23 SEPTEMBER - SAN ANTON

After breakfast Angela and I walked down the path towards the Santa Clara convent.  The convent, which is run by a closed order, the poor sisters of Saint Clara, is the one Marion and I had visited in 2007.  They sell cookies and preserves via a wooden revolving serving hatch.  When Marion and I visited, we put our money on the hatch and it turned, but when the nun behind the hatch tried to turn it again to deliver our order, the hatch became stuck.  We got such a fright when a side door opened and a smiling nun stood there with our cookies in her hands! She explained that she was a community nun and that was why we could see her.

http://www.castrojeriz.com/lugares-para-visitar/convento-de-santa-clara

 

 

The mass was beautiful - a singing mass with the nuns in a room behind the altar cut off from the main church behind grills and the priest, a young Berundian, on our side of the grill.  After mass we walked to Castrojeriz. 

 

The sunrise was amazing and the approach to the village gave us a different view to that of the one from the road,

 

 

 

 

 
 


 We walked to the square and visited Angela's friend at the little shop in the square.  She showed us where the Medico was.  The Doctor could be visited from 11am and a nurse from 1pm.  We sat in the waiting room for over an hour waiting for the doctor but he told us I needed a nurse so we had to leave and come back at 1pm. 
Back in the square we bumped into Mau Mariani (who Kevin had introduced to me on my first day at the albergue) and had a coffee with him before Angela showed me his beautiful place, Hospital del Alma (Hospital of the Soul) where he and Nia Peiro had set up home which included a gorgeous photographic exhibition. 

When I had first seen Mau walking into the ruins of San Anton I had immediately recognized an old soul, one of these people who, although you've never met, you know who they are and what they stand for.  Hospital del Alma is a place of refuge, a silent retreat available to anyone for a donation.  One can stay for a day or a month, or longer.  That is why Mau doesn't spend too much time at home!  He says that if he is there people want to engage him in conversation, so he spends little time there, preferring to cultivate his special vegetable garden outside the village.

We visited the hotel Jacobus and then did some shopping.  At 1pm we went back to the Medico and I saw the nurse.  I didn't have the Tetanus injection.  She cleaned the wound and redressed the finger and told me not to get it wet and to come back in two days time.

Angela's friend, a hospitalero from the albergue San Esteban, offered to take us back to the albergue and on the way we stopped at a café-bar for a drink, arriving at the albergue after 2 pm.  The place was full and Angela and I started to prepare dinner while Kristine had some time off to do her training walk.

There were three Spanish pilgrims, including a father and his beautiful daughter, in the albergue tonight, which was unusual; we have only had a handful of Spanish pilgrims staying with us.  After dinner the Spanish girl told us that she couldn't sing very well and would prefer to do a dance for us.  She clapped out a rhythm on the table which we followed, rolled up her top to under her boobs and her skirt down to below her naval and started to belly dance!  She was fantastic and was awarded with the greatest round of applause we have ever had at San Anton!

12 SEPTEMBER - BURGOS AND SAN ANTON - 20KM

Bonnie and Randy left early but the rest of us left together a bit later. 
We made sure that we took the correct route following the path that would bring us to Castanares.

The path was like a lunar landscape in places with just sharp rocks to the top of the ridge.

From the top of the ridge is a spectacular view of the outskirts of Burgos. 

 

We met at the restaurant el Descanso and had lunch before going to the Hotel around the corner where the taxis would collect us - one for the group to take them to Santo Domingo de la Calzada and another to take me to San Anton.

 

Their taxi came on time and I said goodbye to the group.  They promised to pop in at San Anton in three days time.  I then waited an hour for my taxi then decided to phone Javier at Caminofacil who told me that my suitcase had gone with the group to Santo Domingo and they were sending a taxi for me but I would have to wait for my case. 

Pedro arrived shortly after and we went to the railway station to collect three men who we would drop off before continuing to San Anton.

 

 

I arrived at San Anton at around 4pm and met South African Kevin (who I trained to be a hospitalero) and Robert, who I would serve with until they left in three days time.  The three of us would be sleeping in a small container - a new experience for me after sleeping with one man for the last 46 years!  Robert and Kevin shared the double bunk and I had a bed. 

 

Kevin gave me a tour of the place and explained the daily routine.  We needed to do shopping so he invited me and a pilgrim to walk to the village 4km away to do some shopping.  The supermecado only opened at 5pm so we would have time to get there, shop and walk back again.

As we walked to Castrojeriz, Kevin explained about the daily routines, preparing dinner and some of the traditional rituals at the dinner table.  With no electricity, the hospitaleros made their own entertainment with the pilgrims taking part.

We bought provisions, bottles and tins, and bags of vegetables and struggled back to the albergue with the stuff in our packs, walking against a rising head wind.  I told Kevin that when Kristine arrived and he and Robert left, we would have to get a taxi back with the shopping!  According to Rebekah's outline, Ovidio would bring supplies but he was away on holiday and so the hospitaleros did the shopping.

Back at the albergue we got the pilgrims chopping onions and peppers, setting the table, helping with the candles.  Just before dinner, Rebekah (the person in charge of the hospitaleros) arrived with a few friends and a Norwegian Classical guitarist to give us a concert.  It was too windy to have the doors open so we added a round table to the long tables and ended up with 21 people for dinner!  The guitarist was superb but with having had such a long day I couldn't help nodding off during his performance.

When everyone had left, we locked up and went to bed with our torches and the solar lights I had brought with me, illuminating the way.

Logroño -Clavijo

On the 23 May the Santiago Cathedral celebrates the anniversary of the Battle of Clavijo with the swinging of the botafumeiro during mass.
The legend of Santiago  appearing from the clouds on a large white horse was written centuries after the supposed battle of Clavijo took place.
Even though it is a legend, the castle perched on the pinacle of a rocky outcrop above the village about 18 km south of Logroño is well worth a visit.
The café bar was closed so we went back to Logrono for lunch. We decided to return to the restaurant where we had dinner the nigh before with a lovely woman serving our meal.  The woman behind the bar today was grumpy, impatient and quite  rude. I suggested that she didn't want to work today but had drawn the short straw and took her frustrations out on anyone who dared to walk in and ask to have a meal.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - September 2015

One more sleep and I will leave for Spain to walk a short section of the Camino Frances with a group of pilgrims, and serve as a hospitalera in a pilgrim shelter for two weeks.

amaWalkers Camino has 6 groups walking the Camino this year - 4 on the 'Best of Both' Camino Frances route from St Jean to Santiago, and 2 on the 'Complete Your Camino' from Logrono. 
Marion is leading the September 'Complete Your Camino' and I will walk with her and the group as far as Burgos where I will leave them to go to the ruined monastery of San Anton where I will serve in a small shelter for 12 pilgrims until 27th September.

Marion and me on the Camino Ingles - 2009

Marion is an experienced Camino trekker.  We met in 1997 at the start of a 50km walk from Inchanga to Durban.  We walked the route together and remained friends.  In 2000 we ran the Comrades marathon together.  In 2001 we walked the Coast to Coast in England, in 2006 the Via Francigena from Switzerland to Rome, in 2007 the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles to Santiago and in 2009 from Lourdes to Pamplona on the Aragones route and the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago.  Next year amaWalkers is leading 4 groups on the Via Francigena and Marion will be one of the group leaders. 

We meet in Logrono on Friday.  The rest of the group should all be there by Saturday and we have planned a visit to the castle of Clavijo on Sunday, about 18km south of Logrono, where Saint James was first seen as Santiago on a white horse, brandishing his sword at the battle between Christians and Moors, slaying thousands of the enemy. The legend was first written about 300 years after the supposed battle took place and is one of the many legends of Saint James and Santiago.

Santo Domingo de Silos - home of  Gregorian Chant

On Monday we will start walking westward towards Santiago stopping at Navarrete, Najera, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Belorado, San Jaun de Ortega and Burgos.  I will leave the group in Burgos and they will have an overnight excursion to Santo Domingo de Silos where the monks made Gregorian chant famous in the 1990s.  They return to Burgos the next day and continue walking west for 15 more days, leaving out the sections they walked when doing the 'Best of Both' Camino and arriving in Santiago on 27th September. 

The atmospheric pilgrim shelter at San Anton was created in 2002 by Ovid Field who has a pension in Castrojeriz.  It sleeps 12 pilgrims in 6 double bunks and has beds for 3 hospitaleros in a container, tucked under the ruined walls.  Many shelters in the middle ages catered for 12 pilgrims which is symbolic of the number of apostles.  There is no electricity and no running water. 
This is the notice I received about the shelter: 

"THIS IS A VERY LAID-BACK PLACE. There is no strict schedule and no real “rules” except a ban on smoking indoors, littering, drug use, excessive noise, and the ever-present water shortage.

This is a DONATIVO albergue. No one is turned away for lack of funds, and we do not make any suggestions regarding how much a stay is worth. Show the pilgrims where the donativo box is, put it on the table at breakfast time, and leave it at that.   

Gates are open from 8 a.m to 10 p.m. Anyone can come or go during that time, you should give everyone a smile and a welcome.  Groups of people CANNOT line up to use the toilet, as we do not have water capacity for that.  Pilgrims can take rests at San Anton, but no one can use the shower who is not staying overnight. No camping is allowed. Animals are admitted according to your judgement; owner is to clean up after them.

You are expected to make a dinner each day for pilgrims, using the simple ingredients on hand. The stove is a four-burner, powered with Butane. Have someone show you how to change the butane bottle if you don’t know how – it isn’t hard, but there is a knack to it.  The kitchen is pretty well equipped to serve 12. Be sure to find out if you have vegetarian guests before you start cooking! Breakfast is served at 7 or 7:30 am., nothing elaborate.

We would like to make a special effort this year to maintain the niches in the arch across the road outside. The Antonine monks who lived at San Anton used to leave food out there for pilgrims who arrived after the gates were closed. They now are used by pilgrims as a place to leave little offerings, prayer requests, or notes of thanksgiving. Please keep them orderly; replace faded flowers, pull weeds, etc. If so inclined, offer prayers for the requests left there. "

Kevin Duke from Durban is serving there from the 1 - 15 September and I'm looking forward to spending a couple of days with him during the hand over.

I will arrive in Santiago on 27th September and will meet up with 6 peregrinas from Jon's 'Best of Both' group.  We are flying to Barcelona the next day and will spend a night there.  Viator tickets for a guided tour of the Sagrada Familia have been booked. 

 

When we visited last year the queue was so long that we couldn't get inside and I'm making sure that this time we will skip the queues and spend time inside the cathedral.

This is going to be a very different Camino experience for me as it will be the first time in 10 Caminos that I won't be walking into Santiago.  But, there are many layers to the Camino and each one has been different, each one offering a unique experience.

Roll on Friday!!

 

 

 

 

4 June - Trradillos los Templarios

Kathy left quite early as it was going to be a 26km day to Terradillos. I decided to buy some groceries to take to Rebekah so walked to the Spar and the big supermercado DIA. I vacated the room at 10 and sat in the foyer doing emails and the blog.
The bus was at 11.51 so at 11.30 I strolled down to the bus stop outside the cafe bar.  I sat with Grace from Texas and who should come along but Patty and Sharon from Portland. When you reconnect with people who you've met further back on the trail, you are like long lost relatives!  (Fr Jeffrey, if you read this post Patty sends her love).
A German pilgrim came out of the bar in a state. She was due to fly home from Leon and had been told the bus was fully booked. I went into the bar and asked to buy a ticket to Terradillos.  "No, es completo" answered the bar man. They did not sell tickets on the bus so all tickets had to be pre-booked. We had found the same thing in Italy but so far in Spain this had not been the case. I told Grace I would have to take a taxi again today and an Italian pilgrim with a sore leg asked if he could share the taxi to Terradillos.  I went back to the barman and bought a ticket for the bus from Terradillos

to Sahgun tomorrow.
So, at 12pm Alberto and I shared a taxi (€30) to Terradillos. When I checked in I recognised the woman at the desk and told her that I had stayed here in 2007. The albergue was new then and she hadn't seen pilgrims from South Africa. We gave her one of the wire Santiago crosses I'd had made by a wire worker outside the Post Office. She pointed to the noticeboard behind her and there was the little cross, still hanging there

after 7 years amongst other gifts from pilgrims. I told her about AmaWalkers and she took me on a tour of the place.
Kathy arrived at about 1.30 so I phoned Rebekah and arranged for her to pick us up after 2pm.
When Reb arrived I felt a bit star-struck! I had seen her name on the Forums since Santiagobis days and subsequentky had followed her blog since she and Paddy moved to Moratinos. She gas written books, numerous articles on the Camino and is considered an authority on the Camino.
In 2008 Reb compiled an online Hospitaleros training course which I did as a pilot training exercise.   It wasn't accepted by HOSVOL (Hospitaleros Voluntarios) but on the strength of that, I was accepted to serve in an albergue in 2009. When I returned to South Africa, I became a Hosvol trainer and many South African trained volunteers have served in albergues in Spain.
Reb took us to a restaurant in Moratinos where we confused the owner with Kathy being allergic to fish and me being a vegetarian and not drinking wine. I'm sure he felt sorry for Reb with her high maintenance friends.

After lunch we walked around the edge of the village to see the many bodegas - like little Hobbit houses in the hillside.
Reb told us that she had two South African ladies staying the night and we were thrilled to find Sharon and Lin there. We ended up sitting around the table chatting until almost 7pm.
Reb drove us back to the albergue stopping at the memorial tree she planted for Philip,  the "Methodist Pilgrim" from the forum who died in May last year.

1 June - Castrojeriz

I had to get a taxi here as there are no buses from Hornillos.

 Tomorrow there is a bus but only at 6pm.  I don't fancy spending another long day here so will have to cough up and pay for another taxi to Fomista. Thereafter,  I will be able to take Alsa buses all the way to Astorga.
It was too early to check in so I strolled around this sleepy village, even more sleepy being a Sunday.  Even the few bored dogs I saw didn't lift their heads when I passed them.
The town is a waren of narrow,  stony alleys and steps wrapped around the base of the hill.  At the top is the ruin of an old castle. In 2007 Marion and I climbed to the top to see the castle and the stunning views.  But, I wasn't going to risk going up there on my own. If I tripped or fell I could die of hyperthermia before anyone found me!
I walked back to the Meson and my room was ready and my pink case waiting for me.

 In 2002 when I walked with Georgette and Clare, we stayed in an awful albergue in concrete cubby-holes with
thin vinyl mattresses. You couldn'nt sit up and we nearly froze to death. In 2004 Joy and I stayed in this Meson and in 2007 Marion, Annelise and i stayed in the San Esteban albergue then a few weeks later, after Finn joined us to walk from Sarria we hired a car and I drove us here from Oviedo.
I walked downstairs and saw Kathy checking in.  The sun was out and it was quite warm. We decided to have a mixed salad for lunch in the terrace area but it had been reserved for a first Communion celebration so we were seated inside the dining room.
After lunch I tried out the sitting bath but had to stand and shower. I was afraid that if I sat down I wouldn't be able to get up and would need rescuing!
I decided to take a walk to the shop which, according to their sign, would open at 4.30pm.   Kathy was also looking for it but only a bar was open. I bought some dates and an iced tea and we went back to our rooms.
There are two things pilgrims search for when arriving in a village or town - a place to sleep and the for food. I'm sure the bakeries, cheese makers, ham producers and breweries survive through the pilgrim trade.
We went in search of an open shop and found others doing the same.  The film producer of the documentary on the cellist - 'Walk to Fisterra' - was looking for peanut butter to feed his crew in the morning. Dane Johansen is playing here tonight.

On the way back we stopped and chatted to the couple from Belgium and outside the Meson we ran into the Aussie family and talked about Comrades (which was run today).
It doesn't get dark until about 10 pm so when you go to bed you have to close the shutters or roll down the blinds.

31 May - Hornillos del Camino

Even though we had bed covers and blankets it was cold when we woke this morning.  The temperature was about 4oC and there was a 30% chance of light rain. We took the pink case downstairs at 7.45 and I said goodbye to Kathy. At about 9am I left the hotel. The cold wind still got through my layers of jackets, scarf and chill cheater.
I knew that there was nothing in Hornillos so I decided to have a Cola Cao and then do a self- guided audio tour of the cathedral.  I first visited the cathedral in 2002 and the many gilt chapels - some decorated with gold brought back to Spain by the Conquistadors,  made me feel claustrophobic.  I haven't been back in it since. But, this morning I paid €6 to visit the cathedral again.

Afterwards I walked towards the bus station where the taxis park. The digital clock and temperature reading at the farmacia showed that it was only 10oC at 11.35

I took a taxi to Hornillos del Camino. I was able to hold a decent conversation with the driver, mainly because he spoke quite slowly. The Hostal Sol de Sol is a lovey place with 7 comfortable rooms, a living room, fully equipped kitchen and an attractive outdoor seating area at the back.  

 There seem to be at least 3 albergues in this tiny place and two Casa Rural hostales. Sol and Casa Abuelo.

I knocked on the door of the Hostal Sol and a young man opened it. He said the room would be ready in about 20 minutes so I sat on a bench outside chatting to pilgrims from Colarado.  

It was getting colder so I took a walk along the almost medieval street to the bar then turned back and saw Kathy arriving. We checked in, then went to the bar where I had potato tortilla for lunch and she had an apple, custard slice. A couple from Belgium joined us and once again I could converse with them in Afrikaans. 

There was a notice in the bar that a young musician- Dane Johansen - who was walking the Camino carrying his Cello,  would be playing in the church at 5pm.  We went back to the rooms to shower and rest until 4.30pm.

Every shower in every place is different and in Somerset County places I feel mechanically challenged by the workings of the showers. Last night the shower was like an upright jacuzzi with shwer jets coming at you from all angles. The one in Hostal Sol has an unusual tap. You have to push the head up to get water and then turn it keft for hot and right for cold water.  There is a seat, a mirror (who needs to see oneself so closely in a shower?) as well as a radio!

At 4.30pm we walked to the church and took our seats on the benches. There were notices outside that a documentary crew would be filming and by going inside we accepted that we might be filmed but would not be entitled to any compensation. 

The music was wonderful and for an hour we forgot about the cold and enjoyed Bach and a Spanish composition Santa Maria del Manzano.

We decided to eat what we had left in our rooms so my dinner was a not-so-healthy cheese roll, half a slice of Santiago tart and Rooibos tea. Tomorrow I'll have to take a taxi to Castrojeriz as there are no buses over the weekends.