Kategorie: 2018 First Camino

Yesterday I ate in the bar with 2 pilgrims from Austria. Afterwards I saw that there was a big cooking session in the albergue…. I ate again a little bit more and we talked until about 23:30…. I stood up again at about 5:30… so I am a little bit tired today. Walking early is good to avoid as much as possible the heat in the afternoon.

Today I walked about 26km from Azofra to Redecilla del Camino.

This is in the church of Grañón:

The last 5km is was hot again. Slowly there is less winegrowing  and more grain:

 

 

 

Yesterday was the 25th of July, when the annual Feast of Saint James (Dia de Santiago) takes places in Santiago de Compostela. Santiago or Saint James, in English, is the Patron Saint of Spain.

Carelessly I thought I could just go to church on this day if I am on the way of Saint James. Shortly before the mass the priest asked „Pilgrims? Where are you from?“…. and then 2 other pilgrims and I should read a intercession in the first language of the pilgrim.

Of course I had almost the suitable clothes for this…

The church is nice.

Today I walked from Navarette to Azofra about 22,5km.

There is a lot of winegrowing here.

 

Yesterday in the evening there was a bull run in Viana:

Today I walked from Viana to Navarrete about 22km – it was one of the easier days.

I walked through Logroño. It has a population of about 150.000… so it is only a little larger than 1/10 of my hometown Munich. But I am not used to a big city anymore (traffic, houses, streets, big shops, many people, ….)….

The Spanish people are helpful. I was not 10 metre in a ‚wrong‘ street for looking as a Spanish man explained me where the Camino is.

The Iglesia de Santiago is a nice church…. and it fits to today (July the 25th), the day of Santiago Apostle, patron saint of Spain.

And there is a St. James way rose as well:

 

 

Today I walked about 30km from Villamayor to Vianna (about 8km northeast of Logroño). In the afternoon it was very hot (about 30 degrees centigrade).

You can see Logroño already….

Why? – Part 2

In this thread ( first posting ) there is a short video about a camino experience:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/what-i-learnt-along-the-way-film.49141/

 

 

 

Today I walked from Mañeru to Villamayor de Monjardín about 26km.

I like this warning sign:

My backpack has now a baby camino shell:

Near Estella is a well known ‚wonder‘ – a wine fountain. On the left there is free wine, on the right water.

You can probably discuss the quality of the wine…. but there I liked it.

There were 3 German girls who walked the Camino after their school education. Two of them had overloaded backpacks…. and problems with their feet or knees.

So if you need a short checklist for doing the Camino:

1. Well-fitting shoes (light is good, large enough even after a long and hot walking day)

2. Light backpack

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Why?

I had a discussion with several pilgrims how one could explain the ‚Camino Magic’…. what makes the camino maybe different to other trekking routes…. and what is a compensation for the hard work of walking, the hot sun, sleeping in a dormitory and other camino-stuff…. until now everybody answered ‚es imposible / it is not possible‘ to explain it to someone who misses the experience.

So I will not try to explain it but tell sometimes an anecdote or something like that.

Today it is a quote. I know it like this:

And the nun told the pilgrim: „The Camino is God’s dream for how people should be when they are with each other.“

And I think that here the people are really different to the ’normal life‘.

 

Today I walked from Tiebas to Mañeru (about 4km in the west of Puente la Reina): 23,1km.

The first special experience was the church Santa María de Eunate:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Mary_of_Eunate

This sticker is a memory of my first Camino from Saint Maria of Eunate:

The other important change was that the Camino Aragones ended in Puente la Reina…. so I am on the Camino Frances with many more pilgrims now.

But the sad consequence was that I lost my first ‚Camino  family‘ who could only walk until Puente la Reina… I met the 4 Spanish persons first on day 3 and from day 5 on we shared the evening dinner, were together in bars, walked the Camino partly as a group and shared the dormitory in the albergues. A fifth person completed the group a little bit later. Today we walked slowly and were in several bars. And if someone would have told me one week ago how sad I would be because of the ‚loss‘ of my first camino family, I would not have believed it.

 

 

After the long walk yesterday only 13,2 km to Tiebas today.

A small puzzle: Yesterday a person looked every few minutes in his trousers.

Who was this? And why?

…

I was the person. I have got a liver spot (Leberfleck) at one thigh (Oberschenkel) and the trousers rubbed on it during walking until it was bloody. I noticed it rather late because it did not ache.

After noticing it in the albergue I went to the pharmacy (twice…. the first time it was closed because of the siesta). The man in the pharmacy said that my Spanish is better than his English… so we talked with Spanish, hands and feet and I got my desinfectant.

The next day I adhered Leukoplast to it…. that the rubbing is on the Leukoplast and not on the skin. It worked well until it fell off…. and I adhered it again and checked it… and for this I looked into my trousers several times.

The solution was that now I take slightly longer shorts…. so that the shorts are above the liver spot and the rubbing is between the trousers and the shorts.

Today the walk was relatively easy. We are now in Tiebas south of Pamplona. Soon the Camino Aragones from Somport will merge the Camino Frances with much more pilgrims…

 

 

Today we walked about 28km to Monreal.

There were vultures above me…. but as I am relatively fit I think they did not look for me….

…

My smartphone starts to write funny things. Maybe because we in our group drank some small beer and a little bit of Sangria. So it is better to stop here for today.

 

 

Day 7 – Sanguesa to Monreal weiterlesen

Today there was a short route of only 10km. The next albergue is closed.

Here I had breakfast….

This is one of the two churches in Sanguesa:

My little toe is ok today.

Now I have a location where both thighs rub against each other. But I am lucky if all my health related issues are so minimal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I walked from Artieda to Undues de Lerda about 22,5km. My little toe got a small bandage:

There were many butterflies near to the way. Here black-white ones and one on my trouser:

I stay in a small village with about 70 citizens. During dinner I could practice my almost not-existing-Spanish with a group of 4 Spaniards…