Please pray for the train accident victims

You may have heard about the awful accident in Santiago today. It occurred 4km from the railway station in Santiago, a station I know quite well.

Please pray for the people involved in this accident,the dead,  the victims, the injured, the locals who helped straight away, the emergency workers.

Today (this evening) is the annual feast day of St James...Sant Yago... and the city is packed with pilgrims arriving especially for the festivities.. Many pilgrims time their walks to arrive in time for this feast day.

This train line is just an ordinary line - very similar to our lines - but for  the fast trains.

This could have be any number of my pilgrim friends - just ordinary folks who are traveling to Santiago just like I did.

It just serves to remind me how important it is that we live each day to it's fullest and that we need to expect the unexpected.

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/least-77-killed-over-100-injured-in-spanish-train-disaster-5518613

Be quiet and listen

Yesterday was a great day. I woke early and had the chance to look through some of my photos.
I managed to also have a conversation with one of my camino friends. .it was lovely to swap experiences and talk about return visits to the camino.
As I finished the conversation though I realized that I was talking AND working on my computer at the same time. Normal enough but I felt uneasy..not sure why.
After breakfast I headed over to church ...strange driving after 3 months of not driving... and did my normal camino thing of talking to god / prayer while walking (well driving now). I started off and was told to be quiet.

Humph

I started again...again I was told to listen..just listen.

So the trip over was different..just listening.

Didn't hear much... just the clear blue sky,
a flock of birds swirling in the distance,
an elderly couple walking hand in hand,
someone hurrying into church,
sheep in the paddock,
ducks in the creek...not much to hear at all!

So I arrived at church thinking 'o.k. that was lovely 'hearing' the world around me enjoying the beautiful winters day. I still felt uneasy about the multitasking during the viber call earlier and as I walked into church...again came the 'request' to listen.

Whammo

It was like the readings (and Helen's introduction to them) and the sermon were aimed just at me.
..removing distractions and listening to god...taking time out to listen...once you have listened, making sure you have put it into practice. ..
The gospel was about Martha and Mary...again in a way that reminded me so clearly that part of the process of stopping and listening is actually acting on it.

My conversation earlier in the day should have been single tasking not multi tasking, just like my time with god.
 

You get the picture.

So, I enjoyed a number of conversations after church where I worked very on listening and not talking.

I headed to orienteering all ready to listen...and guess what...it was great !

Firstly it was nice not to be recognized by many people at orienteering, (apparently I look different now) but out on the course in the lovely winter sun...I had 90 minutes of being back on the camino...by myself, sun on my face, mud, uneven surfaces...and just listening. I was disappointed that the course finished for me but very grateful to discover a way of recapturing that camino feeling of being so close to someone who knows me better than I know myself.

So..the camino actually begins...

Setting back into NZ

It has been a long time since I arrived in Santiago..2 weeks yesterday since walking into the cathedral. The photo has Gerrit and Nora from Germany with me outside the cathedral, just moments after arriving.

In the last 2 weeks I have crammed in 3 days in Santiago, 1 day in A Coruna, a flying visit to Gaude's cathedral Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, 5 amazing days in Vienna, overnight in Brighton, 30hrs of airports and planes before seeing Sarah and Naomi in Auckland and then 3 days back at home.

I am still so surprised that I got to santiago. ..but even more surprised about what I learnt about myself.

Now comes the hard bit...putting what I learnt into every day practice.

Adios amigos

It's Tuesday night about 2130 and 33 degrees outside. I have just had the most delightful tapas dinner accompanied by the nicest vino tinto I have had in this country. ..a 2009 Ramon Bilbao. The manager sat and chatted for ages and we also tried a 2005 albarino..a very mellow white. I just realized that I have not eaten alone for nearly 2.5 weeks...it was both sad and o.k.

It reminded me that while I have traveled across Spain on foot...my real journey started many many years ago. ..and the next stage started on Sunday morning when I managed about 5 minutes time by myself in the crypt of St James...Sant Yago.

The camino norte has acted as a boot camp (pun fully intended) for me. My job now is to learn what I have learnt.

Tomorrow I will visit the Gaude cathedral in Barcelona before heading to Vienna for 5 days. I am very pleased to be going to Vienna...one benefit is to allow me some absorbtion time following my camino..a sort of working through space before returning to Aotearoa.

I can really say that a big part of me is remaining here in Europe.

I have always felt a longing to return to Te Urewera and I feel very much at ease when I am there. ..well I have the same depth of feeling for this part of the world and the people I have met as I have for Waikaremoana.

When I started way back on the 1st of June in Irun. .many people I came across had been on one of the caminos before. It took about 300km to figure out why and now I am planning my own return. Camino Primativo is looking pretty good but I would very happily repeat the experiences from this Norte trip.

Can I thank you very much for your support. ..the prayers, the conversations, the emails, the facebook comments, the blog comments as well as the 'live' feedback from pilgrims who have read it...all of these have helped me process my journey. ..far more than I would have believed possible.

I am really looking forward to the Viennese trip. .everyone tells me it is such a beautiful city to visit. ..it has  been a long time since my last there.

As part of my processing of the camino I have decided not to blog for  the next few days...I have a lot of thinking to put in order...so until we meet again in person...

Adios amigos. ..buen camino
(Goodbye friends. ..good journey).

This was NOT going to happen!

Today is my last full day in Santiago and indeed in Spain.

I wandered into the old city again..more exploring that I just love. I understand the layout a bit more now and it is very quick to get around....building up the mental model of the city and adding each new alley or interesting  place as you go along.

I have been really pleased with how I feel after all the walking. My heels are bruised quite deeply but are not painful. My swelling in my feet has gone done...especially my left foot and they almost look normal.  I had a few numb toes and these are feeling good and the balls of my feet stopped hurting the day I arrived. Even my old blister sites are looking good!

When I have sat for more than 10 minutes I do the 'pilgrim shuffle' for about 50m...less if I jog...and I can now bounce out of bed with no sore muscles or tendons etc...

So the body is quickly forgetting the walk. It is strange because for the last 3 months in England and Spain I have felt every footfall...and yet each morning you can get up and do it again.

I turned down an offer last night for a ride to Finisterre. ..about 90km away with friends.  I will walk there next time I camino...which may be soon.

I had planned to go for the day but I was 'prompted' to stay.

So last was farewell to Nina, Henning and Bobbie. This evening it will be farewell to Gerrit and Nora.

That just me to say farewell to this place. That is what I thought would be under control.

Oh so wrong.

My wandering today led me back to the cathedral and I got an audio guide for the museum and cathedral.  3.5 hrs later I reemerged to a much hotter world but very upset (in a good way..but not my planned response).

The time alone wandering thru the cathedral complex allowed me to start putting my walk into perspective. ..in reason...in distance..the hardships..the joys..the friendships.

Today was way more emotional than I was expecting but very helpful all the same.

My plans until i reach NZ? Tomorrow I train to A Coruna. .fly to Barcelona and hopefully get into Gaude's cathedral and then fly on to Vienna for a few days to meet up with some camino friends. Then UK overnight on Monday and then the long haul back home.

Maybe it's the heat...or maybe I am still listening like I must.

Adios amigos
((Holding up an imaginery wine glass)...Here is to being the same but different and being different but not the same. Puzzled...? 760km will help you figure it out!)

When i get home remind me to tell you about the Bocaronies and the Permentos...

Test

Test

6am...let's go.

It is 6...dark outside...19 degrees and I am waiting for our group to assemble.

The last 20 km will start shortly. ..adding to 763 walked from Irun.

Wahoo!

Just 20km to go

Up before 6..at the bar by 6..a lovely conversation and then the rest of our day,'s walking group arrived for breakfast before leaving at 630.

We left shortly after dawn but managed to enjoy the sun rising through the early morning.

By getting going early meant we reached our target of Pedrousa before lunch and got accommodation straight away.  When I enquired for some friends an hour later the town was full.

Is was VERY hot this afternoon. .reaching over 35.  It's 1945 and it is still over 30..so a beautiful afternoon. 

20km tomorrow morning early will take us to santiago. ..the end of this journey.  I have 2 nights booked in Santiago at this stage..so no worries .

Last night was very noisy..many teenagers in an organized group..still eating at 2330. They came to bed at 130 and the first one up in my room  was packing just after 4am.

Many many pilgrims on the road today had tiny day packs or no packs...crocs..kung fu shoes..it was crazy after my last 6 weeks. Our larger packs were definitely the smallest minority.

They were not interested in being friendly either...I am so pleased I had the weeks on the Norte with friendly people.

Dinner time amigos so Adios.

Culture Shock

I had a good walk this morning and an currently sitting in a plaza watching the world go by.

Different sort of heat today..32 at moment. .siesta time I think..it certainly is half past cervesa time. They are predicting 34 and 36 for the next two days..I will need to walk very early.

I am in culture shock. Azura is the junction of 3 camino paths.. the Norte (lest popular. .few pilgrims. ..the one I have been on until now...
The Primativo. .a short 200k walk that King Alfonse followed and the...
Camino Francaise. ..the freeway of caminos.
I have seen more pilgrims today than at any other point on my walk. Most are ariving too late for accommodation in this town. ..so tomorrow I will need to get and walk early..beat the heat and the rush.

Sobrado tonight 718km done

718km done so far and about 65km to go to get me into Santiago.

Tonight is Sabrado ...a monastery that has been a pilgrim refuge for 1100 years. It is a Cistertian one and the brothers have been wonderful.

26km today from Miraz. .felt like 36 but never mind. It  was a lovely walk. .taking gradually over the highest point of our wslk apparently. .just over 700m. The 1st 5km was through a granite boulder farm..then road for 21km.

There about 100 pilgrims here tonight ..so quite a dramatic  jump in numbers.

I have no plans or reservations for the next few days..many of the pilgrims do..but I have been told not to worry or plan ahead. Great.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Adios amigos

A funny thing happened on the way to Miraz.

It was a long day today. .about 36km..guidebook suggested it would be 31 or 32. While it was reasonable going ..easy terrain. ..the distance does hurt. My feet used to complain bitterly when I went over 20km..now they are o.k. up to 30 or 31...but more than that and they do protest....loudly.  I find I have to really work my mind very hard to push through it. Each km at that stage feels like 4 or 5.

My feet have been great in the sandals and I have been carrying my shoes in my pack.

There were not many on the trail today..it seemed but the albergue here at miraz is full with people turned away to other local sites. The alburgue is run by the Cofraternity of St James that I belong to and is a little different than other alburgues.

It is the first one that has vented plumbing...just like at home.  In Spain there seems to be no requirement to vent sewage plumbing..and so all abultion blocks smell. .sometimes badly. Not here at Miraz. 

The 2nd difference..a youth hostel type kitchen with...wait for it...a...........kettle. ..that we were allowed to use! One of the things I have missed has been the ability to boil the jug and have a cuppa. My last hot drink I made was back in San Vicente where I asked to boil some water.  I don't know how long ago that was..2 or 3 weeks maybe.

3rd difference. .very clean and very tidy...amazingly so.

Back to my journey today...so many old buildings, beautiful farms, tracks etc... I even stopped at a pilgrim cafe in the middle of a forest area for a ham n cheese toasted sandwich.

Lunch was looking at a C12th church at Baamonde  at a place called Cafe Kiwi. Exciting!

Tonight we shared our food and had a delightful meal together. ..tomorrow we start to experience the greater numbers on the final stages. It was lovely being amongst friends and eating together. .pot luck on the camino..it was great what came out of packs.

Vicente. .the Suisse guy walking from Suisse to Finisterre with his dog Tito that I met on the ferry from Somo...has been on my mind lately..just wondering where he was..would I see them again?

2 mins from Baamonde I saw him ahead..caught up and it was lovely to see him  and Tito again.  He introduced me to his girlfriend Florence who had joined him the day before  from Suisse and we walked on.  Tito was looking good..he was wearing shoes on his front paws but otherwise looked great.

As well as all the normal pilgrim type  catchup, he mentioned that his shoes had started to die big time. Both shoes were ripped and flapping.  We checked foot size and out of my pack came my shoes ..and with my innersoles in..they seemed to fit just fine. I explained that I was walking in sandals now and that if the shoes  were o.k. they were his and if they weren't. .just dump them. When we caught out at the end of the day in Miraz he was still wearing them, so they must be o.k.

As a bit of background to all of this, after swapping my 'too small for my camino feet' spare shoes from NZ for some Keen sandals in Bilbao...I have been told to wear them  and that I would walk into Santiago in sandals.

Yep..another one of those ongoing god conversations.

Once I swapped into sandals way back  my feet became much better and I have been carrying my shoes. MY plan was I would wear my shoes for the last 2 days but I hadn't told god that.

As soon as I saw Vincent's shoes I knew that god had once again snookered me.

It was so nice to catch just a glimpse of the interconnectedness of our lives and again be taught that things happen to us for a reason.

Sometimes we are allowed to see a little more of what god is doing with us....sometimes we have to do things in faith and not necessarily understand why we are doing it.

I probably haven't written this clearly at all...but it looks like this pilgrim is finishing his journey in sandals.

You should hear the chuckling inside my head. .god is going to get a lot of mileage out of this one.

Adios amigos

Oh yes...the washing!

Getting your washing done is always an issue while walking on the camino.

The normal process means you arrive, shower, wash your day's gear, hang it out and hope it dries before nightfall. If not you arrange it on your bunk rails overnight. My stretchy line and 6 pegs have been well worth the weight.

3 times I have had dry washing by nightfall...2130 ish.

Usually there is something to dry further the next day, so it goes on the outside of the pack. So you walk along with sox, undies and shirt all carefully and gracefully arranged. My pack has a gear carry section...elastic cord over most of the face of it...envyed by many because of the drying space!

Only trouble is as you walk along you forget you are drying your washing. ..walking into a bar is always embarrassing with it all...I try to leave my pack outside if I can (and try to eat outside during a walking day....we are a smelly crew in the heat of the day!).

This morning as I took my pack off (inside..no room on the road front) I got a lovely amused smile from the bar keep as I turned  my pack away from the patrons. When she brought my coffee over she laughed again.

Pilgrims!

Once after a week of rain a group of us used a Lavanderia.laundry service...and it was SO nice having fresh dry clothes. My polypro top still faintly smells of it!

Enjoy your weather back in NZ or wherever you are reading this....and appreciate the smell of fresh air / sunshine dried clothes.

Time to walk. ..adios amigos.

A good start is important

As you can see from the map below...decision making is very good before the morning cafe con leche. I couldn't decide to go onto the next village then saw the bar open close to the Alburgue.

Naomi told me yesterday that my coffee in NZ would be a long black with a side of milk.

I always found real coffee to strong in NZ...but I am loving it here in Espana. I look forward to this type of coffee back home. Maybe it is something to do with stress levels!

The delightful french couple have joined me for breakfast. .very tired because of the snoring. I showed them my 2am photos that I took while I was awake with the snorer.

Well coffee finished..bocadillo in pocket....(make that into a song Pretenders)...time to head to Vilalba..only 20km away but the only way for me to break a 40km stage from here.

Adios amigos. ..have fun in your journey today because I know I will!

Ready for the final haul

Apologiez furst upp four eny spellling mistooks en this poste. Thay r knott mi fault.

I am in Vilalba at the moment...only days from Santiago. I still cannot believe it.

 What a great day...it started off drizzling as I left the coffee shop. In shorts and short sleeves I walked efficiently to make sure I stayed warm. I got a real surprise to hear mytracks tell me is was doing over 6km per hour. Last week I worked hard to maintain 5km average and it has been the subject of many of 'those' conversations.

Yesterday by pushing it I got to 5.5km average by the end of the walk with the big uphills...but I was very surprised at 6.2 today.

The going was flattish but there was a lot of uneven ground.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Time for the 'spooky' section. Over the last days I have seen many of you...staff from school, friends, family. It is quite bizarre to have someone turn around from hanging out the washing as the you walk past...and the face belongs to someone back home.

Don't even go there but it does help me prepare for reintegration to life as it will become. It is just that I am not ready to let this life go just yet. And yes...there has been many 'conversations' on the topic to which the standard reply I seem to get is laughter and amusement. Something IS strange in the neighborhood.

Alburgue standards are rising. The one I passed today looked gorgeous.

I walked right by it..opting to be 2.5km closer for tomorrow. ..which will be 32km. ..a good haul to Miraz. It should be 2 stages of 16k  but I am going to try it.

My accommodation is different. ..a pensione run by 3 sisters..the youngest being 70 odd. As i was shown the room I felt I had stepped back 50 years or so.  A little scary but I am in this place for a reason...which does elude me at the moment. ..but never mind.

I have come and gone from the room numerous times as I explore this quarter of town...supermarket. ..wifi sites...exploring. Each time I return they tell me more information. ..the outside door locks at midnight...I can leave in the morning at any time .(a 3x explanation of how the lock works from the inside)...which door to knock on if I have a problem (bilingual student 3 doors along from my room). Finally they wanted to know where NZ was. ..no idea..I am the first kiwi they had met.  They also run a wine and high end liqour store on the ground floor...introducing me to customers. ...very sweet and funny.  Very easy to be patient because they really went out of their way to check I knew everything.

The room itself almost had cobwebs. .the key is massive for my door. I think I will use my liner and sleeping bag anyway tonight and will get an early (630) start. Try and do the 30 odd k by 2pm.

I am having dinner just up the road from 1960 pensione and they have a whole lot of Australian and kiwi music playing. ..surprising. ..but again just another sign directing my thoughts to Aotearoa.

I confirmed my travel arrangements back into England and NZ today as well. Time with a strong wifi tbat copes and doesn't keep dropping signal is important when booking flights.

Well it is 2030...time to repack and get ready for the haul to Miraz.  Day after tomorrow the pildrim tide swells from 20 or 30 on our path to an expected 600 to 700. I am not ready for that at all so I will savour the quiet day.

Last thing to mention for those bored enough still to be reading. ..many sections of today's walk was on medieval roads and an awesome medieval bridge. If you have ever been in the Ureweras and listened to the stories that are flowing at each corner...these roads are similar. They are very evocative and have many stories to tell. An artist or a writer would have a field day just being able to stop any listen. Many many people have past by where I was walking today over many centuries and you could almost hear them. It was like walking through a Dr Who script or something out of Stargate...they were only separated by time..not distance.

Of course I do realise that I might finally seal your opinion of my sanity levels...but I would not have missed it for anything.

Told you it was a great day!

Adios amigos. ..manyana.