A SPECIAL CAMINO - SLOW WALK FROM SARRIA TO SANTIAGO

Last year my younger brother and his wife Gail were supposed to fly to Rome with Finn in July to meet me after I'd lead my group on the Via Francigena. (Gail walked with my Caracoles group on a Slow Walk from El Ferrol to Santiago in 2014). The plan was to spend a night in Rome and get a train to Viterbo the following day.  We would then do a slow walk back to Rome on the last 100km.

My brother was unexpectedly diagnosed with an illness in May that required surgery and months of post-operative treatment, so he and Gail had to cancel their walk at the last minute. Finn, Jenny, John and I did the walk without them.  I promised them that I wouldn't book myself to lead any groups in 2017 so that I'd be available to walk with them on any route in Spain, France or Italy.  

Due to a heavy workload my brother has decided to wait until next year to walk the Camino but Gail, desperate to get away and walk the Camino again, decided that she would like to do a short walk before the end of May.    We leave South Africa on 9th May and arrive in Sarria the following day.  We will take 12 days to reach Santiago where we will spend 2 nights. We have booked train tickets to Ponferrada, Burgos and Logroño.  From there we fly to Madrid on 27th May for our flights home

This will be the 10th time I walk to Santiago.  I walked to Santiago in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011 (twice) 2013 (twice) and 2014.  (In 2015 I walked the meseta with an amaWalkers Group, served at an albergue for 2 weeks then flew into Santiago.) 

This is the first time I'm not walking for me, or leading a group.   This is a special walk, for a number of reasons.  I am walking in memory of a wonderful woman who was, and still is, well-known on the Camino, who passed away at the age of 92 in 2002.  I will request a memorial Compostela for Felisa when we arrive in Santiago and will take it to Maria and her daughter Feli in Logroño.

Felisa used to sit under a sprawling fig tree outside her modest home on a sandy path leading to the outskirts of Logroño.  She offered passing pilgrims figs, love and water and her special stamp was much sought after.  Since she passed away her daughter Maria continued serving passing pilgrims and although not in good health and 83 years-old, she still sits under the fig tree offering pilgrims figs, love and water

I will also be carrying the photograph of Wayne - son of a friend killed by a hit-and-run driver a few weeks ago.  His mother, a Camino pilgrim, always hoped to walk the Camino with her son.  I will light a candle for Wayne at all the churches we visit including the cathedral in Santiago.

Gail and I will also be doing a recce walk in preparation for a family Camino next year.  Mark and Tammy want to walk the Camino with Emily in July.  Mark is in a wheelchair, Emily has fragile bones, so this is going to be a challenge!  Gail and I are going to write lots of notes about the route and where the difficult sections are for someone in a wheelchair.

Besides the fact that I am walking with Felisa and Wayne close to my heart, and doing a trial walk for Mark and Emily, this is primarily Gail's Camino. She has had a tough year and needs this time-out with nothing to do but walk, sleep, eat, drink and walk again!  We know that the Camino in busy, especially from Sarria, but we are going to embrace the crowds of pilgrims and if we get the opportunity to sing, or dance with groups of pilgrims, we will join in!

Counting the sleeps - 3 to go and we are off!

Day 3: Mercadoiro to Portomarin

Day 3
The Irish lady decided that she might try a couple of km today.  The group was taken back to Mercadoiro and she and I were dropped a few km along the path.  It was cold and windy. We walked a bit and then stopped.  The road was fairly flat so she sat and I pushed her on the walker.  Then she tried walking with her sticks but tired soon after.
We found a patch of sunshine and sat in the sun for a while. After an hour she was feeling sweaty and weak.  I called Reinette and asked her to phone David (our trusty Portomarin taxi owner) and tell him where we were, about a km from where we had started.  We waited at a cross-road at the taxi came to take us to Portomarin.

The others arrived after lunch.  I got an email from Isa to say that she would arrive in Sarria the next day and would walk to Portomarin.  Reinette and I walked around the square, visited the supermarket and a couple of little shops.  That night we ate out at the O Mirador. Pat and Janet don't like evening meals so Pat joined us for a while but Janet and the other lady didn't venture out.

 .

Day 1: Barbadelo to Morgade

Day 1
It is 4.5km from Sarria to Barbadelo.  Miguel Angel, the taxi driver we had used from the bus station to the pension, came with 2 other taxis to take us to a point 49m from the last Casa in Barbadelo where the 106km to Santiago waymark is.

The Irish lady was exhilarated to be walking with her Trionic Veloped walker. The path started off flat and not too difficult to negotiate.  Pilgrims walking past clapped, called her 'valiant' and most took photos.

We thought she might manage a couple of km but we kept going after the 2km mark, even when the path became difficult with stone slabs up a torrent course.  Adrian and I carried the Veloped while she walked up the path using her sticks. After about 2 km of partly walking, partly pushing we came to a very basic stop with a table bearing a thermos flask of tea and coffee and a few packets of cake.
We stopped for a lukewarm and then she sat on the walker's seat while Adrian pushed her along the road.

We stopped again a bit further on for a hot cup of Cola Cao and then after another difficult section, Negotiating stone blocks alongside a river, she started to flag.  Pushing, walking and being pused we had covered about 4km.  She had never walked 2km in her life and was exhausted by the effort of walking, pushing and being pushed.  I called a taxi and she and I went back to Sarria while the others continued to Morgade.
Although it was only 6.2km today to Morgade, the others returned quite tired from their walk. Adrian was still feeling the effects of his long flight. Bob was proud that he had taken the first day in his stride (quite a long stride too with his long legs), Pat and Janet were happy that their feet had held up and Reinette was euphoric having loved every moment of walk.
Besides the weather not being very kind with almost freezing temperatures and cold winds we hadn't had any rain and our Caracoles had done well and were looking forward to the next stage on this slow Camino.

Lugo and Sarria

I waited for Ivar Revke outside the Hospederia. He brought the box with the 20 copies of Camino Lingo which Paul had sent to Santiago for Reinette. We had a chat and then I called my friend Luis Angel (a Santiago taxi owner) to collect us at 10am to take us to the bus station.  He organised two taxis to take  the 4 of us.

The bus left at 11am and all the way to Lugo we could see pilgrims hiking on the Camino paths. It looks like the Camino is going to be very busy. When we arrived in Lugo we found the taxi rank, loaded our stuff into two taxis and told them to take us to the Hotel Puerta de San Pedro.  The taxi driver looked at us in surprise and pointed to a building about 250m away!  We told one driver to drive the Irish lady and our bags to the hotel across the road and the rest of us walked.

After checking in we walked to the 'gate' in the wall and entered the old city. The Lugo walls are the best preserved complete Roman walls in Spain and one can walk on the top, around the circumference of the walls for about 2.5km.  I got a message from Adrian. His Iberia flight was delayed by 9 hours and he wouldn't be able to meet us in Lugo after all.  He would catch up with us in Sarria instead.

We had a few tapas and drinks then walked to the church and had a look at the Roman baths where hot springs once bubbled up.  We returned to our hotel and decided to order dinner in.  The receptionist, a lovely, accommodating young woman, set a table for us and we phoned a nearby Italian take-away restaurant for dinner. Bob kept us in awe of his stories about his previous Camino walks and in stitches with his lovely sense of humour. After dinner we returned to our rooms and resorted our baggage.
In the morning we dragged our bags across the road to the bus station, bought tickets to Sarria and found the lifts to go downstairs to the platforms.  Our bus left at 12h45 and we arrived in Sarria half an hour later.

We found two taxis to take us to Pension Escalinata.  I had a small daypack with 4 bottles of Amarula and Mrs Balls chutney for Gordon Bell.  I gave one Amarula to Jose and when Gordon arrived, gave him the other bottles. Someone called my name - it was Janet who was sitting with her mother Pat at an outside table.  Not long after, that Adrian arrived. Our Camino Caracoles were all there.
 Belin arrived to take us to the apartments where we would stay for two nights.  Once we were all settled into our rooms - the guys in a room with an en suite shower - Reinette and I went down to the river and found a nice sidewalk café-bar called 'Santiago' where we ordered different tapa dishes for lunch.
That night we went back to the Restaurant Santiago for dinner.  I gave each one a South African beaded badge and a pin as well as the little name magnets I had found in Santiago.  I then started the 'Breaking the Ice' discussion where each one in turn told us their name, what they liked to be called, where they lived, a place they might have lived before and when they had first heard about the Camino.  When it came to Adrian`s turn we listened enthralled as he told us about his extensive experience in the hotel world, living in many different countries around the world where he learned to speak about 8 different languages.  He and his Manchester born wife live in Costa Rica.
I told them that the taxis would pick us up at 8:30am to take us to Barbadelo where we would start walking.  we walked back to the pension, to our respective rooms, all excited about the start of our Slow Camino the next day.