We Woke To Wet Streets and Heavy Rain

We last used an Internet in Pamplona, which seems like weeks ago but was only 2 days! We had a very nice supper at a pavement cafe in the Plaza del Castillo ( Joy will remember it ) and I went to have a look at the Hotel La Perla where we stayed in 2002 and 2004 - now a 5 star establishment with prices to match - from 210 euro to 450 euro per night!

We stayed in a little pension, which must’ve been above the most popular bar in Navarra because there was raucous laughing, shouting, singing and music all night! We hardly slept and then at about 4am the street cleaning trucks came with their loud revving and machines: after which the dirt bin collectors came with their shouts, clanking and crashing of bins.

The weather report was for 29oC and blue skies but we woke to wet streets and heavy rain. So, it was mud, mud and more mud! Trying to climb up to the Alto del Perdon was excruciating. At one stage we took it in turns to help each other up a particularly steep and sludgy section. It was fairly clear at the top but the view would have been better if it wasn’t quite so misty. The path down was ankle snapping - a riverbed of round boulders with slush in between! We finally made it to Uterga where we stopped for lunch. The sun came out so we took off our rain suits and tried to dig some of the mud off the bottom of our boots. Then we walked in sunshine to the Eunate church - about 3km off the camino path - where we intended spending the night. After waiting over an hour for the refuge to open a wedding party arrived and a woman told us that the refuge is closed and we would have to walk onto the next village. We could have cried! Anneliese asked the woman to phone for a taxi but there was no reply so we shouldered on up the hill to Obanos - arriving there after 6pm but luckily finding a bed in the refuge.

Today we woke to beautiful sunshine and donned our shorts and t-shirts for the first time. It has been a difficult day with a climb through terrain that looks like the Sierra Nevada! The villages are all on top of hills and the camino takes one up tortuous paths and down equally uneven slopes. The scenery has been gorgeous and we have sampled the fruits of Navarra along the way - blackberries, figs, Merlot grapes. We have walked through olive groves, vineyards, apple orchards and fields of sunflowers.

Just before Maneru we stopped to catch our breath and two guys caught up to us. “We know someone from South Africa” they said, “and she is walking the camino now - her name is Sil.” AHH!!! I couldn’t believe it - it was Javier Martin who is famous on the camino and is a member of the Santiago-today forum that I belong to. We chatted along the way till we got to Maneru where we had a group photo taken.

It was about 5km from there to Lorca and along the way I could feel the Compeed plaster on my heel rubbing up and down, when I took my sock off I was horrified to find that the plaster had stuck to my sock and has pulled all the skin off my heel. What a mess! When we booked into the refuge I had to peel as much of the plaster off as I could and have covered it in Mercurochrome. I don’t really know how I am going to walk 20km up and down these hills tomorrow.

We decided a couple of days ago to record one thing each day that we are grateful for so here goes.

• Day 1:
  We were supposed to stop at Zubiri but missed the turn and went on a further 5km to Larrasoana, we learned the next day that there were bed bugs at the Zubiri refuge so we were SO grateful that we did not stay there!

• Day 2:
  We were really grateful for a private room with a small bath - even though we hardly slept that night.

• Day 3:
  Even though we had hoped to stay at Eunate, we were really grateful to have found beds in Obanos. Many refuges fill up quickly and there was a chance that we would not have found on there.

• Day 4:
  A shorter walk with sunny skies, gifts of wild fruits all along the route and a nice hot shower today.

Will try to email again further down the path.

The peregrinas are fine - tired and a little muscle weary but getting stronger every day.

Much love,

S, A & M
Sil

Friday, August 24 - Waterlogged!!

To say that we have had a camino baptism is an understatement! But this was not a baptism of fire – a baptism of water and mud!

We arrived in Roncesvalles in rain, it rained all day and there was torrential rain all through the night. We had a very nice menu del peregrino for 8 euro – soup, trout and chips and yoghurt. (I had a salad instead). I am sure the rivers will soon run out of trout if they continue to feed so many pilgrims day after day – unless there is another miracle with fish and bread! There had to be 2 sittings because there are so many pilgrims. The collegiate church is simple but beautiful with a wonderful statue of St James as a pilgrim. This is the 3rd time I've been to the church and I was looking forward to the pilgrim's mass which was at 8pm. It was heart –stopping when the old Father mentioned “peregrinos dall SudAfrika”. At the end of the mass all the pilgrims go up to the front and he gives a special blessing.

The refuge sleeps 120 pilgrims in double bunks, pushed together two-by-two and we managed to get lower bunks. We had to put our wet boots onto shelves at the entrance and all our walking poles into a large container. I don't know how anyone knows which is which in the morning!

I slept next to Anneliese but Marion had a man next to her. I told Anneliese that when she gives talks about her camino she can now say, "On my first night on the camino I had a Danish man on top of me and Marion had a Frenchman next to her."

When we woke in the morning, the rain was pelting down. The paths were torrents of mud and slush and we struggled through narrow torrent courses with deep mud almost sucking the boots off our feet! We had taken a black garbage bag, cut a head hole and armholes in it and used it like a poncho, but still the water found its way into our backpacks and into our clothes. Thank heavens we had all our clothes in zip-lock bags otherwise everything would have been soaked. Anneliese said that she thought I was mad to suggest that we keep all our clothes in plastic bags but was very grateful when she found her clothing quite dry but the inside of her bag wet.

We intending spending the first night at Zubiri but somehow we missed the turn over a bridge into the town and only realised our mistake 2km past the town. It was a hard slog up steep, slippery gravel paths and down slushy, mushy muddy tracks to Larrasoana. Luckily we managed to get beds in the refuge there. The 4 showers and 2 toilets were in a portable shed – unisex nog al! When Anneliese and I went into the shed to shower there was man in all his naked glory sorting out his clothes on a chair. A woman came out from behind the curtain also naked as a baby! We ended up showering and changing with naked men and women tiredly going on with their ablutions.

Luckily we haven’t had too many snorers and have had fairly good nights. We got us this morning to a very misty drizzle but it cleared as we walked. Walked is a misnomer, skidded, slipped and slushed is more like it. The paths were horrendous: narrow, slushy, muddy with loose rocks and in parts, steep stone steps leading down that were as slippery (if not more so) than the mud paths on either side. We decided to find a hotel in Pamplona instead of staying in a refuge so that we could unpack our packs, sort out wet and dry clothing and take stock of blisters and hot spots on toes and heels. Our shoulders are all sore so we will do a mutual back and shoulders massage tonight. The sun came out just before Trinidad de Arre (yay!) so we hung our wet fleeces on the back of our packs to dry.

We are staying on the 4th floor of a little fonda (inn) not far from the Plaza del Castillo and this Internet café. There are 3 beds and the bathroom is down the hall with sit-in baths. They don’t provide plugs but we are savvy pilgrims and brought international plugs with us so we were able to have a bath!

The main Correos (post office) was one street down from our road so I managed to post 4 envelopes home with little books, brochures and leaflets. We are now just around the corner from The Plaza del Castillo – where the old La Perla hotel is (now renovated to 5 star status). We will find somewhere to eat, try to visit the cathedral and then go back to our room.

Hasta leugo,

Syl, Anneliese & Marion

Tomorrow ... tomorrow .... we're leaving tomorrow

I've been singing "My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...."
Will be in Roncesvalles on Wednesday and will start walking Thursday morning.
I have no lofty expectations of this camino. No search for the Holy Grail, no burning angst, no unresolved issues. I just want to 'be' so that (as in an ancient Hasidic prayer) I can feel the 'Holy Fire' from all that surrounds me.
I have a couple of really pleasant duties this time. I will be delivering a brag book photo albumn to Maria Theodora (Felisa Rodriguez' daughter) filled with photos of her mother taken by pilgrims before she passed away in 2002 at the age of 92.
I also have an albumn for Tomas at Manjarin as well as a wooden Tau made by a community workshop at a monastery near my home.
I have a photograph of a pilgrim taken next to a huge old tree on the way up to O'Cebreiro which he wants placed under a large rock in the photograph.
I have a memorial photograph of a special peregrino which I will be nailing to a post outside Carrion de Los Condes.
This time we will do a tour of Roncesvalles - stay at the Eunate albergue - visit Santo Domingo de Silos - climb up to the castle at Castrojeriz - stay up until mid-night when they switch the lights on inside the cathedral at Leon - visit the relics at Oviedo - and do a nocturnal tour of Santiago.
Machi - I would love to 'massage mother earth' with my bare feet but I am not brave enough to try!
Dios les bendiga,

PACKING LIGHT

Here are my tips for packing a really light backpack.

Backpackers Rule No 1: Your backpack should weigh about 10-15% of your bodyweight.

(Yeah - well, no-body listens to this one!)

My fully packed backpack weighs just under 5kg but when I start walking I will have to add another 500mls water and perhaps another 500gr for fruit, nuts, bread etc. So along the trail it will vary between 5kg and 6 kg. So, how can you keep your pack down to between 5kg and 7 kg?

The big secret is to Weigh everything! Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh everything - including the backpack you buy. You don't need a 75L backpack to walk the camino. My recommendation is a 30L backpack for women and a 35L pack for men. (OK - if you are walking in winter you might need 5L extra space to cater for warm jackets, gloves, woolen hats etc., but in summer you will need less, lightweight clothing.) My 30L Pro-lite back pack weighs about 650gr - 23 ounces. A canvas type backpack will weigh twice that much. If you carry only 5 - 7 kg you do not need a thickly padded hip belt - a comfortable strap will hold the backpack in position. Some backpacks are for short people whilst others are for people with long torsos. It is important that you try the pack on, adjust the straps in the shop, ensure that the waist belt fits comfortably.

What is in my backpack?

2 t-shirts, 1 vest top, 1 long sleeve top, 1 fleece jacket, a parachute jacket.

2 shorts, 1 long pants, parachute pants, a rain suit.

3 lycra panties, 2 bikini tops, 3 pairs socks, 2 sock liners.

Croc sandals.

Clothing:
Everything should be multi purpose - this means don't pack sleeping shorts that can't be worn for walking, or nighties that can't double up as a shirt. Ladies - black lycra pants and bra tops can double as swim wear. Choose the lightest shorts you can buy. Running shorts from a sports shop are good. Jeep make lightweight shorts that can fold up into their back pocket. Find lightweight, wicking t-shirts and if this means taking your scale into a store when buying stuff, so be it. If your t-shirts are unnecessarily long, cut them shorter. This will reduce their weight even further. Cut the labels off your clothes - I'm serious - they will only irritate you anyway. An ultra-light fleece pullover can double up as a jacket if you convert it by putting a plastic zip into it. I use a black rainsuit rather than a poncho. The trousers can be used as over trousers in the mornings if it is cold and in the evenings when I go out. The jacket can also be worn when it is cold. Parachute jackets - the ones runners wear - are an excellent chill cheater and fold up into a little ball. You can also have parachute 'sweat' trousers made of the same lightweight material - mine weigh 95gr - 3.35oz.

Sleeping bags: For spring to early summer a lightweight mummy bag will do. First Ascent have bags that weigh 340gr - 12.5oz. (Take your scale with you to the store just in case they don't have the weight listed on them). In summer you can get by with an inner liner or silk liner. Mine was from the Silk Sleeping Bag Company in the UK and weighs 230gr - 8.2oz and cost £23. So, the combined weight of my backpack and sleeping bag is 880gr - 31 oz.

Take a pair of lightweight sandals - Crocs are excellent - to wear in the shower and when relaxing in the refuge. I wear socks with my Nile Crocs and can wear them all day and they only weigh 210gr - 7.5oz.
Take a minimum of toiletries. You are going to a first world country where there are more farmacias than bars - so, take a sample bottle of shampoo, a tiny bar of soap, the smallest toothpaste you can find. You can replace everything and anything when it starts to run out.

I have miniature versions of everything. A child's toothbrush is smaller and weigh less than an adult's toothbrush; a travel nailbrush is a diddly little thing; a baby's face cloth is smaller than a normal face cloth; a camping towel weighs half of what a normal towel weighs. Those little plastic clips that hold a bread packet closed make excellent pegs. Collect a dozen or so and you won't have to take pegs. 8 nappy pins make ideal pegs to hang washing and can also be used to pin wet socks etc to your backpack whilst walking.

My best advice is - Don't believe anyone who suggests an item you should take and says, "..it doesn't weigh anything." Everything weighs something! You don't need that little black jacket for an evening out (wear your black rain jacket). You don't need those two-in-one shorts / trousers that zip off at the knee. You don't need that sarong from Bali that hardly weighs anything.

POSTING STUFF AHEAD

If you can't bear to leave out your favourite things and find that your pack is too heavy after all don’t despair because you can post stuff onto yourself Lista Correos (Poste Restante) to Santiago. You won't have to dump your excess stuff on the edge of the road! (The most common thing pilgrims dump on the side of the road are tents!) Most post offices sell special pilgrim boxes – some big enough to take a 20kg suitcase - and address labels to send stuff onto Santiago. The Post Office in Santiago will hold your parcel for up to two months. When you arrive in Santiago, take your parcel ticket and your ID or passport to the Post Office and collect your parcel. It is close to the Cathedral and is open until 7pm.

BUEN CAMINO!!!

6 1/2 WEEKS OR 45 MORE SLEEPS!

I have started dreaming that I am on the camino. Last night I was sitting at a white plastic table in the sunshine outside a cafe bar with lots of other pilgrims and we were all laughing. I was speaking fluent Spanish (which I can only do in my dreams!)

As the time draws nearer, the camino calls more strongly. I suppose it is like this when returning to any favourite place - one becomes a bit agitated, impatient to be off, withdrawing more and more from family and friends but at the same time, a little anxious about the separation from loved ones and all that is familiar. I am ready to go.

Everything has been weighed and packed into zip-lock bags. My backpack is ready and weighs a miraculous 5,5kg - with a 500ml bottle of water!

I have glued on the CSJ UK badge, the CSJ South Africa badge and a Camino Pilgrim badge onto the back of the pack. The new boots are wearing down at the heels so I have stopped training in them lest they wear away before I even set foot on Spanish soil. I photocopied the CSJ Guide to the Camino Frances and have shared out the pages between three of us. I also photocopied the Brierley Guide maps and had them enlarged. This is all we will take but I am sure that with the guide, the maps and the yellow arrows we will not get lost.

We will be carrying gifts for three special people on the camino.

I have compiled three 'brag books' with photographs for these three special people. One is for Maria Theodora - daughter of Felisa Rodrigues who, until she died at age 92, sat at a table outside her ramshackle home just outside Logrono offering a sello to passing pilgrims as well as 'Higos, Agua, Amor' - figs, love and water. Maria has continued the tradition. I have been able to source about 15 photographs of Felisa from the Internet and another dozen or so of Maria. I have also made up a brag book for Tomás Martínez de Paz of Manjarin. So many people have photos taken at the Manjarin refuge in the Irago mountains but I'm not sure that many send these to Tomas. I have got about 30 photos of Tomas and Manjarin to give to him as well as a wooden Tau cross which I bought from the Marianhill Monastery near Durban.

The final brag book is for Jesus Jato at Villafranca del Bierzo. He and his family have been caring for pilgrims for almost 30 years and he is a healer, historian and a legend on the camino Frances. I didn't meet Jesus when I stayed in the Ave Fenix in 2002 but hope to meet him this time.

Thoughts on Camino de Santiago

A few magical words about walking el camino

THIS POST IS FOR THE LADIES

Check List:
√ The airtickets have been booked and paid for.
√ The car hire has been booked and paid for. (DoYouSpain - an automatic car for 6 days for 282 euro - not bad!)
√ The 'credenciales' have arrived in England.
√ The 2007 CSJ Guide and badges have arrived.
√ Marion has bought the Whizz-freedoms.
Whaaaat??
Don't know what those are?
These are portable, reusable 'female urine directors'.
Ladies, if you don’t like the idea of squatting behind a bush to pee, or if you have an aversion to public loos there are really useful alternatives. There are a number of feminine urine directors on the market that allow you to STP (Stand To Pee). Some are solid, some are flexible. Some have extension tubes for awkward loo stops. Wonderful to use on a long journey, on a hike, and especailly useful for women in wheelchairs.
You could try an American product called a Freshette from the USA http://www.freshette.com/ or a couple of British manufactured items, the Whiz Freedom at http://www.whizproducts.co.uk/en/ or the SheWee at http://www.shewee.com/ and even a disposable one called a Magic Cone. http://www.magiccone.com/
This is what some women had to say about these products:

FRESHETTE:
“This is a device that makes it possible to urinate standing up. Very easy. Very quick. Very clean. Doesn't leak. I have one and have used it for years. I'm ordering a new one for the trip because I stepped on my old one and cracked it. I love this because not only can I pee in the bushes with my back to the traffic like guys do... I don't have to sit on nasty toilet seats or squat with aching legs. It's VERY lightweight. You will only need the Freshette and direction tube. No need for the disposal bags.

SHEWEE:
“I bought a Whiz and also a Shewee which sounded similar but which was a lot cheaper and is a slightly different design. I found the latter suited me better and I used it outside for the first time today, on a cold and very windy walk in the mountains. It was wonderful not to have to crouch and perch (I find it harder to stand up again each year) and, in today’s weather, it was even more wonderful not to have to expose the nether regions. I shall buy another now as a reserve for if I lose this one.”
STP (Stand To Pee)
And for ladies who don’t know how to STP – here is a website that tells you how to stand with your back to the wind and copy the boys! http://www.ftmguide.org/bathroom.html

5 MONTHS TO GO!!

We are thrilled that Anneliese Schapers will be joining us on the camino. Anneliese has done parts of the camino with a coach/walking group before but has always wanted to walk it. Anneliese (a Catholic sister) has been a great supporter of our local Confraternity of St James functions and get-togethers. As she has sabbatical from her parish this year she will spend 6 weeks on the camino before going home to Dusseldorf to visit with her family. When I asked her if she drank beer the answer was, "Do you know any Germans who don't drink beer?" So, Finn is thrilled because he may have found his beer drinking partner!

Last week we booked all our airtickets. Durban-Johannesburg-Pamplona-Dusseldorf for Anneliese: Durban-Johannesburg-Santiago (home ex-Pamplona) for Finn; and Durban-Johannesburg-Pamplona for Marion and me.

Marion will be back for her 'caring' work in the UK at the end of May and I am planning to hold a CSJ camino workshop soon after she returns.

ADDING NEW FOOTSTEPS ALONGSIDE OLD ONES

After walking the camino Frances from Roncesvalles in 2002 and from Sarria in 2004 many people have asked me:
“Why walk the Camino Frances again? Why not walk one of the other 20 routes to Santiago?”
I say, "Because a year or so after walking the Camino Frances for the first time in the spring of 2002 I realised that I was a rather arrogant, naïve novice and didn’t know enough about the country, the terrain, history, folklore or the architecture of the camino Frances. I thought the terrain would be a piece of old takkie. After all, I was a hiker, an ex-marathon runner and ultra-distance race walker and, in 2002 because we only had 4 weeks holiday, we based our camino on walking 28kms per day for 27 days, which of course meant 13kms one day and +40kms the next.
I didn’t want to read too much about the history, folklore, architecture etc because I thought I would pick it up along the way. I did read Coehlo and Maclaine and thought they were sufficient. Ha!
In spite of all the running, race walking and rambling, the camino has a way of knocking the stuffing out of pompous pilgrims and some days I was just too exhausted to do any detour that was more than 50m off the path.
“There are beautiful archaeological ruins just 1 ½ km down the road,” a local told us outside Atapuerca.” Three more kms – not today thank you!
We didn’t wait for a church to be opened or look for the key.
“Seen one you’ve seen them all”. I heard a pilgrim say, and I agreed.
Then a Confraternity of St James was formed in South Africa and I became our Regional contact person. At St James’ Feast Day celebrations held at my home pilgrims recalled different places, monuments, scenery, their favourite Santiago statues or albergues and I sometimes felt as though they were talking about a different camino.
Over the past five years I have learned a lot from the camino Forums; read extensively on the history, architecture, music, traditions and regions of the camino Frances and have collected over 20 books, DVDs and videos which I show at workshops and at talks given to interested organisations.
Now, I think the time has come for me to revisit the camino Frances, this time at a more humble, leisurely pace with time to include the detours to Eunate, Clavijo, Oviedo and Santo Domingo de Silas etc.
We will go in September, a different season with new landscapes. I am no longer naïve and realise that I still won’t see 1/100th of what there is to see or appreciate all that the camino has to offer. I don’t want to compare this journey with my first camino or even have déjá vu moments.
In “Journey to Portugal” Jose Saramago who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998, said:
'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveler sets out once more."
I can’t wait!

2007: PLANNING FOR THE CAMINO - BACKPACKS ETC

Although my backpack usually weighs around 7-8kg on long walks I want to carry even less this time, so I've bought a new backpack - a K-Way ProLite 30lt - that weighs about 630g from the Cape Union Mart. The old one was a 35lt pack and weighed twice as much at 1,260g. "The bigger the sack, the more you'll pack" is a favourite backpackers mantra so I'm intending to pack less this time.
My Colibri aluminium sleepingbag weighs 600g but I've decided that it is also too heavy and have ordered a new sleeping bag from the Silk Sleeping Bag Company in England that weighs 220g, is 210 x 85cm and costs £23. So, the combined weight of backpack and sleeping bag is about 850g.