Day 10 - Artieda to Sanguesa

Sil

You´ll remember that we lost 8 kms by walking down from San Juan de la Pena to Santa Cruz (which is not on the actual camino) and then to Santa Cilia. So, after breakfast we loaded our gear into the minibus taxi and the owner of the hostal drove us down the winding road with magnificent views of the Yesa dam to Ruesta. We passed a number of the pilgrims who we had dinner with last night and caught up with a couple who had continued to Ruesta yesterday. The few stone buildings in Ruesta were abandoned due to the planning of Yesa but now one or two of the derelict buildings are occupied and there is a very modern albergue in amongst the ruins -and nothing else that we could see. The path today was very easy - mostly along gravel or dirt. The first 7km went straight uphill all the way to the wide ´meseta´at the top. It was then a long, winding road through scrub land,similarto the moors in England with scrubby vegetation and very few trees. We stopped at the only village between Ruesta and Sanguesa - Undues de Leida - for a coffee and coke. From there the path dropped quite sharply and soon we were in the valley walking between wheat and barley fields. A few kms from Sanguesa we passed a large stone marker that marked our entrance into Navarre. The terrain softened, with no more stark, stony hills and weird gravel formations. As we entered Sanguesa we saw our first European stork and followed his flight as he-she swooped onto a next, one of many, on top of the church. We were led to the pilgrim albergue by a wizzened little man but when we climbed the stairs to the dormitory we found it fully occupied by old men! We think that it is a group that is starting from here as we have not seen them before and none of them had sunburn! We, on the other hand, look positively burnished with brown legs and arms and sunburned noses! We walked all the way through the long town and visited the information centre. There is a hostal across the river or the camping further down. We crossed the bridge to the hostal - the young man tells us it is 82 euro for a tree bed room. Val's feet are giving her hell and we were not prepared to cross the river bridge again to try to find beds on the other side of town so we took the room. At least we have our own bathroom and best of all a nice fluffy towel! Marion and I went back into town to look for Internet and a camera shop where I had my memory cards downloaded onto 2 CD´s. Later on we return to the calle Mayor and have a tapas dinner in the local bar. On the way back to the hostal we stop at an internet cafe and catch up with the blog and me with a few emails. The next two days will be shorter walks to Izco and to Monreal. We just hope we make it before the senior citizens´club get there!

Val - Minister of Nutrition

I am now resigned to the fact that I will not satisfy my culinary obsession on this trip and that's fine - there is much to enjoy and I've probably been a bit of a pain about food - the wine has been no problem at all, its certainly easier to get than coffee and food. In every village you can normally find a drinking fountain, Syl and Marion say in some they offer both water and wine on tap! And so I will perhaps expand on more of the basics of our trip to prepare any of you who might consider such a trip as walking the Camino.

WARNING: some readers may find parts offensive! If you are going to consider walking a Pilgrimage walk then I highly recommend you attend one of Syl's workshops which she holds in Durban. She is also a guest speaker at the Gauteng workshops. Syl is the convenor for the KZN branch of the Confraternity of St James of South Africa - the website is http://www.csjsa.co.za/.

Properly research your route so it meets your cultural, historical and culinary(!) expectations. You can walk many pilgrim routes in France, Portugal and Italy as well as Spain and other countries. Some are remote like this one and offer something equally unique. Some, like the Via Francegenia in Italy, you will have the opportunity on many occasions to end the day in a established village - usually a walled city, high on the hill where you can eat fine Italian food. Be be prepared because there are many days where you will walk without coming across any inhabitants throughout the day. The workshops equip you in many ways including a back packlist and equipment recommendations. I am walking (and have walked for up to 5 weeks) on the exact list Syl gave me, no more and no less and have not wanted for a thing. However, I am proud to say that I have influenced Syl's list - I insist on one little evening number just to get away from the trousers and t shirts and this can be a dress or top and skirt, one of those that can be rolled up tightly and must weigh next to nothing and of course can be worn with the current fashion statement footwear..."La Crocs". Be prepared to share dorms and ablutions with the opposite sex - the Germans in particular are at ease with nudity. Take dear Bernd for instance in Italy, we had just reached th4e top of the Great St Bernard Pass and it was indeed worthy of celebration so I decided to go to the local tavern and have a glass of wine and a local palte and phone Martin. By the time I got back to the Monastery where we were spending the night, the girls were fast asleep in the dorm. I grabbed my toiletries and went to the (unisex) ablution block. I have dreadful eyesight in the dark even though I wear contact lenses and the room was dimly lit. A man was standing at the basin and we acknowledged each other. I cleaned my teeth, took out my contacts (I have 20/20 vision close up without them) and immediately realise that he is stark naked! He is tatoed from his neck down, arms, hands, bum, legs to his ankles...he lkooks like he's wearing a patterned babygro! I make a hasty retreat and jump into my bunk fully clothed. Bernard befriends us and this is a girls holiday so we really don't want him tagging along for too much longer. We decided to tell him that Martin (my husband) is a very jealous man and very upset that we have a man walking with us. Syl gets the job of telling him.."but Syl" he says "you must not worry, I am Gay!" Then dear sweet Bernd oversteps the mark - he tells us what food to buy, how to cook it and drinks our wine. We part company the next day.

Lovely walk today just cross with my blisters...I walked 800km in Italy without one and instead of doing what I always do, I saw some gel heel pads and decided to buy them...they were too big and wrapped up around the base of my heels causing blisters. We have Compeed, excellent plasters so these will sort it out together with some lambs wool......we arrive in Sanguesa and Syl pointed out the European Storks on top of the Chapel where they have their nests - she has seen them all over Spain and some of their nests are huge and years old. Long walk around town to find our accommodation, we enter through the door and go upstairs, there are about 12 beds all very close to each other and full of middle plus aged men, there are 2 beds left ..we would not have stopped there anyway - we have shared dorms before but this one didn't feel right. We left and walked and walked until we came to a hostel that had room, it was more like a boutique hotel with a trendy little seating area and we had a room with OUR OWN shower AND toilet between us..but the cost per person was E27 as opposed to the usual E8 - E12..it was lovely. Whilst I tried to repair my feet (I bartered with Marion "you give me your spare lambs wool and I will carry your wine goblet!") Both Marion and Syl gave me their spare lambs wool for free!! Syl and Marion went on a recce to find a cameral shop to copy over her photos onto a CD and somewhere to eat as there are no facilities to cook here - when we arrived this afternoon everything was closed so have walked on half a slice of bread and an apple and starving! We cannot have breakfast in the morning because the hostel will only serve something at 0830am and too late for us. We have some leftover fruit and hopefully there will be a village with a shop on our way. Syl and Marion return with a wonderful 70% cocoa chocolate bar for me..it is Roncesvalles Chocolate Artesano. They found a bar with tapas is lively with only one barman serving which is quite normal, serving beers, wine, coffees and tapas all on his own. The tapas display is nothing like we saw at the beginning of our arrival in Spain but worth trying. We have mushrooms with garlic and butter mopped up with bread, Tuna...fresh with olive oil - served cold and very good. The croquettes were filled with cheese and ham or pimentoes are quite doughy and stodgy. Then we hit the Internet cafe, a dingy place and part of an amusement arcade which appears to be the only facility for the poor local kids who have to live here. There is a foul smell throughout this "town" almost toxic. It is an Inner City Slum. The smell turns out to be the water purifying plant that we walk past in the morning.

Sacred Journeys to Longed for Places

http://amawalker.blogspot.com/2009/05/journey-can-become-sacred-thing.html

St. Gildas 5thC

Pilgrims’ Prayer

In health may I and all of my companions
Safely arrive with no harm or injury –
May my boat be safe in the waves of the ocean,
My horses safe on the highways of the earth,
Our money safe as we carry it with us
To pay due heed to our poor necessities.
May our enemies fail to do harm to us,
However evil the counsels which inspire them,
In the eternal name of Christ our Master,
May my roads all lie plain before me,
Whether I climb the rugged heights of mountains,
Or descend the hollow depths of valleys,
Or trudge the lengthy roads on open country,
Or struggle through the thickets of dense forest:
May I walk always in straight ways and shining
To longed-for places . . .”

Accident and Angels on the way to the Dragon Mountains

Last weekend we went to do some hiking in the foothills of the southern Drakensberg Mountains that stretch for over a thousand kilometers along the interior of South Africa from the Cape in the south, along the entire length of Kwa-Zulu Natal, forming a natural border between Lesotho and South Africa.

Wikipedia: The highest peak is Thabana Ntlenyana, at 3,482 metres (11,420 ft). Other notable peaks include Mafadi at 3,450 m, Makoaneng at 3,416 m, Njesuthi at 3,408 m, Champagne Castle at 3,377 m, Giant's Castle at 3,315 m, and Ben Macdhui at 3,001 m. All of these are in the area bordering on Lesotho; north of Lesotho the range becomes lower and less rugged until entering Mpumalanga where the quartzite mountains of the Transvaal Drakensberg are more broken. The Blyde River Canyon in Mpumalanga is within the Northern reaches of the Drakensberg, though its geology appears different due to the lack of a Basalt cap. South Africa's Drakensberg mountains are home to the world's second-highest waterfall, the Tugela Falls (Thukela Falls), with a total drop of 947 metres.

Camino pilgrim, Tricia from Empangeni, invited a group of us to spend the weekend at her timeshare in the Bushman's Nek Resort. Tricia drove to Durban to collect Lorraine (also a camino pilgrim) and on Friday morning Marion picked me up, then Glynis and Linda and drove us to Val's place in Kloof. We loaded Val's trailer with food, wine and hiking gear and settled into her Pajero with Amy Winehouse crooning on the radio.

When she tried to start the car it made a strange 'trrrrrrrr.... trrrrrrrrr..." sound. After a few phone calls and reading the onscreen message we realised that the battery was flat. Glynis, our girl-guide supreme, helped Val find jumper cables in the garage, Marion brought her car close to the Pajero and after a while the Pajero roared to life! We were off!

Bushman's Nek is about 250k from Durban. I phoned Tricia on her cell phone to tell her that we would be running about an hour later than expected and she told me that they were almost at Underberg - just 35km from Bushman's Nek.

Accident:

We had an easy drive to Underbeg but as we reached the small town I got a call from Tricia - they had skidded off the gravel road on a bend, literally flew over a gulley, crashed into the brush and ploughed through brambles and thorn trees, hitting a log jutting out of a deep donga. When the shocked women came to a halt, Lorraine (a physiotherapist) asked Tricia if she was alright.

"My back..."said Tricia.

"Don't move," said Lorraine, "I'm going to see if I can flag down a car for help."

Lorraine got out of the car and fought her way through the sharp brambles to the road ripping her exposed arms and legs.

We came upon them an hour later - Tricia still shocked, sitting in the passenger seat, Lorraine with blood splashed on her clothes, her legs and arms a mess. The badly damaged car had been pulled out of the donga by a tractor, using a chain belonging to another good Samaritan.

Another motorist who'd stopped was on his way to Bushman's Nek and when he arrived there he told them what had happened and they had sent a vehicle to collect all Lorraine & Tricia's luggage. A paramedic and an ambulance soon arrived.

They strapped Tricia to a spinal stretcher and put her in the ambulance. I went with her and Lorraine back to Underbeg to be checked by the only doctor in town while the other girls continued to Bushman's Nek.

The doctor thoroughly checked both women and found that, besides bruises, whip-lash, lacerations and shock, neither had any serious injuries. (Unlike the little car which appears to be a write-off.) The lodge at Bushman's Nek sent a driver to collect us and we arrived at the lodge just before 7pm.

Angels:
The universe works in mysterious ways. The first car to pass Lorraine was a couple on their way to Bushman's Nek. They offered to drive on, let the lodge know about the accident so that they could contact the paramedics.

The car that stopped next had a chain just the right length to attach to the car and a tractor that was called in to help. The woman in the car said that they had missed their turn and should not have been on that section of the road. "You see, we were meant to be on this road at this time,"
said her husband.

A woman in the second car to arrive said that her mother, who lives 300km away in Port Edward on the South Coast, knew the farmer whose land bordered onto the road where the car had crashed. She called her mother, who phoned the farmer, who was able to radio for help.
Lorraine also contacted her son-in-law who told her that he knew the only paramedic in Underberg, and that he would contact him. The paramedic had not received the message left by the lodge so it was thank's to Lorraine's son-in-law knowing how to reach him that the ambulance and paramedic arrived when they did.
When the ambulance delivered us to the doctor's rooms in Underberg, he told us that for many months there had been no doctor in Underberg. He had only opened his practice a few weeks earlier. So many co-incidences - or, so many Angels sent to help?

Hiking:

Back at the lodge Lorraine had a warm bath to clean the wounds on her legs and arms. She had pretty 'bling' sandals on and we teased her about putting a post on the blog called "Blood and Bling". We shared a veg lasagne that I had made for Friday night and had an early night.

After breakfast in the morning Val, Marion, Linda, Glynis and I set off to hike on the Lesotho side of the border. It was a beautiful morning and after paying R20 each for a permit to cross the

border bewteen South Africa and Lesotho, we followed a path that crossed the river in about 5 places before swinging left up a rocky ridge, high above the riverine valley below. We had missed the path to the Twin Pools and could see people far below us sitting on a rock at the base of the mountain on the other side of the valley. We met up with that group, being led by a guide, when we crossed the river later on.

By the time we got back to the lodge, a nasty wind had sprung up. I stayed with Tricia and

Lorraine - giving them both a neck and shoulders and feet massage - while the others went on a horse-ride - a first for Marion.

By the evening it was a howling gale that grew stronger and stronger during the night, shaking the windows and doors and rocking the lodge on its stilts. Nobody got much sleep and with the wind still howling in the morning we decided not to go hiking but to get an early start home after breakfast.

One of Lorraine's family had friends looking at property in Underberg and they offered to drive her and Tricia back home. We took a lot of their stuff in the trailer. On the way home we stopped at "Puckety Place" - a delightful old house with a farm stall, bottled preserves, cheese, fleece ponchos, hats and scarves, an animal farm and an honest tea garden where you make your own tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc and choose from scones, cakes, or pickles, cheese & bread.

We got back to Val's place and Marion drove us all home.

This was our last country training before we leave in less than 3 weeks time. I had a full dress rehearsal, only taking my camino backpack. Everything worked well but with the 'Berg weather being almost the same as the south of France and the Pyrenees, I decided that we might need a second lightweight fleece and perhaps a scarf and gloves. I also decided to swap one of the shirts I made for an old tried and tested t-shirt.

On Monday, all the clothing I'd used on the weekend was washed and I have now re-packed my backpack - for the 10000th time - and am ready to fly!!

Meetings, training, paperwork etc

Preparations: There is a lot to do in preparing for a long trek (or a series of short ones!) When you live on the other side of the globe you have to make meticulous plans in order for everything to go smoothly. Only then can you walk with peace of mind knowing that the groundwork has been done, that you will make that connection between airport and train and there are no uncertainties about planes, trains or sutomobolies! Once you have decided on an itinerary of sorts - start and end dates agreed upon - all the travel plans have to be made.

Meetings:
We've now had two meetings - the first at Val's place and the second a lunch meeting here last week. I did a vegetable stack for lunch with scallop shell polenta and served it with assorted pestos.
We started off deciding on which airline to fly, where to fly to, how to get to the start of our walk.
We have booked on Iberia from Johannesburg to Toulouse. We will get a train to Lourdes and start walking from there. We've discovered that the times of our flights from Johannesburg to Madrid have been changed from 22h30 to 20h30. Our connecting flights from Durban to Johannesburg will get us there with time to spare. We get to Madrid earlier and have a longer wait for our flights to Lourdes, which have not changed.
We get to Lourdes at 11h10 and we agreed not to rush to get the midday train from Toulouse to Lourdes but to rather have lunch somewhere and get the 14h00 train which is a faster train and gets to Lourdes only 1 hour after the midday train. Making this decision now means that we don't have to bust a gut trying to get from the airport at Toulouse to the train station in an hour.
We have booked a hotel room for the first night, only 15 euro each at Hotel San Etienne, so it won't break the bank!
We've agreed to get a bus from Puente la Reina to Pamplona rather than walk there as this gives us a few extra hours in both towns. We've booked a room at the Hotel Maisonwave in Pamplona (78 euro for the room) and will have a slap up dinner - courtesy of Val who leaves us there to return home, via Barcelona, the next day.
Marion and I leave for Lugo on the 20 June. When I first checked the train times from Pamplona to Lugo, they left at 12h36. Between now and the 13th June they leave at 13h07. We'll have to check the departure times again before we leave Pamplona on 20th June.
Because Marion and I will arrive in Lugo around 10pm, I have booked us in the hotel closest to the railway station, Hotel Muralla. There is only one bus in the afternoon to Ferrol so we'll get an early morning bus to A Coruna and from there a bus to Ferrol. We've decided to start walking to Neda in the afternoon which will leave us with a short walk to Pontedeume the next day.
I have booked us into the Hostal Paza de Agra (where I've stayed twice before) in Santiago, 40 euro for a double room. Marion leaves me the next day and I start walking to Finisterre. Because I plan on leaving after the midday mass, I decided to book into the hotel Tamara in Negreira which has a special rate of 25 euro for pilgrims. The albergue only has 20 beds and its bound to be full by 6pm.
I am planning on taking 4 days to Finisterre and back to Corcubion, arriving there on 30th June.
Training:
We have done walks that we did earlier in the year and have found that we are flying up the hills and are coping with long distances. We are still walking on the beachfront twice a week - two new wanna-be camino pilgrims, Phyllis and Eugenie have joined us - we walk with Highway AC on Saturday mornings and doing a long walk ± 20kms on a Sunday. We'll have a weekend away in the 'Berg on the 15/16th May to do some proper hiking in the mountains. Our backpacks are comfortable and mine has remained constant at just under 5kg.
Paperwork:
We checked through our e-tickets, insurance, hotel booking confirmations etc. I have sent my tickets, passport etc to the Spanish Embassy with the application for a Schengen Visa. We have all got our FOREX in cash and cards.
I have downloaded strip maps for the route from Lourdes to Somport and profile maps from Somport to Puente la Reina and will photocopy relevant pages from the CSJ & Miam Miam Dodo Arles guide. The three of us will share carrying the maps and guide pages. I've also downloaded guide books for the Ingles which Marion and I will share as well as a guide for the Fistera.
Countdown:
We have got 4 weeks, 3 days and counting!!

SNOW, ICE, RAIN AND MUD ON THE ARAGONES

A fellow pilgrim sent me this update on his Aragones walk:


I had one hell of a day yesterday!!!! Arrived in Jaca by bus from Pamplona and settled in for the night in a very nice refugio. I met two Germans who grew up in Spain. They came here two weeks ago to walk, but found that Somport, the starting place higher up in the Pyrenees, was snowed in. So they started at the nearest village about 6 km below. They returned to Jaca and wanted to do that section to complete the Camino Aragon.
That night there was thunder, lightning and pouring rain. They said that probably that meant snow in the upper altitudes, but we all made it to the lower village. There we met a Spaniard and a Frenchman who also wanted to go to Somport. When the bus came to take us up, the driver said that there was much snow and the Germans dropped out. We decided to see for ourselves.
Yes, the driver was correct...in fact a blizzard was still going on. The Frenchman took a bus back, but the Spaniard, with more grey hair than I and mischievious eyes said "Let´s try". He bought me a cup of coffee, and somehow I saw some wisdom in his eyes and decided to trust his judgement.We left and started walking but there were about 6-8 inches (16cm) of new wet snow. We could not even see the path, so walked the road down. There were few cars to dodge, and it was only a bit tense when the snowplows came by. I took a couple of Photos but not more because of the wind and snow. It was really beautiful when you could raise your head to look.
It was a very steep decline so gravity helped us down. It took a bit less than 2 hours with some stops to talk about the sites and try to photograph them.The Spaniard, Jose, had left a bicycle at the hotel at the village Canfranc Estacion and would continue on by bike. Canfranc Estacion, he told me, was used in the filming of Dr Zhivago, and is a grandiose trainstation of the early 1900´s. I continued by myself. The snow had become just cold rain. The path was a still very steep downhill trek made of rocks of various sizes from pebbles to small boulders. This made it very difficult to keep your balance, especially since the rain and runoff from the tops of the mountains turned some stretches into little streams of water. My ankles would be going one way, my knees another, and my hips still a different direction to keep balance.
Along with this being my first day of walking, I was quickly becoming very tired and hurting a bit. I knew I would not be able to make it back to Jaca, and saw that there were accommodations in Villanúa. This meant only 16 km that day, but they were strenuous ones. Just as I got to the town, the temperature dropped, and a strong wind came up. Then it began to hail...pea sized hail. To my dismay, I found the first Refugio closed...and the second...and to my horror the only hostel in town was closed. I stopped in a bar and asked about a place to stay and they told me of some hotels on the main highway. By this time the hail was thickly frozen on my hat causing the brim to droop. I walked on to the highway.
Then I saw a door open and a repairman was there talking to a lady (Isabel). I went up to them and told them of my situation. The lady invited me in, perhaps the frozen look of desparation spured her compassion. She and her husband (Felix)from Logroño were there on holiday. They made me hot tea and he phoned around to find that even the hotels on the highway were closed. He explained that the last day of ski season was Easter and that was probably the reason that everything was closed. It didn´t explain the refugios being closed...but then there were obviously not many "pilgrims" around. After sitting and warming up and getting refreshed. The weather had cleared up a bit, and Felix called the next village, Castillo de Jaca, and secured a room for me. Any room would have done, but this one had a tub...a rare and welcomed feature during my time in Spain. I soaked for a half hour. What a delight!!!!
All emotions that I experience here on the Camino, are more intense than normal. This is especially true when I experience these random acts of kindness like I did from Felix and Isabel. There seem to be a lot of mysteries on the Camino, and one is tuned to interpret them mystically. I chose to think that the hardships of that day set me up to have the peak experience of the kindness shown to me by these two EX-strangers. That is what I will take back with me from this difficult day. That is what will remain in my heart forever.GlennDay 2:The water is high here on the Camino Aragon. The crossing with the stepping stones outside of Castillo de Jaca is flooded. The man at the bar, recommended that I take the road instead. He said that a few days ago a peregrina tried to cross and fell in. She survived but had to be taken to the hospital because of the freezing water.
Later in Jaca I met some people, who, instead of turning back decided to walk the train bridge crossing across the river. I would recommend having a train schedule first if you want to try that.Had to detour once between Jaca and St. Cilia because the river crossing was not possible. A lot of the path seemed like walking through a trout stream. Oh and lots of mud too.I heard rumors that the Guardia Civil had to rescue some pilgrims within the last week off of the SJPP mountain crossing. Unsubstantiated though.Glenn

UMHLANGA RIDGE

This week it was our turn to walk on Marion's side of town. We started at 6am at her apartment in Durban North and walked up to Umhlanga Rocks Drive - then along the ridge in a large, squigily up-and-down loop back to her place.
The Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal is like a crumpled up tapestry with undulating hills and valleys and a few rivers that start in the Drakensberg Mountain range and end in the Indian Ocean. Walking along the ridge we had stunning views of the Indian Ocean on one side and inland urban sprawl on the other.
It was a hazy day and even Durban was cloaked in smog.

SUNSHINE, BLUE SKIES AND TWO GORGES

Sunday 22nd March.
We did a walk through the Two Gorges today. One is the Kloof Falls gorge and the other is the Everton conservancy gorge. What a beautiful day to walk.
We had a full dress rehearsal with boots and spats, shorts, shirts, waist-bags, backpacks etc.
It started off coolish but the sun was shining, blue skies and spectacular scenery. The entire Kloof Gorge system lies within the Kranskloof Nature Reserve and falls under the juristriction of KZN Wildlife. We had a pit-stop at the picnic site and then continued up Kloof Falls road to the View site. Magnificent in the early morning with swallows still swooping above and the waterfall noisy and full after recent rains.
Glynis (who walked the Coast to Coast with us in 2001) and Linda walked with us too, but they didn't have backpacks.
The road up from the gorge is very steep and by the time we reached Waterfall after 2 hours walking we needed a coffee break. We stopped at the Waterfall centre and had a good stop there before carrying on along parallel to Inanda Road, turning left at La Domaine into Acutt Drive and the Everton Gorge.
Val, Marion and I decided to change from boots to sandals (might as well get used to walking in both) and walked the rest of the way back to Kloof in our sandals. I'm not so sure about the sandals anymore. They have a very high instep and after a while my left foot started feeling the pressure. I might have to have a rethink on taking them on this walk.
A good 22.5km trek this morning; backpack feels good; boots were comfortable and no hotspots or chaffing anywhere.
We had a lovely lunch at Sam Brown's in Kloof before going home.

SUNSHINE, SEA SHORE AND SANDALS

What a beautiful day it was today! It was our turn to walk in Durban North so John and I met Marion at her place just before 6am.
I decided to try out my sandals today. Most of the walk was on pavements, grass verges and on the road and this could be similar terrain to parts of the Aragones and Ingles.
We started walking to Umhlanga Rocks at 6am. I think we're getting fitter because we really motored along! Unlike last week's walk, this one is relatively flat so it is quite hard going on the muscles.
The view was a great distraction - the sea was spectacular with huge waves which has brought out all the surfers. The sky was the deepest blue and there was hardly a breeze for the first 2 hours but a little cooling breeze on the way back.
We stopped at the pavement cafe on the Umhlanga waterfront on the way back for a drink ... a-la-camino walking! When we got back to Marion's she gave us another drink and a muffin.
Next weekend I'll be in Johannesburg for their Camino Workshop but the following weekend we are going to walk "The Two Gorges" in Kloof and Everton - back to the hills!