Good fortune

We have been traveling the meseta all week and our weather has been very good.  We started out fairly hot, in the 90´s but today didn´t get over 75, I think.  At least we have managed to have a breeze most days.  This is not living up to the harsh and hot reputation of this flat plain.  I feel blessed. 

My feet have become a permanent concern.  I have plantar fasciitis in which the weight of my pack and the distance I have travelled have begun to create small tears in the plantar tendon which creates the arch in my foot.  I bought new insoles for my boots, gel inserts, to no avail.  Stretching and yoga seem to help but I have had to send my backpack by courier so that I do not further cause injury.  I am hoping that I can make it the rest of the way to Santiago with only the pain I have now instead of creating a more serious problem.  Part of the issue is also the pronation of my right foot, or rolling inward that I naturally do with my gait.  I had purchased running shoes that corrected for this and I assumed the boots, because of their hard soles, prevented my foot rolling as I walked but I noticed today that it continues to do so.  With the weight of the backpack and the rough terrain I have sometimes been on it is not a surprise that my feet are breaking down.  Only time heals this problem and it will be another few weeks before the opportunity presents itself to heal. 

We passed the midway point today on the Camino from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela.  It was somewhere on the plains, not marked, easily missed.  If we travel according to the book it will be 17 more days to Santiago, but we may take time off to rest.  Chantal isn´t feeling well today.  Maybe in Leon we will take a day off.  Leon is 3 more days away.  I am looking at having a couple weeks of nothing to do in Spain by the time we reach Santiago.  If I cannot walk to Finisterre I will take a bus.  Then I am not certain what I will do.  It might be more economical to take an early return flight, but then again, it may not be.  I know I will need the rest that the end of the road will provide. 

The scenery remains the same - wheat fields, a few trees, and open plains.  Some of the towns have been very run down.  We had planned to stay in Ledigos but it was not a welcoming town.  Many of the buildings were made of mud brick, or just mud with bits of straw, roof tiles, and whatever, stuck in to make it sturdy - a wall.  Amazing.  Moved along another 2.8 kilometers to a resort-like albergue.  It is nice and we may even have a room to ourselves.  The benefits of a room alone cannot be emphasized.  A few nights ago, in Fromista, I thought I would be sleeping in the backyard because there was some very unpleasant individuals in our bunkroom of 10 beds.  Last night we stayed in a convent, in an all girls dormitory, and I woke up in the middle of the night and swore the woman next to me had become a man.  I couldn´t sleep.  I´m quite certain she switched beds with a man as the person wasn´t wearing a shirt in the night!  Some nights are just plain weird. 

On the road again

Well, it looks like it has been a while since I wrote a post for this blog but I thought I wrote a long one from Burgos. Maybe my addition isn't showing on my iPod. At any rate I have walked into the Meseta, a burning hot Spanish plain with little shade(and lots of wheat fields). My feet are still giving me a great amount of pain. It did not improve by taking time off, although the holiday did help the rest of my body tremendously. I will try to have me feet examined when next I have an opportunity. The towns here are very small. The heat everyday doesn't help either, it makes the pain and swelling much worse. I'm taking ibuprofen regularly, which is very common among pilgrims. And last might in Hornillos del Camino a Croatian woman showed me how to do a yoga exercise that seems to help. Writing about it made me think I should do it so now as I write I am in a yoga position too. I am travelling now with a Canadian woman who goes the same distance as I do. We don't walk together each day as she walks fast, but I usually have been catching up to her for a morning break. Then we have been staying at the same place each night.it helps to have someone to go to dinner with. Tomorrow we go to Fromista. We are still about 6 days from Leon. Tonight I am in Castrojeriz and there is a semifinal soccer match on between Spain and Portugal so everyone in town is gathered around a television. It's late and I think I will take the opportunity to take a second shower before bed.

Back in Burgos

We had a nice and relaxing weekend in Bilbao and now Chantal and I have returned to Burgos to resume our trek.  Molly went on to Leon to meet her daughter who arrives tomorrow.  We had to take separate buses even though Molly´s bus came through Burgos on its way to Leon.  So I am hoping she has arrived safely and found an albergue for the night.  Chantal and I were not certain we would be allowed to stay in the same albergue as we had 4 nights ago but explained our trip to Bilbao when we arrived and they were very nice.  Remarkably, she and I are in the 2 bunks adjacent to where Molly and I slept when we were here.  Even the reception found that very coincidental and a bit humorous.  We did some laundry right away as the hotel didn´t have laundry facilities.  I went for a walk and the sun is scorching today.  I made a loop around the old section of town walking the part of the Camino out of town to the old wall of the city and the former location of El Cid´s home.  That inspired me to walk to the other end of the old city to see the statue of El Cid, something I didn´t see last week when here.  Unfortunately it is in the middle of a busy intersection, but it is a pretty fantastic sculpture. It is remarkably expressive of the handsome warrior in full regalia, with cape billowing in the wind, sword held high and his warhorse moving proudly across the interesection.

The city shuts down, except for bars and ice cream shops, from 2 pm to 4 pm.  It is frustrating if you are hungry as many of the restaurants do not provide food either.  Many restaurants then do not begin to serve dinner until 8 pm, which makes for a very long time to wait for a starving pilgrim.  There are usually some places to get a bite; tapas in the bars is pretty common; but you can´t plan to walk on that the next day.  Reports from friends who have gone on ahead say the meseta (between Burgos and Leon) is very hot.  Tomorrow I plan to head for Hornillos del Camino, a 20 km walk that is almost flat.  I hope to get going very early but the albergues discourage leaving before 6 am.  At least the location of the cathedral and this albergue are on the western end of the city so I should get out into the open country quickly.  I feel so much better since my weekend of rest.  I hope my body adjusts to walking easily again. 

In Bilbao we visited the Guggenheim Museum of modern art on Saturday.  It was a phenomenal building.  Very confusing to walk through, yet the design certainly compliments the art.  From the river the building is designed to look like a ship, a giant titanium ship.  Inside, all the odd extensions from the outside become rooms for the display of various types of art.  I cannot say I have a great appreciation for modern art, but there were parts of the David Hockney display that were very engaging.  He mounted something like 9 cameras on a car and drove slowly through the countryside near his home.  With 9 on each side he then was filming the sides in both directions, then they were displayed on 18 televisions for an incredible and peaceful though provoking and stimulating design of the natural world in various seasons.  It was very interesting.  Sunday, Molly and I took the Bilbao boat tour to the ocean, or rather to the breakwater.  We were a bit disappointed that we could not go through the breakwater into the Bay of Biscay, but it was a very enjoyable trip.  I took a photo of the view from the back of the boat as we returned upstream.  The ocean in the distance was beautiful.  For the most part in the afternoon we rested.  Actually, the boat ride was so relaxing both Molly and I began to doze off just before reaching the city again (it was a 2 hour round trip).  The extra rest was very much needed.  We enjoyed lots of vegetable salads, something that can be hard to find when walking, and plenty of Rioja wine.  It is back to the road tomorrow. 

Leaving the Way

For those of you who know "the prophecy" I am leaving the trail as was said.  I am taking a vacation to Bilbao with Molly and Chantal.  I ran into Molly again in San Juan de la Ortega, a small village of 20 inhabitants and a huge church containing the sarcophagus of San Juan.  The monastery had been converted to an albergue.  That day I had been walking alone and bumped into Anthony again.  Chantal and I kept catching up to each other and we all walked for a while.  Then I stopped and later they stopped, but we  all  went to San Juan in the end.  As Anthony and I were leaving the church after the pilgrim´s mass I saw Molly again in the distance.  It was remarkable because neither of us thought we were on the same daily track anymore.  Molly had the idea to go to see the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao over the weekend.  It is a short 2 hour bus ride from Burgos.  Since I am still having a difficult time with my feet and lower legs being overworked I thought it would be a good idea to take the weekend off.  I had dinner with Chantal and asked her if she had any  interest and she does.  So this morning (Friday) we are catching the bus.  The weather does not look sunny  and warm through Sunday, but we want to spend our time in the museum and at a hotel feeling clean and resting.  We plan to return to the Camino on Monday as there is no bus on Sunday.  So far I intend to return to Burgos and continue my pilgrimage.  Molly plans to go on by bus to Leon to meet her daughter who arrives on Tuesday.  It is tempting to do so as well.  I have walked, as of my arrival in Burgos, 500 miles or 767 kilometers.  But I also have so much time left.  Yesterday was my day 45, the middle day of my journey.  And yet, between Burgos and Leon is the meseta.  Nevertheless, I bought a sunhat yesterday in anticipation of the burning sunshine in the open country of the meseta and Chantal plans to return and start again at Burgos. 

Went to tour the Burgos cathedral last evening.  It was incredible.  Purchasing the tickets they give you a guided tour recording.  After a short while the details become fairly overwhelming.  Soon I simply walked around taking many photos and marveling at the beautiful works of art and sculpture spanning over one thousand years.  There are hardly words to explain the painted sculptures in stone, the intricacies of gothic carving, and the efforts of baroque designers to leave no empty space.  And most incredible are the windows in the roof that are designed to appear and bring in light as the artists interpretation of heaven.  Absolutely stunning. I had hoped to be able to share a photo but the device isn´t working to upload from my memory card.  In the end I will have thousands of photos to share with anyone who wishes to see them.  Meanwhile, it is almost time to leave for the bus station, and I will get some breakfast from the vending machine this morning before I go. 

Fatigue

I spent last night at a Parochial Albergu in Granon. My body and in particular my feet are giving me signs of exhaustion. I wasn't sure how long I could keep up the pace or if I could push through it but fortunately Georgette wanted to push onward further than I could go so it forced me to take stock of my condition. Today I walked only 16 km before the fatigue set in again. Now I am in bed for the night. I had supper at 3then met a young Canadian woman and we walked around town a bit. Since then I've been resting. I plan to seriously shorten the distances I walk so that I can get better. If I don't I'm afraid I won't be walking for a while. It's very painful. But I have plenty of time to take my time. The Parochial Albergues are free places supported by donations. They even provide a nice meal at night and a light breakfast in the morning. But, there are no beds. You sleep on a mat on the floor. I actually slept better last night than I have in many nights. There were 36 people there, most in the same large room I was in. The folks cooking and managing the place are all volunteers who come from all over Europe for 2 weeks to give back to the pilgrims. This is the second place that has been staffed this way. They are usually Christian based hostels and are very basic but have been rewarding places to stay.

A rest area

Today we walked 25 kilometers from Ventosa to Cereana. It was cloudy this morning but cleared and grew hot at noon. We didn't arrive till 4 pm after starting at 7. The days have been hot and long. Am now traveling with 3 companions, well at least today, including Georgette, Maureen from Connecticut, and Liat from Israel. We have been tracking the same routes and allergies at night since Lorca so we started together today. At nearly our destination we came upon the below sign. There was a nice little park for pilgrims to rest; with a fountain and benches and SHADE. Clearly the farmer adjacent to the park had been having issues with pilgrims going behind the fence.Sorry, I forgot I need to use a real computer to put a photo in the blog. Try my Facebook account. I'll post the photo when I get computer access.

It's hot

Walked from Torres del Rio today. Somewhere around another 20 kilometers. We started as a big group leaving at dawn because of the anticipated heat. Stopped in a little medieval town for a short break and arrived pretty early in the day at the municipal alburgue in Logrono. This is the last size able town for maybe a week or so. Caught up with the college girls who are here on a day of rest. These big albugues don't do food so I went out to eat early. Then there's really not much to do. I prefer to take advantage of washing machines whenever they are available and the biggest plus is the way they spin so much more of the water off your clothes. They dry so much better. Also, after a month my clothes are taking on their own smell so machine washing is helping with this terrible problem. We've had the luxury of a machine several days in the last week. It's fabulous! We are traveling through the countryside know as La Rioja, a world class wine making region. One of the best things about getting fed at the alburgue is that you get the wine with your meal. And no dishes to wash, of course. It's hard to feel creative about cooking when you walk all day. Yet tomorrow is another day and only God knows what the day will bring. I hear Anthony from Martin, SD is staying here tonight so I look forward to talking to him again. Still hoping some of our French friends will catch up, some were fun to hang with and are fast enough to show up anyday. That's life on the trail. Oh, but I should make note that the gnats in this area are terrible. They even bite! And with all this Internet I was sorely tempted to download a movie to my iPod last night, I couldn't decide which one! Buen camino my friends.

Country roads

Been walking onward for a couple days without posting. Stayed in Lorca 2 nights ago where I met Molly, from Newcastle, and Josephine, from rapid city. Wow! Josephine was heading back home due to an injury and Molly was continuing on her own. She is meeting 2 of her daughters at different times along the way. Since there has been a bit of a small group of folks that travel the same distance each day. This will be our 3rd night together. There is Molly, georgette and me, of course, and Maureen from Connecticut travelling with a woman from Israel. A middle aged couple, newlywed and a few others. Most I can't remember names for or don't know their names. We visit as they pass on the trail then again at night. Last night stayed in a 400 year old tiny building with 8 of us in the room. That was in Villamayor. Tonight is Torres del Rio. Tomorrow is supposed to be hot, in the 90's, and we plan to go to the city of Logrono. I don't care to stay in the city but there is really no other option. The countryside is full of wheat field much like eastern SD farms, and interrupted with fields of grapevines. We walk through enormous valleys bounded by mountains. When we look ahead it is with hope that we do not have to climb over those mountains but that there will be a level path as there was today. Lots of house sparrows and swallows. Heard a cuckoo today again.

Another BIG hill

Walked around Pamplona this morning, and even attended mass at the cathedral.  Looked for a sim card for our phones but the French sold both Georgette and I phones that are locked so cannot be used in Spain.  Getting out of Pamplona was long but we reached Cizur Menor at lunch time and stopped at a bar for Cokes.  The countryside is so big here, kind of like Montana when you think of "big sky" country.  There are mountains everywhere but Pamplona and the valley we walked through today were rather low so there was a big UP today.  It was nice walking through wheat fields and hay fields.  At the pass was the iron monument to the pilgrims put up in the 1990´s at Alto de Perdon, which for some reason resonates with perdition to me as that is what the trek up there was like.  Plus it was very windy, a sort of wind tunnel effect coming over the hill.  The surrounding hills are covered with wind turbines making electricity.  Then on the (oh no not another one!) downhill slope it started to rain so we had to pull out the rain gear quickly before it poured.  I am going to try to post a photo of the monument and you can see the clouds in the background:

Pamplona

Arrived before the heavy rains began today. For some reason, probably the Pyrenees crossing, we have been fatigued. Getting all the way to Pamplona today was very hard. It is easy to understand why so manny authors write about very sore knees the first week out of St. Jean. The hills going down are terribly steep. There is no such thing as a switchback here. The trails go directly to the bottom of the hill where they need to go. I've never had knee problems before but my right knee is so painful on the slope that I plan to wrap it tomorrow. Pamplona itself is another of those medieval villages that sit atop a hill and was formerly surrounded by a fortification wall. Part of that wall remains. Went by the cathedral, which was closed tonight. It is a gothic cathedral built over the remains of a Romanesque church, probably, I am guessing, of Cluniac (out of theCluny abbey from France)origin. We walked up the road where the running of the bulls takes place. It is another of those narrow roads between tall buildings typical of these medieval style towns. Nothing runs in a straight line. But perhaps being a larger city the buildings are a couple floors taller and hence on such a gloomy afternoon the streets too were dark and uninviting. Also because it is a Sunday there are few shops open. Graffiti is ever present. Tomorrow will be a short walk after trying to tour the cathedral and it takes a while to walk out of a city this size. The weather channel is forecasting a 90 percent chance of rain so it will be a good day to give the aches and pains a rest. I bought a cheap bottle of nail polish and painted my toenails tonight. One can't pamper your feet too much on a trip like this!

Zubiri

We hoed to get to Larrasoana today but there was another big downhill climb coming into Zubiri that wore us out after yesterday. The downhill climbs are absolutely the worst! The maps didn't show it to be so steep again. My knees still hurt from coming down from the Pyrenees. But we also started to see signs that the alburgue in Larrasoana was closed today and tomorrow about halfway here. That meant if we didn't find a lace in Larrasoana we would have had to keep walking. So it wis better that we stay in Zubiri. However, we want to get to Pamplona tomorrow so we will have a longer walk and it is supposed to rain all day. We plan to try to find a hotel in Pamplona and tour the city if that's possible so we have something to look forward to. The countryside is beautiful here with steep rolling hills. There's not much for towns and being a weekend there's nothing open. Actually we couldn't find a downtown here. That's disappointing. So, for a change of pace we place more emphasis on taking some time when we hit the cities. There's a group of college girls traveling about the same distances each day as we do. They are nice. This alburgue has a lot of middle aged people so I am sure they are bored.they just started in St. Jean so they are still adjusting to life on the camino. It is a big adjustment.

The Pyrenees

Walked 26 km over the mountains today. Wow, what an experience! It was a 4000 ft climb in 16 km. Very steep but incredibly beautiful, at least when not in the clouds. Here the Pyrenees are steep but the route consistently follows various roads. The mountains were almost like an alpine tundra environment that can be found above tree line. Yet there were, in places, unusual trees growing on the nearly vertical hillsides. The trees were crooked and had few low branches so it created an eerie effect in the fog. It rained a short time. There were many herds of sheep and horses grazing on the open range. I took a short video of the water flowing from the fountain of Roland. It is an artesian spring but it spurts water in bursts. Took photos on the border of France and Navarre. Never even saw a marker for the high point of the trail, it just suddenly started downhill. And you can hardly imagine a steeper or longer downhill climb! On the way I met a man from south Dakota, can you believe it, from Martin, SD. Then he was assigned a bunk in the cubicle 4 of us share, me, Georgette, a Michigan girl, and this guy from Martin. Strange how these things happen. Then these funny English guys I also met on the trail told me the showers were unisex so I showered in the men's room! How embarrassing! Oh well, I expect dinner at 7 will be quite an adventure too. It's been quite a day!

Part deux:

Today as we reached Lamothe we found ourselves walking along an old railroad grade similar to the trail system back home. The railroads had been completely removed from this region and the pilgrimage route moved onto the railroad grade. It has become a rails to trails system as in the US. We followed this route for 7 kilometers to reach Eauze for tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to start raining until the end of the week do we plan to take the time to p ahead to St. Jean Pied-de-Port to get started on the spanish section. It is complicated to get anywhere here. We have to take the bus to Pau, then a train to Bayonne, then switch to a local train to go to St. Jean. We will spend two days there before crossing the Pyreness, if good weather moves in then. Happy trails.

Grapevines and railroads

Have been walking through a big farming area. Seems like everything grows here. There are corn and sunflower fields; hayfields; fields of fruit trees like cherry and maybe kiwi; and the further west we go the larger the vineyards become. I haven't had any really outstanding wine however since Cahors, which I am told is sold in Canada so might be available in the states. It is a very good wine. The most remarkable feature in this landscape has been the gardens at many homes. I may try to post a photo I took with my iPod today. The climbing and shrub roses here are outstanding. But this garden today had calla lilies by the road and a pond full of waterlilies that were huge. Rose bushes here and there and a cherry tree across the pond full of ripe red cherries! It was beautiful. So many gardens here are outstanding. More later....

Purpose on the Camino

I guess that it is true that on the Camino you meet the kinds of issues that challenge you to become a better person but I wonder if that is less a spiritual practice than a practical one. On this route you meet all kinds of different people because they are out walking too. It is easy to identify the people who rub you the wrong way because your sensitivities are supercharged with the exertion of every day. This leads one to recognize discomfort instantly. So I guess I don't see it as a spiritual connection made special by walking the Camino (in French it is called the Chemin). What becomes or has been a spiritually guided characteristic of the Camino has been the faith based belief that the saints will grant you pardon for your sins or heal your wounds. I think deep down those commited to the pilgrimage even today seek this faith in miracles. Today we were in a church in Saint Antoine and a religious relic, the right hand of Saint Antoine of the desert, was on display. I pointed the relic out to one of my companions to which she immediately replied that there is no way to say that it is really the hand of the Saint. Well that is my point precisely, pilgrims seek miracles large or small based on faith or their belief in those relics. It is important. It is not nor should it be a question of proof. When I went outside to tell my other companion what I had found, the type of relic I had been searching for these 275 miles, she jumped to her feet to see what it was like and was in as much awe as I had been. There are pilgrims on this trail and there are hikers too.