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.

I am very tired and need to go to bed, so I will write today's blog tomorrow.  Nite!

Monday 3rd May 2010 (Molinaseca to Cacabelos - total distance to date 523.68km)
Today was not a very good day.  It started off with us back tracking, after we had already done our first km, because we could not find the waymarkers (i.e. the yellow arrows).  We walked back to the spot that we entered Molinaseca yesterday and traced the camino route to find the exit.  As it turned out, we were on the right track.  Well, better to be safe than to be sorry.  Then the route was rather boring because most of it was through residential estates.  Well, at least there was one section that took us through lovely vineyards.  Lunch was not good (we had a grouchy waiter - and this is very unusual given that the Spaniards are very friendly and helpful), the food was rather tasteless.  We were determined to have a nice dinner but the good restaurants in Cacabelos seem to close on Mondays.  Left with just bars and cafes, we must have chosen the worst one in the village.  The paella was nothing like paella, the spaghetti marinara was bland, the pseudo chicken curry had only a tinge of curry taste - the only thing that was good was my cup of tea.  But we finished our meal all the same because "thou shall not waste".   Well at least the day is coming to an end.  I will be off to bed after posting this on the blog.  We were complaining of the terrible heat that we were suffering from Burgos to Leon, so we prayed for colder weather.  Our prayers have definitely been answered because now it's freezingly cold.  Could also be that we are higher up on the altitude.  Well it is better to walk with bright sunshine and cold winds than suffer the heat.  We actually do enjoy the cold.  Not a lot to tell about our walk today.  We made friends with an Irish Catholic Priest (Father Michael), an elderly Irish lady whose walking pace puts Joy and mine to shame, and most of the peregrinos we met along the way are new faces.  Wonder where all our friends have gone - it's rather lonely when it is just Joy and I.  Having friends pass us and exchanging hellos and chatting a little adds some fun to the walk.  Sorry today's blog is most uninteresting.  As our walk in the next two days promises to be tough and exciting, I am sure I will have more to say.

Sunday 2nd May 2010 (Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca - total distance walked 497.81km)
Leaving at 6.30am this morning was a tad early.  It was still dark and there were no street lights.  So I donned my head torch - looked like a miner!  But it was not too long before it was light.  Anyway, Joy misread the reference book and was on the look out for wolves and bandits.  She was really terrified.  Then I told her that it was mentioned in the past tense so we are safe!  We psyched ourselves for a tough journey today.  The climb to Cruz de Ferro turned out to be rather pleasant, not extremely difficult.  What made it worth the climb was the beautiful scenery throughout our climb.  Every moment was breathtaking.  At Cruz de Ferro, we were at the highest point of our walk - 1504m.  Can you imagine being surrounded by mountains and feeling that you are higher up than all their peaks?  I have never climbed a mountain so high, so for a long time today I really felt on top of the world.  We took our time and averaged 3km/hr.  After Cruz de Ferro, we started our descent to Molinaseca (our destination for the day).  Some parts of the descent was gradual but there were several very steep sections.  What added to its difficulty were the uneven stoney paths.  We crossed streams, climbed over fallen trees (with branches of almost a metre in diameter) and needless to say had to constantly dodge poo!  The descent was tough on the knees but Joy and I came out ok today.  Aren't we lucky.  As we get closer to Santiago de Compostela, we cannot help but feel that the villages are getting rather touristy.  Gone are the quaint little villages that we enjoyed walking through or even staying the night.  Now the villages seem to have this air of affluence with more up-market restaurants and accommodation.  We miss the "kampongs" so we are hoping that there will still be some in store in the remaining leg of our walk.  We arrived at Molinaseca at 5.30pm.  It was a very long day but we have no new blisters and no aches so that is really wonderful.  We were able to cook our own dinner tonight at the hostel.  It was chicken noodle soup, macaroni with tomato and red peppers and tortilla.  Because we cooked so much, we invited Sabine (our new German friend who is walking the Camino with her father who looks so much like Donald Sutherland) to join us.  Coffee, tea and wine was on the house.  Joy has taken to drinking wine - and she gets very happy when she has a tad too much!  We are seeing more new faces on the Camino and less of the friends that we have made since Pamplona.  We wonder where they are.  We know that Annette (our French friend who was taken ill the same time that I was) has had to go home because she has problems with her legs.  Well, it is not unusual to miss someone for a while and suddenly you meet up again.  I hope we will get to meet them before the end of our walk.  Goodnight - it is bedtime!

Saturday 1st May 2010 (Astorga to Rabanal del Camino – total distance to date 471.21km)

To those of you who have seen the picture of my latest “acquisition”, please do not worry, I have learnt how to attend to blisters and dry them up quickly. For this I have to thank my dear friend Leroy McCully. He taught me to use superglue and they seem to work perfectly for me. Just burst the blister, get all the water out, clean it up and put superglue on it. Repeat it daily until it is completely dried up. I hope there is someone out there who can teach me how to stop a toe nail from falling off. I have two toe nails that I think are victims of my walk, they look rather bruised and I think will fall off eventually. Other than that my feet look quite ok – perhaps gone a size up! Thank you Olivia, for offering to do manicure and pedicure for me when I return. Any offers for a good massage? Joy liked Astorga and was a little reluctant to have to leave this morning. Astorga is steeped with history, from Gaudi Palace to the Chocolate Museum. We did not have time to see all the sights, we never have time for much sightseeing really as we only spend a night at each destination. It all depends on what time of the day we get in. This morning we started our climb up to the highest point on this Camino. We are using three reference books and all three are giving us different versions of which are the highest point. I will let you know in my blog tomorrow once I have sought clarifications. Of course we are not attempting to reach the highest point in one day. We are stopped at Rabanal del Camino for the night so that we are closer to Cruz de Ferro (a famous landmark on the Camino originally to help pilgrims find their way across the mountain). It is better to make the climb to Cruz de Ferro in the morning after a good night’s rest as opposed to doing it after one has already walked for several hours. So that’s our highlight tomorrow. Today we experienced a drastic change in weather. From the heat that we have been moaning about all week, we now have strong cold winds and the sun shining bright. The type of weather that I have been longing for. 10km into our walk we arrived at the village of Santa Catalina de Somoza. The sight as we left the village was breathtaking. Rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, and low stone walls running by the side of the roads and also as boundary markers. For a moment I thought I was in the Lake District or Wales. Our climb today is only up to 1162m. The ascent is rather gradual so it was relatively easy. Rabanal is a small village but boasts very nice accommodation. We have a lovely room with twin beds and a nice big day bed at La Posada de Gaspar. I have chosen to sleep on the day bed (kinda cool!). Oh I forgot to mention that on our walk here, when we were trekking through the wilderness, I was confronted by a baby python, new born baby python? I froze. It was not the baby python I was concerned about. I was wondering if Mummy python was lurking around. Hey, I was told about wild dogs, even wolves, but no one warned me about snakes. Thank God it slithered away quickly so I dashed on. Joy was about 300m behind so she missed the fun. Our dinner tonight was at the hostel’s restaurant. Fish and chips and garlic soup for me; Fish and chips and seafood soup for Joy. Every dish was superb. Doesn’t sound like a very Spanish meal does it? In passing I must mention that Joy must be the only pilgrim on the Camino who greets everyone with “hi”. She simply refuses to say “Hola” or “Buen Camino” – says it is too difficult   We have to be really good tonight. It is 8.30pm now and lights out in 10 minutes. Have to be fighting fit for tomorrow and the next few days to conquer the mountains!!

Friday 30th April 2010 (San Martin del Camino to Astorga - total distance to date 448.23km)
Walking to Astorga today was another day of trekking on hard asphalt.  It is difficult to imagine how hard it is on the feet unless you move from asphalt to paths and tracks where the ground is earth and stones and definitely softer.  Today I realised that walking on stones is rather therapeutic (akin to having reflexology) but one has to be very careful not to slip on those bigger rocks.  Today's journey was 24.46km.  Not much scenery given that we were still walking alongside the main A-road.  We miss the paths and tracks - hopefully they will return by tomorrow.  It is so peaceful when you are in the wilderness - silence broken only by birds singing, the sound of woodpeckers, water flowing through the streams and perhaps sheep dogs barking.  Oh, I forgot to mention that when we were in Bercianos del Camino, I was kept awake most of the night by dogs barking because the wolves were howling.  Thank God we never met any wolves during our walk - at least not yet!  When we walked through Hospital de Orbigo today (7km from San Martin del Camino), the town was preparing for their weekly Battle of the Knights - a tradition that has been carried down since time in memorial.  Apparently the Knights are all decked out in their armours and the entire battle in tournaments are conducted with utmost pomp and ceremony.  Pity we were just a day too early.  I am sure it would have been wonderful to watch.  Talking about missing a great event, we missed another great event at the Leon Cathedral two evenings ago.  Apparently the Spanish Orchestra was performing Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven at the Cathedral and pilgrims get to watch it for free.  Let's hope we don't miss any more great events.  Back to our walk today.  Not particularly exciting as I was saying but we did have some long moderate to steep inclines.  We have taken to putting 85% effort into our walks so that we do not feel totally exhausted by the time we get to our destination.  This seems to be working well and we are both very happy with this strategy.  Taking the slopes at a slower pace and stopping for short rests has also seen us arriving at the apex in much better shape (not panting away!!).  When we got to the apex of today's climb, what greeted us was indeed a surprise.  Astorga in the distance with the mountains behind it still pretty much snow-capped.  A rather breathtaking scenery.  We think that we would be walking towards those mountains in the days to come.  Astorga is a pretty and quaint little town.  Lots of nice shops, clearly indicating that it is a tourist attraction.  Chicken deprived Joy found a restaurant serving roast chicken - of course that was what we had for dinner!  Have to keep my physio happy.  It is way past my bedtime now.  Joy and I are extremely happy that we are now able to get to our destination between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.  This gives us more time to relax, do our laundry, enjoy the destination, get supplies, etc.  But it means diligently waking at 5.00am everyday so goodnight!  Oh Joy just reminded me to mention a couple we met, who were walking in the opposite direction.  The gentleman turned around to show us the placard mounted on his backpack which read "Santiago - Roma".  They are walking from Santiago to Rome.  A short chat with them revealed that they have been walking the various Caminos for the past one year and five months!!  Amazing isn't it?

Thursday 29th April 2010 (Leon to San Martin del Camino – total distance walked to date 378.77km)

The two days rest in Leon was indeed a good decision. I never left the hotel room except for meals that we had at Chinese restaurants and we specified what we wanted (soup beehoon!!). Joy on the other hand now knows Leon at the back of her hands for she has walked north and south, east and west of Leon so many times in the two days. We stayed in a very nice hotel (Hotel La Posada Regia), not quite in keeping with pilgrims’ simple lifestyle but definitely good for nursing the sick! My fever has gone but the tummy is still not fully recovered but I am sure I will be back to normal in a day or two. We resumed our walk today from Leon to San Martin del Camino, 25.91km away. The walk today was different in that we were walking through built-up areas most of the time, and very often between the highway and the main A-road. So it was hardly peaceful and definitely not pollution free (no fresh air, not even the smell of dung that we have become so accustomed to in the countryside). Nevertheless Joy and I really enjoyed today’s walk because the weather was very kind to us. We did have the sun but being a cloudy day it was not shining directly on us all the time (as did when we were walking the Meseta – the open plains from Burgos to Leon). For this, we arrived at San Martin del Camino still feeling rather fresh (something we have not experienced before on this trip) and on top of the world. We felt we could go for another 5km. We hope that we will have this feeling for the rest of our journey. I am sure the rest had something to do with it too – the bodies have recharged!! When walking on the Camino, one gets greeted by everyone you meet. Such is the friendliness here. Be it a good morning, a good day or the very common “Buen Camino”. Joy said that we should do this when we get home – to wish everyone you pass. I told her that we might be mistaken for being “siow” although I do agree that it is a very nice thing to do. Joy is super friendly, especially to Asians here, but she always complains to me that the Asians do not return her smiles! Talking about Joy, I could not have found a better walking companion. As I have mentioned before, she is my personal physiotherapist. Every little ache and pain is attended to by her – and she is rather good! Unfortunately she has to attend to her own aches and pains herself as I am really not good at all at massaging. Today we checked in to a private albergue (dormitory like accommodation) but we took a private room. Costing us only Euros 9.00 per person. There are only 4 of us here so it is very quiet. It is run by a very nice elderly couple who is so obliging to our needs. We ordered our meals outside of their menu and they are going to prepare them for us. They are also going to wake very early tomorrow morning so that they can prepare breakfast for us in time for us to leave at 6.30am. We are truly blessed to meet such nice people along the way. Every now and then when we need it most, an “Angel” appears – I think that is the wonder of the Camino. We are into our 18th day today with only 12 to go. How time flies. We are really looking forward to having Li Leng, Steven and Teddy join us. We miss having Gen with us but Joy and I have been enjoying each other’s company too and looking out for each other. Today we received news that the Spanish Tourism Office in Singapore has advised that all the Tourism Centres in Spain will carry posters of our walk to help create awareness of what we are doing. This is indeed great news! Pink Spartans – you will be famous – and so will Singapore Cancer Society. Ok, time to end now. Till tomorrow!

Monday 26th April 2010 (Terradillos de los Templorios to Bercianos de Real Camino - total walked to date 352.86km)

Tuesday 27th April 2010 (Bercianos de Real Camino - Leon)

I am sorry that I did not update my blog yesterday.  When we got in to Bercianos de Real Camino, I was really sick.  High fever, bouts of shiverring, stomach upset, just generally feeling rather sick.  So, Joy and I decided to take the bus from Bercianos this morning and come straight to Leon so that I can rest for 2 days.  We will resume walking on Thursday 29th April 2010.  Have been popping lots of panadol, Vit Cs, multi-Vits, whatever else that will give me relief.  I have been sleeping lots so I am sure the rest will do me good to face the challenges coming ahead (we need to scale 2 mountains - actually it is coming down that we are a little concerned.  Apparently it is very steep).  I need to rest again so till Thursday or tomorrow if I feel up to writing.  Goodnight.

Sunday 25th April 2010 (Carrion de los Condes to Terradillos los Templarios – total walked to date 328.82km)


First of all a message to Leslie who I know is following my blog and who has been commenting on them – I do not know how to reply to you through the blog. Each time I type a reply, it will not accept it. Sorry huh .. I am a real novice at this.

From setting off for the day, we walked 18km before arriving at a village. 18km of walking on stone paths and there was no shade at all. Not a cloud in the sky. It was not an exciting walk at all today – we felt like we were in a desert – and as the hours passed, the heat took its toll on us. The last 2km was the worst. We thought we would not be able to make it but what choice did we have? There are no buses or taxis so the only mode of getting there is on foot! I did not come prepared for this heat so the only long-sleeved piece of clothing I have is my raincoat. Put it on and I protect my arms, but I will be perspiring buckets under it. Take it off and I will be really sun burnt. No amount of sun block will help (I think I said this before in my earlier blog). So I decided to take off my raincoat before I die of heat stroke. What made it worse is the heat from the ground. It gets to our feet and the discomfort reduces our walking pace tremendously. But there is no alternative, we just have to live with the situation and get to our destination. Another problem we had was that we kept drinking water but there are no toilet facilities at all on this 18km stretch. At this point I will leave it to your imagination. Today too saw the most number of pilgrims walking within a 500m distance. Perhaps it is because the route is so straight that we could see more people. But this really does not help when you are trying to find a suitable place and time to release those precious fluids. No wonder the grass is so green on the Camino. We did have a light moment today though. When we got to Calzadilla de la Cueza (the village at the end of the 18km walk), we stopped at the bar for a drink and something to eat. We were joined at the table by a French gentleman and his Spanish companion. His Spanish companion was the lady with really bad blisters that I mentioned in my blog yesterday. Anyway, the Frenchman (I forgot to ask for his name) mentioned that he was in Singapore two years ago and he stayed with his friend when he was there. He then continued to say that he comes from Bordeaux in France. Joy immediately chipped in and said “oh you stayed in Bedok?”. I quickly explained to Joy what he said – that he comes from Bordeaux and not that he lived in Bedok. You should have seen the rather confused look on his face! In Cantonese you will say “Tarp Chor Seen”. Joy has her comical moments and it hits when you least expect them. The albergue we are at tonight is somewhat new. I am so glad we booked this one because it is the first building you see when you enter the village (no need to walk another 1km to get to the centre of the village where we normally end up) so we did not have to plod another 1km. Every metre mattered today. It is always nice at the end of the day because invariably we meet up with familiar faces. Some will always be the “hi bye” acquaintances but some soon become friends, even good friends because they will look out for you. This place is cold. I am sat on my bed right now writing this blog and I am under three duvets. I am not kidding. And I was already feeling cold as soon as we checked in - from extreme heat into the cold. I think the insulation needs to be improved. Do you know that it is very difficult to find chicken on the menu in Spain? I wonder why? Very often if we take the set menu, our choice is very limited and they seem to offer the same dishes (and chicken is rare). But we do spoil ourselves and have good meals now and then. Oh dear, it is 10.30pm and it is way past my bedtime. Have to put in sufficient rest so that I have the energy to walk. Tomorrow will be 23km, not so bad. Some say that we are officially half way to Santiago today but the book that we are using as reference says that half way is 354km (which might be tomorrow or Tuesday morning, depending on what my GPS watch tells me). Goodnight!

Saturday 24th April 2010 (Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de los Condes – total walked to date 302.12km)

Our hopes of leaving at 6.00am today were dashed because Eduardo Merino (the handsome Spaniard who runs Casa Rural En El Camino where we stayed last night) insisted we had to stay for breakfast; that his mother makes the best toast in town. His power of persuasion was hard to beat so we gave in and frankly it was worth it (the French loaf was crispy on the outside and so soft on the inside). Just as well our planned departure was delayed because it was a very misty morning. 7.20am saw us all set and raring to go. The mist stayed with us till 10.30am, making our walk really pleasant as it was nice and cool. On the down side, we missed out on the very nice scenery around (as mentioned in the Camino book that we have been using as reference). Well, we cannot have everything, and we do know that we do not want the heat. Joy woke with rashes all over her body so we were also hoping for cool weather as the heat will most definitely aggravate her condition. We could not pinpoint the cause of the rashes except for the heat. Today promised walking on really flat terrain – we did get that with just the odd occasion of slight slopes. Everyone generally loves the idea of walking on flat terrain but it presents a different set of problems. It is very hard on the soles of our feet and invariably the pressure gives rise to new blisters, new aches. Same applies to walking on asphalt. Perhaps we need different kind of soles for different terrain? Of course that will not go well with carrying additional weight though. Today we managed the fastest pace since starting out 13 days ago. We started out at an average of 5.10km/hr (over the first two hours), maintaining 4.70km/hr for another two hours but dropping drastically the remaining two because we were walking a great deal of the time on stoned paths and Joy really suffered there. She too is suffering from blisters, aching knees and leg fatigue and the stones on the path were no help at trying to keep a healthy pace. We made a couple of short stops to rest our feet over a cup of tea, or to have banana and water, or just to do some stretches. On the Camino, one would stop at a Bar for that cup of tea or coffee or snacks or even to use the washroom. I have never entered so many Bars in my life! We felt really good today after the walk because we arrived at our destination by 2.00pm, giving us much more time to attend to our daily routine (book accommodation for the next day, call the transporter to tell him where to take our mochila to, laundry, super marketing for the following day’s food rations, etc). This is also another reason why we are adamant to start at 6.00am everyday from now. Carrion de los Condes is a town with a population of 2,534 and we did pick the right day to be here. Having been seeing villages of less than 100 in population, this was definitely a welcomed change. Saturdays see a lot of activities in this town – flea market, carnival, cars and trucks on sale – I think the whole town is out. We had a superb lunch at Restaurant La Corte. We stumbled on it as our accommodation was next door. The garlic soup was the best that I have had (and believe me I have had quite a lot). My main was pan fried veal and that too was delicious. Joy had calamari, with sole for her main. Needless to say, equally yummy. A lot of our pilgrim friends also stopped in this town today and it was so nice to see them, all showered and relaxed (instead of passing each other on the Camino, often after hours of walking and looking really tired). We met a lady in the Pharmacy today. She was in there to see the Pharmacist for her badly blistered feet. She was bleeding as the skins of the blisters have all torn off. She was in great pain. Having seen her condition, Joy and I decided to count our blessings that what we have suffered and are suffering is most definitely pale in comparison. And this lady is continuing with her walk! Almost everyone walking on the Camino suffers pain in some form or other; it is only the degree of pain. But the beauty of the Camino and not losing sight of what each individual is doing it for is the very essence of one’s determination to complete it. With this I will end today’s blog. Tomorrow is a new day with a new challenge!

Friday 23rd April 2010 (Hontanas to Boadilla del Camino – total walked to date 277.12km)

Hontanas has a population of 65. We stayed at the newly built Casa Rural El Descanso (Casa Rural accommodations are like no-frills hotels but generally very homely and clean). In fact I think we were their first customers. Dinner last night was rather good. Garlic soup and pork loin with fried eggs. Garlic soup must be THE soup in this region because everywhere we went, garlic soup was served. We enjoy it every time. Perhaps it’s because it reminds us of the thick fish maw soup we get at home. The owner is a lovely elderly lady who washed our clothes (at no charge) and today when I carelessly left my mobile phone in the room, she had it sent to me at Boadilla del Camino where we stopped for the night today. We had just arrived at the peak of a mountain, after trekking up steep inclines when I discovered I did not have my mobile phone with me. As you can imagine, all hell broke loose as I cannot do without it. I thought I had dropped it when we stopped for a cup of coffee in a cafe. Anyway, we did not have a lot of options then – go down the mountain and back to the cafe to look for it or just treat it as lost. Back tracking meant having to climb the mountain again, never mind having to walk down it too. I did think of calling the Casa Rural to find out if I had left my phone there but as my Spanish is so bad I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the landlady anyway. Remember God works in mysterious ways on the Camino? Just when Joy decided that she would go back to the cafe to look for it, our angel appeared – in the form of our fellow Polish pilgrim (someone we keep meeting up with enroute). He speaks Spanish so he was able to talk to the landlady. Lucky me!! The Spaniards are very warm and friendly people. Everyone that I have approached for help, have even gone out of their way to do so. And as we go on our journey, everyone whom we pass will greet us with either “Buenos Dias” or “Hola” or “Buen Camino”. Now, back to our walk. We left at 7.15am for our 31.7km journey. Mentally we were psyched for an easy walk, mainly flat we were told. Now I will not believe everything I read anymore. They conveniently forget to mention the gradual inclines along the flats. Coupled with several stretches of yet more very muddy tracks, our walk on the whole was tough. I have long abandoned the thought of trying to stay clean. Clean while walking on the Camino does not exist. Dung from cows, sheep, horses and I don’t know what or who else is a common sight. We avoid the fresh droppings but sometimes it is inevitable that you tread through the dried up traces. If you try to avoid everything, you would either need to be nimble footed like a ballerina or double your walking time to Santiago de Compostella. Walking through the villages, we cannot help but notice the tremendous amount of building and restoration that is going on. I wonder if it is because this year is the Holy Year and they are getting the villages all spruced up in anticipation of the surge in number of pilgrims over the summer, especially in July. The feast of St James is on 25th July, so whenever 25th July falls on a Sunday, that year is a Holy Year. I am rambling. Perhaps it is because it is 10.37pm now and I am really tired and sleepy. We get up at 5.30am every morning and we are out walking for 8 to 10 hours every day. Joy and I are trying to set out at 6.00am every morning so that we can end earlier and beat the hot afternoon sun. The sun really zaps our energy and reduces our walking speed to almost 2km/hr. So if we can cut an hour off in the afternoon then it’s an hour less being exposed. So, I must go to bed and it also means that I will give yesterday a miss but not before letting you know that we walked from Burgos to Hontanas and the total walked as at yesterday was 245.42km

Wednesday 21st April 2010 (Ages to Burgos - total walked to date 213.10km)
I just discovered that if I use my O2 mobile broadband to upload photographs on this blog, I will use up a huge chunk of my allowance and may end up paying for excess usage.  Therefore, unless I can get free wi-fi at the accommodations, I will not be inserting photographs.  Today we had a very special day.  After 10 days of walking, we arrived at Burgos - the first big city since leaving Pamplona.  With only 14.85km to do, we completed it in an extremely good time of 4 hours.  Must be inspired by the thought that we will actually be able to relax for the rest of the day, in a big city!!  The route today saw new terrains for us - very rocky paths.  Walking through it was akin to walking on the moon?  Not that we have experienced that but it was just like in the movies.  But it was worth the climb because when we got to the top, the view was rather breathtaking.  We passed Atapuerca (where the 800,000 year old remains of the first European was discovered in Atapuerca in 1994.  The oldest confirmed Hominid found in Europe.).   Once downhill the route became rather boring.  Flat and on asphalt (that we discovered is really very hard on the feet).  The last 3km into Villafrai was on a two-lane road and does not really make for nice walking because of the build up in traffic.  Villafrai is only 10km away from Burgos, so that explains the increase in activities.  We took the bus from Villafrai to Burgos because the route was by the busy motorway and is historically not too safe.  Not complaining as it gave us more time to sightsee in Burgos (and window shop).  We had our first chinese meal since arriving in Spain.  At a Shanghainese restaurant.  The food was rather good (and it is not because we have been deprived), but as you can imagine, we had a lot to eat.  Burgos has a very beautiful cathedral.  We spent more than an hour touring it (could have made do with more time but they were closing).  Everywhere you turned, something would mesmerize you.  Carvings, paintings, chalices, crucifixes, statues, just to name a few.  This is definitely a must see sight if you ever visit Burgos.  Tonight is the last night that we have with Genevieve.  We will leave her tomorrow morning to carry on with our walk while she will stay in Spain till Saturday and then fly home.  Let's hope she will not be affected by the chaos of air travel as her flights are on British Airways, and she will have to fly via London.  Gen bought us our farewell dinner at La Cueva (a very nice Spanish restaurant that, according to the owner, is not frequented by tourists but locals.  So, he was a little surprised to see us pilgrims).  I will stop here for tonight.  Have to tidy up loose ends with Gen as we will be up and away bright and early in the morning.  Joy and I will miss her but time will pass quickly and we are looking forward to Li Leng, Steven and Teddy's arrival.  Until then it will be just Joy and I. 

Tuesday 20th April 2010 (Belorado to Ages - total walked to date 198.25km)
It is 6.55pm, we are in the bar/restaurant of our albergue for the night waiting for 7.00pm - that´s when they will serve dinner.  We are in Ages (pronounced as "Ah Hays").  Small village, seems rather deserted.  And what are we doing here?  Well, it either stay here for the night or walk another 7km to the next village.  We have already done 29.13km today - I think that is enough punishment to lash out to our feet and legs!  Anyway, the bartender cum front desk manager cum concierge etc etc is a very nice guy.  He and his sister own the albergue.  We are trying to get Joy to marry a Spaniard and sell Chicken Rice here (or Laksa or Char Kway Teow).  And ... the bartender Carlos is single!!  Gen´s sat by the bar right now trying to play cupid.  We did very well in today´s walk, made really good time and arrived in Ages at 6.00pm (with stops in between, including drinks at a very nice hotel at Villafranca del Rio - a place that all three of us do not mind returning for a holiday).  I must tell you that when in Spain, one must always remember their siesta time.  So, you must plan meal times carefully otherwise you will go hungry.  Today we had no lunch because we could not find a restaurant that was open enroute.  Fortunately we had one french loaf with ham left over from breakfast that we "tar powed" and had the foresight to cut it into three pieces.  We sat on the ground at the edge of the forest and had our lunch there.  Today we had a 3km hike uphill that was very steep followed by equally steep but shorter ascents and descents.  Considering this tough stretch, coupled with a very long stretch through the forest (seemed to have been never ending), I must say we did very well.  The weather was rather kind to us today but we are heading for hotter climes.  Not good news because the sun gets very hot and we will surely suffer sun burns.  I have been applying sun block but it does not seem to help much.  Oh well, don´t be surprised when you see me after my return all tanned.  Dinner is served so I must go.  Watch out for more news tomorrow.  Goodnight

I missed posting yesterday so you have two days' activities to read (Monday comes before Sunday though to follow the sequence of archiving).

Monday 19th April 2010 (Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado - total walked to date 169.12km)
It was time to say goodbye to our rather cute abode at Santo Domingo - we had polka dotted bed linen!  Since we had only 23.4km for today, we gave ourselves a little treat with a lie-in.  We left at 9.20am after a quick breakfast of coffee/juice and pastries.  Today we passed through an unusual number of villages - Granon, Redicilla del Camino, Castildelgardo, Vilora de Rioja and Villamayor del Rio.  Today we also left the La Rioja region and entered Castilla Y Leon.  Goodbye vineyards!  With so many villages, we also made more stops (for a drink of our favourite Kas pops or to pop into the Churches to say a quick prayer).  Today was filled with totally new experiences.  One was trekking through mud.  After yesterday's rainfall, a large section of the dirt tracks turned to mud.  As you can imagine, our shoes became heavier and heavier from the mud that was collected on our soles.  Not a good feeling I can assure you.  Lunch was another new experience.  We couldn't find a restaurant that was open so we promptly sat ourselves down when we found a clearing by the road and out came whatever we had in our backpacks.  Not a lot though - a banana, a pack of chips, left over donuts and chocolates.  No time to be fussy or too particular - it's survival.  The last new experience was rather hair raising.  We were faced with a burning mountain of hay.  No way to go except through the billowing smoke and it was a good 60m deep.  We thought we had died in there.  One thing is to ward our faces from the smoke but we could not hold our breadths long enough so it was inevitable that we inhaled it.  It was scary.  For a long while after we could still taste the smoke.  Joy was down with a giddy spell and it got so bad her pace was down to a crawl.  There was not much we could do (given that there were no taxis nor buses) so she just had to plod along.  The 3km left to go seemed like eternity but we were so glad that she made it.  We had a good meal on entering Belorado and Joy seemed much better after that.  It is way past midnight now so I should say goodnight.  The tough terrain will make difficult walking tomorrow so I must have a good night's sleep.

Sunday 18th April 2010 (Ventosa to Santo Domingo de la Calzada - total walked to date 145.72km)
Ventosa means windy in Spanish and that must be how the village got its name.  It only has a population of 129.  Staying in an albergue sees everyone up at the crack of dawn.  Besides the ruling that all must leave by 8.00am, all Camino walkers like to set off early.  After 7 days of walking, I can understand why.  The sun gets really hot in the afternoons and makes walking very difficult.  It just zaps one's energy.  We were one of the last to leave and it was only 7.25am.  Braving the cold and wind, we made tracks on our 31.5km journey - the longest walk in one day since we started.  I had mixed feelings.  Can I make it in my new trekking sandals?  What if, what if, what if - I was full of what ifs.  Eventually I just left it to fate.  C'est la vie (oops, need to find out the Spanish equivalent for this).  The first town we passed through was Najera.  I liked Najera.  It is a place that I would like to return for a holiday.  The morning's walk took us through vineyards after vineyards (after all it is the La Rioja region).  But a pity that all we saw were bare branches.  I am sure it would be lovely when the grapes are in season.  The terrain is never really easy.  Invariably one would be faced with ups and downs.  The question is how steep?  After 7 days of continuous walking, I can feel that my stamina and strength has improved.  If only I can rid my legs of the blisters and muscle pain, then I am sure the walk would be even more wonderful.  After lunch, the rain set down on us.  First it was just drizzles and then it progressed to moderate rain.  Still it did not dampen our spirits for all that was on my minds was to get to Santo Domingo de la Calzada.  I have never appreciated my Garmin watch more than I did yesterday when the battery was flat!!  Only then did I realise the amount of motivation that it has been giving us.  When the battery was flat, we were left without a measure of distance.  How much left to go?  What time will we reach Santo Domingo?  Without answers to these, walking was not the same anymore.  We did not have the motivation to work towards the finish because we had no idea how far the finish was.  Anyway, the waymarkings before Ciruena was few and far between.  There was a time when we thought we were hopelessly lost.  Again, without the Garmin, we could be anywhere!  Thank God (and believe me, God works in mysterious ways on the Camino), we found the yellow arrow at the end of what seemed like eternal walking.  By then our walk was reduced to almost 2km/hr.  Our leg muscles were stiff and pain set in.  What a relief it was to finally arrive at Santo Domingo de la Calzada but the Hostel was in the centre of the town and that meant so much more walking.  My trekking sandals were not as good as I had thought.  I am afraid it will have to go.  I sorely missed the ankle support that my trekking boots provided.  I am sure it was the cause of the swollen ankles.  After checking in, we went down to the restaurant for dinner.  What a sight we must have been.  While other pilgrim diners were looking fresh and clean, the three of us staggered in, looking tired and unkempt.  Staggering because we could barely walk, we couldn't even keep our balance.  At least the day ended with a relatively nice dinner and for me an added bonus of having Joy give me a really good massage on my legs.