Camino catalan week 1

Day 1 to Vilabertran 26 kms
What a day! Normally I hate uphills but the uphill to San Pere de Rodes was surprisingly different.
The Camino starts in El Port de la Selva at a sign in the port.


I cheated and took these photos the day before, when I started I got a taxi from Llanca to the campsite at Port de Val.  It's 3 kms from El Port de la Selva and where the path starts to go uphill. At first it was not signed but my guide said to walk to Val de St Creu which was what I was doing.  When I got there the footpath went off to Sant Pere de Rodes.

 It was signed with little yellow lines. It was a very steep narrow path. Normally when I walk uphill my legs and my brain don't coordinate, my brain says I'll just walk to there and stop but my legs just stop but today there was no stopping. Admittedly I was walking very slowly.
The footpath was very narrow and sometimes it was just smooth rock with a big drop at the side.
  this was the path in places.
 I had been worried about walking in hot sunny weather but on this climb I was very grateful that the path was not wet, it would have been very dangerous and I would never have managed it.
  
     Looking up!                                              Looking back
Eventually I got to the monastery, it had been an incredible walk and the monastery is well worth the visit.
  

The coming down was horrendous, it started by walking up to this other chapel.
 views from the other side.
 The path had been re-signed in places with these signs.
Shortly after this the downhill really started. The idea of walking downhill doesn't seem so bad but this was long and steep and seemed to go on forever. For a while I thought I was on the wrong path,  I was following the same little yellow lines but it said 'Circuito Megalitico ' or something. There was nothing I could do,  I wasn't going to go back up but I was very grateful when I saw a camino sign, and equally glad when I got down. I discovered then that the walk down is 6.5 kms. Sant Pere is at 670 metres, the walk up is 3.5 kms the walk down 6.5 !!! I was too busy concentrating on the path to take photos!!
I arrived in the town of Pau and stopped for a drink and a rest.

Whilst I was in the bar another 'pilgrim' appeared, but he was walking from Lisbon to Berlin and was just about to walk up to San Pere.
I spent all day a little confused as my notes said I should go to somewhere called Vilabertran but I didn't, not till later anyway. I had 'cut' and 'pasted' info from the Catalan Tourist guide and somehow I had pasted this info in the wrong place.
After Pau it was flat, easy and well signed. I had hesitated about whether to stop in Vilajuiga,  after 15 kms or go onto Perelada at 24 kms.  I decided to  continue to Perelada as it is more interesting and would cut down the next day.
 One of the common signs

Unfortunately Perelada is a tourist town, the hotels were either full or too expensive! I ended up having to walk nearly to Figueres, by then I really was exhausted.
The wind started to blow a real gale, the Tramuntana had arrived.

Day 2 Vilabertran to Bascara +/-22 kms
The wind howled all night. I used my earplugs but it was still really loud. I discovered this morning that my window had blown open, which was why I was listening to it in glorious techni-sound. When I left the hotel I was nearly blown over.  For a while it was coming from the front, which made walking really difficult, then it was coming from the side so I had to lean into it to stop being blown off the path.


I walked back to Vilabertran,   about 2 kms,  to pick up the camino, then I headed to Figueres.
   
By the time I left Figueres the wind had dropped, there were still gusts but between times it was easier. My legs are very tired today, I think yesterday I was on a high. My info said I would walk from Figueres to Santa Llogadia,  which I took to be the next town, but there was one called Vilafant before which had much better facilities. including a butcher who would stamp credenciales, but this was Sunday!

When I got to Santa Llogadia I could see nothing and the camino didn't even go in, but then I saw a church so I went to investigate as I was desperate to sit down, I found a bar so I stopped there and had a coffee and a rest. The big advantage today is that the villages are fairly regularly spaced out so it is lots of little bite size pieces.
Signing today is arrows, plus the blue signs that crop up regularly. Mostly it is very well signed it is just in the villages that it can be confusing. My info is a download of a brochure produced by the Catalan Tourist office in 2010, so some of it has changed. There aren't many albergues on this stretch and Eroski doesn't have info before Monserrat so I have nothing up to date.
I got lost a bit in a couple of villages, once because I failed to see the arrow and once because there simply weren't any.
I was exhausted when I arrived in Bascara and desperate for a drink as I had run out of water for the last few kms. I was aiming for Pension Fluvia and I found it almost at once. They are really friendly and there is a restaurant so I could have lunch. I didn't have a proper meal yesterday, just frequent snacks, so I was glad to feel I had eaten properly. After lunch I had a siesta, this was taken to a background cacophony of poultry, I think they belong to the restaurant so it's fresh produce here.

Then I went to visit the town, it is very picturesque, an old walled town with castle, though not much remains of the castle.


The landlady has provided me with an electric kettle so that I can have a warm drink before I leave in the morning :)

Day 3 Bascara to Girona +/- 28 kms
I started very early as my guide info says that it is 33kms and it is far too hot for walking in the afternoon. Then the first sign I came to seemed to indicate that it would be about 24 kms, later this changed to 28, then I got lost so who knows?
Today was mostly gently undulating countryside and woods. I went very slowly in the morning because I found some wild asparagus and I picked a handful, hoping I would be able to cook them this evening.
The path continues to be well signed, I got lost walking through a 'bosque de chopos' which I think translates as a wood of plane trees, more of a tree plantation than a wood. They are the kind of trees you see down French roads. There was really only one path , then I came to a quarry and there was a lorry manoeuvring, I was so busy watching the lorry that I failed to see 2 big yellow arrows pointing off onto a less visible track. I walked on for some while before I had to walk back.
It was a long hot walk and the walk into Girona seemed interminable and was very badly signed.
In fact the signs never entered the town at all, they got to the edge and then led straight back out again. This is a Youth Hostel and there is nowhere to cook, there's a microwave but as there are no microwaveable dishes that's not much good. Hopefully tomorrows will be better equipped, I desperately need to wash clothes.

Day 4
Girona to Amer 28 kms
Girona is a lovely city but it does not welcome pilgrims, not only did the arrows not enter the town but there were no signs out either.
The exit was on a 'via verde' ( a green footpath). It was very disconcerting not having the security of arrows, it was 4 kms before I even saw a sign post for the camino and even more before I saw an arrow, from then on I saw occasional arrows and signs but they were few and far between.
Though today 2 people wished me 'buen camino' that was a first. My original plan for today had been to walk 14.5 kms to Bonmati so I started late, fortunately not too late. I had breakfast at 7 and started about 7.30 but I had a leisurely stroll through the old town before I started in earnest.
 
I had picked up leaflets on some of the albergues I hoped to stop at, it seems that they are youth hostels attached to universities and may only be available in July and August. After Bonmati I planned to stay in San Feliu de Pallerols, which was described as a 'colonie de vacances'. I phoned the number I had and the guy I spoke to thought it would not open for just one person, then I phoned the next town and found that they have an albergue so I reorganised my plans. One advantage of the Via Verde is that it is flat and smooth, no potholes or stones to trip on.
 My first arrow!
  
It was also an educating trail, these were based on the architecture of water, a fantastic hydroelectric centre and an old ice store.
 Just occasionally someone had really signed!
 When I got to Amer I found the pension/restaurant was closed but the owner was there and gave me a room. I must have a very honest face because he has given me a key to the place, bar and all. I was in time to have a shower, go to the town hall for a stamp and have lunch.
Also I have phoned the albergue in Cantonigros, where I can't stay, and Vic, where I can, so I am going to have a very long day the day after tomorrow and it is still very hot to walk in the afternoon.
Day 5 Amer to San Esteve den Bans 25.5 kms
I got up at 5.45 and had a chocolate drink and a muesli bar and got ready. I left just after 6.30, the walk started on pavement and there were street lights so it was easy to see my way back to the Via Verde.

Today it is very much an old railway track, yesterday it was not quite so clear that that is what it was, though I did pass a couple of old stations. The path was high, well above the road and I was getting a feeling that it would by-pass all the villages, not camino style at all. It did by-pass all ravines because there were bridges, that at least was in its favour. However at Les Planes d'Hostalets the road and the Via combined for a few moments. The Via crossed the main road and went on up the other side, well outside of the town, but there were camino signs into the town.

Just before arriving into the town there was a super picnic area, with toilets, I think that is a first!.

I went into the town for a coffee and then back to the camino again. Once again it is signed with very discreet little yellow lines. The camino joined the Via Verde just outside the town, just by the cemetery, a small uphill stretch, it's funny, much as I don't like going uphill I have found this constant sameness of the Via Verde very boring. From now onwards the path was prettier, lots of spring flowers and more interesting countryside.

The old station at San Feliu de Pallerals

When I got to St Esteve I went to the Town Hall for instructions in how to get to the Albergue but I needn't have worried as I would have found it if I had continued along the Via Verde.

The Albergue

a view from the Albergue

View the other side

I started by being the only person in the albergue though a young man turned up in the evening. There is no kitchen. In summer they do 'Full Board' but at the moment it means a trip to a bar, but there are plenty of bars in the town. The Albergue also has nowhere to hang clothes to dry but I always carry a clothes line and there was space outside and lots of sun so I sorted my own clothes line :)

Day 6 San Esteve den Bas to ??

Well it had to happen!! I got up early ready to walk to Vic, I knew this would be a long walk but the Albergue in Cantonigros had told me that they had no availability for tonight. It started off fine, I got to Hostalet den Bas which was very pretty.

 From there my guide described one route whilst the signs went for another, the 'Camino Real (Cami Ral in Catalan)' so I followed the signs, these were various.

At one point I had to take a leap of faith and follow a little yellow line off the road and into a field but it turned out alright, I soon came to a proper sign.

A dry river bed, you don't see many of those in Galicia!

I knew that the 15kms to Cantonigros would be nearly all uphill but the uphill was steeper than I expected. But it was through lovely woodland.

 

Looking down to St Esteve

Looking down!

A fountain about half way up

Looking up!

Eventually I got to the top, at L'Hostalot and there were no arrows or signs. There was a different kind of sign saying right to Cantonigros and little yellow lines saying left, so I went left. I walked on, and on, and on. Disconcertingly whenever I saw other footpaths they were aiming at places I had visited in the last 2 days. Then I saw a sign for L'Estany this was the name of the place I was to go to the next day so I thought I might manage to jump a day. At this point 2 cyclists appeared, after some discussion they suggested that my best bet was to go back to L'Hostalot and turn right.

A farm I passed.

The view from the road

The walk started as being quite pretty, it was through woodland again.

But it was interminable, it was 7 kms but I am sure it was the longest 7 kms I had ever walked. Having started at 06.30 I arrived in Cantonigros at 13.30 and ostensibly it was only 14 kms. There was no way I was going to continue walking. I found a bus stop and there was a bus at 17.30 so I had lunch and waited all afternoon. The bus came at 17.05 but it still had another village to go to before turning round. I asked the driver if I should get the bus then or wait until he came back. He said I should wait but he didn't tell me that on the return journey he would not enter the village and that I should walk up to the road. I waited till 18.00 when I was rescued by the owner of a nearby bar who had seen me waiting there all afternoon. She was taking her children home to the next village down the valley, she suggested that there may be a later bus from there but that, if not, there is a Pension. There was no bus but I got a bed for the night and a stamp on my credencial from the library. I was obviously meant to walk to Vic

Day 7 L'Esquirol to Vic +/- 20kms

Looking back I seemed to do nothing but moan about yesterday but in fact the walk was very beautiful if it were easier to find places to stay I expect I would have really enjoyed it. Whereas today was ugly and very badly signed. The signing started alright ....

 

Does this look like it leads to the camino???

Much of it looked like a rubbish dump and then there were super things like this wire, just above ankle height, that I saw just in time to stop myself from falling flat on my face.

and then the electric wires at about waist height that I had to crawl under.

someone seems to have planted bulbs here to make it look better.

This was well signed but it was in the middle of the path, a little bit later, when there was fork there was no sign!!

When I got to Les Massies de Roda the signs stopped completely. At the beginning of the village there was a different sign that said Vic for the Cami San Jaume to the left, so I went left. At the end of the village there was a narrow road going down and a path, that looked stony like the Cami going up, but not a sign to be seen. My guide said that the camino was parallel to the main road, this didn't look like a main road but I took it anyway. I walked for over 10 minutes and came to a reservoir and up on a hill behind me I could see a village, presumably the one I was aiming for, so I went back and took the path. There was an old man digging so I asked for help and in fact Roda de Ter was just round the corner but I had to walk all through the town before I found a sign. I reckon I walked about 3 kms with no signs and then after that they were poor and inconsistent. I had no idea which signs I was supposed to be following and sometimes I was, rather reluctantly, following little yellow lines.

a bridge just before Vic

Eventually I got to Vic and found the Albergue, it is behind the university and is mostly a Uni hall of residence. It has a laundry so I washed clothes and then went to visit Vic.

Vic has the most beautiful Plaza Mayor, I think one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It's not architectural like Madrid or Salamanca it looks like it was thrown together but the effect is really charming.

The end of week 1, I have walked 165kms plus the ones where I was lost. Some of the days have been super. I am having to carry a lot of weight. I started carrying 2 litres of water but I have had to increase as the weather has been really hot and many days there has been nowhere to get a drink during the day.

Camino Catalan

12th March

I was spared the early rise and long walk to the bus stop because Alfredo took me to the train station in A Rua, thus saving a couple of hours on the journey as well. There's not much I can say about the journey except that it was long. It took 10 hours, though the journey back will take much longer :-)

13th March

I got my credencial at the archbishop's office, next to the cathedral  and visited the cathedral.

 after that I went to buy new boots. This is really sad. I have lovely comfy boots that I bought in England in August and I have been breaking them in. Unfortunately the left one has a fault and lets in water. When it is wet my left foot feels like its paddling in a swimming pool! These new ones seem comfy but the sole isn't as bouncy or maybe it's just that the pavements of Barcelona are hard work. I'm really keen to get started.

March 14th
After a very noisy and disturbed night I got up early and set off.  I'd planned a touristy day,  though the most important part was to go to El Port de la Selva whilst the tourist office was open and to get my stamp. I achieved this and got some info but in fact the highlight of the day was lunch. I found a wonderful restaurant in Figueres but forgot to take note of the name:-( They served a 'menu del dia' at the same price as the other restaurants but the meal was completely different. I think it would be described as Asian fusion but may be wrong. The restaurant was small but very busy with well heeled and well dressed Catalans. If I knew the name I would recommend it to anyone who was planning to visit Figueres!
I'm spending the night in Llanca, 8 kms from El Port de la Selva. This is my first visit to the Costa Brava, being a tourist snob it is not somewhere I would choose to visit, but I have been agreeably impressed, I have not seen one 'Red Lion' pub or one fish and chip shop. In fact the main visitors seem to be French as we are only a few kilometers from the border.
Tomorrow I start walking, I've been told that it will be very windy tomorrow, the Tramuntana that blows down off the mountains.

Finishing the Via de la Plata

20th February 2014
Day 1 Verin to Laza 18kms
Here I go again, completing the Via de la Plata. This is a good way of training for the long walk ahead of me in March. I had intended starting this one on Saturday and to drive down to Ourense, leave my car somewhere quiet  and go to the bus station at a convenient time for the 10.30 bus to Verin but events caused a change as my car wouldn't start on Wednesday, it didn't seem sensible to sort out the problem and then to leave my car for a week so, as there are no buses at the weekend, I opted to start straight away. So I have had a 5.45 start, a 3 km walk and a 2.30 hours wait at the bus station, then a 2 hour drive to Verin. I got to Verin at 12.30 and went to look for a stamp for my credencial. I got started just before 1p.m. I'm not sure if it is good to walk along a road and to count every kilometre, I think that sometimes it is better not to know, it seemed slow going.

 

Where to park your umbrella when you go for a drink!

Eventually I came to a 'mojon', I thought that this was a 'one off ' for the Portuguese camino but then I found more so I reckoned that I had come to the point where the road I was following had reached the Camino Sanabres. The signs led off the road and through a little village, then back to the road, then stopped! I'm sure that there was a route off the road but I couldn't find it,  so I stuck to the road. I got to Laza at about 5 p.m. I went to the 'Proteccion Civil' to register and then to the albergue.

I'm the only pilgrim here but it's a lovely albergue, really well equipped. I did some shopping,  had a good meal and settled in for an early night:-)

Day 2 Laza to Vilar de Barrio 23 kms
I slept fairly well and got up at 7.45, so as to have breakfast before leaving the town. The weather forecast said it would rain, or snow, so I dressed up for wet weather. It was raining when I left the albergue but by the time I finished breakfast it had stopped and then the sun came out. The people at Civil Protection had given me a map and a profile of the walk to Vilar de Barrio, it was supposed to go up steeply for the first 15 kms then come down. The walk from Verin to Laza had been very unusual for Galicia in that it was all on the flat and today started flat. I realised that 15kms of very steep would get me very high so I started to hope it would not be too bad. The first 5-6 kms went smoothly, there were good signs, not just the normal ones but the fancy ones I had seen around Oseira. 

Also there were plenty of yellow arrows. Someone had put in a nice sign pointing backwards, just in case I wanted to turn around and go back!

There were some pretty villages and signs of how pilgrims have passed through here for centuries.

When the path started to go up it really did, the worst steep/long path that I have ever walked.

 

 It seems to have been a Roman road as there are signs of wheel tracks in the rock.

Fortunately it didn't rain because when I looked at the map I realised I was over 900 metres and they had forecast snow for above 800, I was a bit worried, I wasn't sure if, if it snowed, I would be worse off up a mountain were I might not see the signs or back on the road where I could be hit by a skidding car!! Fortunately it didn't snow.

This doesn't really show how steep it is but it shows me!

The first village at the top of the hill was Alburgueria, apparently there was a hospital here in medieval times, after that climb I can see why. According to Mundicamino, who had been the source of my info for this walk, there is no bar or anything there now. This is wrong as there is a super albergue, very welcoming. When I arrived there was no one there but the outside door was open and there is a toilet just inside, so I decided to sit outside for a drink and a rest and then use his facilities, but he turned up before I left, so I went in as well.

I had originally planned to walk 35 kms to Xunqueira de Ambia but after the steep walk I decided to stop in Vilar de Barrio. The walk after Albergueria was quite flat and I got to Vilar with no problem, the albergue there is good except that, although it has a lovely kitchen there are no cooking utensils and the bars in town did not do food so I had to have a cold meal. I couldn't even make a cup of tea or coffee. At least the place was warm.

Day 3 Vilar de Barrio to Ourense 34 kms
I didn't sleep too well, I kept hearing strange clunking noises and thought someone was trying to get in! I didn't get up to find out but in the morning I discovered that it was the fridge that clunks loudly. I got up early as I intended to walk all the way to Ourense, to make up for cutting yesterday short. It had poured with rain during the night and was still raining when I got up so, once again I dressed for rain but it only rained for a short time and then, once again, the sun came out. The first 13kms to Xunqueira were hard work, flat and boring to start with then a steep up and down. The down was particularly difficult as it was wet rock and very slippery. After Xunqueira it became easier but the shells were the wrong way round so I got confused, I was very grateful to find the other strange signs.

I had company for a little while, an elderly lady felt that, as I was walking alone, I should have someone to talk to but she insisted in talking in Gallego so it was a great test of my comprehension.

A pilgrim's corner at the edge of Ourense.

 

First view of Ourense.

When I arrived at Ourense I was alone again, and expected to stay that way but then a group of 26 Irish students turned up, very promising for the rest of the week!

Day 4 Ourense to Dozon 37+ kms
The students were noisy until midnight. I tried ear-plugs and a pillow over my head but I could still hear them. I woke up at 6.40 and decided that, as I was a wake, I would get up quietly and get away before the rush started. I left about 7.15. the streets near the albergue were full of drunks going home from their night out. I found a normal bar and had breakfast and then started the walk. I had spoken to one of the students and found that they were going to Oseira, she told me where they were going after that but the names didn't make much sense in Irish. Logically it was likely that we would end up in the same places again so after a lot of thought I decided to go for a long day and get ahead of them. After a long walk I got to the edge of the city, from where they seem to start doing measurements! From here the first part of the walk is steeply uphill and I hate hills, it was 21 kms to Cea, and I thought about 11 or 12 beyond that to Dozon. I got to Cea about 13.30, when I asked how far to Dozon I was told 16 kms, I decided that, however hard it was going to be it was worthwhile, just to get away from the students.
In fact the walk from Cea to Dozon was hell, the first part was OK but then it took me across the motorway and then I got worried because the track just lead uphill and way out into the country, no sign of houses or people, or even roads.

For ages I was in the middle of nowhere and it was threatening to rain and I was worried it was going to get dark and I would still be in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say the track eventually came back down and I crossed back to the right side of the motorway just on the edge of Dozon. I had a lovely little room to myself, the room was heated though the rest of the Albergue was not, the building is very big with big spaces and is designed for summer. I cooked a meal and it was stone cold before I had finished eating it, so I retired to the warmth of my little room.

Day 5 Dozon to Silleda 26 kms
I got up to find it was pouring with rain, after having one and a half days of good weather and 'normal' clothes it was back to 'wet' gear. I started walking in torrential rain but fortunately it didn't last too long, but by the time it finished my gloves were soaking wet and my hands were freezing. Eventually the weather improved.
After a good nights sleep I could see that yesterdays walk should have been very pleasant, it was lovely countryside, if I had done it in the morning I would have enjoyed it. I must try and be more relaxed and just enjoy.
I've done this walk, from Dozon to Santiago, before but I didn't remember any of it. It was OK up to Laxe, then it started getting hard, those last few kilometres seemed to go on forever. Many of the paths were soaking wet, I got to a cement draining ditch that was full of water flowing into a stream, there was a big stone to help cross over so I stood on it, the stone moved and I lost my balance, I put my foot in the drain but it didn't work and I ended up sitting in the water. For a few moments I was so unbalanced that I feared I was going to go right over, head first, into the stream, fortunately I managed to avoid that. I've often wondered what would happen if I fell over with a back-pack on, I imagined myself lying on my back like a tortoise, hoping that someone would come along and give me a hand-up! Fortunately I was able to grip the side and get myself up. It was a great test of my water-proofs, they worked :)
Eventually I got to Silleda, but it was hard work when so many paths are wet, muddy and slippery.

One of the nice wet paths.

 

I am staying in the same private Albergue that I stayed in last time, with a nice bed, and bedding, and a TV.





 

Day 6  Silleda to Vedra 24 kms

 Well today was WET! It wasn't raining when I left the Albergue but it started soon after, first it was just off and on but soon it became very much on. It poured, the kind of rain that hits the ground and then bounces up again. I was soon soaked, as was my left boot, I don't know why but I felt as if I was paddling inside my boot. At one point there was lightening as well, I was carrying metal poles and I was a little concerned about metal poles and lightening.

I got so wet that I decided that I would just carry on and walk all the way into Santiago, I was  doing quite well when I realised that my sopping wet foot was getting blisters. I was still going to carry on, I had opted to walk on the road and had ignored the turn-off for the camino and the albergue. Surprisingly I came to another sign for the Albergue, just 1 Km off the main road so I headed that way.

Chapel next to the Albergue.

 

When I got to the Albergue I was told that the Irish group were due to turn up, this had been another reason that I had planned to walk all the way to Santiago. Anyway I was given a little corner to myself, the handicap alcove, and I thought this would keep me away from the noisy people.

The weather became temperamental, heavy rainstorms alternating with sunshine. I stopped walking at 2pm so it got a bit boring but at least I was resting my feet and my boots could dry.

The last time I was here the 'hospitalera' did food but apparently this doesn't happen over winter. I had planned to have food here so I had not bought provisions but fortunately I had just enough left to tide me over.

 

Day 7 To Santiago +/-15kms

What a night! The Irish group arrived in dribs and drabs from 5.30 onwards, some walking some in taxis. By the time the albergue shut at 10 pm some had still not arrived. You'd think that by 6.30 or 7, when it starts to get dark, that they would decide to take a positive step to get to the next albergue or to stop somewhere else, the route was not completely away from civilisation, although the albergue is in the middle of the country it is only 5 or 6 kms from a small town with all facilities and until then always close to the main road. In the end these students knocked on someone's door at 12.30 a.m. and the 'hospitalera' was called to pick them up!!! So, lots of movement and noise, then a big group sat up and talked and laughed until 2.30 and then they got up at 5.45 a.m. ! It's not surprising that they are too tired to walk in a sensible fashion. Having been well and truly woken I decided to get up too. I don't like walking in the dark, I can't see the point but I started off. It is a pleasant walk in day light, through a forest, but the path was littered with big puddles. I was soon passed by a group of students and they were walking well so I don't understand why they had finished there days so late (apparently they had made a habit of arriving very late). My feet were suffering from having been wet the day before so I walked slowly, in any case I was not in a hurry.

After a while I saw a bar on the main road so I walked down to the road and had a coffee, I was just on the edge of the village of Susana.

From here I went back onto the camino and soon came to a 'mojon' with the distance marked.





 



Not long now!

The first clear view of the cathedral of Santiago.



I got a new certificate to say I have really finished the Via de la Plata, which would look better if I could turn it round the right way! Then I went to Mass and found that the 'Botifumeiro', the giant incense distributor' was going to fly. There were very few people so I had a great view, I thought I took a video but I still haven't sussed out how to do decent video from my phone and I had failed to press a vital button, so no video, not even a photo.

So this is an old one, and not very clear, oh well it just means I will have to return to Santiago and try again!

I had lunch in Santiago and started the journey home. My left foot is suffering so I was very grateful that a friend picked me up from the bus stop and I was saved the last 3 km walk.
I have 2 weeks until I start again so I must heal my blisters quickly. I need to have a good look at my boot and see what was the problem  and I must reflect on what I have learnt from this week and try and put it into practice on the next walk.