Colchester on Halloween

Today a day of firsts. I got introduced to the sport of rugby. It was the World Cupmatch between Australia andNew  Zealamd.  The game was won by the All Black Kieis. I can see the appeal having limited interest in professional sports.  It was deemed the best World Zvup final ever and was definitely as exciting a match as any Super Bowl  game I have watched.  

It was also Haloween night and it's growing as a popular holiday.  I always enjoyed the kids trick or treating in their costumes. Not many came to the house but a few posed for my picture. 

Rich carved a small pumpkin to put on the front porch to let the kids know there would be treats in store. 

Trick or treat!!!

Colchester rest day

It felt strange to be back in the UK. The biggest change was the shift in daylight. It's not even December yet but at this latitude it was dark by 5pm.    The day was spent doing laundry and putting camino gear away and getting out the cold weather clothes I remembered to pack when I left Ashland in September. I also went to a local chiropractor here in Colchester who was very thorough and determined I had tendinitis in the right knee. I was relieved it was nothing serious.. He did an adjustment followed by ultrasound ans acupuncture and I left feeling some relief.  He suggested icing it at night and a stretching exercise on the stairs.  I'll revisit him on Monday for another treatment. 

Aside from that we had a great meal of fish and chips and squishy peas. It's a Friday custom and a good excuse to eat fried food. 

We talked about the camino offering both a structure and spontaneity. The structure of daily walking, stopping for rest and food breaks and the decision of where to stay each night. The spontaneity of not knowing how the day will evolve, who we'll meet and what unexpected scenarios will unfold.  That rhythm is what I miss most about the camino.  It's a rhythm that you do create with the camino itself. The challenge is to create that in ones daily life and have a balance of structure and spontaneity. A balance of the familiar and the fresh.  There's an empty canvas in front of me. What do I want to create on that canvas?  To be continued. . .

Santiago to Colchester

Our last day spent on the Galician rain. Our flight is at 8pm so we have a relaxing day in santiago attending the pulgrs mass which delivered once agAin. Followed by tapas to bid our favorite waiters a Buen Camino until our paths cross again. One of the waiters has winters off and has walked the Camono Francais five times. I can shine it's his way to deStress after being a hospitaliero for the remaining months. It's a bittersweet end toy my own pilgrimage. It's impact will unfold in the months ahead as I make decisions on what's next int my life. With that thought I will close today's post. 

Vigo to Santiago

We had a nice dey day in Vigo and walked to the highest point in the city at Parque Castro the site of the old fortress built to fend of the Brotish invasion. It offered many great views of the Ria de Vigo. No cruise ships today so the city was rather quiet by comparison. I tried the local oysters which are t as good as I've had in the U.S.  Octopus is also aplenty but I can only eat a very small amount.  We're now back in Santiago four our last night before flying back to the UK tomorrow night. 

Vigp to A Guarda

We got caught the rain walking to the bus station this morning. Fortunately the rain stopped and we had a mixture of sunshine and windy overcast skies in A Guarda, a pretty little fishing village at the mouth of the Tui River and the Atlantic coast. We had lunch of magnificent prawns, mussels and scallops. Then we took a walk along the coast which offered stunning wave action and u spoilt coastline. A Guarda is just getting known as a tourist destination in the summer so was pretty quiet today. There is a wonderful promenade and sea wall for quite a distance and then turns into a boardwalk.  We didn't find the mouth of the river after a good hour of walking.  Just having coffee and waiting for our bus to take us back to Vigo. 

Santiago.to Vigp

Rich and I decided to head to the Galician coast for a few days before our departure back to England on Thirsday. We had heard so much about Vigo and decided to head there in spite of the forecast for rain. A one hour train ride and no rain, found our hotel and got some tips from the helpful receptionist.  Then the skies opened up, we found refuge in a local bar and had some tapas.  We took advantage of a break in the rain to go back to our hotel for an afternoon rest. Glad that we're not walking to our next destinations in this  weather but do miss the daily routine.  

Cross between a TRex and a mermaid. 

Refuge from the rain. 

Santiago rest day

PJuat spent the day relaxing and soaking up more Galician sunshine.  Went to the pilgrims mass at the Cathedral. It was mobbed and glad we got there early to get a good seat for the botafumiero soaring overhead. It's quite the spectacle at the end of the service. We went back to our favorite tapas bar for lunch and then to our favorite bar for drinks and booking our plans for Vigo tomorrow.   

A Picarana to Santiago

Hooray!  We finished our 600km journey today, arriving at 2pm--our earliest arrival to date. I honestly wasn't sure is make it the way the knee felt this morning. . It was nice to have a short 15 km day with overcast skies and no rain to speak of. Ron and Blanca from Calgary, who we met on our first day out of Lisbon joined our little group for the final 4km. We pre booked our hotel which is a short walk from the cathedral, we have our compostelas and now it's time to celebrate. We're all going to meet up tonight and head for our favorite tapas bar. Tomorrow will attend the pilgrims mass and hope to see the incense burned. It's quite a spectacle and we were lucky to experience it last year. 

Which way should we go?  I guess all roads lead to Sabtiago. 

Caldas des Reis to A Picarana

What a day or turned out. We rendezvoused with Rosalie from Ashland and Steve and Mary from New Zealand. When we arrived in Perron with energy to spare we decided to continue to the next town 5 km farther. Well. When we arrived we discovered the pension was closed and the next one down the road was, too. We ended up walking aost 10km farther than planned go find something open. The body complained but we are only 16km from santiago so it will be a relatively easy day tomorrow. We're hoping for good weather also.   Hard to believe we're almost there. The way markets show the remaining distance to go. 

Fall is here in Galicia

Next door to our pension. 

Pontevedra to Caldas des Reis

Despite the glorious weather this was by far my most difficult day since leaving Poeto. I realized we haven't had a full rest day since Poeto and dealing with this knee has really sapped my energy, too. We're just two days from Santiago and I feel they're going to be very challenging days. Emotionally I'm ready to be done walking and look forward to our completion, celebration and a few relaxing days before heading back to Envland next Thursday.  There's rain forecasted for Sarurdays walk into Santiago so were contemplating a longer day tomorrow to shorten our Saturday walk.  We booked into a hotel for the night to do some laundry, get an early dinner and a good nights sleep. 

Beautiful bridge in Pontevedta this morning

Cesantes to Pontevedra

The weather here in Galicia has been spectacular. Cool mornings and balmy afternoons with clear blue skies. Can our luck hold out for another week?  We're seeing a lot more pilgrims who started their Camino in Tui. We've nicknamed then "Tui-grinos". It's 100km from 

Tui to Santiago and qualifies a pilgrim for a compostela of completion.  They're easy to spot--carrying lighter packs mostly. Most look at us like we're crazy when they find out we've been walking for 4 weeks from Lisbon. It does sound a bit crazy when you hear yourself say that. 

Scallop she'll memorials 

Coffe break view

Pontevedra 

O Porrino to Cesantes

It was a beautiful day in Galicia and we landed here at this pension with a magnificent view of Rio Vigo, which is right on the Atlantic coast. After tomorrow we head inland to reach Santiago by Saturday. I don't want to get ahead of myself but we will probably have time after Santiago to explore the coast --Vigo and possibly Guardia near the Portugeses border. Sounds it bit like we're backtracking but we can reach these places by train in one hour.   We e just finished our fourth week of walking.  Now that we're in SpIn we've noticed that everything is priced a bit higher than Portugal.  Especially fish for example. The quality of the bread and variety of pastries is less, too.  

View from our room

Sunset at dinnerte

Signs of the Camino appear in all the small places

Tui to O Porrino

I may have mentioned I've been walking with a sore knee since Poeto. I had an ACL injury in 2008 and it decided to wait until this trip to giver trouble. I've been able to control the pain with Ibuprofon but it's really hard at night and on the morning. So Rich was my Camino Angel this morning and found a physical therapist just down the street. So we walked in and she worked on me for about an hour--massaging and applying heat to that area. She sent me on my way with assurance is make it to Santiago. It was comforting to have a professional opinion that it was just an inflammation and nothing serious. In any case we had a good walk and got into our hostel by 7pm. Tomorrow will be an easy day walk and more rest. 

Rubiaes to Tui

We're now in Spain, having crossed over from Valeca in Portugal and had to move our clocks forward one hour. Then next weekend they will roll back when we revert back to Standard Daylight time. Nor that it really matters on the Csmino. The albergues here on the P. Csmino are very casual about departure times. This has been our third Sunday walking in the rain, as Richard pointed out so we could pin it on him. Although as I write this blog

rhe sun is streaming into the hotel window. 

The first order of business was changing languages. Recalling all the familiar Spanish phrases we'd be using again. 

Bridge over to Tui

Bridge crossing from Portugal toSpain

 Looking back on old Valenca

Ponta de Lima to Rubiaes

This was by far the best day of the Camino. A nice hilly route off road in a vast eucalyptus/pine forest. Other than the eucalyptus it could have been a hike in Oregon. We're staying in another small town with two allergies and one restaurant.  

I've been nursing a strained right knee which was aggravated in Poeto. Lots of Ibuprofen seems to do the trick and keep me going. We arrive in Tui just across the border into Spain where we will take another rest day. Thinking of booking into the Paradoe. 

Tamel to Ponte de Lima

Had a relatively easy walk today with lots of little villages and dome hills. Ponte de Lima was a cute little town with lots of cafes along the town square. We met some more pilgrims now that we are north of Porto where many start their Camino. Talk about a small world--Rosales, a hiking friend from Ashland showed up on Ponte de Lima. She and another friend just finished the Camino Ftancaia last week. Rosalee has the time and decided to do the Porto to Santiago walk and just happened to cross paths with us. It really is a small world.