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 5: Gonzar to A Pevisa (and Eirexe)

The group (sans the Irish lady and I - she wasn't feeling up to walking) had taken the taxis to Gonzar to continue walking to A Pevisa 7.1km away. They had felt strong and continued after Previsa to Eirexe another 2 km down the trail.  When they returned, they decided to go to the O Mirador so that Janet could have the delicious fruit platter I'd had the day before.

I waited in all day for Isa to arrive and when the owner showed her where I was sitting we had a happy, hugging, reunion! The albergue was full but they allowed her to share my room with the double bunk. 
I waited for Isa to change and shower and then joined the group at O Mirador for a drink.  It started pouring with rain and we made our way back to the albergue.

Bob, Adrian, Isa and I went to dinner at a little place run by an Italian who had walked the Via Francigena.  The pizzas Bob and I had were great but Isa and Adrian's pasta was not good and they both had problems during the night with upset stomachs.

CAMINO CARACOLES on a Slow Camino to Santiago

In just two weeks I will fly to Santiago.  I've never flown to Santiago before - always walked there - so this will be a new experience.  Actually, everything about this Camino walk is going to be a new experience! 

Due to work and leave restraints, on my first Camino in 2002 my two companions and I only had 27 days to walk from Roncesvalles to Santiago (about 750km) averaging 28km per day.  The reality was that some days we walked less than planned and other days we had to walk much longer distances - over 30km and 40km. 

My second Camino (2004 Holy Year) Joy and I walked over 1 200km from Paris to Roncesvalles and from Sarria to Santiago. On that walk too we did a few marathon days of over 40km. 

Since then, I have walked the Camino Frances three more times, hiked on the Via Francigena from Lake Lausanne to Rome, done the Aragones route from Lourdes, the Camino Ingles and walked to Finisterre.  On all of these I averaged 25km a day.


Our group of Camino Caracoles (snails) will be walking between 5km and 8km a day for 17 days on the last 100km of the Camino Frances.  There will be 8 peregrinos on this 'Slow Camino' - 5 walkers and 3 helpers. 

One of the Los Caracoles is a veteran Camino walker who will be 89 years old in September.  He could turn out to be fitter than all of us!  There is a mother and daughter who have problems with their feet and can't walk long distances and thought they would never be able to walk the Camino.
A woman who had a tumour the size of an egg removed from her brain last year and has been left unsteady with occasional bouts of vertigo.  The possibility of walking the Camino was a fading dream she has nurtured since spending her honeymoon in Galicia 40 years ago. 

Another woman with post-polio muscle weakness who had a knee replacement on her good leg a few years ago has been dreaming of returning to the Camino for over 18 years.  She and her late husband did the Camino from Roncesvalles to Burgos in relays - he driving their car one day while she walked, and she driving the next day while he walked.  They always thought the they would return and complete their Camino but he passed away and she thought she would never be able to finish her Camino. She came across the amaWalkers Camino website by accident and by joining the Slow Camino group she hopes to finish the Camino for them both.  She will ask for a memorial Compostela for her husband when she arrives in Santiago.  To enable her to walk as much of the route as possible she will be using a cross-country walking aid which is being flown to Santiago. It has off-road suspension, climbing wheels and has been used in the mud and on difficult terrain.

The helpers have all volunteered their services and everyone on this journey is paying their own way.  Adrian, a peregrino from Costa Rica, read about the Slow Camino on a Camino Forum and contacted me to offer his help.  He will be a great companion for Bob.  My friend, and fellow hospitalera, Isa Gonzalez, will travel from San Sebastian to join the group.

I arrive in Santiago on Friday 3rd May and will travel to Sarria on Sunday to start walking back to Santiago.  Although I have walked to Santiago 6 times I've never really taken any notice of inaccessible sections or difficult terrain.  This will be a reconnaissance walk to check out the distances of the daily stages and that the stopping places are accessible for taxis to collect the walkers.  No good stopping in the middle of a farm track or in the forest! Adrian has translated the Cogami stage descriptions into English and has compiled a power point of the route with photographs of some of the sections we'll need to avoid. 

We will be staying in the same places that most pilgrims stay - Sarria, Portomarin, Palas de Rei, Melide, Arzua, Arca and Monte de Gozo.  But, we will spend two or three nights in each place and will have taxis fetch us from the path when we are finished walking, and take us back to that place the next day.  This way we don't have to carry our belongings or unpack and pack up every day. 

By hook or by crook we will walk into Santiago on Thursday 30th May and 6 Caracoles will earn a Compostela (1 being a memorial certificate).  Wish us luck - and watch this space!