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At last, no more pain!

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Walking into Santiago there was a kind of silence, and yet the city was humming. When a pilgrim comes in from the Camino de Levante people know. It is the longest, and it is the hardest. But for me, a humble man, it was also so very strange. Vic was fine, and I saw him swiping left a lot on his phone which probably explained his disappearance later that evening.  Pregnant women, they made me touch their bellies, same with the infirm. Priests bowed before me. And when I reached the gates of the Cathedral, I don’t mind saying, I wept openly. And, as I was there, my left foot started to bleed - you remember the problem with my left boot - and people gasped. Like Padre Pio with his stigmata, the bleeding wouldn’t stop. And next thing, 12 swallows hovered far overhead, representing the apostles presumably. And then this young, very attractive french woman,  26 or 27, a cellist, came over and rested her finger on the wound and crossed her forehead with my blood, and said, ‘Vous avez...
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The End (according to Vic)

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So, it is over.  We are finally here in Santiago and I start my journey back home tomorrow.  It feels a bit surreal.  I am quite pleased with the accomplishment but disappointed that I was not able to walk the whole way, which is what I set out to do.  Frank’s first blog entry was that one of us wasn’t going to make it.  Well, I made it to the end, but had to miss about 1/3 of the total walking days.  Here’s my stats: *  I walked a total of 28 days out of 42 total walking days (67% in days). *  I walked approximately 535 miles out of a total of approximately 747 miles (71.5% in miles). *  I walked a total of 1.1 million steps during those walking days. For me, there is unfinished business.  I fully intend to return one day and walk the two stretches I had to miss, which will take over two weeks with all the logistics involved. In hindsight, I think we pushed ourselves too hard the first week and when the rain kicked in, I chose roadway o...
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Accommodation Options

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Accommodation options along the Camino vary greatly and we stayed in them all.  Here are the types we encountered, starting with most basic to nicest: Albergues (a.k.a. hostels):  these are the most basic options and are available in virtually every village, town and city along the way.  They are your classic hostel situation with shared rooms of bunk beds and shared bathrooms and are very much geared towards the pilgrims doing these caminos.  There is typically no on-site restaurant although they have a self-catering, shared kitchen (and there are some nicer albergues with an on-site bar/cafe/restaurant but those are the exception).  They are first come, first serve, so there is a risk they may be full.  They are also typically free; however, a small donation is generally expected (€5-10).  We stayed in some, usually when there was no other choice available.  When they are busy, which they mostly were, you can count on a loud snorer in the room....
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What a coincidence!

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I was just wondering what was the name of that chap I used walk with (and where he was) when I saw this sign and the memories came flooding back.  As chance would have it, at exactly the same time,  I saw a one-armed man with a prosthetic carrying a rather large scythe so I asked him had he seen the Americano. A bit of a strange chap (wearing a hoodie on a hot day as well) but he seemed to nod yes and he dropped me the attached photo. Not sure what it all means to be honest, I’m sure Vic will be fine though....
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Menu del Dia

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Vic has already talked about Spanish food but I wanted to add my two cents re. Spain’s famous ‘Menu del Dia’  For €10 you get a starter, a simple main course, a postre,  a bottle of wine and water. So even before you eat anything it’s generally really good value, at least by  Irish standards.  The first course usually includes a mixed salad and sometimes a soup or both. I would say the first plate is often better than the second plate which is the protein plate (fish, chicken, meat, eggs) that can really be hit and mss and the postre could be a yougurt, an apple, ice cream, flan or tart.  As a sidebar, given I have been living in bars for the last six weeks, the way the Spanish drink - I’m talking  rural community now - is quite impressive. They are always drinking, but always in tiny measures. And then they have a menu circa 3pm, or 9pm and a bottle of wine. Some of the house stuff has been ok, some a bit iffy. But the rural men, they drink!  For a na...
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Thumbs Up Ourense (and screw Frank)

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Ourense is the last big city before reaching Santiago.  I got to spend a few nights there as I finished my recuperation waiting for Frank to catch up, which he did yesterday.  It’s a nice, scenic city, separated by a river (so lots of different bridges) with a nice old, medieval center.  It’s also set dramatically in a valley with lots of green hills surrounding it.  We are definitely in northern Spain:  specifically Galicia, very green. I started walking again today and it went well - very scenic terrain.  I was about an hour behind Frank and once he confirmed the designated destination of the day, Cea, was a hostel-only situation - as in a room full of bunk beds (referred to as alburgues in Spain), I made the on-the-spot, controversial decision to stay about two miles shy in a nice, hotel with a nice private room and bath.  It had to be done. ( Frank - The thing that hurt the most was the cruel, cold text. Never mind that I had already stopped, show...
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Book of the Trip

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I (Vic) brought four books on the Camino because long-distance hiking trips are a great opportunity to enjoy a good read.  One really stood out with another a super solid and close runner-up. Book of the Trip:  Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor What a fantastic book.  It tells a fictional story within a historical context, which is about a ship in 1847 traveling from England and Ireland to New York.  It introduces a number of characters seemingly unconnected as the ship commences the journey and what happens and what is discovered over the course of that journey including quite a bit of intrigue as well as murder.  It’s a real page-turner.  It also reads as surprisingly relevant to today as the historical context is people fleeing famine, violence and prosecution, desperately seeking a better life in America - and looked down upon and as inferior by some.  You only have to scan today’s headlines to see this same story sadly repeating itself. Extra tri...
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