Redondela to Pontevedra
12 miles

You may wonder how, why, or what actually happens on a long distance walk as far as logistics. Well, for us, we choose our walk, then plot out how far we want to walk each day. Then, we check into lodging. On this particular walk, many people walk it, so there are alburgues (shelters) and hostels with dorms and shared bathrooms along the way. No, we do not use these! One, we do not carry all of our things with us in our backpacks; two, we are wimps and like our own space without someone snoring in a bunkbed two feet away from ours. So, we spend time on trip advisor checking out reviews and finding the least expensive, clean, safe place that has breakfast where we can to spend the night. Here in Spain, most of our places have cost around 50 euros. The next issue, of course, is getting our luggage transferred, for which typically there are several services to choose from. For us, this trip for two bags to be transferred each day we walk costs us about 70 euros (about $80) for the entire trip. There are many companies now that will do all of the planning and transfers for you, plus extras, but we have found it to cost at least half to suck it up and do the planning ourselves. We are amply rewarded as many fellow pilgrims are more than willing to share information along the way.

Today was pretty awesome…and after my touting how relatively “easy” this walk is, today pushed us good! We walked a lot of asphalt but were also rewarded with several beautiful wooded walks and even a hike or two up a couple of steep hills. We’ve met interesting people and wonder why or what would call to them to do this venture. One couple I’m dying to know their story is a gal who looks to be about my age from Oregon and a gentleman from England walking together who met on the Camino de Frances last year. I’m convinced the guy is a renegade priest and the gal, a divorcee looking for an adventure or love or both.

It was an amazingly beautiful day, cool, sunny and a new scene at every turn:

Leaving our little home at 8:30, it’s barely light as we take off…

…and, of course, the camino shell ever present to mark the way…

and yep, we are on the right path…

… historic Espana, mixed in with the new…

It’s a day again with asphalt interspersed with welcome retreats into the quietness of the woods, often following a stream and many times we are on the Roman Road XIX.

…at the top of one hill many pilgrims had left one of their shells as a mark of their passing by:

…oftentimes we pass by these markers where pilgrims have left their own stone precariously balancing on top of others that have been placed there…

What I’ve learned since is that, although there are as many different traditions as perhaps there are decades of the history of the Camino, the Camino itself is simply a metaphor for life itself… however cheesy that might be. But, like life, the Camino is, of course, not about the destination, but about the journey. The stones represent, so the story goes, a personal burden and by placing the stone on top of a Camino marker, the pilgrim is symbolically leaving that burden behind…or, as in the case of the medieval Christian pilgrims, you can insert the word sin and that is how the tradition began…repenting and letting go of a transgression…it may be how some of the modern day Christians I pass by still view this tradition. It’s easy to see when viewing the Camino as life, the act of letting go of something (a resentment, any negative feeling, defects, griefs, fears etc.) can actually be a very powerful action. Whether or not the act of placing a stone actually makes a difference, I imagine depends not only on the sincerity of the action, but also the who or what or you letting it go to and exactly how one would intend and actually live life out in the future.

(For myself, I’ve found that any action initiated by myself thinking I have control or power to do life differently in the future is almost certainly doomed for failure…however, I do agree there is something quite powerful in marking the decision to let go of anything, as the prayer goes, that is standing in the way of my usefulness to God and my fellows.)

Dropping down on our walk into a little hamlet by the sea…

…and knowing that a cup of coffee awaits… 🙂

…and then we head back out of town and then into the forests…

ingenious gates we routinely saw made out of old bedsprings….

…and then the view from the top and finally beginning our descent into the capital of the province, Pontevedra where we spent the night…

and, fortunately, were too late for the advertised bullfights!

But evidently not too late for a good time with Marilyn…who was kind enough to leave her business card at our hostel???!?!??!?!?

Day 3. Porrino to Redondela
10 miles

We are surprised at how different doing a camino is than doing an English long distance hike. I would say a camino is more of a walk than a hike. The pilgrimage is following a route of coastal towns so there is quite the mixture of passing through the outskirts and even middle of towns and then also getting to walk through wooded areas in between. One of the biggest differences for us is that walking on asphalt (which is pretty tough on the feet) goes so much faster than hiking up hill and dale! Going 10 miles goes quickly with lots of diversions of cars, people, buildings and then being graced with a “walk in the woods” every once in a while. We love how people in this area obviously respect the age old tradition of doing a pilgrimage. Even though we are tramping through neighborhoods and interrupting traffic as we cross busy streets, people stop and often wish us a “Buen Camino!”

Poor Roger had his knee bound with three different supports today, but managed and came out victorious! We found a pharmacy and ice packed it and he was a trooper, pressing through and making it through the day none the worse for walking on it.

Breakfast of … champions??? Ok, a celiac’s nightmare, but looks oh, so yummy! And, of course, a teeny, tiny little cup of coffee.

Finally through town, we crossed over onto a path through the woods…

Some of the camino and some of the sights along the way:

My beloved … 🙂

Orchards, orchards everywhere!!!

Tui to Porrino (10 miles)

Well, it’s pretty hard to drag myself out of bed when it’s pitch dark, but my “boots are made for walkin’”…so we both jumped out of bed, down to breakfast where a group of four, then a single man, then another couple were already downing hunks of cheese, bread and tiny little cups of coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Soon my new Spanish friend, the innkeeper, kissed me on both cheeks and sent us on our way, wishing us both, “Buen Camino!” which I soon learned is the official greeting of most everyone we would meet, while carrying our backpacks and trudging along with boots and map in hand clearly indicating we were “doing the camino.”

Time to head out…

…excited to go…here we are leaving our massive stone abode:

It couldn’t have been a more perfect day…prepared for rain with backpacks filled with rain ponchos, rain coats, gaiters, umbrellas, phone plastic protectors, baggies for maps…turns out it was overcast the whole day and not a drop of rain. We were worried about finding our way, as we often did in the Cotswolds, there was no need, as the camino is shockingly and consistently well marked. Photos from our day:

church built in the ELEVENTH Century!!!

Yep, we were able to see this marker!

We passed through woods…

highways and byways…

with thankfully, several water fountains along the way

We look for shell markers or yellow arrows to show us the way…

Roger crossing on a bridge that was built in Medieval times! The stones were ginormous!

…and finally winding our way into the tiny village of Porrino, I glanced up and saw these two kittens playing on a tiny upper floor terrace of a home we were passing by. It was a great, great day!

We are staying in Tui two nights to acclimate to the new time zone and climate. Today we walked the 2.5 miles over the border to Portugal to officially begin our walk in Valenca, Portugal. And, then we walked the 2.5 back into Tui, Spain. To be an “official” pilgrim, one most definitely wants to get their Credencial del Peregrino (Pilgrim Credential). This document is for carrying with you on your pilgrimage from your first steps to Santiago. All along the way, you are required to get it officially stamped mostly at cathedrals or an alburgue so when presented at the Santiago Cathedral you qualify as having completed the Camino…we are just under the wire because a pilgrim has to have walked at least 100km to qualify…we are walking 107, plus the mishaps!

My traveling partner was somewhat not engaged with this process, but was easily cajoled into purchasing his document along with mine for a mere 2 euros each, but even more impressed when we did indeed find a non-engaged priest at the cathedral in Valenca to give us our first official stamp.

We are still trying to adjust to the time difference and Spain hasn’t gone over to daylight savings quite yet (next week) so this is how it looked when we got up at 8:30 this morning!

Some pictures from our official start location of Valenca, Portugal:

Looking across the river from Portugal over to Spain and the bridge we walked over from one country to the next…all part of the Camino de Santiago.

From the fortress at the top of the hill in Valenca

Missions Day at the cathedral (note the globe on the altar) 😉

A very cool tunnel under the cathdral that was part of our walk.

Yep, rain on our first day…gentle and welcome to two drought-ridden Californians!

Spain!

And lots of photos from historic and beautiful Tui, where we spent two nights.

cathedral in Tui

Travel Day

Transitioning from work to play can take some time…leaving to the One Who Knows people, places and situations that are dear to me is not always easy, as I still live under the illusion that there just possibly might be something I could do to fix, or at best, alleviate the suffering. However, thankfully rescued from my albeit best intentions, our flight from Malta (work) to England (transition) and then onto Spain (vacation) was booked, paid for and definitely leaving without me if I chose to stay behind, forcing me to let the God Who Can do what alas, I cannot.

Before focusing on this particular event in our lives, indulge me some musings before I begin…

Some, if not most, of the time I feel that I live inside a book of never-ending chapters full of adventures that consistently surprise me at every turn. Yesterday I was talking and listening to Christian heroes who live under threat of persecution (i.e., death) gathered for a reprieve at a conference in Malta, and yet here I am today donning hiking boots and backpack flying off to Spain for vacation. Yes, it’s true. My head and heart sometimes get left behind in the transitions of my life, yet, I am intent today to focus both sincerely and securely where I look down and see my feet are situated…and today that is with my beloved going on a long distance walking vacation…again.

This time we are walking the famous Camino de Santiago. Many people from all over the world seek this pilgrimage and for various reasons. Originally, and perhaps even now it is also known as the Way of St. James. There are varied routes to the shrine of the apostle James located in the Cathedral of Santiago in northwestern Spain depending on where you are coming from, the most famous one from France. Tradition says that the remains of the apostle James were buried there because of his time spent sharing the Gospel in this region of Spain. Many people take this pilgrimage as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth; others, it’s a goal of physical triumph to walk the entire 491 mile route. The path we have chosen is the Camino de Portugal (372 miles). Why this route? The road less traveled, mostly as due to its popularity the French route has become quite congested with pilgrims! Although hardly qualifiers to be called true camino pilgrims who are seeking special grace because of the maybe’s of mystical power in the maybe remains of the apostle James, I would still hold that we are indeed pilgrims and definitely pilgrims in pursuit God, his presence and most definitely his grace.

However, the decision to walk the camino was easily made as we have a few days in between a work assignment in Malta and one in East Africa, and home being too far to go for such a quick turnaround, what better than to seize the moment for a long distance walk.

Logistically, because of time, and if I were to admit perhaps physical wonderings as to completion as well, we are limiting ourselves to the last 100+km of the 600km route. We will begin in Valenca and end at yes, the end, the coup de gras at the great cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

So, here are a few photos from transition day:

First a flight from London to Madrid:

And, then, “Yes! Espana!!”

When we finally got to Tui it was well worth the long day of travel!! After winding our way up the steep granite block road to the neighborhood bar for a quick bite, we were shocked to wake up to this:

The Mino River…from our attic room at the tippy top of an old Spanish stone home, where Roger spent most of the time with “his head between his knees” because the ceilings were so low and slanted. 😉

A glimpse into our near future…

We will be following shells, yellow painted shells and/or arrows from one point to another…like little breadcrumbs dropped by former pilgrims leading us to our final destination. Why shells?

Evidently the scallop shells are easily found on the beach in this region of Spain. They have been the symbol traditionally of the Camino de Santiago because of people assigning mythical, metaphorical and practical meanings to them. Practically, they can be used to scoop water from the many water “fountains” or spigots along the Way. Metaphorically, the scallop shell has grooves in it which look like a fan, but all meet at a single point (i.e., Santiago). The shell also represents God’s hand guiding each of us to our final destination like the waves that gently wash the scallop shells onto the shores of Galicia, the entire northwest region of Spain where Santiago de Compostela is located.

Of significance is that many pilgrims wear a shell on their backpack to note to others that yes indeed, I am a fellow sojourner on my way to Compostela.

Some of the types of markers along the Camino that we’ve seen so far: