David's Camino, 2005
Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
Part 4 - León to Santiago de
Compostela
After a delightful, relaxing day in León
we were ready to hit the road again and walk the last stage of our pilgrimage to
Santiago. We were now quite confident that we were going to make it. We'd spent
time pouring over the maps, checking the distances between
albergues and counting the number of days to our scheduled arrival
date in Santiago. Yes, we would make it without increasing our daily average
distance: provided H's ankle held up, that is.
Day 33 - León to San Martin del Camino - 26km - Total
576km
We were up early and on our way by six o'clock in an attempt to complete our
day's walk before it got too hot. The route took us through uninspiring
residential and industrial suburbs. The signposting was quite poor but we found
our way without too much difficulty. When we reached La Virgen del Camino, now very
much a commuter suburb of León, we stopped for coffee. As
we sat at the outdoor table, there was a steady procession of pilgrims walking
past. It looked as though there had been another significant increase in the
number of people heading to Santiago.
After passing under a large freeway interchange, we left the industrial areas
behind. The countryside was open grasslands with little or nothing growing. For
the first time, we felt a bit depressed. We had enjoyed the walk between Burgos
and León in spite of its reputation for being boring.
This area was as bad or worse than that stage. Surely, it had to get better than
this!
After another three kilometres, we stopped again for coffee at Valverde de
la Virgen - things must have been bad with two coffee stops in the first twelve
kilometres. As we walked into the village, we passed a table outside a small
house where biscuits and lollies had been left for the pilgrims walking by.
Our path followed the N120 highway almost continuously all the way into
Villadangos del Paramo. We were all walking well; H's ankle had benefited from a
day of rest. We had planned to stop there but the albergue
was right beside the busy and noisy highway. We decided to walk on to
San Martin del Camino.
During the course of the day's walking, we had seen a number of small
advertisements stuck on trees and posts for a new private albergue in San
Martin. As we approached the village, we met a woman on a bicycle handing out
brochures and urging everyone to stay at the municipal albergue rather
than the private one. A little later, we met a farmer on the side of the road
chatting to a friend. As we walked past, he just pointed out that we would reach
the private albergue before the municipal one. The people running the
municipal albergue are apparently very upset with the people building the
new place and are doing everything they can to discourage pilgrims from staying
there. Later, we found out that the farmer we spoke to was the owner of the new
place. We decided to stay at the new Albergue Santa Ana and paid six Euros each
for beds in two bedded rooms compared with the three Euros it would have cost
over the road for a bunk in a sixty bed dormitory. The wife of the owner
cooked us a delicious and very filling meal with soup, pork, chips, salad,
fruit, coffee and apple liqueur. At eight Euros, it was very good value. There
were several trees laden with luscious ripe cherries in the garden and we were
encouraged to help ourselves. We did and we enjoyed it.
We had now completed two thirds of our journey so we had another bottle of
sparkling wine to celebrate.
Day 34 - San Martin del Camino to Astorga - 23km - Total 599km
Much of today's route was on an old bitumen road which ran parallel to the
N120 which we had been following on and off for the previous couple of weeks.
After about five kilometres, it started raining; the first rain we'd during our walk.
Fortunately, it didn't last long and had stopped by the time we reached the
Puente Paso Honroso, the longest medieval pilgrim's bridge on the Camino and
considered to be one of best Gothic bridges in Spain. Not all of it is original
as floods have destroyed parts of it over the centuries and General John Moore
blew up two arches when he was retreating from Napoleon's army. The repairs have
maintained the bridge's medieval appearance. We stopped at a bar in
Hospital de Órbigo on the western end of the bridge for
coffee. The bar man was abrupt and the quality of the coffee was not in keeping
with the high price.
A few kilometres from Astorga, we stopped for a break at the Cruceiro de
Santo Toribio on the top of the hill overlooking San Justo de la Vega.
The Cruceiro de Santo Toribio near San Justo de la Vega
After a very steep downhill into San Justo, we walked through the industrial
suburbs of Astorga before the long climb into the old town. As soon as we
reached it we were hassled by a man wanting us to stay at the small municipal
albergue
rather than at the larger municipal one or the
private one in the main part of town. This hassling seemed to bother me more than the others but to me,
it is totally alien to the whole concept of the Camino. We decided to stay in
the private Albergue San Javier which was in a delightful,
restored old building a few hundred metres from the attractive cathedral which
dates back to the 11th century but most of it is from the 17th and 18th
centuries. Adjacent to the cathedral was the Bishops Palace, now a museum, which
was designed by the great Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi.
We had a Swiss woman stay in the room with us. She had "claimed" her bed by
putting her sleeping sheet on it and had then gone out sightseeing. When she
returned, she discovered that her sheet had been pushed aside and someone else's
pack and clothes left there. None of us knew who it was, so she moved it to an
adjoining bed, one of several free beds in the room. Later a large fat Spaniard
arrived and immediately moved his things back and threw the Swiss woman's things
onto the floor. We tried to tell him that someone else had claimed that bed
before him but he very rudely told us to get lost. After everyone tried to
convince him to move, he stormed off to get the hospitalero.
There was a lot of argument and discussion in several languages before he
stormed out of the room with his gear to a bed in another room. It was the first
time that we had experienced anything like that on the Camino.
Day 35 - Astorga to Rabanal del Camino - 21km - Total 620km
A few kilometres out of Astorga, the route started climbing gently and the
countryside became increasingly hilly. At last, the grain fields gave way to
open prairie country. After seven kilometres of walking, we stopped for coffee
in Santa Catalina de Somoza, a pretty village with a large number of bars to
choose from. Four kilometres later and we arrived in El Ganso, an attractive
village in spite of the rather derelict feel to it.
We climbed through pine forests and then into oak forests. A few kilometres
before Rabanal, the route left the road and followed a rough track through the
forest. H and B stayed on the road. They had a longer distance to walk but they
reached the next junction before us. We climbed steeply through the village of
Rabanal to the very pleasant Albergue Guecelmo,
run by the English Confraternity of Saint James. We had to wait for it to open
and sat in the shade of the trees outside the neighbouring 12th century
Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción.
Many of the church and municipal
albergues have a policy of giving preference to walkers. Cyclists
often have to wait until after five or seven o'clock in the evening to gain admittance. Here,
cyclists had to wait until after seven. We had seen a couple of people on very
old bikes during the morning and they were waiting with their backpacks in the
queue with everyone else; their bikes hidden around the corner. Unfortunately,
their arrival had been seen by the hospitalero who
came out and asked them to go on or go to another albergue.
There were another two in the village without the time restriction.
Rabanal had been dying as a village but thanks to the increased number of
pilgrims, the population is now increasing. Five people now live here
permanently but in the summer this swells to nearly fifty. There are now two
restaurants and a shop. The albergue we
stayed in dates back to at least the 12th century but was a derelict ruin before
the English restored it in 1991. There is a small (three monks) Benedictine
monastery next door and we went to their Vespers service in the church that
evening. It was a full Gregorian chanted service and was a very special, moving
experience for the packed congregation. I had expected that there would have
been more of this sort of thing along the Camino but with the exception of the
beautiful prayer service we experienced in Eunate near Puenta la Reina, this was
the first we had come across.
Day 36 - Rabanal del Camino to El Acebo - 17km - Total 637 km
We had another example of selfish behaviour last night which is totally
uncharacteristic of the Camino population as a whole. On the next set of bunks to me,
the bottom bunk had a sleeping sheet and various bits and pieces on it. On the
top bunk, a young woman was resting on her sleeping bag. During the course of
the afternoon, we didn't see anyone come to the bottom bunk. As the albergue
filled up over the course of the afternoon, the hospitaleros came round
checking as to where there were any vacant bunks and our room appeared to be
full. When we went to bed, the woman was now sleeping on the bottom bunk and the
various bits and pieces were on the top bunk. She obviously objected to having
to sleep with other people above her and this was her way of ensuring that she
had a set of bunks to herself.
Breakfast was supplied by the hospitaleros and we were ready and
waiting for it for it at six o'clock. Our selfish woman objected to people
making a noise so early in the morning but nobody had any sympathy for her after
her earlier behaviour. The storms which had swept through the village yesterday
afternoon had now cleared but there was still a lot of mist and low cloud around
as we slowly climbed out of town. It was a pleasant walk through open heath land
with an occasional small oak and pine forest. The path climbed gradually with
the road beside it. H and B walked on the road as it was easier for H with her
sore ankle.
After an hour and a half, we reached Foncebadon. Most of the buildings here
are in ruins but after having been totally abandoned, some of the buildings are
slowly being restored and one or two new buildings have been erected. There is
no permanent population here but a few people live here during the summer to run
the new refugio and the bar; another example of
the economic impact of the Camino. We stopped for coffee and home made cake at
the bar before the climb to the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross).
The Cruz de Ferro near Monte Irago is, at 1,505 metres, one of the highest
points on the Camino after crossing the Pyrenees. People have been adding stones
to the large cairn since Roman and Celtic times. The hermit monk Guelcelmo
placed a cross on top of the cairn to create a Christian monument out of a pagan
one. Pilgrims traditionally bring a stone from there homeland or from early on
their journey to add to the massive pile of stones. This we did and added stones
from Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Germany.
We had expected the route to start descending after this but for the next few
kilometres we seemed to continue climbing until we reached the Punto Alto.
Following some rough tracks, we dropped steeply down into the attractive village
of El Acebo which was at the same altitude (1,156 metres) as Rabanal. The views
from the village were quite spectacular as we looked out over row upon row of
mountains stretching into the distance.
The stony climb to the Punto Alto near El Acebo
Day 37 - El Acebo to Ponferrada - 16km - Total 653km
After a few kilometres on the road, we turned onto rough, steep tracks at Riego
de Ambrós. This was probably the roughest section of path
we walked and according to one of the guide books, it was the original medieval
road. At the foot of the climb, we emerged onto the bitumen road just before the
pretty village of Molinaseca. We crossed the Roman bridge and stopped at the bar
by the river for breakfast of coffee and chocolate croissants. Molinaseca was a
control point on the road the Romans used to transport gold from the mines in
the Bierzo valley. At one time there were four pilgrims' hospices here. Now
there is a small refugio on the way out of town where the
bunk beds are outside the building on the verandah and exposed to the rain.
The guidebooks said that it was downhill all the way to Ponferrada but we
climbed for several kilometres before entering the town on a very circuitous
route. Now an industrial centre, Ponferrada has a long history going back to
Roman times. Except for the small old town centre and the ruins of impressive
castle of the Knights Templar, it is a modern town. The
albergue is very new and is a very friendly place with good
facilities run by a group from the German Friends of Saint James.
We'd arrived an hour or so before the albergue opened. As
usual we went to drop our packs in the line with the ones of the earlier
arrivals. This time we had an organiser. One of the early arrivals took it upon
himself to make sure we put our packs in just the right place. We went off to
find a shop to buy food for lunch and when we returned, all the packs had been
moved to another part of the courtyard. Our pack minder rushed up to tell us
that he had moved all the packs to a "better" place but not to worry,
ours were in the same exactly the same order as before. Older people
and couples were given beds in small rooms down stairs while the younger walkers
were in large dormitories upstairs.
There was an attractive fountain near the entrance where pilgrims could bathe
their feet. A Swiss Italian woman who we've been walking with on and off, dried
her feet after her bathe and then started walking barefoot towards the entrance.
Our efficient pack minder whose duties in that area were now over had taken it
upon himself to be the keeper of the "no bare feet inside" rule rushed up and
told the woman in a sharp tone that she was breaking the rules.
Day 38 - Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo - 24km - Total 677km
We left Ponferrada on a very roundabout route that lead through some very
unattractive suburbs before reaching the country. After about nine kilometres of
very ordinary walking, we stopped for coffee in the small town of Fuente Nuevas.
A steady stream of walkers went past. The route climbed through vineyards and
orchards as we made our way to Cacabelos where we again took a break. C wasn't
feeling very well and was walking a lot slower than her normal fast pace.
After Cacabelos, the route followed the narrow highway with no shoulder and
and very little space to walk on. The sun was beating down and there was no
shade. It was most unpleasant until we turned off the highway and headed through
the vineyards. We knew that we weren't far from Villafranca but there was no
sign of a town. The rough path climbed steadily. At the top of each climb and
around each bend we expected to be able to see Villafranca but there was always
another climb or another bend in front of us. Eventually, after what seemed to
have been a very long and very tiring walk, one of the most tiring of our whole
trip, we arrived at the outskirts of the town.
There was a new municipal albergue on the way
into town but the others wanted to stay at the famous (probably more correctly
"infamous") place run by Jesús Jato and his family. It is
a run down, decrepit and rather dirty place with electrical and plumbing that
would not look out of place in a third world village. The buildings had all the
hallmarks of a fire trap and have burnt down at least once in recent years. But it does have a
very welcoming feel to it and the owners are very friendly and supportive. When
we arrived we were greeted with glasses of cold water and "Sit! Sit and relax,
the paper work can be done later." Unfortunately, a young American volunteer
working there would have to have been one of the rudest people we had come
across. Luckily she was at the end of her stay and was leaving the next day. We
had just returned from shopping and sightseeing in town when we were greeted by
this American woman "You realize that this is an albergue and open to peregrinos
only. It is not a public place. Please leave." We had arranged with the owners
for us to eat our own food at one of the tables inside. There was more than
enough room for us and the other people who were having the prepared dinner.
When we were nearly finished eating, the American stormed up to us in a fit of
temper and shouted at us to leave as the tables were needed for the "paying
customers". Not wanting to have a fight we sat outside to eat our cheese and
dessert but it put a nasty taste in everyone's mouth. A little later we heard
the owners take the woman aside and tell her off for her attitude and behaviour
towards their guests.
Next door to the albergue was the important
12th century Romanesque church off Santiago. Archaeologists were excavating in
and around the church so we were unable to visit it. The north door of the
church is called the Puerta del Perdón. Traditionally,
sick and dying pilgrims unable to continue on their pilgrimage who entered the
church through this door were given the same absolution as if they had reached
Santiago de Compostela. There is a local story that in 1965 a sick French
pilgrim begged the church authorities to open the door for him. He entered,
prayed, was cured and went home a happy man.
The old town in Villafranca was very picturesque with lots of old buildings and
narrow winding streets.
Day 39 - Villafranca del Bierzo to Ruitelán - 19km -
Total - 696km
We had an easy day's once out of Villafranca. The route followed the Valcarce
River and slowly climbed the narrow winding valley. A new path separated from
the road by concrete barriers had been built for the pilgrims along a route
which had previously been considered "dangerous". Instead of the yellow arrows
and shell signs we've been following, we now had a yellow path to walk on. It
was a bit like following the "yellow brick road". It was a pleasant walk with
the river bubbling along beside us. Our coffee stop was at La Portela de Valcarce.
When we set off again, we could see dark clouds building up over the mountains
in front of us. As we walked towards the village of Ruitelán,
our view was dominated by the two large viaducts of the motorway soaring across
the top of the valley. The motorway and the noise from the traffic overwhelmed
the village.
After settling in to the welcoming albergue in
Ruitelán, we headed off up the street to the bar to see
if we could get something to eat. We ended up with some delicious boccadillos
which we enjoyed with a bottle of red wine. The bar had a few items of groceries
and chocolates but that was all there was to buy in town. Luckily, we were
having dinner at the albergue so the lack of a
shop was not a problem. Just as we arrived back at the
albergue heavy rain started to fall and continued to fall all
afternoon. We felt sorry for those walkers who were heading up the mountain to
stay in O Cebreiro. It would have been a cold, wet and misty walk.
Our dinner was superb and the whole atmosphere of the albergue was very
pleasant and relaxing. This was one of the most enjoyable places we had stayed
and we were pleased that we had decided not to climb the mountain in the
afternoon.
Day 40 -
Ruitelán to Fonfría - 24km - Total 720km
After an excellent breakfast, we set off for O Cebreiro and for Galicia, the
last of the regions of Spain we would be passing through. (As we had been
walking yesterday, we had noticed that every sign with "Castilla y
León" on it had been crossed out and the word "Galicia"
painted in. The locals felt they were part of Galicia even if the authorities
didn't agree with them.) The rain had eased over night and we set off
under clear blue skies. After Las Herrerías, we started
climbing steeply on a rough track through deciduous forests. We emerged into the
village of La Faba where we stopped for coffee at a new bar. It was one of the
best cups of coffee for some time.
As we left the village, the clouds swept in and it started to drizzle as we
climbed steeply into the mist. The birds were singing and the sound of bells
from unseen cows drifted towards us in our white, misty world. During the few
times when the mist cleared we had expansive views of the mountainous
countryside. We quickly reached O Cebreiro and found a warm space in one of the
bars for coffee and something to eat. There was plenty more climbing to come but
we were now virtually at the top of the last major mountain range before
Santiago. There was a feeling of relief knowing that there were now no major
obstacles in our path. There was no longer any urgency to rush to get to
Santiago.
The statue of Santiago Perigrino on the misty Alto de San
Roque
We walked on through the mist to the Alto de San Roque and its huge statue of
Santiago Peregrino battling the elements on his pilgrimage. The statue was most
appropriate to the weather we were experiencing. There were several more
kilometres to the Alto de Poio before we started descending slowly to the tiny
village of Fonfría where we stayed the night in a new
albergue.
It was quite cold as we were still over 1,300 metres above sea level and we
were grateful for the central heating which was on in the dormitory. This was
the first time we'd had any really cold weather on the trip.
Day 41 -
Fonfría to Samos - 19km - Total 739km
There was a thick mist as we headed off and visibility was quite poor in the
low morning light. We could barely see a couple of hundred metres in front of
us. We followed the road rather than walk on the adjacent rough track as it was
too difficult to see any obstacles. As we slowly descended, we dropped below the
clouds and the mist and had extensive views of the surrounding valleys. The
fields ranged in colours of yellow, gold and green according to whether the hay
had been cut. Just after the village of Viduedo, it started to rain and
continued to rain as we dropped steeply down into Triacastela. We'd only had a
few biscuits to eat before setting out this morning, so we stopped at the first
bar we came to for coffee, toast and jam for breakfast.
Apart from H's problems with her ankle which continued to make walking
difficult for her, we were all still in good physical shape. Nonetheless, the
continued day after day of walking was having its effect on some of the group.
While I felt that I was getting stronger and walking faster and better, a couple
of the others were starting to feel quite tired at the end of the day. A few
tensions were starting to intrude into the happy group. It was nothing major,
just the odd little niggle here and there.
After breakfast, we followed an up and down route on wooded lanes through the
valley of the Rio Sarria to the monastery town of Samos. Almost from day one of
the walk, we had been seeing posters of the great monastery proclaiming the
thousand year history of traditional Benedictine religious service. This, we
thought, was where we would experience services conducted using the old
Gregorian chants in a grand monastic setting. The monastery at Samos is grand
and the few rooms open to the public are spectacular. Most of the huge building
though is kept for the exclusive use of the small number of monks who still live
there. We went to Vespers and came away with the feeling that were going through
the motions of the service with little commitment or enthusiasm. It was
disappointing.
The refugio in part of the monastery buildings
is very basic, crowded and poorly maintained. There was no where to sit other
than on your bed, no where to cook and the showers were dirty and mouldy with
virtually no hot water. If you did manage to wash your clothes, the only place
to hang them was in a tiny public garden on the other side of the road.
Day 42 - Samos to
Barbadelo - 20km - Total 759km
It was the symphony of a thousand last night, albeit a rather discordant one.
It had been sometime since we have had so many loud snorers together in the one
room. Sleep was hard to come by even with the use of ear plugs.
We left Samos just as the church bells were chiming seven o'clock and
followed the road out of town for a few kilometres. We turned onto forest
paths that climbed up and down through tiny nondescript villages. The most
memorable thing about them was that the streets through the villages were
completely covered in thick deposits of manure from the large numbers of cows.
As we drinking our coffee in the bar in a tiny village, there was a steady
procession of small herds of cows being taken through the village from pasture
to pasture.
When we arrived in Sarria, we stopped at a bar for some
boccadillos and cervezas con limon. The service was extremely slow
and we had to wait almost an hour for the five of us to be served. While we were
sitting there, an Italian couple were celebrating the start of their Camino.
They were very proud of the three stamps they already had in their
credencials even though they yet to walk a kilometre. Their
enthusiasm was very high and we hoped that they would maintain that level over
the next few days when they were tired and sore from their efforts.
To qualify for a compostela, the certificate awarded to pilgrims at
the end of their walk, it is only necessary to walk the last 100 kilometres to
Santiago. Sarria is the last town of any size before the 100 kilometre mark and
the starting point for most people who are doing the minimum walk. We fully
expected that numbers would significantly increase from here on but the extent
of this increase surprised us. Suddenly, the path became very crowded. For us it
changed from being a wonderful and generally very enjoyable experience to a case
of wanting to get to the end. The walk lost a lot of its charm.
Along the way we had met a number of very pious and deeply committed people
who had walked long distances from places like Amsterdam, Zurich, Venice and
Paris. Their pilgrimages overwhelmed ours from the Col du Somport and St.
Jean-Pied-de-Port. I felt that their sacrifices and their piety had suddenly
been demeaned by the large numbers of teenagers careering down the path at high
speeds doing the minimum necessary to get their certificate. I accept that 100
kilometres is still a significant walk but the whole atmosphere of the Camino
had changed. Many of these new walkers were accompanied by support vehicles that
carried their luggage for them.
We left Sarria and walked the few kilometres to Barbadelo. The small
albergue like a number of others we would come across
in the next few days was a converted school. It had only eighteen beds and
quickly filled up. Sharing the small enclosed veranda area with us was a French
couple who had walked from Le Puy. He was most upset. They had walked all the
way in sports sandals and today after about 1,500 kilometres of walking, he had
his first blister of the trip. There is a guesthouse and restaurant at a farm a little further up
the hill and we had a very enjoyable meal there.
Day 43 - Barbadelo to
Portomarín - 18km - Total 777km
During the last five days of walking, we had seen a significant change in the
countryside. The day we walked from Villafranca to Ruitelán
the country changed from dry grain and grape growing to much more lush
vegetation. Galicia is famous for its high rainfall levels and this can be seen
in the increased number of trees and streams we had come across. Finding shade
was no longer a problem; sometimes finding some sun was hard. The farms changed
to small holdings each with its own market garden as well as a few cattle and
goats. The language had changed also. Words with a "J" such as Jacobeo had now
become Xacobeo to reflect the Galician language. The signs that we reaching our
goal and the end of the pilgrimage were increasing.
It was a lovely morning with clear blue skies and just enough of a chill in
the air for you to notice it. The route was undulating and we walked steeply up
and down through a number of tiny villages. Every half a kilometre along the
way, granite markers had been erected to show the distance to Santiago. We
eagerly looked forward to the 100 kilometre one; the last significant milestone
of the journey. In our minds, we had planned this as a photo opportunity. We would
get another walker to take the photograph so that we could all be in it. We
reached it just before Ferreiros and all thoughts of a group photograph went out
the window. The marker had been so badly damaged with graffiti, that we felt
like
walking away, feeling totally disgusted with the people who had vandalised it. Up
until this point, we had very rarely seen any graffiti but from now on, graffiti
was a major eyesore. Why all of sudden was there so much of it? Was it the groups of young people walking the
last 100 kilometres trying to make their presence felt; trying to show everyone
that they were undertaking a significant event in their lives or was it just
vandalism? It was strange that it all started at that 100 kilometre marker.
We felt quite depressed when we arrived at the bar in Ferreiros for coffee
and something to eat.
There was a little more climbing but then it was steeply downhill before
crossing the dammed Rio Miño in Portomarin. Portomarin is
a new town having been built in the 1950's to allow construction of a
hydro-electricity generation scheme. A few old buildings from the drowned
medieval town were rebuilt in the new town including the 13th century fortified
Iglesia de San Juan which dominates the main square. The municipal
albergue had a reputation for being dirty and
badly maintained, so we decided to stay at one of the two private ones
overlooking the lake. We chose the O'Mirador which had a pleasant bar on the top
floor. This turned out to have been a mistake as they had a band playing loud
music until the early hours of the morning which kept everyone awake.
Day 44 -
Portomarín to Eirexe - 17km - Total 794km
After crossing the lake, we climbed steeply through the forest into the
clouds and stayed walking in the mist for most of the seven and a half
kilometres to Gonzar where we stopped for coffee. The busy road-side bar was
packed with other pilgrims.
The small holdings we walked past during the last few days had given way to
large scale farming. Until we reached Hospital de la Cruz, there had been very
few villages. Then the villages came thick and fast - Ventas de
Narón, Lameiros, Ligonde and finally, Eirexe. A tiny hamlet, it now has
two bars and a small school converted into an albergue.
The design, layout and fittings are exactly the same as the one in Barbadelo
even down to the washing machines.
We sat in the bar enjoying a pleasant lunch and watched the
steady stream of walkers passing through. The Italian couple we first saw in
Sarria stopped for a break. They did not look as happy and cheerful now. She was
suffering from very sore muscles and he had bad blisters. When we were walking
along, we would try to pick out those pilgrims who had started in Sarria from
those who had been walking for some time. If they were wearing shorts, the
newcomers were easy to pick. Their legs were either white or red from sunburn
while the long distance walkers' legs had been burned deep brown from the sun.
Without wanting to be too cruel, we called the new walkers "white legs". They
also suffered more from sore muscles, aching knees and blisters.
Day 45 - Eirexe to Melide
- 22km - Total 816km
Because of the dramatic increase in pilgrim numbers since Sarria,
overcrowding in the albergues was becoming a
problem. To make certain we would get a bed, we set off early at six o'clock. It
was still dark but the route initially followed the road so there was little
chance of going the wrong way. After a few kilometres, we left the road and
climbed through oak forests to the Alto de Rosario before a long steep downhill
into Palas de Rei. We stopped at the first bar we came to for breakfast of
toast, butter, jam and coffee. Starting the day's walk without breakfast was
something I did not enjoy but there was little choice if we were to get an early
start: the bar in Eirexe didn't open until eight o'clock.
The sun shone and a cool northerly wind made for pleasant walking. We passed
through a series of small villages before stopping for coffee in Lobreiro. Then
we had a fast six kilometre walk into Melide. Melide was an unattractive town:
everything looking rather seedy and rundown. The same could be said about the
albergue. It is a purpose built building
originally constructed to high standards. Poor maintenance and lack of cleaning
have taken their toll on the building. The woman in charge was unfriendly and
uncaring. One young woman I spoke to was very upset as she had planned the last
few days of her walk around staying at this particular
albergue. Her guide book described it as the best on the whole Camino
but, she said, "It is dirty and smelly. There is vomit in one of the toilets and
fresh blood on one of the mattress covers. It doesn't make you feel welcome."
All of the municipal and state owned albergues
in Galicia operate on a "donation" system. There is no set charge or even
request for payment but a box near the entrance where you can place your
donation. We always paid the five or six euros we had regularly paid in earlier
parts of the walk but we noticed that many people paid less and some not at all.
It is quite probable that the lack of spending on maintenance and cleaning is
the direct result of low income from pilgrims using the building.
Day 46 - Melide to
Arzúa - 15km - Total 831km
The blue skies of the day before had given way to low cloud and a very light
misty drizzle. Most people walked in ponchos and rain jackets but we didn't
bother. After seven kilometres of up and down on quiet lanes, we were only
slightly damp and dried quickly as soon as stopped.
We came across our first groves of Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus Robusta)
trees which have been planted extensively in Galicia. They like the climate and
grow extremely quickly. They are growing like weeds and are crowding out the
native vegetation. Like the pine forests in Australia, the native wildlife can't
survive in these eucalyptus forests and the local environmentalists are very
concerned about the impact the trees are having on the environment. It is
fitting that they are being called "the weed of Galicia" but it was nice to have
the smell of the gum trees after several weeks away from Australia.
After a coffee break in Castañeda, we walked the final
seven kilometres into Arzúa under brighter skies.
Arzúa was another fairly ordinary town but the Iglesia de
Santiago on the Camino near the albergue looked
interesting. As usual it was locked and we couldn't find anyone with the keys.
The albergue was everything the one in Melide
was not. It was very clean, tidy and well maintained. The
hospitallera runs it very strictly but fairly. We were the second
group to arrive but by the time the place opened at one o'clock, there were 40
people waiting for the 46 beds available. She was particularly firm about
handling pilgrims in the order in which they had arrived and a couple who tried
to push in out of order were sent to the end of the line. We were put into
a new room at the back which she kept for "older" pilgrims. The sloping ceilings
meant that there was no room for bunks and we had the luxury of beds. Even in
the main dormitory, younger people were assigned to the top bunks while the
bottom ones were kept for "older" people. Downstairs, two large rooms with
mattresses on the floor were full of late arrivals.
Day 47 -
Arzúa to Arca - 19km - Total 850km
We were almost out of Arzúa when A and C realised that
they had forgotten to put their "donation" in the box at the
albergue. They hadn't any change when they arrived yesterday and
waited until they had done some shopping but then it slipt their minds. We
walked slowly on while A ran back to pay their dues.
It was another day of undulating walking through lush green country and more
eucalypt forests. We knew that we were going to reach Santiago but it seemed to
be taking a long time to get there. It would have good to have been able to walk
a little further each day, but the distance between the
albergues made that difficult. We would have needed to almost double our
daily distances to do it and that was something we were not prepared to do. In
any case, there didn't seem to much point in arriving the day before we were
booked into the hotel.
The albergue in Arca was very similar to the
one in Melide. It had obviously been designed by the same architects and built
at about the same time. Again it was dirty and poorly maintained. These two
buildings each had a rather strange design to the shower units in that there
were no doors or screens for privacy. The older people tended not to let this worry
them:
they had their showers and managed to get dressed and out of the room without
invading other peoples' privacy too much. There really wasn't much choice in the
matter. We felt sorry for some of the younger people though. They had great
difficulties coping with this lack of privacy. It was a strange design and
couldn't have saved very much money in the total construction costs. It wouldn't
cost very much to put some curtains in either.
The place was very overcrowded and a number of large groups had been given
sections of the dining room to sleep in. They considered that they had total
rights over the whole room and got upset if anyone else wanted to use the
kitchen or tables. Maybe our patience was starting to wear thin but this
behaviour annoyed us more than it would have done earlier in the trip.
Day 48 - Arca to Monte de
Gozo - 17km - Total 867km
For me this was one of the hardest days of the whole trip. We were now so
close to Santiago but still had a long slog through fairly uninteresting
countryside to get there.
We walked through the eucalypt forests, through desolate country where all
the trees had been felled and past the airport to the famous village of
Lavacolla. The stream where pilgrims traditionally washed and purified
themselves before entering Santiago is now a tiny trickle of water. Then it was
a long steady climb past the television studios to Monte de Gozo.
Traditionally, it was from the summit that a pilgrim would get their first
view of Santiago and the twin towers of the great cathedral. Now, trees obscure
most of that view. The summit of the mount is dominated by an obscenely ugly
"pilgrims monument". Fortunately, the delightful Chapel of San Marcos still sits
in its grove of trees. We sat and rested at the chapel before heading down to
the huge accommodation complex, part of which houses the Monte de Gozo
albergue. Built for an international youth
festival, the complex now houses the albergue, a youth
hostel, business accommodation and a number of restaurants and shops. These
restaurants offer such poor quality and value for money that the hospitaleros
suggest that pilgrims go to a neighbouring village to eat. After settling
in, this is what we did and had a very pleasant meal.
We could have walked easily to Santiago that day but we had
decided to arrive early in the morning so that we could attend the pilgrims'
mass in the cathedral at noon on the day of our arrival.
Pilgrim's feet - They might look bad but they had walked all
the way from St. Jean-Pied-de-Port and had only five kilometres to go.
Day 49 - Monte de Gozo to
Santiago de Compostella - 6km - Total 873km
We set off early in the morning and joined the enthusiastic crowd of pilgrims
heading into Santiago. The route headed steeply downhill before we joined the
wide boulevards leading to the old town. At the first bar that was open, we
stopped for something to eat for breakfast and then made our way to the
cathedral. We had made it. We had arrived after 873 kilometres. There was the
obligatory photo stops in the Plaza de Obradoiro and on the steps of the
cathedral before we headed to the Pilgrim Office where we collected our "Compostelas",
the certificate showing that we had completed our pilgrimages.
Made it! In the Praza de Obradoiro in front of the cathedral
of Santiago de Compostela
After a little difficulty in finding our hotel, we settled in to relax before
returning to the cathedral for the midday mass. When we had first arrived at the
cathedral, the Plaza had been virtually deserted but now, it teemed with
pilgrims, tourists, buskers, postcard and souvenir sellers. The cathedral was
crowded with long queues of people lined up to touch the statue of the Santo dos
Croques before heading to the rear of the altar to hug the statue of Saint
James. We were lucky to have arrived early as we had good seats at the mass and
were able to get a good view of the proceedings even though nearly everything
was in Spanish. The giant incense burner, Botafumeiro, was brought in and swung
in a wide arc across the transept of the cathedral. Legend has it that was used
to mask the smell of the unwashed pilgrims who used to stay in the cathedral. It
was a magnificent site.
After a day spent sightseeing in Santiago, we took the bus to Finesterre from
where we walked to the cape at the "end of the earth". For many, this is the
true end of the Camino and a site of great spiritual significance. For us it was
the end of a journey. We went to a restaurant in the town and had a delicious
seafood meal to celebrate.
Many people have asked me whether the experience of walking to Santiago has
changed me in any way. I tend to answer "Not a lot but I'm not a good person to
know that." Friends say that I'm a lot calmer and less angry and maybe they are
right. Walking the Camino for 49 days does give you a lot of time for thought
and reflection on your life and the trials and tribulations that you have lived
through. Everyone's Camino is an unique and truly personal experience. My Camino
is mine alone and my friends with whom I shared the journey will have
experienced a different Camino which will be theirs forever. It was a wonderful
and rewarding journey even for me who is not religious.
Maybe I will have to start again and walk from Le Puy or Vezalay in France to
Puenta la Reina one day, some day. Who knows? Dreams!
Books, Music and Links on the Camino
Part 1 - Col du Somport to Puente la Reina
Part 2 - Puente la Reina to Burgos
Part 3 - Burgos to León
