FISTERRE ROUTE - Day 3

I had planned on walking for at least 4 days to Finisterre but with the albergue at Corcubion closed I decided that I would just walk all the way to Finisterre today.

Yesterday had been a long walk - over 32km - and today would also be a long walk if I walked all the way to Carbo Finisterre, the lighthouse at the énd of the world´. - about 36km by the time I walked back down the hill from the lighthouse.

The first pilgrim got up at 5h30 and my cell phone alarm went off at 6am. Conny was getting up so we packed and walked together to one of the bars for a cup of chocolate - she a cafe on leche.

"Are you going to walk to Finisterre or Muxia?" I asked.

"I don´t know" she said. "I´ll see when I get there!"

We walked together until we came across another open cafe bar just before Hospital where the routes to Muxia and Hospital split. Conny decided to stop for a coffee, I decided to walk on, so we said goodbye and promised to email each other. As I passed the cafe bar I saw Pete, the pilgrim from Holland I'd walked with the day before. I walked ahead for quite a while and then he caught up and we walked together for a while. It started to rain so I put on my raincoat.

The route leads you onto a high platteau with wonderful views on both sides. The wind was quite strong and it was the coldest I´d felt since France. I caught up to Pete and we walked together into Cee and Corcubion at about 11am.

"I´m going to stop for a drink" I said.

"Me too" he said. But, it is fiesta in Corcubion and we walked for ages before asking someone if there was a cafe bar open anywhere.

"Only one" said a local, "it is fiesta so everything is closed".

He directed us to the only open cafe bar in Corcubion and we had a hot chocolate and a Madelena before continuing. The path took us up a rocky little trail between high, ancient stone walls. Then we were high above Corcubion and after a km we came across the albergue with all the fiesta paraphanalia set up outside. We walked on in the rain. I stopped to put my raincoat again and and Pete carried on going so I walked alone for a while but caught up to a pilgrim from Switzerland (another Peter) and he and I walked together down to the beach and along a long paved promenade that strecthes for a few kms all the way to Finisterre. When I arrived at the albergue I saw Pete and he told me that it only opened at 4pm so I put my backpack in line on the pavement and joined Pete and some other pilgrims at a bar across the road. We ordered a large plate of chips with ketchup and Mayonaise and sat eating hot chips and drinking Coke for an hour.
The albergue opened at 4pm and it was Ana and Begona who were the hospitaleras. I was shown up to the dormitory, had a shower and washed my undies.

"Hello Sylvia" I heard. It was Bernice, a RSA pilgrim from Johannesburg who walked the camino from St Jean to Santiago and had got the bus to Finisterre today. We made arrangements to see each other later and I left to walk up to the lighthouse with an Australian girl I´d met a few days ago. On the way down I bumped into Bernice again and we are hoping to meet up again tomorrow for breakfast.
I spoke to Begona about tomorrow and she said I must leave my backpack in the room and come back at 4pm. Then, on Wednesday I can go to Corcubion and start at the albergue.
When I cleared my didgi-walker this afternoon, it read 36.5kms. I don´t really feel as though I´ve walked that distance - about 68km in two days. I´m almost tempted to walk to Muxia tomorrow with a smaller backpack, but I´ll wait and see how I feel in the morning - and what the weather does.
Finisterre is a lovely little fishing village and I´m going to stop and watch the gulls fighting over fish on the beach before I go to bed!

FINSITERRA ROUTE - DAY 1

The way out of Santiago to Finisterre

We got up at about 7am and did our final packing.

"I am SO envious of you walking on" said Marion.

"I wish you were walking with me" I told her.

I checked my cell phone and there was a message from Javier Martin suggesting I send an sms reply so that he culd phone me. When he called he said that the albergue in Corcubion was closed due to a 4 day Fiesta happening right outside the the building. He hopes that it will be open on the 30th when I am suposed to start there. He suggested I ask the hospitalera at Oliveiroa to call Bego at Finisterre to ask when it will open. If it doesn´t open until the 1st July, I might just walk up to Muxia and back. Will play it by ear.
We left the hotel at about 8am and Marion walked with me to the cathedral. The route out of Santiago is past the Parador, down the ramp and stairs and then down the little road out of the city. We had a good bye hug, kiss, kiss, wave, wave and off I went. I came to a 4-Way cross. No arrows, no signs. I opened my pouch for the CSJ notes - nothing there. Bugger!! I remembered clearing out the bag and had left the notes in the room. So, back I went into the city and along the little streets to the hotel. Marion wasn´t there so I asked Fernando´s father to open the room for me. As I waited for him on the 2nd floor, up came Marion, so surprised to see me there.! I collected the notes and out we went again. Second attempt - kiss, kiss, hug, hug, wave, wave and on I went.
I turned to take a last photograph of the towers of the cathedral.

It was a lovely walk, very much ike the CtoC in England. Lots of little hamlets, between houses and backyards, a bit of walking on pavements between villages. About 12kms from Santiago there is a hill just like The Hill on the Camino Ingles, a winding, straight up the mountainside, puff, puff and sweat, sweat hill but only about 2km long - a la Polly Shorts on the Comrades route. I flew up it but was tempted to sit at one of the strategicaly placed benches spaced out on the way up.
As I walked along I imagined that Marion was behind me. At first I pictured her in her blue raincoat, head down and hunchback slogging along. "She must be so hot in that raincoat" I thought and hey presto! the picture changed her into her orange top and bandana hat! There were a few places where I wasn´t sure which direction to take. On one stretch I was about to turn back when a rabbit (hare?) hopped along the path in front of me! "That´s Bunny" I thought "I must be on the right path" and just then there was a concrete marker! So, thanks Bunny! (Bunny is what Marion´s grandchildren call her.)
It is strange how your mind plays tricks on you when you walk alone. If you haven´t seen a yellow arrow for a while you start to imagine them in a pile of yellowed leaves on the ground, or willing them in the yellow moss on the sides of stone barns. Sometimes you are convinced that you have seen an arrow ahead only to find that it was a manifestation of your need to see one but not a painted arrow at all. When you finally do see one, you relax and you increase your walking pace. Thank heaven for D Elias Valeno Sampedro who painted the first yellow arrows way back in the early 1970´s with paint begged from the road department!
I stopped after 2 hours at a little concrete picnic table next to a bridge and had half of a soft Portuguese Roll with Happy Cow spreading cheese and half an apple. A pilgrim passed by. "Parles voux Francais?" he asked.

"No," I said, "English, or un poco Espanol".
"Not many pigrims here" he said. I agreed. He told me that he had left Santiago before 8am but had got lost three times!

Then a bit further on two cyclist pilgrims passed me. I saw the French pilgrim again about an hour later walking up the right hand side of the road past the concrete marker on the opposite side pointing to a lane on the left. I called out and pointed. He threw his hands up in the air and turned back. I bought a cold coke at Casa Pancho cafe-bar in Trasmonte and got a sello there.

I also popped into the Casa at Ponte Maceria for a sello, a beautiful place about 4kms from Nergeira next to a river with a waterfall and a long bridge. The woman told me that they have rooms so I took her leaflet and will let the CSJ know.
The rest of the walk was easy and I arrived at the hotel at about 13h45. I was tempted to go on to the albergue but they have a strict policy of only taking 20 people and it was a bit late to walk another 1km out of town so I just booked into the hotel which is very nice with a special discount for pilgrims.
I passed a supermecado, went inside and bought a small box of creamed veg soup, another roll, 2 bananas, a yoghurt and a coke for tomorrow. I´ve already had half of the soup and poured the other half into the small water bottle to carry onto the next place.
I watched a bit of news on the television and caught the weather forecast which is for rain for the next two days. The views from here to Olveiroa are supposed to be beautiful but there might not be much to see if it is raining and misty. Oh well, whatever will be will be.
I´m now off to try to find a telephone box - the one in the hotel chews euros and doesn´t work with any of my cards. Tomorrow I will walk as far as Santa Marina - 19.5km - and hopefuly stay at the albergue run by the Bar Antelo. Might not be an Internet there so will post again when I can. Adios for now.

Friday in Santiago

Marion
Everyday we started off with the sound of an alarm clock to wak us up, and then it was a rush around to get ready to start our day of walking, so as we had a free day we did not need to get up early so we never set the alarm. It felt so strange to wake up without hearing the alarn and no need to rush out of bed to get ready. I found it difficult to lie in bed so got up anyway. Most of the day we spent looking at shops and I bought a few souvenirs to take home. The highlight of the day for me was going to the pilgrim service at the cathedral. The cathedral was packed with mostly pilgrims and quite a lot of tourists. The botefumeira was hanging down so Syl said that they must be going to swing it - that sent a tremble through me as when we were here in Santiago 2 years ago I was so looking forward to seeing the botefumeira being swung and they did not swing it. I found the whole service very emotional especially the nun singing and the atmosphere in the cathedral, it was electrifying.

Sil

We went to bed quite early and watched Bafana-bafana play Brazil on television. Neither of us could stay awake but I got up to switch the TV off at 1.5 mins to go and saw that Brazil had scored. It was raining this morning and we kept ducking into the arcades to escape the drizzle.
We went to the morning market and Marion bought souvenirs and a t-shirt. How Val would have loved this market with its fish section, meat section, fresh fruits and vegetables. She would also have loved the restaurant windows in Santiago with their live lobsters, octopus and other regional food displays. Next time Val!
We went for coffee, chocolate and churros at a little coffee shop nearby. Then we went to the cathedral and found seats in the cross section. It was packed with pilgrims sitting on the floor on the sides. The nun sang, the priests trooped in and the mass began. The Botafumeiro was hanging from the vault but nobody was sure that it would be swung at mass so there was an air of expectation. I looked around me at the man faces there, mostly pilgrims. Some were dozing - many can´t understand the Spanish and the elderly priest mumbled like the Godfather so we couldn´t even make out the names of the countries that pilgrims had arrived from the day before. I thought of the medieval pilgrims and stories of running battles in the cathedral between pilgrims from different nations. On some occaisons the battles were so great that the cathedral had to be scrubbed clean of the bloodshed and re-consecrated before it could be used again. There were a few grumbles from people who blocked other´s views but no blood was shed! I thought about this cathedral being declared a Patrimony of Human kind. It belongs to all the people of the world and the people of Satiago are the custodians. A pilgrim told us that she had walked to Rome and was revolted by the the cold, hard, lavish grandeur of St Peter´s compared to the bustling, éveryman´atmosphere in Sant Iago´s cathedral. I know what she meant. People here arrived in shorts, boots, walking sticks, packs still on their backs and nobody was turned away. At St Peter´s they scruitinze the length of your skirt, whether or not your arms are covered, and woe betide anyone who doesn´t meet the criteria!
When communion started and the 8 priests in scarlet robes were summonsed, there was a stirring in the congregation, most eyes on the Botafumeiro - was this it? Were they going to see the Holy Smoke burner swinging across the nave? No. Not yet, first communion and then the maroon robed tiraboleiros arrived and the large silver thurible was lowered to a stirring of the congregation. Cameras starting clicking and people jostled for a better position to take videos. Soon it started to swing, first away from where we were sitting and then higher and higher above our heads with large gasps, oohs! and Aaaahs! with each swing. Then it was over and people clapped. In 2002 when I walked to Santiago we saw the Botafumeiro swinging in the cathedral. Later, at a meeting with Don Jaime (priest in charge of the pilgrim´s office and the mass) he asked if we had enjoyed the mass. Ýes,´we said, ánd we saw the Botafumeriro.´ He was not pleased. ¨No importante´he said. But I don´t agree. Every pilgrim who visits the cathedral wants to see the Botafumeiro and those that don´t are usually disappointed.

After mass we window shopped and then went to a special lunch at the ´Cafe Casino´- I had a vegetarian canneloni with crispy cheese topping - very tasty. We then walked down to where Marion will get her bus, looking for a shoemaker to cut and restitch my new waist bag that I bought yesterday. The Info centre told us that there was one in San Pedro - the road that pilgrims walk in from the Camino Frances - so off we went to the other side of town. The shop was closed until 4pm so we had an icecream and strolled up and down San Pedro greeting tired pilgrims as they trudged through the Porto Camino on their way to the cathedral. We took a trip on the little tourist train on a scenic tour around Santiago. Neither of us is hungry so we sit in the square, Marion with wine and me with a Kas orange drink, a packet of Dortios, olives and some cheese and watch the people in the square. On the way back to the hostal we meander through all the little alleys and we are offered morsels of Tarta de Santiago and Carprichos - little almond meringues. Marion tastes the regional goat's cheese and decides to buy one to take home. Tomorrow Marion leaves for home and I start off on the Fistera route. I´m not nervous to be walking on my own as I know that many pilgrims walk this route. So, until the next internet machine, this is Sil, over and out from Santiago.

Marion Saturday.

I walked with Syl to the square, it was awful saying goodbye as I would have loved to have walked the extra few days, just a pity that I had booked my flight before we knew that Syl was going to walk to Finisterra instead of catching the bus. After leaving Syl I decided to go and have a coffee in one of the cafe bars before going back to the hotel to pack . When I arrived back at the hotel going up the stairs ahead of me I could see someone bending over with a backpack on with a South African flag. My mind was concertrating on what I was going to do for the rest of the day so at first did not register that it was Syl. It went through my mind "must be another South African in the hotel" all of a sudden the figure straightened up and I realised that it was Syl. I said " what on earth are you doing here", she told me that she had left her directions behind for the day and had come back for them and was busy writing me a note. So back to the square we went and another goodbye was said. Most of the day I wondered around the shops. I did go back to the cathedral to the pilgrim service at 12.00 and was ever so fortunate as again theyswung the botefumeira. I arrived at the airport early and they would not let me book in as the plane that was leaving from Madrid to South Africa had been overbooked by 10 people, they needed to wait to seeif I was going to be given a seat on that flight before they would book me from Santiago to Madrid. I was rather upset as I had confirmed my flight a few times. So I went and sat in the resturant and had something to ear and drink. The lady from the Iberia counter came to look for me and said that it had been confirmed that I would be on the flight so could now book in but the flight was delayed. So when I reached Madrid I had to hot foot it to my connecting flight. Can you imagine my relief when I sat down on the plane. Unfortunately when I arrived in Johannesburg my luggage had gone missing from the plane to the conveyer belt!! Luckily they found it and delivered to that night to my daughters in Joburg where I stayed for a couple of days before coming home to Durban. I am really sad that my journey is now over, will have to start planning another. I often look for my sticks when getting up from a chair and miss the backpack on my back. Cannot wait for a get together with Val & Syl to go over our times together.

Day 5: Sigueiro to Santiago

Marion When we started our walk the very first day it was raining. When Val was doing her last day we had some rain. Well guess what - my last day of walking and it rained most of the way on and off. Really enjoyed the walk this morning as most of the way we were back through forests and farmlands, up and down, twisting and turning so much better that the day before on the long flat path. It felt quite emotional to arrive in the square at Santiago, we felt so proud of ourselves of our achievement. I am looking forward to the service in the cathedral tomorrow at 12.00.

Sil
After the hot bath, alcohol Romero rub and 2 massages with Arnica, my feet felt really good this morning. I put sheeps wool under the toes and a thick Dr Scholl´s blister pad around the spots that stung yesterday. I could feel right away that they would be better today and even though we did 16kms in 4 hours I didn´t have any problems.
We arrived in Santiago this morning after a fairly quick walk from Sigueiro, most of it in the rain. The path was mainly through forest and farmlands and straightforward and besides the odd encounter with a highway, we both enjoyed it. After passing an industrial centre we stopped at a cafeteria for coffee and found that we were the only women in the place. Seems to be a morning meeting place for the local workers.
The camino Ingles comes in to Santiago from a different direction to the Camino Frances but we still had to go under the arch with the cathedral on the left. There were no arrows after we walked through a park on the outskirts so we had to follow John Walker´s CSJ guide into the city. There were no changes to the route although John thought there might have been a change. The square was crowded with people (mid-day) and we gawked at the cathedral, hugged each other and asked someone to take our photograph. It is quite strange to see so many pilgrims and know that there isn´t one you have met along the way. We did not see one other pilgrim on the Camino Ingles, not even a cycling pilgrim. Marion commented that it didn't really feel like a pilgrimage because of the lack of other pilgrims to interact with.
When we got to the Hostal Pazo de Agra Fernando gave us a cheery welcome and took us straight upstairs to our room - pay tomorrow he said. We walked back out of the old city to Ivar´s Camino Travel Centre to collect my parcel. Whilst there I recognized a voice and there was Joy Anderson from the south coast (the lady who let me know the day before she was leaving that her pack weighed over 10kg). She started crying and screaming when she saw me and hugged me and kissed me like I was her long lost sister! Ivar and Marion and one of Ivar´s friends, Frank, looked on in amazement.

Then another woman walked in and I said, ´Hello Sue¨. It was Sue Kenny, a Canadian pilgrim who has written a book on the camino and a video called Las Peregrinas. Sue looked a bit baffled and then Ivar said, ´This is Sillydoll from South Africa!´ Then there were more hugs and more exclamations of surprise and amazement. She and I hugged and kissed and we all had photos taken together.
We queued at the Pilgrim´s Office for Marion to get her Compostela (I asked for the tourist certificate) and I had a chat to Maria who I met in 2002, 2004 and in 2007.

M and I have just been to lunch and to the Info centre next to Hostal Suso. I collected some papers on the Fistera route and then we went to lunch. I sorted the stuff in my parcel and posted most of it to the Correos in Corcubion so that I don´t have to carry extra stuff while I walk to Finisterre. I think I´m going to leave a little earlier than originally planned so that I don´t get to the first place too late.
We haven´t decided what to do tomorrow besides go to mid-day mass. Will wait and see.
It is great to be back here (the 4th time I´ve walked into the square) and it was quite an emotional moment.

Day 8: Jaca to Santa Cilia

Marion
Another beautiful day, clear sky, no sign of rain at all. We started off by taking a taxi to the Monastary of San Juan de La Pena, it was such a worthwhile stop. Its amazing to see how the Monastery was built into the rock mountain. The workmanship was incredibile, and it all was so interesting. After spending approximately one hour walking through the monastary we then started walking the 7.5k´s back down to the road. At first did not understand as we started climbingfor 1k, and then the descent began, a very steep path of earth, stones and rocks. One had to be very carefull and go down quite slowly. I so enjoyed it but must admit I would not like to do it in very wet wether. At times we came across wild lavendar growing alongside of us, lots of pretty wild flowers and very colourful butterflies. At the bottom we found a cafe bar and had something to drink at Santa Cruz which was very welcome and then continued on our way up and down a another path of rocks and boulders. It was very hot and no shade. I am sure we were walking in the path that the water would come tumbling down. One could actually see where the little waterfalls would be in the wet weather or when the snow melted. I love walking off the road as in the silence I am able to listen to the sounds of nature and lose myself within myself. Have to say at the end of walking today I was quite tired but contented.

Val Minister of Nutrition
We are chucked out at 0900am so we decide to get up early and finish off on the blog. We are now up to date with our blog...still a shame that we post almost a week in one go as we know friends and family like to get an update every few days....we are getting a taxi to the Monastery this morning so Syl goes off to scout for the taxi rank and atm whilst Marion and I get our fix of ´cafe´in a bar....I also have a roll with ham and proscuitto which is served warm...delicious. The taxi rank is full of cars which are not taxis...and we along with another woman accost every one who parks and gets out of the car..."taxi" NO comes the reply...the Spanish woman actually opens their doors and is almost in when the owner of the car has to manhandle her and say No not taxi!!
We got to a hotel and the kind lady calls us a taxi and we then wait at the taxi rank....we bundle in with all of our stuff and are soon speeding up a very narrow winding road to the Monastery. It is well worth the visit and the late start we have today. It doesn´t open until 1000am and we spend at least an hour. We immediately set off on the path to our next stop. I resist singing "I´m off to Sunny Spain¨and pretend that I have never been to Benidorm! But I feel like singing because it is so beautiful. For the past 5 days we have seen a lone bird of prey - it is as if he is following us...perhaps guiding us. Our next stop should have been Arres but we will not make it as we are so late and cannot book and as such ensure our accommodation. We walk into Santa Cilia and there are two young boys playing football. .. Syl says Albergue? and they immediately walk for us to follow. We go down a side road where the entire road is running between the buildings is dug up...another village undergoing reconstruction. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing! We have walked through villages where there is a row of say 4 houses, of which only one is habitable, the ones surrounding it are ruins. They have no shops, absolutely nothing but almost always a water fountain and incredibly - recyling bins..probably more for us pilgrims than the residents. Our accommodation tonight is superb in many ways, it is bright and cheerful, the 3 storey ¨townhouse¨has colour washed walls and paintings (murals) a map and modern Male and Female Pilgrims to denote the abultions, although most often these are communal. The place is spotless and quite a few of our fellow pilgrims have all gathered here tonight and a great atmosphere exists. There is a washing machine! Marions says, "and what is this?" " a dishwasher?" I say, but it is a tumble dryer....we have not been able to wash our fleece´s as they are difficult to dry and if the weather turns we only have one, and need them in the mornings and sometimes to sleep in. They are competing with the smelly cheese now! Downstairs is a fully fitted kitchen, huge communal table and lovely open plan lounge. The next floor is a male and female dorm and lovely showers and toilets...there is liquid soap AND paper towels AND TOILET PAPER! Some places do not supply toilet paper because we pinch it. The first time I discovered this, was a bit of a shock...where the toilet rolls should have been, was a piece of cardboard with a message...I did´nt need my phrase book to know that it said something like "we no longer provide toilet paper because you nasty little Pilgrims pinch it".....In the next door cubicle is a groan and expletive - it doesn´t matter what the language, it is obvious he also forgot to check before sitting down.
On the 3rd floor is a huge room - almost like a classroom with free Internet and we manage to post a few photographs onto our blog. The use of the internet, washing machine, including powder and the tumble dryer in addition to all the other facilities is just 10 euro. The only problem now is where can we get food. Marion and I go looking around the village, and it is full of allotments with such wonderful produce including fruit trees and fruit bushes. As we pass down a narrow path we can just see over a wall with vegetables at our height - oh it is so tempting to pinch and onion and lettuce but we resist. We report back that the place is deserted. Eventually we learn that we have to walk around the corner and press the door bell and wait about 15 minutes and they will open - there is apparently a bar and food shop. A few of us go to the door and sure enough about 10 minutes later a lady appears and we set into the bar..a tiny dingy room and we are told to wait here until she is ready for us to come into the shop. The tiny bar has a shelf on the wall with grimey bottles, most without labels and I don´t ask for wine fearful that I might be given the contents of one of these bottles and so we wait for over 15 minutes for Senora to invite us into her shop behind the bar. "only two at a time!" But she allows us three in together. It is a lovely Alladins Cave- we snatch up fresh lettuce, toms, onions, peppers and garlic. A carton of milk for tomorrow with sachets of hot chocolate, apples, oranges and bananas. She doesn´t have any bread but we still have some in my backpack also some cheese. Then she says "Jamon, Chorizo?.. Chorizo I say...a huge one is taken from the fridge and she gives us a generous piece. I will lightly fry this to release the juices and add to our salad. There is a row of wine bottles, covered in dust and cobwebs...¨vino¨I say...si tinto?...si Senora..she opens another little fridge and hands me a perfectly chilled red wine. We all go back to our kitchen and start cooking...Marion and I produce our corkscrew and wine goblets and the German man, says in English ¨you do not need a man¨...then he calls everyone into the kitchen to see our goblets...they are drinking out of plastic bathroom cups. Our bread was so hard now I couldn´t cut it too well, the yellow hard cheese was desperately trying to evolve into a Stilton but tasted fine and we finished off with a piece of Lindt chocolate which had travelled for 2 days in my backpack.


Sil
We have three options today.

(1) This was the plan from home. Get a taxi to San Juan and ask him to wait for one hour then take us down to St Cilia - which means an 8km walk to Arres, our next intended stopover.

(2) Get the taxi to San Juan and walk the 7.5km back to St Cilia and 8km to Arres. That'll make it 15km walking day.

(3) Get a bus at 8h10 to St Cilia and walk up to San Juan de la Pena and back again. This will make it a very long walk so we discard this idea.

Plan 1 means we walk 8kms today - or plan 2 and we walk about 15kms?
"I don´t mind to walk" says Val. "I don´t mind walking" says Marion. So, I ask the driver to take us to San Juan and we will walk back. It costs us 25€ - 35€ if he had waited. We pay 3€ (pilgrim price) to see the monastery and leave our packs behind the ticket booth. After visiting this stunning place we collect our sticks and packs. "It is not a dificult path" says the young lady in the ticket booth. "Only 7.5km". It IS a difficult path! It is rocky, narrow, VERY, Very steep and although we spent the first km going up, the rest is all down, down, down - impossible ledge paths with no hope of recovery if you wobble or stumble. At one stage it looked as though the path had disappeared into an abyss but there it was when we peered over the edge, snaking its way sideways down only to disappear again into another gully.
I was exhausted by the time we got to the bottom and even after stopping at Santa Cruz for a cold drink, I started to feel light headed and wobbly as we walked to Santa Cilia.
"I think I need to lie down" I told M and Val at one stage. We found a tiny patch of shade and I lay down with my legs up on a tree and my head on my backpack. I had goosebumps even though it was 35oC in the shade. I think I had a touch of sunstroke. When we got to Santa Cilia I headed straight for the albergue. After a shower, something to eat and a drink I felt as though I could have gone on another 5km or 8km but by then our washing was in the machine and we were very comfortable in the albergue.
A pilgrim gets very excited when she sees my shorts. She is an ex-pat South African living in Belgium. We talk about Cape Town, Johannesburg, the 1908o's and the new South Africa. She and her husband are cycling from their home to Santiago. It's a really Groot Trek!
Val´s heels are sore and her achilles are tight so I give her another foot massage. This turned out to be one of the best albergues we´ve stayed in with a very kind hospitalera, small rooms, free internet, free washing machine and tumble drier and a wonderful atmosphere. I have a bed near the window and can hear sheep baaing in the fields. I also hear thunder during the night and worry about what the paths will be like if it rains. But, I´m too tired to care tonight and drift off to sleep. It´s been a long, hard day.