Well, it is not always foul smelling, we walked through a plantation of eucalyptus trees and the air was filled with beautiful eucalyptus scent. As I had mentioned before, the landscape changed when we crossed over to Galicia. The land is very green due to the often wet weather and as a result there is a greater variety of flora and fauna. This makes walking more interesting and of course the pace slows because of more photo opportunities. I was told that from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela the route is easy. We are now 3 days into this route and we are still faced with steep ups and downs. Poor Steven, the steep downs really do not do his blisters and aching feet any good. Arzua has a population of 6,633 so it is a town. Being Sunday, almost all the shops are closed. We booked ourselves into an Albergue but they put us up in an apartment instead. That was nice because we were able to cook dinner without having to queue up to use the kitchen BUT, the apartment had no heating. The weather has not only been wet, it has also been very cold and windy. It was so cold that we decided to move all the beds into one room, so the five of us were in one room instead of two. That helped. Warmth was also generated by a huge laughing session we had when Joy decided to use her sleeping bag as well (she brought along a sleeping bag for -10 weather conditions!) and zipped herself in very securely. One minute she looked like a huge black worm (that scared Li Leng of course) and another minute she looked like an Egyptian Mummy! I started writing my blog but the cold got to me and I had to get under the blankets. So I logged off and went to bed.

Monday 10th May 2010 (Arzua to Pedrouzo/Arca – total distance walked 642.53km)

Today we were determined to beat the weather at all cost. Before we went to bed last night we said that we would walk the entire distance of 20.95km no matter what the weather would be. We started off with a light drizzle and did the first 8km in very good pace despite encountering four steep ascents within the first 4km. The continuous rain over the past few days has created not only soggy muddy paths and tracks but today we were faced with long flooded stretches. We had to resort to acrobatics of all sorts to twinkle toe our way through. Not as bad as the ankle deep mud sections we encountered soon after Burgos but it was quite an experience for Li Leng, Steven and Teddy. At one point on this flooded section, Li Leng spotted a worm and froze because she imagined that there could be lots more that she cannot see for the mud and water that is surrounding her, and dared not put her foot down. Quite hilarious one might think but it must have been really scary for her. If not for the muddy paths, today’s route would have been rather nice. More eucalyptus plantations and lots of country walking. We met a group of school children walking the camino to Arca. They had police escort to stop traffic when they had to cross the main roads – impressive! Tonight we are at a Pension in Arca. Once again we had the use of a kitchen so I cooked dinner again. I decided to surprise everyone with “chicken rice” (without the chicken because the supermarket did not have any), so the best I could do was to cook the flavoured rice only. Li Leng was baffled as to how I could have cooked it without chicken. Tonight is our last night before Santiago de Compostela so after dinner we spent sat and chatted. Tomorrow we will walk into Santiago de Compostela and that will mark the end of our journey on the Camino Frances. The battery on my lappie is running really low so I will end and quickly post these 3 days on the blog.

I am so sorry but we have an apartment without any heating, it's freezing, all 5 of us moved into one room, just to keep warm, and I need to go under the blankets now so I can't continue with my writing.  It is pouring outside and the weather is just so very cold.  Will try to put up Saturday's and today's by tomorrow.  If I continue to write, I will turn into a block of ice - no joke!!

568.27

Friday 8th May 2010 (Sarria to Portomarin – total distance walked 593.14km)

Today was Li Leng, Steven and Teddy’s first day of walking. They did very well given that it was not exactly an easy route. They went through a good mix of terrains and other conditions – asphalt, smooth earthen paths, rough rocky paths, gravel paths, walked through streams, walked over all sorts of dung (wow, we have never had to walk over so much dung before on this journey – the paths were so covered that it was no longer a matter of trying to avoid them, it was choosing the oldest patches! Oh, I just found out that Li Leng is terrified of creepy crawlies. She met with 14 of them. In the 26 days that we have been walking, we rarely see any – perhaps 2 or 3 at most. The more you want to avoid them, the more you will encounter!). When we set off, it was raining and it simply got heavier and colder too. In fact we were freezing. Even with rain coats, we were drenched. My North Face Hyvent “supposed to be so good” rain coat was soaked right through. Fortunately my Marmot over-trousers kept my cargo pants bone dry and my Gore-tex shoes were equally good in keeping my feet dry. I was totally disappointed at my North Face rain coat. We were lucky that the rain stopped and our clothes managed to dry. For a first day’s walk, I must say that the 24.87km was not easy at all. There were quite a few ascents and one or two steep descents too. Some of the paths were really rocky and steep and because of the rain we had to walk through mud. Had the weather been good, it would have been a very lovely route because the scenery was nice and the route rather peaceful. That also accounted for the several Kodak moments we had along the way, resulting in us taking much longer to get to our destination than planned.  Despite all the difficulties caused by the rain, our three newcomers took them all in their stride. Very well done indeed. The landscape in Galicia is much greener because Galicia is known to be a wet region – we can attest to that because not only did we set off in rain, just when we set foot in Portomarin, the skies opened. There was no warning at all and we scrambled to put on our rain gear. Needless to say, we were all drenched again. We are all worried now because if our rain gear does not dry in time, we will not be able to walk tomorrow. The weather forecast is very dim for the next few days. We are all going to pray hard that the weather will change for the better. Steven has a little blister but we hope that with all the experience gained on the Camino on this subject, we will be able to help him contain it and minimise discomfort. Li Leng is doing fine and Teddy, no sweat at all because he is a regular runner. It will be another 27km tomorrow so, as usual, I need my beauty sleep. Nite nite!

Thursday 6th May 2010 (O Cebreiro to Sarria - total distance walked to date 568.27km)
There was a mistake in our schedule and it resulted in us having to take the bus from O Cebreiro to Sarria today in order to meet Li Leng, Steven and Teddy on time.  The distance by bus was 38km.  There is only one bus everyday for this route so we had to be at the "bus stop" by 6.30am.  It was still dark but we could see thick fog covering the valley below.  It felt as if O Cebreiro was standing above the clouds.  Exactly at 7.00am a little bus came to a half exactly where we were waiting.  There were only Joy and I going to Sarria and an Irish lady going all the way to Santiago de Compostela.  The journey took an hour and fifteen minutes and were were in Sarria's bus station by 8.15am.  Too early to check in, so we left our luggage at the hotel and went for breakfast.  The best breakfast that Joy and I had on this trip (toast, sausages and eggs, toad in a hole for Joy, coffee and tea).  We were treated to a very pleasant surprise when half way through breakfast, in walked Martin (our American/Spanish/Canadian pilgrim friend whom we first met in a restaurant in Los Arcos.  He is quite a character but I eventually warmed up to him.).  We have not seen Martin for almost a week now so it was really nice to see him today.  Always so wonderful to meet up with people you know.  It was a relaxing day for Joy and I.  We walked around Sarria as we were still too early to go to the bus station to meet Li Leng, Steven and Teddy.  Their bus would arrive at 2.15pm and we planned to be there at 1.45pm to surprise them.  We got there at 1.40pm and guess what?  They had arrived an hour earlier and we found them in the bus station's restaurant having lunch.  We were all so pleased to see each other .. big hugs all around!  We chatted, we shared our experiences so far, and they really looked all set and excited for their walk ahead.  We took them to get their Credentials stamped and now they are official pilgrims!  After lunch we went to get our food and water supplies for tomorrow and just walked around a little.  Our highlight today was going to a restaurant called O'Camino LH.  The owner is Jose Luis Munoz Costa.  A professional Chef from Barcelona.  He has done the Camino 12 times and his greatest fete was to complete it in 19 days!!  Isn't that remarkable?  He has written a book on it and he presented an autographed copy to us.  We will need to have it translated into English though.  Dinner was good - I am sure Jose Luis gave us extra portions and of course a good discount.  We are still in awe of his 19-day achievement.  At 30 days we are already feeling like our schedule is just too tight.  Ok, my physio is beckoning me for my nightly session.  I have to go before she falls asleep - she is what we would call in Cantonese "chicken eyes" - in Singlish it simply means "want to sleep must sleep immediately" .. so, from all five of us in Sarria here's goodnight!

Here are my postings for yesterday and today:

Tuesday 4th May 2010 (Cacabelos to Vega de Valcarce – total distance walked 555.27km)

Joy and I woke up in the morning all psyched up for a difficult day. We have read in the camino books and have been told by so many pilgrims that the most beautiful route to O Cebreiro is the toughest route which has very steep ascents and equally steep descents. The alternative would be the road route. After careful deliberation, we felt that since we have already come so far, it would seem such a pity if we missed out on the beautiful scenery on the tough route. The first 9km to Villafranca de Bierzo was uneventful but the route did take us through lovely vineyards. We are always happy to be walking on paths and tracks – asphalt is really boring and hard on the feet, not forgetting that walking with traffic can be nerve wrecking. We stopped in Villafranca de Bierzo for breakfast (a nice cup of hot tea with toast but Joy was peckish for calamarie). The tough route started as soon as we left Villafranca de Bierzo but the waymarkings were so poor (or non-existent) that we were more than 1km on the road route when we realised that we missed the turn off to the tough route. So we back tracked and indeed there were no waymarkings at the turn off. My goodness, the steep incline started almost immediately when we took the turn off and it was just up up up on mainly stone paths. The scenery would have been much better if the motorway was not a prominent feature in the landscape. Even from 800m up, the network of roads was clearly visible. Once we got on this tough route, there were no more waymarkings. We relied on instructions from the camino books and from our operations centre in Singapore (manned by no other than Eddie Ong). Our instructions were to look out for a T-junction, huge chestnut trees then a very steep descent. Of course none of these were in sight. So, in the absence of any indicators, it is natural to keep straight on. We did and just kept walking. A fellow German pilgrim with his dog was always in close range (so that was a little reassuring, we were not alone). Soon it was rather obvious that we were lost. Together with the German and his dog, we decided to back track (which seemed to be the other of the day as we had already back tracked once to find the tough route). About 1km later, an angel came to our rescue (in the form of a bikie on a scrambler). Believe me, he was an angel. Every time we needed help on the camino, someone always appears to help us. So he pointed us in the right direction. We did find our way to Trabadelo eventually but it was rather horrible. As soon as we started the descent, it was straight steep descent all the way down the almost 900m. It was a wonder that we did not slip and slide. Anyway what was wonderful about being lost on the mountain was that we were surrounded by very beautiful flowers (the kind of flowers that we call dried flowers back home). We felt like we were in a page straight out of Lost Horizon. Something must be done to ensure that waymarkers are put at strategic points. It is no fun having to wonder where to go. Our accommodation at Vega de Valcarce was a beautiful home, obviously very new. We were the only occupants so we had the whole house to ourselves. We had a lovely evening – cooked a lovely meal and bought a bottle of Spanish red wine. Wine is so inexpensive here and quite often good too. Joy loves her wine at dinner because it helps her sleep well. But ... poor me ... when she has had a little too much, she talks too much (and laughs a lot too). But she’s good company. That’s all for today.

Wednesday 5th May 2010 (Vega de Valcarce to O Cebreiro – total distance 568.27km)

We are not prepared for the extreme cold and it is cold up in the mountains. Within half an hour of setting out this morning, our fingers were frozen. Thank God for my Buff that has helped to keep my head and ears warm. We were so cold that we had to stop for a cup of tea – that really helped. Today’s journey is the continuation of yesterday’s – the climb up to O Cebreiro. O Cebreiro is almost 1300m high – a little lower than Cruz de Ferro. Steep ascents awaited us, mostly on unspoilt rough rocky paths, with very little plateaus. We took our time and made the 13km to O Cebreiro in 4 hours from Vega de Valcarce – quite a good pace for trekking up a mountain. I guess the walk up is often made easier when we have such beautiful scenery to take our minds off the hard work. Yesterday, a lot of the times we were actually walking along the edge of the mountain – one wrong step and we will be sent rolling down. Today, the paths were more inland. Both have their own charms. We met Father Michael again today and he walked with us for a while. Father Michael comes from Tipperarry in Ireland. I told him that it reminds me of a song that my grandfather would sing when he has had one too many. On hearing that, Father Michael sang “It’s A Long Way To Tipperarry”. He has a good voice. Later he sang another song “4 and 9”, rather cute song. It is so nice to be entertained while walking. Well this is the last mountain before we reach Santiago de Compostela. All the hard work was worth it because O Cebreiro is indeed very beautiful. It is a small village of about 20 houses and is undoubtedly a tourist attraction. There is a church steeped with history and the Celtic influence makes me feel like I am in Scotland. It is freezing cold here today and I have no warm clothing suitable for this weather. It must be easily 0°C with strong winds. Still that has not deterred me from taking a walk around the village because the scenery that surrounds it is so beautiful. Mountains and valleys, with grounds so green, and we had clear blue skies today, not a cloud in sight. Oh, yesterday we spoke about seeing a dog walking the Camino with its Master. Today we saw pilgrims on horseback. One can do the Camino either on foot, on bicycles or on horseback. We did not think that we will see any pilgrims on horseback, so it was indeed a bonus. We were told that it would snow tonight. That would really be a bonus for Joy. She has never seen snow before. Li Leng, Steven and Terry arrived safely in Santiago last night. We were in touch today and we will all meet up in Sarria tomorrow afternoon. Joy and I are really looking forward to seeing them and walking with them from Friday.