I stayed the night in a new albergue attached to a spa hotel in El Acerbo. Nice place in a nice village. In fact it was probably the most well appointed albergue I stayed at. All for 10 euros.
Although the descent into Molinaseca was tough I enjoyed the walking. Molinaseca is one of the nicest small towns on the route and I’m going to stay a few days there on my tour by car next year. Next up is Ponferrada, a bigger town with a historical centre and a castle. I paused there only for coffee, and carried on to Cacabelos, which I liked. Continue reading “Camino Two: 14, The Magic Tree.”→
After a nice Sunday in Leon, another Greek lunch, and a nice steak for dinner, I hit the road on Monday before dawn, heading for Mazarife. When I got there, about one o’clock, I made the exact same mistake as I did last year. Continue reading “Camino Two: 13, Hey Mister Tambourine Man”→
Above is the bust of The Mayor. Well. You just wouldn’t. Twelve kilometres past Burgos is Rabe de las Calzadas. A very affluent, well kept village. Lovely houses, old and new, two albergues and one hotel which serves as restaurant, bar, and local hub. Shane a very interesting American checked in at the same time as me and went to sleep. I hit the bar and got very good meatballs. That’s my lot for tonight. No pilgrim’s dinner for me. Continue reading “Camino Two: 9, Midnight Assassin.”→
The taxi rank in Biarritz is plumb bang in what’s recognised as the hub of the town. It’s on the map. All the locals know where it is. The tourist information centre knows too. Even I know and I’ve only been here a couple of days. In fact the only people who don’t know where it is are the taxi drivers.
It’s 6.30 and I have 75 minutes to get to Bayonne for my train. Miss it and I can write off the day and my schedule for the next 5 weeks will be in jeopardy. There is no taxi at the rank. I should have known. I’ve passed that rank half a dozen times and never seen a taxi.
I know the 14 bus comes at 6.42 and sure enough it arrives on time. There are no other passengers. I ask for Bayonne and just before the driver issued the ticket for some reason I add ‘gare’ one of about ten words I know in French. Fortuitous because the bus doesn’t go to the station. The lady driver points me to another bustop and I just catch the A1. I’m at the station with 5 minutes to spare.
At St. Jean du Pied du Port I made my way to the Camino office to get my Credential stamped. This is the document you need to stay in the albergues along the way. If you have read my posts on last year’s Camino all this important stuff is in there.
Anyway now it’s started and I set off full of confidence but empty of breakfast and even coffee. It’s uphill. Relentlessly uphill. This is the Pyrenees and this particular Pyranee is a bastard. A black belt Pyranee. Its tough but eventually from around a corner I can hear voices. Good. Orisson my planned breakfast stop. Except it’s not. It’s a small vending machine stop called Hontos I didn’t even know was there. There are a few peregrinos taking a break. There is a group of about seven Australian women, one of them has a blister. Already. With 797km to go. A glance at her boots under the chair tells the tale. Brand new. Don’t undertake the Camino with anything new. Especially boots. She’s not gonna make it.
Those Are Mountain Tops! Tops Dudes (And Dudettes)!
I eventually do make it. To Orisson. I am tired and my feet and legs ache. I wish I’d reserved a room here. There’s not many beds so reservations are essential. But 7 km doesn’t seem enough when you’re planning. But it’s enough. That’s seven vertical kilometres. Your only option now is another 18 km to Roncesvalles. The terrain is supposed to get easier. It doesn’t. I left after a quick bite and some coffee. Up and up I went. Through the atmosphere, through the ionosphere and all the other spheres until I was in space. If the moon came out now, I remember thinking, I will be looking down on it. There are trainee pilots who haven’t been this high.
Man it was tough. Sometimes I rested every thirty steps. I passed struggling peregrinos and many passed me. Unusually introvert concentrating on their own struggle. The water replenishment stops were few and far between. And it was hot. And there were headwinds. It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve been to Ikea on a bank holiday. I really thought about unrolling the sleeping bag and giving in. I was mega tired. Eventually though, five hours after Orisson I reached the highest point.
The descent was almost as bad as the climbing and the last three klicks took about two hours. But finally I rolled into Roncesvalles and made for the municipal albergue. The nicely appointed new part was already full so I got billeted in the older annexe. Believe me I was just glad to be off the mountain.
I got settled in, y’know, chucking stuff everywhere, and took a shower. The door didn’t close properly and I soaked all my clothes, so that was a good excuse to wash them six days early. In the shower I admired my new pumped up calves and thighs. I looked like the Incredible Hulk but less handsome.
I Earned It. Don’t Say I Didn’t Cos I Did
Beer was next on the agenda. It usually is. I called The Little Nurse back in Biarritz. As I recounted my near death experience she told me that whilst that was all well and good, she had found a new bar giving out free champagne and cheese. Great news she said. Well not for me it wasn’t. She continually makes better choices than me and quite frankly I’m sick of it.
After dinner I returned to the albergue before the curfew at 10.00. There were 16 bunks in my room. Me and one other guy had not been invited to the snoring contest being enthusiastically played out by the other fourteen. I plugged into my iPod, Birdy, Enya, and Lana del Rey did their best to drown out the cacophony. Because of all the weight I’d lost today, some of it from my ears the earbuds kept falling out so I just lay and judged the contest. The little Korean guy got my vote. Musta been 80 decibels. Great work.
So posting this from a tablet. It’s more difficult hence the lack of good pix. I’ll get better. Don’t whinge.
After the incident with the dogs in El Acerbo I set off for Ponferrada. It was mainly downhill and the terrain was either scree-like or huge fissured boulders. Tough going. I spotted a woman ahead in the distance. She was moving very slowly, unsure of her footing. I could see that she was struggling from a mile away. Even from that distance I could also see that she could never be described as a small eater, adding to her problems. She had my sympathy, I had been a little overweight myself a few years ago. Mine had been a medical condition though. I suffered from an overactive knife and fork. Continue reading “Camino 10: Downhill Racer”→
The Don Suero Hotel Leon, my home for the last two nights is right on the Camino route, so I sat outside with my morning coffee watching dozens of pilgrims continuing on their way. As I had taken the extra day in Leon I didn’t recognise many of them. People I had met earlier had mostly rolled out the day before. Continue reading “Camino 8: Ghost Town.”→
It was raining when I set off this morning. Unnecessary I thought. John the Dublin lawyer from last night caught up with me. He was really moving which spurred me on in the rain. We went quickly through the next 3 villages and soon arrived in Sagahun over 19 klicks from Ledigos. John was on a mission and we covered it in a little over 3 hours. Had it been a race we would have come a close second and third to olympian Haile Gebrselassie, had he been on the Camino instead of winning the Berlin Marathon. Continue reading “Camino 6: Unnecessary Weather and the Headmistress of Mansilla.”→
The next day I walked to Ledigos. This is a notoriously long straight flat and boring stretch. There is 17km before the first village, Calzadilla. Just outside of Carrion there was a guy with a horse and cart. The cart had seats and the guy was touting for pilgrims to ride. I declined, not wanting my Camino de Santiago to become a Paseo de Santiago, That’s not the same thing at all. Oh no, not for me it isn’t. Later the cart passed me with more than a dozen passengers. At 15 Euros a pop. That’s €180 a trip. Two trips a day nets €2520 a week. Just a little bit more than a High Court Judge. So, law school students, have a little think about that. Continue reading “Camino 5: The Long and Boring Road.”→
After the previous nights’ shenanigans I was pleased no one was around when I woke up. After a quick shower I snuck out, stealthily, like a ninja, and got back on the road. More walking. I always thought that the thing I would hate most, if I ever turned into a Zombie, would be all the walking. But it’s not too bad.
To be honest this is not the best I’ve ever felt. I couldn’t find coffee and the next village was 8km away. It took me two hours to get there, Boadilla del Camino. The coffee hit the spot. I filled up my water bottles and marched on. Continue reading “Camino 4: The Kid Reed and the Walking Competition”→
The original plan called for Castrojeriz as my next overnight destination. Yesterdays destination had been changed to Hotanas from Hornillos so I was out of sync already. No bad thing on the Camino. Looking back, no plan is the best plan. I stopped for breakfast at San Anton and was joined by a fellow peregrino, Nathan. He was a young guy and widely travelled and, although a scientist by profession, he told me that when he ran out of money Continue reading “Camino 3: Party Town”→
Later the cart passed me with more than a dozen passengers. At 15 Euros a pop. That’s €180 a trip. Two trips a day nets €2520 a week. Just a little bit more than a High Court Judge. So, law school students, have a little think about that. 
Man Walks Into An Airport... 