Santiago de Compostela!

Hola!
It is wonderful! Bravo to all who those of us who have arrived in Santiago de Compostela! We have achieved something amazing!

I arrived in Santiago at 2 pm on the 25th of June and was met by Richard who flew into Santiago on that day to meet me in the 'Praza' (Galician for Plaza). He surprised me by having booked a hotel a block away. Nothing like a beautiful bathroom to win over a tired and happy peregrina! :-)
Santiago was wonderful. We took the time the next day to cheer in other pilgrims arriving and to wander about the 'casco viejo' and the 'Catedral'. I loved Santiago and enjoyed it, as I have all the other cities I passed through.
In the late afternoons, the Camino cities ie Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, Leon, Astorga and Santiago, come alive when the local inhabitants spill out onto the streets to walk about with their families and friends. It is wonderful to see communities still enjoying and using the old city centres in this way!

Now, I am sitting at a desk in a hotel, in Bilbao! with the Guggenheim Museum beckoning; having left Santiago at 2pm yesterday! On the way we stopped in Leon so Richard could see the stained glass windows of the Cathedral and to have a coffee in the square where I spent several hours several days before (we parked under the Plaza :-). It was amazing on the way to drive past a peregrino here and there and to see the familiar signs eg to Mansilla de las Mulas an, to Carrion de los Condes! We arrived late last night and haven't seen Bilbao in daylight yet. 

I have so much to say but now is not really the time as I only have a day in Bilbao. Richard and I are on our way to France to visit Rebecca's French family and then on to Barcelona.

I will also continue my blog although I have already completed the near 800 kilometre walk to Santiago and worn the rubbers of my poles!

Clarisa Peregrina

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

unedited version

"Mi Camino Lindo" in the Pyrenees

Except for very few days on my Camino, I see things that take my breadth away, surprise me or make me laugh. I guess this is because every single day, what I see is new to me. In this blog, I want to show you some of the scenes and things that have amazed me and given me joy.

St Jean Pied de Port, the little town in the French Pyrenees, where I began my Camino on 8 May 2008, is a gorgeous little town. This is the first little street which I loved walking through on the Camino. On my first night I stayed in a little albergue called Le Sprit du Chemin (on the left). In the morning when I came down the stairs for breakfast, I tripped on the last step (which was half the size of the ones above) and I twisted my ankle; so my first morning on the Camino found me sitting at the albergue with ice on my ankle!

When I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I stood up and wandered about St Jean hesitating about making that first step into the Pyrenees. But I am glad I did take that first step because it was a wonderful day and look at how beautiful it was:

Here I am in the full kit with my huge raincoat, which covers me and my 11 kilo pac (inlcudes 2 small front pacs), my Pacer poles, and my little woolen cap on (this means it is very cold! and wet!).

Que lindo!

El Camino in the Pyrenees:

On the first night I stayed at the refuge at Hountos and on the second night at Orisson, both still in France. This is what the weather looked like on the morning of my first serious day of walking as I stepped out from the refuge at Orisson on the 10th of June:

It was a difficult day, so hard that I decided that if I got to Roncesvalles that day without collapsing, or freezing, I would be able to do the Camino. And it was oh! so beautiful!!!:

Fortunately, I walked with three lovely German girls: Cecilia, Monica and Gerte, and Herman, who were very strong and brave, and willed me to keep going. I so wish I had taken their photos; and in the end I did get to Roncesvalles, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees....

And today is June the 9th, and I am still on the Camino, but in Leon, where I am waiting for my glasses to be repaired! I hope to get to Santiago at the latest by the 25th of June....how? I don´t know yet.... according to my book, it is 326.1 km away :-) Some people can walk 25 to 30 km a day easily, but it is a little harder for me....my old ankle gets very sore and swollen after about 18 km, and needs ibuprofen, a rest and a lot of coaxing to get it going the next day!

Until the next blog which may be quite a while away.... it depends on whether the small towns have fast enough internet and more than one computer you see.

Love to all,

Clarisa Peregrina

Sleeping on the Camino!

Where we sleep is a big deal on the Camino because we have to accept what we get, or we may have to walk another 5 or 10 kilometres to get to the next "albergue" or "refugio" which may be worse. Sometimes we sleep in great places such as at old monastery in Roncesvalles where there is plenty of fresh air:

This is the new albergue in Pamplona which was built within a monastery which is very nice:

Sleeping in the old church steeple in Grañon was wonderful; my bed was the brown mat in front of Vanja, the Slovenian girl in pink, and my bag pack and gear are at the end of it:

The Ermita de San Nicolas (mentioned in previous blog) where there was no electricity and where eleven of us ate and sang together by candlelight was the best. Our beds are behind the red divider by the door:

The wonderful albergue at Boadilla del Camino where we had one of the very few days of sunshine so far:

At other times we have to sleep in places which test us all, squashed up together in a room such as the one below in the monastery of Santo Domingo de la Calzada where 6 of us slept together in a tiny room:

Love to all,

Clarisa Peregrina

After Burgos: Rain, rain, rain, mud, mud and the Ermita de San Nicolas

Yesterday was a long, cold, grey, wet day. The early birds started rustling their plastic bags and packing up to leave the Hontanas albergue at 5 am, so that when I finally gave up and got out of bed, it was 6 in the morning. I left at about 8 AM and walked on my own for the next 6 km to Castrojeriz where I had intended to stay for the night, due to the weather!

Walking in the rain is not easy and walking in the rain for 6 kilometres is worse.

My rain coat supposedly keeps me dry but in actual fact I perspire so much that I am just as wet on inside as I am on the outside. To avoid this as much as possible, I put on only a T-shirt, but this means that if it is a little windy I get quite cold.

Secondly, my glasses get fogged up and wet, so eventually I take them off and although my vision is a bit fuzzy at least the colours are wonderful. 

Then of course there is thick and sticky mud on my boots, and all the little bones on my feet and ankles get stirred up as I struggle to keep my balance on the mud and not fall flat on my face! Thank goodness for my Pacer poles which means really that I have four legs instead of two! Then, if I walk along the edges of the path on top of the weeds, where there is less mud, I pick up water from the weeds which go into my boots and this is bad, because wet boots often result in big blisters! 

A rainy day also means that I have a small window from which to view the world as my rain jacket closes in around my face. I miss a lot of little things that I often notice when it is not raining. And then I can’t take as many photos as I would like, because moisture is very bad for my camera.

I got into Castrojeriz cold and wet, and went into a Bar, which is the only place one can go into on a cold and wet day, in a small Spanish village. Often the bars are dark and very smoky and display a sign at the entrance which says. “Se permite fumar”. After experiences at 8 or 9 am in smoky bars, it is definite that I will never smoke again!

The man in the bar was very friendly so I went in and had a large “café con leche”. I sat there for about an hour trying to get warm but all that happened was that I got cold. Finally I decided to go up again to the meseta and down to the Ermita de San Nicolas, about 11 km away.

As it was still raining and I was already wet, I might as well keep going…..so I started the long trudge through more mud, and then a long and steady climb back up to the meseta, then across the extremely beautiful meseta itself, where I felt as if I was in heaven and the air was fresh and I could see for miles, and hear tiny birds all around me. I was lucky because it stopped raining while I was up there. It was beautiful, but the mud was thicker and heavier; and my backpack felt heavier and heavier as well.

And then the rain started again, on my way to the Ermita and as I walked down some very steep slopes on more mud which continued on the flat at the bottom. Then my poor little feet had a few more kilometres to do on asphalt. At last! I could see it, the Ermita of San Nicolas!


and as I approached, a Dutch pilgrim who was sweeping mud off the front porch welcomed me.

It was wonderful to arrive. I was absolutely soaked, exhausted and my old ankle sprain was reminding me to stop. I burst into tears as the hospitalero started taking off my raincoat and then wrapped a blanket around me. Another pilgrim raced off and brought me a hot cup of coffee.

It was dark in the Ermita and when I got used to the darkness I could see that it was very old and I felt that I had been transferred into medieval times…..more later!

In Hontanas, a little pilgrim village on the meseta

Here again at last...this computer is very slow and the settings are a little funny so I will be short. I am in Hontanas, a little pilgrim village in the middle of the meseta which is between Burgos and Castrojeriz. Since I last wrote the weather has been much the same. Cold and grey in the mornings, which bush walkers know, can be good walking weather; and very rainy as well most evenings and on several sections of the Camino. The problem with rain is that most of the Camino is VERY muddy and the weight of our boots increases by at least 2 kilos as a result....but it is preferable to walk in mud than on miles of concrete or asphalt....when that happens, I can feel every little bone in my feet and all the other joints being used. I am now walking a little faster, doing an average of about 18 to 22 km a day, fairly comfortably. My main problem has not been the dreaded blisters, which most people have. or are recovering from; but insect bites which are so very itchy. I guess that this is MI CAMINO. Everyday I walk through beautiful countryside and little Spanish villages which appear to be mostly abandoned; or at least have very few people living in them. As it has rained almost daily on the Camino, everything is very, very green and the Spanish wheat crop is looking very healthy indeed. I guess that is not good news for Australian wheat farmers. The fields look like huge rolling velvet carpets of various shades of green and in places are almost as tall as I am. Of course the little red poppies pop up everywhere along the way. That is all for now....as I am hearing rumblings of pilgrims wanting to go on to the net. Clarisa Peregrina

I can now do a 20 to 22 km day!

I don´t know how but now I can walk 20 km in a day, which I need to do to get to Santiago on time. As it is I think I am going far too slow and I may need to do 25 or 27 km days. Fortunately I have not had a single blister!!! You should see the blisters some of the men have! I think it is because they think they are blister proof...yesterday I met a handsome policeman, from Valencia, who was doing the Camino in 18 days, because that was all the time he had. Jesus was walking because his 18 year old son fell down 8 floors while working, and broke several bones, and he swore that if his son survived and walked again, he would go to Santiago....he did 50 km yesterday and of course I haven´t seen him since!

After 115.5 kilometres; with asthma, sore and exhausted in Estella

I am not feeling well today! Yesterday, around midday, I started feeling wheezy and my throat was fiery. I have been enjoying the glorious little flowers which grow along El Camino and in farmer´s fields. My favourites are the little red poppies which are so bright and so red and just one poking up it´s little face up in a large field of green wheat is enough to cheer anyone up.

But there are also a large variety of other flowers which are delightful, except for one, which I haven´t managed to name yet. But they are white and are on trees and they release what I call cottonwool snowflakes which float silently in the air through fields and through the towns, collecting in doorways and corners and I guess, in my lungs. Last night I thought I would have to catch a bus to Logroño today, I felt so bad...but as we all know, once you get up you feel better and I did manage to walk the required 15 km today. But now, at 7pm, I am feeling rotten again. :-(

We usually arrive exhausted in towns, about half past one, which is near midday closing time, and we push ahead on our wobbly and sore legs to find a grocery store to buy some bread, tuna fish, fruit and juice, or cheese and ´jamon´, because the bars, where we can get cafes con leche and sometimes a bocadillo, only open for meals around 7:30pm, by which time I can hardly keep my eyes open. Today is Saturday and tomorrow will be even harder to find a place to eat.

Haven´t been keeping up my blog because it is not always easy to find computers at which I can sit long enough to check my emails and do some writing as well.

The weather has been mostly quite cool. When we start walking it can be 10 degrees C and maybe get up to 15 or 18 during the day. We have been very lucky not to have had rain since Roncevalles although is has been around every day, as you can see from the mud we have to walk through quite often. Mud can be deep, and very slippery, and sometimes you just have to step in it!

El Camino can also be very steep and of course when you go up you must also come down! Ahhhh!

Sometimes we are lucky and get a great Roman road to walk on! :-)

When we get to the top of high places (just because we crossed the Pyrenees doesn´t mean there are no more high places!) it can be quite windy, and I get quite cold!

GTG, It´s bed time. Til next time, Clarisa

Cold and Wet on Day 3

Was I ever cold, 10 to 12 degrees, and raining when I was crossing the Pyrenees.

My self and a group of pilgrims started walking at 8:05am on the foggy and wet road from Orisson, in France, to Roncevalles, in Spain. Initially it wasn´t that bad but when we got out onto the upper heights there was a wind and our hands were so cold. If it hadn´t been for the wonderful Germans, Cecilia, Monica, Gerta, I think I would still be walking or freezing up there. Most of the walk today was uphill and that lasted for about 4 hours. I have sore hips, and the ankle I twisted :-( on the way down the stairs on my first walking day hurt again. The light rain never really let up and when we stopped for drinks we would get quite cold. We arrived in Roncesvalles at about 1:15 pm soaking wet inside, and out.....and are now in a large monastery hall with 60 bunk beds which are full. Ancient pilgrims also stayed here...so much history, and now pain as well as fun and kindness.

And Scott and Daniel, it was hard but I couldn´t have done today without your help in the last 6 months. On day 1 I walked up hill comfortably for 1 1/2 hours and on day 2 a very difficult hour...quite steep. Scott it is very hard to lie on a tennis ball on an ancient monastery stone floor! but boy I was glad my "glutes" ? and abdomen were strong :-). Today I know where my thigh muscles are!

The sights we saw were just wonderful, views of villages amongst beautiful green fields on hills and valleys, beautiful strong ponies, sheep and shepherds, exquisite beech forests with muddy, leafy floors, green moors with rough rocks, and clouds, below us, as we got higher and higher!

I can't believe I have crossed over the Pyrenees. I was quite afraid at the beginning of today´s walk as once we had walked 2 hours, we still had 3 to go before we could find shelter

Clarisa Peregrina

A little taste of France in Arbonne

In two hours Jennifer and Jean Marie will be taking me to SJPP where I will start to walk tomorrow. The last two days have been so very nice. J and JM's home is lovely, and comfortable, and built in the typical Basque style as required by the council of the area:

I slept soundly for two nights in a lovely room in a sort of attic with little windows which let in the fresh country air as well as the sounds of the birds and the occasional crow of the local rooster which I especially like. From my bedroom window I can see the garden shed, the neighour's house and the mountains I will climb tomorrow.

I have tried some lovely new and interesting dishes which have included duck fillet, local mushrooms and even had raw baby artichoke hearts with a little butter and a salt with chilles (La Force Basque, production de : un melanges de fleur de sel, persil plus garlic, plus piment d'espelette et baies roses).

It is time for me to go to SJPP now....with a little fear....in my tummy..........

Silence in Paris

What a beautiful day to arrive in Paris!

I smiled my way through the city to Montparnasse....loving the gorgeous buildings, with their lovely roofs, doors and balconies, and taking in every little French cafe I passed.

At Montparnasse train station I befriended Ghistain from Descartes who helped me to find my way on to the very fast French train (TGV) which would take me to Biarritz!

I am amazed! so far no one has stamped my passport, nor looked at my train ticket and I have been in Paris for several hours.

I have found France VERY quiet except for the announcements at the airport, train station and on the train. After such long flights, it is nice to be in silence :-) It makes it easy to notice things with my eyes and I am sure it has helped me to stay calm and arrive safely in lovely Arbonne, with ALL my gear (for those who know me well this is quite an achievement :-).

'Claripere'

(my new French name short for Clarisa Peregrina :-)

Buen Camino

Now that I am on my way, you must all say to me, “Buen Camino, Clarisa”. This is what people who live along the Camino say to pilgrims as they walk past them.

I am off on a walk... about 800 km long, from St Jean Pied de Port (SJPP) at the foothills of the Pyrenees in southern France, up and over the mountains, through northern Spain, to Santiago de Compostela, the supposed site of the burial place of St James the Apostle. I will be walking the Camino Frances, a pilgrim trail used in the Middle Ages and as far back as the 3rd and 4th centuries. In other words, I am going on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

On the 4th of May 2008 I fly from Adelaide to Paris; and on the 5th I take the fast train to Biarritz where I am staying for two nights with Jennifer, a friend from my youth in Peru. There I will be able to recover from the long flight before I start walking.

On 7th May Jenny will take me to SJPP (St Jean Pied De Port, less than an hour away) where I will stay the night in a pilgrims' hostel in order to prepare for Day 1 of my 'Camino' (Spanish for path, road or way).

Apparently, the first day is one of the most difficult days, as it is mostly a straight uphill climb for several kilometres from SJPP. I have decided to take it very slowly (most pilgrims have time restrictions) and take 3 days to get to Roncesvalles. After about a week, I hope I will be able to get into a nice walking rhythm where I should be able to walk about 20 km a day.

I will be sleeping in pilgrim refuges (refugios, or albergues). Pilgrims can only stay one night in each refuge and must carry a pilgrim's passport, or 'credencial', which is stamped at each refuge. Refugios are usually provided by the towns along the Camino and could be in an old monastery, castle, church hall; or even purpose built. 

Pilgrims walk in all sorts of weather and carry all their belongings in a backpack, about 7 to 10 kilos. The lucky ones, those who are easily able "let go" of their material possessions and, or  able to buy extremely light weight gear, seem to manage 6 kilos! My stuff already weighs more than that! 11 kilos...

Have a look here at one of my favourite pictures of the Camino, which I found on the internet. If you look carefully you can see more than one pilgrim walking:

My favourite Camino photo (off the Internet)

Many pilgrims walk on their own, but often meet others along the way that become 'long lost friends' when they meet up again on the road a week later, or in another village, or even in Santiago. I too plan to walk on my own because I wouldn’t want to hold anyone up, nor have to wait for someone to catch up, but I hope to walk with others when it “happens”. I hope I will arrive in excellent condition :-) in Santiago, so that I can walk the extra 100 km to the to "Finesterre", a village at "the end of the world" on the Atlantic coast, beyond Santiago; and where many prefer to end their Caminos.

Today, as before, people from all walks of life are travelling the Camino. They do it for the joy of walking, for spiritual reasons, for the adventure, or the challenge; or to think about things; and most of those who complete the Camino, experience a lifetime within a lifetime. They find answers to questions, reflect upon their lives, learn about themselves and participate in wonderful moments, where people from all over the world come together for a common purpose: to walk to Santiago, finding joy and kindness; and peace with themselves.

Mind you there are a lot of sore muscles, shoulders, backs, knees and feet, big blisters and itches, and many other discomforts, such as finding a place to sleep, or a cafe that is open when you are hungry; losing your way and having to walk an extra 3 km because of it; walking through freezing wind and rain on muddy paths; carrying the weight of your belongings on your back; and so on. 

I am sure that when I see what I have to do on my first day, as I look up towards the Pyrenees, with my 11 kilo pack (plus, or minus), on my back; and see the sign to Santiago de Compostela 800 'kilometros'! I will wonder what the heck I am doing there, and whatever possessed me to do this mad crazy thing. But walking the Camino has got a hold on me and I have thought about little else for over a year.

Well on my way up the Pyrenees on Day 1 with full kit including raincoat which covers my backpack and 2 smaller front packs, not very nice for photos but very convenient for carrying food, water, map and raincoat.

I am including a link to Sil, one of my favourite Camino mentors...

http://ama-walker-walker.theboys.co.za/2008_03_01_archive.php

whom I met in one of the pilgrim forums...

www.pilgrimage-to-santiago.com

....so that you can perhaps see why I might be possessed, or is it obsessed? :-) . I only wish I had the skills to present you all with such a lovely blog site as Sil's, but I think you will just have to hope that I manage to write something every now and then; and perhaps manage to post a photo or two of my own.

Love,
Clarisa Peregrina

Scallop Shells and Santiago de Compostella