Some people I met along the way

I have been reflecting on our time in spain, walking the camino and although I did enjoy the simple act of walking each day, for me the highlight of the camino really was the people that we met along the way - I am reminded of a maori proverb...

He aha te mea nui ote ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people!

For me the camino was all about the people - they became like family, the shared journey and experiences broke down barriers, you came to know them well and could recognise them from a distance by their clothing, their way of walking. It was always a delight to see them again at the end of each day and if you hadn't seen them for a few days - the reunions then could get very noisy - so many hugs and kisses..... here is a small sample of those we met along the way.....

Barbara - a German lady but now again living in Nambibia where she had been brought up - Barbara travelled with us to St Jean Pied de port by taxi and walked with us the very first day - Barbara gave me her walking pole at the end of this day - I really came to rely on that pole, we were sad that we never got to see Barbara again.

Juliana & Christina from Brazil - Juliana was a speech therapist and Christina an architect - these two were so caring & loving - they continually encouraged me
Johan - from Sweden, a doctor working in the prison system -Johan was so relaxed in his walking and I really enjoyed talking with him, he was always the last to bed and the last to get up - he celebrated his 50th birthday while on camino.
Dean - a kiwi lad living in London - Dean had biked to St Jean from Paris leaving his bike outside the goodwill shop in St Jean - Blair used to call him, 'the Eta ripples man' because he always got through - often arriving at the alburgues very late at night - he was a bit of a adventurer - staying overnight in a shephards/pilgrim shelter (cave) the first night over the Pyrennes, he had his own little cooker, but was very cold. Dean had got his gear all second hand and his shorts held together with borrowed safety pins did make the distance. Dean had 'other commitments' such as tickets to a music concert in London, a holiday with his sister travelling on her OE - which he struggled with - should I stay or should I go-in the end he chose to stay and complete the camino Michael (Scotland) & Olivia (Mexico) currently living and working in London. Olivia was another encourager and so graciously interpreted for us many times and helped me especially get medical supplies when I needed it. Michael, so tall, he was steady and considerate - I loved watching him and Olivia walking downhill holding hands.

Hosea-Maria - spanish but living in Germany - retired early from Mercedes (quality control) as both his parents had died young - and he didn't want that to happen to him. Hosea Maria was very presise keeping us informed exactly how many kilometres we had done...

Natsumi - from Japan - fluent in English, Portuguese (had been an exchange studen in Brazil), and Spanish - Natsumi carried a very large pack, she was very sweet, everyone enjoyed walking and talking with her.

Sally a teacher of vision impaired children from London and her partner Roland a pilot with Cathay Pacific who lives in Hong Kong - talking to Sally took my mind of a difficult uphill stage one day. Sally was also a stitcher working on a very complicated pattern she had designed

DJ - who I've mentioned before from Korea called me Mama and told Jeremy he wasn't just saying that he really meant it - singing to me a Korean love song was very special
Gille - from France a 'beautiful' man who spoke no English and us who spoke no French - showed me you don't need words to communicate or really understand someone
Brian - a business consultant from Australia - Not sure how we got on to the subject of some of my past but Brian honoured me by listening to 'my story' his sensitivity amazed me

Erik from Switzerland - kindly shouted us several meals
Elke - a therpaist for IHC children from Germany - great sense of humour - we had been calling her Erika for about a week before she corrected us! Elke is going send her daughters on a camino for their birthdays.

Anna from Barcelona - who had recently lost her job -was taking her camino slowly so she could find our more about her country's history - she loved to share her country and language with us and took us for pinchas in Logrono. Yum

Luke - from Belgium a lecturer in theology - in particular Galatians, Luke seemed shy but had such a quiet strength about him -

Torsten - a university student from Berlin - I have mentioned many times in my blogs, his sense of humour and enquiring mind really kept me going some days - he made me laugh a lot which was a huge gift considering we were walking 38 km some days

Bernard & Collette who had literally walked out their front door in Belgium

Mr & Mrs 0 from Korea - sweet and gentle people -Mr O walked back down a very steep hill to carry a young womans pack up for her

The Italian who said he was a Templer Knight and was carrying a cape and sword which made for a very heavy pack

Fred a hand occupational therapist from Canada

Majory and Melissa also from Canada a 75 grandmother walking with her grandaugther

Janic a German student was quite worried about me one day stopping whenever I stopped

Isabelle from Spain - between jobs and because of a 'boy'

Sven from Denmark - really enjoying meeting new friends and walked the 'first day' of the Danish documentary

Mark from Germany who helped set me straight - he overheard me having a little moan that we had taken the 6km longer option by telling me we were going exactly the right way because it was far more beautiful

Eduardao - from Brazil - wowrking as a Sociology lecturer in England - 5th Camino researching the reasons of modern day pilgramages and Annie from Germany who met Eduardo on a previous camino - they see each other every 3 wks.

Sasha from Germany - enjoying the gastrinomical delights of northern spain

Tom & Derval from Ireland - not long married - had honeymooned in NZ - they were a lot of fun

Linda from Canada very kind & caring

Ernst from Austrial travelling with his sister and a friend - he entertained us one night gy singing folk songs from Africa.

A Danish film crew - will be filmed in Denmark at Christmas - Michael the presenter always looked great - he was even walking in a tie

and there are were very many more people and stories.....

This is the way

These are a few of the different markers that showed us the way we should walk - generally they were very obvious,
often just simply a yellow arrow painted on the side of a wall or on the footpath

other times more subtle - such as the brass shells embedded in the footpaths - especially in the towns which caused some confusion at times and even getting lost now and again

our way

Each night Michael would recite the names of the places we had stayed so here I will map out the way we walked with km

Day 1 St Jean Pied de Port - Roncesvalles 24.8 km (adjusted for climb 31.7km)

Day 2 Roncesvalles - Larrasoana 27.7 km

Day 3 Larrasoana - Cizur Menor 21.2 km

Day 4 Cizur Menor - Cirauqui 27.8km

Day 5 Cirauqui - Villamayor de Monjardin 21 km

Day 6 Villamayor de Monjardin- Viana 29.6 km

Day 7 Viana - Ventosa 29.9 km

Day 8 Ventosa - Santo Domingo de Calzada 33 km

Day 9 Santo Domingo de Calzada - Belorado 23.9 km

Day 10 Belorado - Atapuerca 30.3 km

Day 11 Atapuercan - Burgos 20 km

Day 12 Burgos - Hontanas 31 .3 km

Day 13 Hontanas - Boadilla de Camino 33.5 km

Day 14 Boadilla - Carrion de los Condes 26.7 km

Day 15 Carrion - Terradillos de lls Templara 26.8 km

Day 16 Terradillos - El Burgos Ranero 30.9 km

Day 17 El Burgos Ranero - Leon 37.5 km

Day 18 Leon

Day 19 Leon - Hospital de Orbigo 37.9 km

Day 20 Hospital - Santa Catalina de Somoza 25 km

Day 21 Santa Catalina - Riego de Ambros 33.9 km

Day 22 Riego - Villafranca de Bierzon 37.4 km

Day 23 Villafranca - La Faba 21.6 km

Day 24 Le Faba - Triacastela 24.8 km

Day 25 Triacastela - Ferrerios 38 km

Day 26 Ferrerios - Palais del Rei 35 km

Day 27 Palaia de Rei - Ribadiso 26.4 km

Day 28 Ribadiso - Monte Gozo 38.2 km

Day 29 Monte Gozo - Santiago 5 km

The story of the doll

I think I said in an earlier blog that I would tell you the story of the doll and why I gave my kiwi doll away. I had asked the brazilian girls Juliana and Christina how they had travelled to St Jean Pied de Port to start their journey - they told me they had flown into Pamplona and then taken a taxi across to St Jean - "Wow" I said that must have cost you - 80 Euros was the reply, but the taxi driver took us for lunch!! "Lunch! how strange" I said "I wonder why he would do something like that" Ah Juliana said there is a 'HISTORY'.... Of course there is always a 'history'
Juliana then proceeded to tell me about the story of the doll - Christina & Juliana had some friends who did the camino and who took the taxi from Pamplon to St Jean - the taxi driver gave them a doll that his wife made to remind them always of his country and perhaps they would then come back again to return the doll to him - they gave the doll to the the girls and they brought the doll with them back to spain - i'm not sure how they knew they had the right taxi driver but anyway as it transpired they returned the doll to the rightful owner who was so overcome with emotion that he took them to lunch - the story so stuck with me that I just knew when the time came to say goodbye to the girls I must give them the kiwi so that one day they would come to NZ and return it to me... now wouldn't that make some story...

Home again..

Back home to our beautiful granddaughters Giana and Leila - they were so excited to see us again - here they are trying out their bird whistles from spain

Pilgrims progress

we can hardly be called pilgrims anymore - we are now in Whistler, Canada, staying in a lovely lodge by a lake looking up to the mountians which are still covered in snow - it was the last weekend of the snow season, a holiday weekend at that - Queen Victoria day to be exact - so the place was buzzing - we went up the mountain yesterday and did the peak to peak - a gondola between Whistler and Blacomb - an awesome engineering feat - we got to see a young bear cub foraging and some chipmunks who are the noisiest of creatures - the best part is that we are really appreciating a few days in the same place, but we are definitely looking forward to coming home and our own bed... will attach some photos then

sew what!

sewing machine anyone? Wow I had really been missing having some craft to work on when we saw this in Portobello Rd - this was only one of about 3 walls covered in sewing machines -couldn't walk past without taking a photo and thinking of all my 'crafty' friends back home - now I wonder if they all work?

Pilgrims - part 2

wherever we went we seemed to be reminded of our time in spain as on the camino de santiago - yellow arrows and even this sign - a reminder that life will always be a journey and that we can still remain pilgrims even when not intending to be on a specific path - may we continue to put the lessons we learnt on the camino into practise in our everyday life

London - Family, Friends and Fun

The weather is sunny and we are enjoying catching up with people, we had a lovely evening with Fiona who used to work with me in Napier - we enjoyed the show Mama Mia and today are going to surprise Kylie at work and then Robyn & David for dinner. Managing the tube well and think the grey hair works wonders - have had young men give up their seats for me 3 times!!! Last time we were in London we bumped into my Mum and Dad on the tower Bridge so I am full of expectation that we will see someone else we know - early flight in the morning to Vancouver Canada...

Well dressing - Tissington

Every year since nobody can remember the village of Tissington decorate the seven wells - one theory is that it dates back to to the time of the plague when everyone around was being ravaged no one in Tissington died - they attributed this to their water supply so decorated the wells in grateful thanks - then laterly in 1615 when there was a severe drought the town was once again spared - it has been down every year since then - everyone is involved from digging the clay, picking the flowers and assembling them, each petal separately like tiles - it is open to the public for one week and we happened to be passing through on the last day - the wells were amazing but more so because everyone had worked together on it - the estate consists of 10 farms and 40 cottages - we actually just enjoyed wandering around this delightful village

Derbyshire

We are currently in the Derbyshire district, today in the town of Bakewell where Blair's Aunty Dorothy lives - we have just had morning tea with her and his cousin Sally which was lovely - the weather is great and it is such a beautiful part of the country - we were kindly loaned a car (BMW) from Blairs cousin June so made the journey much easier so all in all feel very blessed

Paris

two days in the same bed - a first for over a month - we have had a good day checking out the sights of paris - the Eiffel tower of course,hop on hop off Bus trip, a boat trip on the River Seine,yummy food but oh so many people - took us a day and a half to get here by train - first all the way across spain - 12 hours which took us 28 days to walk. then a short taxi ride to France to take another train to Paris - it is very cold here and sounds like it is even colder in London where we head tomorrow - maybe we will be at least be able to speak the same language!

Alice in wonderland?

There have been so many surprises and curious events along the way that sometimes I have wondered if I am in some sort of bizarre movie - can´t remember if I have already mentioned it but one day way back now we were about 6km from Astorga - we were climbing a hill in the middle of nowhere and found at the top a large barn and in front of the barn was a large table spread with the most delicious fruit, nuts, dates, fruit juice, herbal teas, biscuits etc then a most beautiful spanish man came out of the barn Hola welcome to my Casa - stay a while and help yourselves to the food - it was so nice - wanting a donation only. On entering Astorga I noticed lots of people in wheelchairs so I'm wondering if there was a hospital or therapy centre or something - saw the most beautiful sight - a man in a wheelchair pushing his friend who was in a bed alongside us as we walked - I would have loved to take a photo but thought it would have been a bit rude. They were heading to the town square to hang out. Astorga was quite a beautiful town and we stayed a few hours in the square watching and waiting for the clock to strike.... two large figures a man and woman dressed in Maragato fashion came out on the hour striking the time out on a bell.

Blair into Santiago

Hi everyone I realise now why I was not in to best frame of mind coming into the final destination after spending a very difficult night breathing I thought that at one stage I was going too choke to death and jillian thought that she would have to do tracheotomy with her pen.This sounds dranatic but you had to be there.who would have thought that my desire to learn to slow down and to have more patience would be in the form of a spanish hospital from 10.00 am to 4.30pm the next day after arriving.Because of language difficulty we missed our call and also we were in the wrong room for awhile till a kind man told us we were waiting in the childrens waiting room! Once this was established we were in to see the Dr who was very thorough and would not let me leave until she was happy, so now officially I am a druggy for a week.
The blessing in all this was that i never got real bad till we were near a hospital in the bigger city.We are now sleeping in pension accomadation as my snoring and breathing would keep the whole Alburgue awake and half of spain by the sounds of things - Jeremy and Jillian were hitting me in the night and the rest of the room were a little cold in the morning toward me.

Now we have taken the bus to Finsterre at the end of the world or so the pilgrims thought. On the way to the bus we meet our friend from France Gille so jillian got more hugs and kisses from her name sake a very special man we thought we would not see again. I was lying in bed thinking that coming the end of a great adventure and that the richness has been in the family we now have from the Camino I miss them all already so for the special Ju and Chris we love you and will email soon Blair

Santiago

Well we made it and were in for a lovely surprise to meet ´the beautiful brazilian girls one more time´ we went to the 12 oclock mass and then had a lovely lunch and dinner with most of the ´camino family´Today however has been rather bleak - Blair has had a rather sore throat which seemed to get much worse over night with him unable to breath at times - so we made a visit to the Santiago hospital and were there all day - he is fine but had to have an IV drip of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicines - it was rather a long day as the Dr wanted to keep him for several hours to make sure it was working - so we are now armed with a backpack full of medicine - and did not make it to the bus to Finisterre - however tomorrow is another day and we hope the sun shines

cool change but only 65km to walk

the weather has been frio - actually very cold that none of us could warm up so we walked and walked another 35 km we are 1km from Palas de Rei in a large alburgue with about 100 people or more..... it seems there are more and more people along the way now - we are hoping to get to Santiago by Friday. We have walked today with Jeremy and most of the day Dean (also a kiwi) stopping whenever we could for cafe con leche.... anyway will post again when we can ´a little tired and not always that easy to get to a computer ....

when I survey the wondrous cross - words

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

When I survey the wondrous cross

Blair sings this hymn evey day on the camino... there are just so many crosses on the camino that you cannot help but think about it - and how it must have been for Jesus - some of the churches have also very graphic depictions of Jesus on the cross that you really can feel the pain.... our guide book (John Brierly) states that now in modern day spain less than 20% are practising catholics.... and yet the search continues for truth - we have met a young Brazilian man Eduardo who has a PHD sociology working at a University in England is walking the camino for about the 5th time since 2004 - he was very interesting to talk to and is researching te decline in traditional church attendance and yet the increase in people coming on pilgramages such as the camino - especially this year which is a Holy year... some of the crosses on the way are actually for pilgrams who died along the way - it doesn´t say how - but we read somewhere that some died by being hit by cars... and we thought we were safe walking......

The best laid plans

just to you know we are in Triacstela after a very clold misty daty - we are now officially in Galicia....have not been able to get internet access for several days and since last posting a blog have done some very big days one day over 38km...there is a bit of a glitch in the camino track.... not sure where we were when I last blogged but the first signs that things are getting busier was as we walked into the village we had planned to stop at to find all the alburgues were full - it turned out that a bunch of german school children were dropped of - they are only doing about 15km a day so conseqently managed to get all the beds - this then shunted the rest of the travellers to the next village another 4 km away so off we walked - only to find the 'completo' signs come out as we walked by - this meant no room at the inn so to speak.... by this stage it was late and I was getting quite tired not wanting to walk on in case the next village was just as full - so we looked about for alternate accomadation - which we found in the form of a pension - an older woman with her even older mother in their own home so for us that was settled - Jeremy and Torsten were still behind - Blair went down to the track and waited for Jeremy but had missed Torsten by a few minutes - we found out the next day he had slept in the forest.... the next day our plans went to custard was after walking already 30 km to Cacabelos we found the alburgue was closed due to rennovations... next alburgue was 8 kms away - the town seemed to be setting up for a wine and food festival so every other bed in town was full - so there was nothing to do but walk another 8km to Villafranca - yay we had a bed - and the best thing about this little bottle neck was we managed to meet up with about 9 of our original `family´members.... This alburgue in Villafranca (pictured) reminded me a bit of a treehouse with all its twists and turns - seved us the yummiest of vegetable soups.

another favourite thing

If you sit long enough in one spot, maybe in the square or outside a bar, someone you know will eventually pass by, or maybe cow, a sheep, a horse, and sometimes a marching band and very often even a tractor - it was amazing how they managed to drive these up the middle of the road.

some of my favourite things

cuckoos cuckoos, everyday we hear a cuckoo;
the way the season has changed as we make our way across - from snow and bare trees to small green buds to now the blossons on the trees.
Storks - these guys make the most magnificant nests - always on top of the tallest building which is invariable the clock tower or the church tower.
A simple plan.... eat, walk, eat, rest..
Blair - has done a wonderful job as hunter and gatherer - he is in charge of lunch every day and paying for dinner every night - all I do is just walk...
the kindness of strangers - we get a gift each day either in the form of a smile or encouragement

People are people and so am I

yesterday I had the grumps - had a very bad night not just because of the snoring symphony but because of lots of people crammed in the alburgue - selfish noisy inconsiderate people so did not have a good rest at all - to top it off the nuns had a 9.30 curfew so we missed out on the best Tapas in spain - on a positive note who should come around the corner that afternoon but Jeremy and Dean on bicycles.... they were staying at a youth hostel just out of town who had free bikes - wow we had not seen Jeremy for 7 days - we had heard about him, a german man even showed me a photo of him on his camera.... it was good to see him - he is very brown now - finding our way out of Leon was very confusing - they obviously had a city bylaw not to have the yellow arrows instead had bronze scallop shells set in to the pathway, it also seemed to take forever so I was still grumping away to myself - we also left town as people and school children were coming the other way so it was a little frenetic we also passed lovely large shop windows a very rare thing with comfortable looking beds on display.... and also the Parador a 5 star hotel in an old hospital.... mrs grumpy really got the better of me this morning and up until about 10am when we came across a group of school children on a school excursion - acting out being pilgrims they were walking 6km and had these funny little hats and their backpacks - so cute they were all excited so finally my mood lifted. the road was very straight and a little boring after this distraction the temperature very hot and we did not arrive at in Hospital de Orbigo until the early evening. Torsten and Jeremy cooked tea which was yummy- must admit to finding the albergues a little bit clasutraphobic - too many people in one room - I would definitely not cope on a submarine....

Feet glorious feet

You really had to take care of your feet. At every opportunity we would be taking our shoes and socks off, if we could we would soak them in the lovely cool water that seemed to be so prolific in this part of spain. Torsten who we walked with for many days kept me in fits of laughter - it really helped get me through some very long days. Once I got into trouble in a bar for taking them off - in my defense it was a really wet day and I thought I was doing the right thin - just didn't notice the sign on the wall right above where I sat "Please do not remove your shoes" 'WOMEN' shouted the publican throwing up his arms in despair.

Make her praises heard afar - God defend NZ

yesterday was the 25th here in spain so we remembered Anzac day - we sang the national anthem to some of our camino friends - mostly people here think that we are americano or german but once we say neuve zealanda they go arhh clicking their tongues or wagging their hand back and forth, saying to us wow you have come so far and then they add you have a beautiful county we want to come visit one day - so truly the prasies of NZ are heard all around the world.... many of course have already been and talk fondly of the great time they had

smile and wave, smile and wave - the pilgram zoo

we have made it to Leon - yesterday was a big day walking about 37km from El Burgo Ranero - we again left with drunken youths seeing us off... ´smile and wave´ we walked all of the day with Torsten our young friend from Germany. Yesterday was Sunday so lots more people about,we stopped at Mansilla de las Mulas for lunch in town square just as the local people were coming out of church.... I can only imagine what they were thinking with the pilgrims sitting there with socks and shoes off.... ´smile and wave´I got a few laughs as I heaved my back pack on.... adios 'smile & wave..... we had to walk alongside the N120 for quite a bit so everyone out for a sunday drive - we waved at Noel and Rae in their campervan, we waved at Mark and Hazel in their rental car... and we even waved at the young men who it seemed were trying to run us down... Torsten reckons they get extra points for running down the pilgrims.... it was a big day but such a wonderful thing to arrive at the albergue to find our friends Olivia and Michael - they heard our voices and ran out to give us a hug... sadly the speedy brazilian girls were already a day ahead but it was fun to catch up with some of the old crew for our evening meal- Johan, Luke, & Erika.... plus some new friends - we went to the evening blessing by the benedictian nuns.... and off to bed - first night without a pillow but it was ok.... I noticed a very handsome and very well dressed man who was being followed by a tv crew.... one of our new friends Sven from Denmark was able to tell they were from Denmark and doing a documentary so once again it was smile and wave.... we have decided to have a rest day in Leon and will walk on tomorrow maybe Jeremy will catch us up - the camino telegraph says he is not far behind.... as we were sitting having a cafe con leche a group of japanese tourists wanted to take a photograph of the pilgrims.... so once again `smile and wave´ The cathedral in Leon was beautiful - lots of stain glassed windows that reminded me of a kalaidescope - with such a rainbow of colours

one of the things I like about spain

one of the best things I am liking about spain is the sensor lighting - you only have to walk in to a room and it lights up.... especially the servicos (restrooms) - sorry poppi but I am in the habit of finding the best pub in town - just to use the loos of course....the lighting up thing really helps as it is always so dark in the buildings.... the only problem is if you sit for too long the lights go off and then it is very very dark.... the opposite problem happened to a friend of ours Brian - he was fed up iwth the snoring so took himself off to the lounge area - only troube was every time he turned over the lights went on..... so he had to keep very very still to get a good nights sleep.... just imagine how it was for us in the Hotel - the old converted monastary with a very long corrider - as I walked through it each set of lights went on - just like a magic show..... we must be getting really desperate for entertainment - seriously there is nothing here in ingles (english) and none of the spanish speak ingles either so it makes for interesting conversations..... I am loving it of course - Jillian

the camino telegraph

tonight we are at el burgo ranero - started out a real foggy cold day (as usual) but came out lovely and sunny - I was right about the snorers.... but tonight we are at a hostal in a doble room¡¡¡....(costs 40euros) as the albergue was completo.... a double bed this means... to Blair maybe but to me it means a good nights sleep.... we have just had tea with a canadaian grandmother and her grandaughter - only thing is they only just met 4 yrs ago as the grandaughter was adopted 34 yrs ago - such a precious discussion was had as to how you veiw life - the grandmother is 75 - there are so many of these stories - last night 2 kiwis, 2 south koreans and 2 germans sat down to dinner - no one was talking because we thought that we could not understand each other... until we discovered that the south koreans lived in germany - so what a special time we had.... today however the rumour is that there is the norwalk virus on the camino - every second person we have met today has been sick... some people say its the water, some people say its the food. Our friend Torsten has had it (the young german man who Blair thinks looks like Frodo but I think looks like Clark Kent) who we met again today outside the best cake shop in Sahugun.... he had a night with the Brazilians the night before last - so it seems we are only a half day behind them.... anyway all is good so far no tummy bugs for us.... and still no word of Jeremy.....

I want my family...

the two little pilgrims have lost their family and don´t know where to find them
i want my family Jillian cried..
Blair said leave them alone and they will come carrying their backpacks behind them
so the pilgrims decided to book themselves into a Hotel for the night.... it was wonderful to sleep in clean fresh sheets to have a lovely hot showere and toilet paper in the lavotary.... we must have looked quite a site arriving in our walking clothes to this lovely old monastary that is now a hotel was called San Zoilo just out of Carrion de los Condes..today 17km of the walk was on a coutnry roadway - I found it very boring as we are
really missing our brazilian friends Juliana and Christina and Mike and Olivia - but glad they are doing well ´- such speedy gonzalaz - have not had any famililar faces for days - walked with Torsten again yesterday but have lost him today.... such is the camino now - lots of new faces and very few english speaking people - have met up a couple of times with an australian couple from Perth so maybe they will have to become the new family... anyway we are now at Terradillos de Templarios Blair and I are in a room with two older men who I can already tell will be snorers.... love to you all - catch you next time - Jillian

the sun came out and dried up all the rain...

we have had two really sunny clear windless days so have decided to keep on walking these last two days last night we stayed at a place called Hontanas - in a brand new alburgue... funny story because for some reason I had wandered away from Blair as we entered the village.... this little man was beckoning to me - come senora - acting out take off your boots sit down and stay here.... I was a little bit wary as the entrance led into another entrance way... I politely told him my husband was coming and he would decide - anyway it was the most beautiful alburgue - brand new with most amazing showers.... we even had the room all to ourselves which was nice for a change.... the sad thing is now the camino family is all scattered - we presume the brazillians along with Olivia and Michael are ahead -the young ones are all behind - we left them in Burgos..... most of them wanting a rest day .. or a city day maybe - Jeremy was a bit torn I think - stick with the parents or stick with the young ones ..... anyway I´m sure we will meet up with him again soon.... but it reminded me a bit of the story of the hare and the tortoise..... the tortoise is now ahead..... the hares are all behind us. We had a lovely evening with Torsten and Eric from Switzerland who we had met earlier in the day

Burgos

Today (I think it is the Monday the 19th) we arrived in Burgos - this is where we were initially going to start.... only 20 ks today but a lot of it was through the city - the industrial part to start with and then the newer apartments - was quite tough to be amongst ´civilization´again and a bit demoralising however as usual the yellow arrows take us to the historical heart of the city - we are staying very near the cathedral which we decided to visit - WOW is all I can say.... Jeremy and Blair could not work out if it was beautifully grotesque or grotesquely beautiful amazing, it was very cold inside but for me lots of inspirations for quilts!!!!!! Last night I dreamt that we went to the Hopkinsons for a dinner party....

Atapuerca

another wet day trudging through mud - we walked today with Olivia and Michael and were seriously trying to catch the Brazilian girls - the sun came out so frantically tried to dry our washing..... must remember that wet clothes weigh far more than dry.... Jeremy went for a walk and came back with our lovely friends Christina, Juliana and Gilles (the most beautiful expressive frenchman) they were staying in another alburgue down the road.... so decided to have tea together that night.....Gilles only speaks french so he mimed on the spot his last few days apart from us all.... it truly was beautiful to see.... as usual the pilgrim meal is simple but 3 courses and we polish it all off with the bread and wine - this night had to be the best dessert ever . white chocolate and yoghurt mousse..... even with my bestest smile I could not get the recipe from our host....

The rain in spain....

we have had two days of rain so that combined with the dirt pathways means walking in mud glorius mud..... actually Nick with our ponchos on all in a row we look like little hobbits..... so yes very Lord of the rings indeed just little hunchbacked ones - wish I could figure out how to add photos while on a hostel computer. The rain had been steady all day but came down in a huge downpour just as we came to a village of Belarado - unfortunately this scattered the pilgrims each to the first alburgues they could find anyway - imagine our amazement again when we met up with Jeremy, D.J, Dean and another Korean lad called Park - we had a wonderful pilgrim meal that night - unfortunately i think we were on the local pub circuit so we heard the revellers most of the night - not too mention the snoring ( there is always the snoring) the drunkards were still outside our door when we left yesterday morning ...... a small group of local lads they started following us and chanting.. pilgrim pilgrim take the bus..... these words echoed in my head the rest of the day¨, the bus sounds like a very good idea.... let me tell you about the alburgue rules - we pilgrims have to be home and in bed by 10pm each night and gone by 7am..... the younger ones are finding this a bit hard but last night I was thankful that all my boys were tucked up in bed.

nature story

one day on the path we noticed strings of caterpillers all in a row like locomotives.... Dean from NZ said he had seen on a nature show once that they were blind so just all hooked on to each other - occasionally they were all in a big pile.... maybe the one in front got confused so no one could find their way... sometimes they had to start new trains as a biker came through and squashed some of them..... I wonder if they are really blind....

some thoughts on the way - Jillian

-when you come to a hill - don´t look up because it just seems too far
- however sometimes it is good to look back - the view can be amazing and you can see how far you´ve been ....
- make sure you check where you are going to sit down - stinging nettle can really hurt - ouch
- say goodbye to your friends as if it is the last time you see them - because it just might be - today we had rain lots of it so after walking 23 km Blair and I made a decision to stay in Belorado, we had left early to get ahead of the 'group'- the 'family' we call them as generally I can be much slower but today we did not see any of them all day - so we will not be with our brazilian girls tonight the first since we started out.
Blair is getting more kisses from other women than me..... and me from other men....
The dogs here surely must get sore throats - they bark us in to each village and bark us out
best advice so far - take a tinto vino for each leg
every meal comes with pan (bread) and tinto vino (red wine)
that you can buy a syringe and needle over the farmacia counter (for the blister)- as well as get beer and wine out of a vending machine!! shopping is easier with someone who speaks spanish as most of the spanish people do not speak english - still pointing and miming works.....
some days I cannot even remember my english words let alone the spanish ones....
there is tagging and litter in spain..... it just seems worse when the bridge is hundreds of years old....
pleasant surprises - jeremy, DJ and Dean turned up at same alburgeue today - phew he is not lost in spain
the most tender moment so far was yesterday when D.J from Korea our adopted number 5 son held my hand as we walked up the hill singing a song in Korean it was so beautiful that it made Blair cry....
best saying so far - when I made an observation to Anna from Barcelona that the older woman all looked very similar -she said that we start off as full ripe round grapes but end up looking like sol-tarnas (sultanas) her accent was beautiful.....
we met a lovely entrepenauer (Ana from Madrid) today she has an ice cream stall in the middle of a small village - shame it was so cold - still she had soup in a can that when you shook it became warm.... she also ran a casa rural - a more upmarket place to stay for pilgrims....
the recession has hit spain hard - walked through a whole town of new houses - not one person lives there but there is a wonderful golf course....also saw our first robbery yesterday - some lads who looked like they should have been in school ran off with some stuff from the 1 Euro shop
that not all people like pilgrims - have been hissed at and grimaced at
there are no public toilets in spain it seems - you are right Rae I should have bought the shewee...
don´t follow other pilgrims - they might not be on the right path - always look for the yellow arrows.... also there is always someone in front of you and also someone behind you
that I miss my family -especially the grandchildren - the little girls here, when we do see them look like dear little Giana and Leila I just want to go up and hug and kiss them

same pathway different journey

the last km is always the longest - have been unable to post blogs for several days - I think we have been walking for 8 days now - today was very long almost 35 km I toddled along towards the end - got a huge blister several days ago so it is hindering my style - I´m still loving the social side of the camino - the pilgrim meal each night - we get to meet new people each day and hear a little of their story but we so enjoy catching up with those first ones from St Jean - we have become like family... we may have to part company with our brazilian friends as they have a tighter schedule than us and I don´t think I could keep up - today I cried because it was just so hard.... mostly my tears have been those of laughter.... we again had fine weather although overcast and cloudy - we did not arrive at our albergue until 5pm so nearly 10 hrs walking today - we are in Santa Domigo de Calzada in the biggest hostel so far - very clean and organised - they have all been different and so have been the pilgrim meals at the restuarantes - Jeremy takes turns cooking with the younger ones who are watching their budget more - last night we got the best welcome ever it had started to rain and once again i was coming up the rear - the owner of the hostel met me with a hug took my coat and carried my bag for me to my bunk - maybe 2 flights of stairs - there was a fire going so friendly - it has been harder than I thought finding things - yesterday we found our first public convenience - still there is always a bar in each village that we all make a stop at -

Last night we stayed in Viana - an alburgue beside an old ruined monastary - we have had great weather so far with only a few spots of rain - until yesterday no blisters until now so been doing well we have a great group of new friends that we may or may not see again at the end of each day but it is like a family when we do - kisses and hugs - we have 2 brazilian ladies, Juliana and Christina, a couple from England - but who are scottish and mexican, (Michael and Olivia) a frenchman named Jules who loves to give me kisses each day - an australian called Brian, and of course Jeremy and my now newly adopted number five son D J from Korea - we are having lots of laughs together....

water into wine

Day 5 of walking - from Cirauqui to Villamayor de Monjardin, about 21 km but seemed quite a long days walk -although it was very pretty mainly on natural pathways, passing through Irache where there was a fountain (Fuente) that gave wine instead of water. At Villa Monjardin we stayed in hostal run by a Dutch ecumenical group - who gave us a lovely dinner together and opportunity for those wishing to share in a devotional in the evening - unfortunately due to the other alburgue in the village being closed several pilgrims had to walk on - including Jeremy and DJ to Los Arcos another 12 km away