Week 6 - Walking from Sarria to Santiago de Compostella

I woke up very excited this morning as I had decided to give the walking another go. My goal for the day was approx. 14 km to a small village called Ferrerios - which means blacksmiths - maybe the name has a story to tell.

It was a wonderful cool morning with plenty of morning mist around - a trait of Galicia - as so much moist air comes directly in from the Atlantic Ocean, and settles in the mountains and hills around the Camino walking track. The mist made the country side wonderfully fresh, with mellow and soft colours all around. The country side here in Galicia is very wooded and the walkers are well protected from the sun as the Camino goes trough woodlands, mainly consisting of oak and chestnut trees, both providing ample shade for the walkers. It didn´t take me long to get into a rhythm and I was very careful to slow down my pace to about 4 km an hour and also be careful how my feet contacted the ground - softly, softly was the aim of the day. Not only did the physical walking get into a rhythm fairly quickly, but so did my internal feeling and thinking processes as well. It is amazing how the physical and the internal spheres seem to follow a common rhythm, which provided a wonderful space for thinking and feeling. As I walked along I all of a sudden smelt this wonderful scent and realised it came from a gumtree - a single gumtree amongst the oak trees and it gave out the strongest scent which was unmistaken, not only to me, but for the other walkers as well. Gumtrees are getting more common as we walk along towards the coast - but so far it is the first and the only one I have seen so far.

A long time ago when I was in Najara, I spoke about a young actor couple from France / Germany who I spent some wonderful hours with on Plaza Españia, when I couldn´t walk. As I walked yesterday I saw a young woman just standing still and taking in the wonderful nature surrounding her, when I realised it was her. Here we go again! How does it happen you meet up with someone after almost three weeks - I just don´t know. We waked together for about an hour or so and spoke about the Camino and our experiences so far. Her boyfriend had had to return to Berlin a couple of weeks back and although they had had a wonderful Camino together, walking it alone was so very special, she told me. As custom has it, after an hour or so, she farewelled me and walked off a little faster than I, into the distance. However it left me with this feeling of wonderment and joy as to what suprises the Camino might provide me with next.

However I felt absolutely great as I arrived at Ferrerios and got a bed for the evening - and with no bad effect from the walk. What great news - I might still be able to walk to Santiago after all!

As I arrived three wounded soldiers were waiting for a bed as well - amongst them Bent - a Dane - 75 years old, who had a heart operation not that long ago and Josep, a Spaniard, who had that many blisters on his feet, that I lost count. They had both just started the Camino a couple of days ago, so the damage seems to happen within the first few days, as the body gets used to the hard work - day in and out.

At this small village, I encountered the largest number of flies I ever have seen or experienced. I can assure you that the Australian Salute came in handy. These villages which we travel through - and there are many - are tiny communities consisting of more cows than humans. Hence, one experiences a wonderful country smell when passing though these small communities - cow dung, wet hay, chickens etc - of course all paradise if you are a fly - which accounts for the multitude of these annoying creatures.

I also caught up with my two German friends who came out of nowhere, calling out - Grandpa - Grandpa. Good to see them again. They told me that they are making a German Travel Show about the Camino and that the TV crew catch up with at certain intervals to film and interview them. They asked me if I wanted to walk with them for part of tomorrow, which was very nice of them, as I can´t walk very fast.

We started the day at around 8 and walked 10 kilometers to Portomarin, which is surrounded by a big dam. The story goes, that underneath the water one can find the ruins from a battle between two holy orders, who used to occupy each side of the riverbank - however all that is in the past so who cares? Todays journey was again very pleasant, with the oaks providing wonderful shade against the warm morning sun. As we reached Portomarin, I farewelled my German friends, who decided to walk on for another 10 kilometers or so.

As I am sitting writing this blog I just saw Australia loose their soccer match to Argentina at a televison in the internet cafe and now it has been occupied by a Spanish family party, so the noise is quite deafening. However one has to realise that life doesn´t stop because a perigrino wishes to write a blog!

Portomarin was a great city for a stop over and the main street was full of bars and places to relax. There were many, many peregrinos here and I caught up with a fairly large group of friends, who I have seen on and off for the last 10 days. It was great to catch up and this farewell must surely be the last as we all are getting very close to Santiago. They have all been very good and supportive friends to me and all encouraged me to continue my Camino on the bus. The fit pilgrims will be in Santiago in three days if everything goes well and everyone is very focussed ton reaching this goal, which for some, is the end of a road which has lasted for more than a month.

I also caught up with my Belgium principal friend and he decided that we should try a special Spanish drink, made by fermented white wine - something like a Spanish version of grappa. Quite nice but I am sure, also very alcoholic. As we sat there we said hello to a couple of Irish teachers, who were just about to start their Camino. They had a few questions to ask of us and of course we gave all our valuable advice for the payment of a cold beer. We shared a perigino meal together - I had a mixed salad and pork chops and ice cream - what an adventurous Galician meal - shame on me!

The town square was set up with a stage, so after the meal we walked back to see what was happening. It was a folk dancing exhibition and judging from the crowd, everyone in the city must have turned up and everyone enjoyed the performances. There was even a Polish dancing troup, which would have made Jadwiga proud.

The next mroning I joined the human train, which the Camino now has become - a never ending row of pilgrims, all heading for Santiago. At one stage I counted at least 20 pilgrims in front of me and about the same number behind me. However most seem to walk at the same speed, so people still keep a certain distance between each other. However you want to avoid the groups of young kids, as they never stop taking and playing their music - I am not sure what the purpose of their pilgrimage is - but of course that´s not up to me to dicide.

I had inteded to stay in a small village called Hospital,(not that I am in need of one) but obviously the village was that small, that I completely missed it and was well on my way on to the next village, when I discoved my mistake. So I continued on and covered as such almost 17 kilometers, which was not bad, for an old chap.

The albergue was just a small one with only 18 beds - and I was completely surrounded by spanish and french pilgrims, with no english what-so-ever. However as I sat with two spanish guys, we did share where we came from, what we were doing for work, from where we started the Camino and other such pilgrim talk - so despite language difficulties, we killed a very pleasant hour. As it was a rather cold and wet afternoon, I turned in pretty early, as my sleeping bag was the only place, where I felt snug and warm, so I ended up having a long and good sleep before today´s etape.

I started out at 7.30 this morning - the weather was still cold and the rain had just stopped. I decided not to cover my backpack with the rain cover even though I kept it and my rain poncho handy. I was rather chilly in my t-shirt got warm quicky as I started to walk. I was given a very special gift this morning, as I somehow missed the ´human train´and didn´t see a soul for the next two hours - not a walker - not a bike rider. It was absolutely beautiful to just be alone and not for one moment was I worried about, whether or not I was on the right track. There was rain all around me and black clouds moved quickly accross the sky - but somehow missed me (that´s faith). The sensation of the diffrent smells on this early morning walk was quite unique - almost like nature's own spice rack. I came upon the first gum-tree plantation - what a sensational view for an aussie - and the scent in the early wet morning was not bad either.

As I walked along I was all of a sudden startled by this loud noise. My first thought was that it might be a jet fighter on an early morning training exercise - however a couple of minutes later I found out that is was cars driving on the wet freeway leading from Leon to Santiago. That shows how one gets use to the absolute silence one is able to experience on this Camino, making any sort of noise seem very loud and definitely harsh on the ear.

I arrived at today´s destination Palas De Rei at 9.30, decided to write this blog and continue for another couple of hours to the next albergue at Mato Casanova and hope I can get a bed there. I should be arriving there at 12 noon.

Before going on , may I take this opportunity to thanks everyone for their comments. They are great to read and I really enjoy being in touch with everyone. Thanks again.

I did arrive at Casanova at 11.55 , what estimation talent - only five minutes out. After settling in, a spanish guy asked me if I would like to be picked up by a car from a nearby albergue to get some luch. I of course said yes, as I hadn´t really had anything since lunch the day before. We were driven approx. 2 kilometers, to an albergue, situated a little of the official Camino track. We shared a lovely lunch - I chose an exotic sounding dish for an entre - it proved to be scambled eggs with champions - what a choice - followed by a wonderful home-cooked beef stew with carrots and onions and large chunks of beef - a great meal. I finished the meal off with the 'oldie but goodie' Tiamasu, made with a Spanish recipe - I think! I met a Danish girl at the albergue after lunch and we took this opportunity to speak a little Danish and discuss our experiences on the Camino.

This morning I started out at seven - the key for seven is missing on this keyboard - and only had planned to cover approx. 1o kilometers. I did so in about 2 hours, through wonderful country meadows full of old oak trees and open fields. Not so lucky this morning in regard to the 'train of people' - I hopped on in the middle of a large carriage, full of what sounded like excited holiday makers and not pilgrims. However I was told today by a Spanish young girl from south of Barcelona, that this week and the next is the official spanish holiday season - that's why I am surrounded by, what seems to be, millions of Spaniards.

Today the Camino left the Region of Lugo and entered the Region of A Coruña - the last region of the Camino in which Santiago is situated. I read on a stone just before arriving today - 51.5 kilometers to go! However the Camino for me is like reading a good book - you just don't want it to end - so like a book, I'm really treasuring these last few days of this wonderful experience.

Melide i s a city of eight thousand people - this keyboard again - and like most of the cities I have travelled through, it also has a medieval part with winding, narrow streets, with plenty of shops, bars and reastaurants serving the speciality of this region - Octopus Pulpo - I think I will leave it at that!

I discovered that I had forgotten something of a treasure at Ferrerios this morning - my shaving Mach 3 from Gilette. I had planned to contact Gillette on my return to Australia and tell them that I only had used one -1 - blade during the entire Camino of 6 weeks - and I was going to suggest that in the future they could call this extraordinary good blade -The Camino - however it wasn't to be and after finishing this blog, I am going down and find a supermarket to buy another Mach 3 - cause I look a little like the 'Neanderthal Man' at the moment.

Tomorrow I will be going to Arzua - close to 16 + 2 kilometers - again the keyboard - and hope that will be OK for my knees. The next day I won't have a choice as I will have to cover aprox. the same distance, as there are no albergues on the way. However with this speed, I should be in Santiago on Sunday in time for the famous 12 o'clock Pilgrims Mass - which no doubt will be a CAMINO MOMENT. However I will leave you for now and go out and enjoy Melide - get some food and buy that razor, so I can look a little more civilized, if that's possible on a Camino.

After a quiet afternoon looking around the old part of Melide, I decided to have something to eat and sat in front of the albergue and made myself a bread roll with normal ham off the bone - most ham here in Spain is cured ham - and enjoyed a drink of Mezena - apple-to help it go down. I said hello to two girls sitting next to me writing their diaries and we fell into conversation-as one does. They were both from Rome and last year students in medicine and law and had decided to travel the camino together, before their final exams. As they left, they invited me to join them later at a very famous restaurat Exequiel, specialising in pulperias - octopus. I thought about it and finally decided to join them - I mean I didn´t have to eat at the restaurent, just have a drink. I found them an half of an hour later in the restaurent, with 8 other Italians, who had met up during the Camino. Some were from Firenze, others from Milan and the two girls from Rome. They were all well educated and their English not bad - at least they all had a go. They ordered of course a couple of serves of the dreaded - just look at the photo - some garlic prawns (should be called shrimps) a couple of T-bone steaks and wine which was drunk from a special kind of cup. We had a great evening together -the best for a couple of evenings, as my socializing had gone a bit quiet - I even tried the octopus and must admit it was very tender. We finished up as late as was possible - around 10.30 - and had this last picture taken before saying good night.

I woke early this morning as I knew that I had a pretty long walk ahead of me. I was on the road and walking at 6.30am, still very dark around me. When walking at that hour one has to be very careful where one put ones feet and keep a close look-out for stones and uneven parts of the track. However I survived. As as the dawn broke it was just so special and absolutely quiet. There is something very special about this time of the day - I guess the promise of something brand new and fresh and untouched by human kind. One realises that it has all the potential within it for man to do good or bad, to heal or to hurt - quite simple, when put like that. As one walks at this time, one definitely realises the gift being unwrapped around oneself. Very special and very beautiful.

Imagine the bliss when all of a sudden from behind, a group of young kids, make this special moment, into some kind of a Luna Park or Bakken in Denmark - screaming and yelling and making Koo Koo sounds, (they must surely have been from Germany, with that kind of Koo Koo sounds). I stopped to let them pass me, but I guess the spell of that special moment was gone - how fragile is real beauty!

The occurence of eucalyptus is becoming more frequent as Imove through Galicia - I even saw a stringy bark this morning - so I have stopped taking photos of them and call out in excitement - however they are still beautiful trees and I really enjoy seeing them. I even show other pilgrims how to crunch the leaves in their hands to get the full eucalyptus expereince. However today I had a real good walking day without much discomfort and made the 17 kilometers in just 3 hours - so I arrived faily early and found a bed for the night. Great feeling!

Arzua is the last city I will be passing through before I reach Santiago. I have organised two hikes tomorrow Friday and Saturday, each of 15 kilometers, leaving only a short 5 kilometer walk into Santiago on Sunday. I will be relaxing the rest of the day and take the sighs of this city in as I wonder around. I will have to be on the road very early tomorrow as I have to reach the my next destination of Arca do Pino as early as possible, as there only is one albergue with room for 120, which will leave many pilgrims without a bed or forced to go to a private hostel.

I had a quiet evening and went to the local bar and watched a little from the Olympic Games . a basketball game between Germany and Spain. (one of the few things I have been able to watch) Went to bed at 9.30pm and went to sleep straight away as I didn´t hear the person sleeping in the top bunk go to bed.

I woke up at 2 am and was feeling rested and ready for a new day - hence I decided to pack my gear (very quietly) and I was on the road at 2.20 am. It was a wonderful clear night - unfortunately with no stars as the full moon was shining brightly - so I had to put up with the moon and its only companion Venus.

Although it was with some reservations that I ventured out in the middle of the night, I was quietly confident that I was going to be OK and find my way all right. However it wasn´t easy as the waymarkers are very difficult to spot in the dark woods - especially when the moon disappears behind the trees. At one point I came to an intersection in the forrest and for the life of me couldn´t find a way marker to direct me to the right or the left, no matter how hard I tried. I chose to go left and after a while I finally saw a way marker - what a relief! I think my pulse rate fell immediately to something near normal. My torch didn´t work that well either and became useless very quickly - no a very good to happen in the middle of nowhere.

However I obviously got through the night as I am sitting here writing by blog. I did get lost a couple of times and simply followed the highway to Santiago - at least I knew I was moving in the right direction, even thought it was pretty hard under foot and one needed to keep a close eye on the traffic.

Around 5.30 I watched the moon go down - quite a wonderful sight. I just stopped to watch and enjoyed the sight and the stillness around me. As soon the moon had disappeared the stars came out in full glory and the milkyway shone above the horizon with the mighty Canis Major to the North and Orion to the West taking the honours. Even though I am used to the the magnificant night sky in Australia, the northern sky is quite beatiful and the milkyway or Compostella lived up to its name - Santiago - just follow the milkyway and you will get there.

Today´s distance was rather long for me being almost 20 kilometers (and I guess the walking on the main highway didn´t help much) and towards the end I wondered when I would be there. However because I didn´t follow the Camino path as such and walked on the highway instead I missed completely a small village, which I had on my map called Santa Irene and was therfore pretty confused when I entered a settlement, no-one seemed t know the name of. However I finally spoke to a couple of Spanish girls with a little English, who told me it in fact was Arca da Pino (also known as Pedrouzo) and to go back and I would find the main street and the albergue. I was elated than I finally had reached my destination for the day. I went straight for an alburgue - it was still open or rather it hadn´t closed yet, as last night´s costomers, hadn´t all left yet. So in I went in and tried to explain to the lady, that I already - despite the time - had walked for 6 hours and just wanted a bed for tonight. However although she agreed to take my backpack, I am stranded in a small cafe until 12 noon, when the alburgue will open its doors - so at least I can get a warm cup of coffee and something to eat and most importantly keep warm - my t-shirt is not the recommended way of dress on this cool, misty morning - in fact it feels like a bit of a winter Melbourne morning and is cold-cold-cold!

As I have still got 22 minutes left on this internet - account, I will tell you a little about the number of pilgrims carrying pretty bad injuries at this stage of the Camnio. They are all peregrino, who have commenced their Camino during the last week or so and due to their limited holiday, walk themselved to the bone every day - leaving them with foot - ankle and knee injuries, similar to the one I suffered. However because we are so close to Santiago, no-one even considers to stop and take a rest, but rather crawl to the ´finishing line`, which can be a pretty sad sight as they shuffle along the path. (maybe they should take a detour to Lourdes)

Tomorrow´s walk will take me to a high spot overlooking Sandiago called Monte Gozo - just 5 kilometers from the cathedral. If it is a clear day, it will my first opportunity to sight the cathedral. In days gone by, the first pilgrim in a party who spotted the cathedral, had the honour to lead the party into the city and to the cathedral - however these days I belive Monte Gozo can be a bit of a circus - with an albergue housing more than 800 pilgrims - the first spot where everyone is housed together - ready for the shot walk the next day. There will be buses and tour cars arriving, providing the opportunity for the ´pilgrims´to finish their journey on foot - take a bow, will you? Oh! I am still judging other people´s Camino - something I should have learned by now not to do. But it proves that the Camino hasn´t converted me into a saint or similar - so Australia - you will get me back almost as I left you.

As I said yesterday, the Camino is almost like a really good book, which you don´t want to end - and I am afraid that tomorrow is the last full page of the book - only followed by a partly full page - but hopefully with the climax.

Writing this I had a SMS message from Laraine this morning, that reminded me, that life doesn´t stop because I am doing this Camino. Our very good friend through my 35 years in Australia, Effie, had died during her sleep during the night. Although it wasn´t unexpected, it brings one back to the reality of ´real life´ - with its joys as well as its sorrows.

I have to adimid that I on reaching Arca and beeing so close of reaching Santiago, I was feeling just a little sad and dissapointed, that I would be reaching this milestone alone, without friends to share this special moment with. However what the Camino has taught me once again - worrying is not something one ought to do. As I arrived I met a wonderful family from Iceland - yes I said Iceland - surely the only icelandic family on the Camino. They travelled - mum and dad and two sons - and had been on the road for 6 weeks - not a bad effort. Mum orgnaised a lovely luch before long and invited me to join them. We had a terrific time together and I had a discussion with dad, who had a senior position in the education system in Iceland. We discovered faily quicky, that the similarities in our two education systems, fare outweighted the differences, only emphazising that policitians are the same world wide in regard to what thay belive and from where they get their ideas.

Let me take this opprtunity to tell you a little about Iceland (the blog ought to be a little educational as well). There are only 300.000 people living in Iceland and it is the only country where the whole population has a documented family tree going all the way back the the time (year 900) where Eric the Red and his son Leif, inhabited Iceland, as part of the Vikings expansion policy. They still ahve a very old naming system in Iceland to this very day, where the sons and daughters get their father´s first name as their surname. Hence in my case - Steen would be called Steen Gunnarson and Farina Karina Gunnarsdottir and so on - no doubt where names such as Rasmus(son) and Jack(son) derives from.

Later in the afternoon I got another suprise as two scottich friends all of a sudden turned up again. (by this time I was sure that everone I had meet during the past couple of weeks, all had left me for dead- so to speak). It was great to see them again and Angela cooked a wonderful spanish omelette, with capsicum, tomatoes and onions and the bottle of red didn´t go astray either. We all decided to travel the same distance the next day, reaching Santiago on the Sunday morning.

The next morning brought a new aspect to my Camino travel, as the rain came tumbling down and I knew I had to get out and do the days walk in that weather. I put my rain cover on my backpack and my rain pontio over my head and out I went. As the path quicky went through a dark wooded area, I decided to follow close behind a group of iatlian pilgrims, who at least had a workable torch. For the first little while, I was careful where I put my feet to avoid the worst of the puddles - however it didn´t tale long before the rain intentified and a small river came flowing down the path, covering our legs well up to the angles. By that stage who cared and we all continued on, laughing and making light the wet conditions.

On this last leg the Camino passed the airport and the runway in very close proximity and I couldn´t help thinking that Laraine would be arriving there in just a few days. I am so looking forward to seeing her again after these six weeks. I took the opportunity for a cofee break in a small cafe near by - a welcome rest as well as an opportunity for a nice hot cup of coffee. As I resumed my jouney, I came upon an italian group, sitting in the rain, reading the Gospel and singing hymns - not a rare sight on this part of the camino, as especially many church groups from Italy, seem to have joined the Camino.

As I arrived at Monte Gozo, I had another huge supprise waiting for me. The woman I wrote about meeting in Astorga, (the Italian architect, now working in Barcelona) appeared and once again the Camino gave me a wonderful supprise. After all I was not going to Santiago without friends, whom I could share this special moment with. How lucky am I.