Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostel

This only a fraction of what 110 bunk beds looks like in a huge room in the original albergue at Roncesvalles.  It is now the overflow accommodation. People snored!

There is a huge and famous forest of beech trees in this area.  This logging truck is carrying beech logs.

 

This is whiskey cake that I had for dessert in Puente de la Reina.  It is similar to DQ ice cream cake, and I guess it has a little bit of whiskey poured onto it.

 

Sheep

More sheep

Fontain de Roland

765 km to Santiago

2nd Day walking between Orisson & Roncesvalles

This is the mileage signpost as you leave Roncesvalles.

 

Sept 5, 2013
       Today is my 4th day on the Camino.  Some of the terrain has been quite grueling since the first day which was an easy-peasy 8 km from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, to Orisson Albergue, also in France.  The next day was quite challenging at times but I made the 17 km to to Roncesvalles, Spain on the other side of the Pyrenees relatively intact.  The next night was at Zubiri, and today I am at the Jesus y Maria Albergue in Pamplona.  I heard from a fellow pilgrim that Thursday night is 2 for 1 pinchos plus a free drink.  Sounds to good to be true, but we will investigate.  (later - it turned out to be one pincho + a glass of tinto, the house red wine, for 2 Euros - still a good deal)  I have made great friends on the camino and we all seem to end up in the same town or at least meeting on the road every day.  One group is a family - Dad, Mom and 4 kids ages 7, 10, 13 and 14 from Australia. There's not a lot of time for blogging.

Avec Gérard at Pilgrim Office in Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. He was the volunteer that helped me and is very very funny.

Morning mist the first day on the trail

Water fountain at Orisson

On my way looking back at Orisson Refuge where I stayed first night. This part of the trail is a local paved road about 2 meters wide. 

View of mountains from the trail

 

pre camino - picnic lunch on the train from Barcelona and a night in Pamplona

this was lunch from supermarket and Mistral Bakery on Calle Sant Antoni in Barcelona. The roll (called a pipa) was of very dense high quality whole grain with nuts and seeds added - most delicious.

late night snack at a pinchos bar in Pamplona - toasted French bread with sliced cooked potato and chopped cooked fish on it

another pincho - toasted French bread with a slice of brie or camembert topped with marmalade, nuts and raisins. 

 

 Tonight I'm staying just off a main plaza in downtown Pamplona at a small pension above a bar on the ground floor, a very nice restaurant the next floor up and a couple of floors of  basic inexpensive rooms. This city is where the running of the bulls celebrates the San Fermin festival in early July. If you read Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" this is where parts of that story is set. There are several bars at street level in the block where I'm at, and people are spilling out onto the street with some seating areas in the street, so the noise level is high on an exuberant final Saturday night of summer.  It was chilly out tonight so I wore a light jacket.  The pinchos bar was convenient to my location, fun, and a light snack on a night when supper had been a non-event.  Tomorrow my bus to St Jean Pied de Port doesn't leave till 2 in the afternoon, so I'll have time to look around a bit more.  It was nearly 8 pm when my train from Barcelona arrived here over 1/2 an hour late.

 

Pamplona - the view from my balcony. Later, even more people were there and the festivities went on for hours and hours. At 7 the next morning the street was a mess of empties, broken glass and litter.  By then a couple of people were out there sweeping the evidence of the night before away from the  buildings and toward the center of the very narrow street, and awhile later the street sweeping machine churned its way through leaving the street very clean. A couple hours later a sanitation truck came through and tipped all the recycling bins containing liquor bottles inside it.

 

And then do you want to know what I found to eat for breakfast Sunday morning when everything else seemed closed except a bar around the corner!  More pinchos! Potato omelet in a piece of baguette was my choice for 2.00 euros, with café con leche.

pre-Camino - Barcelona today

La Sagrada Familia

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia

I was there!

Sagrada Famila up close

Nativity façade - note images of chickens roosting under floor

View from plaza across the street

 

 

                                               Hop on, hop off Barcelona City Bus Tour

Gaudi schoolhouse beside church

House with Gaudi features

Gaudi Batlló House near downtown Barcelona. This pic doesn't do it justice -it is amazing!

 

Paella y una copa de tinto

Pre-Camino: On the topic of going alone

For the purpose of putting your minds at ease about me striking off on yet another great adventure, I want to share a few words I read recently on the topic of going to Spain alone for the purpose of walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. 

       "Many pilgrims travel alone.  Often a pilgrim may begin the journey alone and meet compatible walking companions along the way.  Companions can change day by day for many reasons.  One pilgrim may desire to stay at a particular place for a longer time and the others may continue.  New pilgrims are met and new walking groups are formed all the time.

       Walking alone is entirely acceptable and safe.  Even for single females. Let me say that again.  It is perfectly safe for a woman to walk the entire Camino alone if she so desires.  There is a special aura surrounding the Camino and all who walk upon it.  People who live in the area will leave you alone unless you seek out conversation or need help with some problem.

       I walked my second Camino by myself.  But I was not alone.  I found people to talk with, eat with, and share side trips.  Of course, common sense must prevail when traveling alone.  Keep a low profile and stick to the task of completing the Camino.  You will not have problems."

Powell, Cheri.  Seven Tips to Make the Most of the Camino de Santiago.  2nd Ed. Louisville, Kentucky:  R. C. Linnell Publishing.  2013 

I related to this book especially well because of all the up-to-date and practical information and recommendations the author gives.  In particular, one sentence she wrote resonates with me, "The Camino was calling and I knew I had to go."  I look forward to a good Camino.  I have Nordic walking sticks, some great shoes by Salomon in the colour "pistachio," ibuprophen, an analgesic rub prescription, neoprene knee supports, a pilgrim hat, and various other necessities, real and imagined!

Pre-Camino - walking shoes (photo)

             My feet in my Salomon Contagrip Advanced Chassis Shoes!  They are nicely broken in for the journey.

journeycakes - pre-Camino

I happened upon my sobriquet of "journeycakes" several years ago when I was looking online for a recipe for cornbread muffins or johnny cake.  In my search I learned about the probable history of the name "johnny cake" that originally probably referred to "journey cakes" that were baked prior to a trip to take with as food for the journey.  A few years ago when I needed a nickname for a travel commentary website I discovered that nobody had claimed this term as a nom de plume or even thought of it perhaps, so this moniker has been my occasional alter ego ever since.

Nearly two years ago I read about a major Christian pilgrimage route in Northern Spain that has had a resurgence in popularity during the last twenty-five or thirty years.  People have walked the route for centuries since the discovery of the remains of St. James at Santiago de Compostela - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James.  Reading everything about the pilgrimage and the people walking it became a compelling interest and I began to entertain the idea of walking the route myself.  About a year ago I began preparing for the journey by walking frequently from my home in our rural community to the local small city 8 km (5 miles) away.  The development of a walking track that circles the playing field at a neighbourhood park gave me a place to train near my home.  With the acquisition of walking poles (that kick walking up a notch and help aging joints absorb the stress of each step,) some shoes I like, and yet another backpack (not too big, not too small!) the rest of my story is history in the making.  Most recently I booked a flight to Spain for the purpose of walking the Camino.
(to be continued) 

walking the walk - early July in the driveway (photo)