Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
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.
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, May 2, 2010
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!
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, May 1, 2010
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, April 30, 2010
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?
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, April 29, 2010
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!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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.
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.
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