The Dutch girls were the first we met on track Cemented friends once we had smashed our wine, Another Dutch, she rarely saw our back We wished, with her, that we had spent more time. The Belgian couple, young and full of life Dismayed her troubled foot caused endless pain, And then there was the bargeman and his wife These Dutch had paused to chat between the rain. Another pearl, she was our final host [...]

Not a good start to our last day ... but they say the camino is about learning, about our reactions, how we could have behaved differently. In the pilgrim places where the cost is very low, the attention given to the walker is very high. At the high end of the market the cost is very high but regard to the walker, in our experience, has been very low. Last night we had little choice [...]

The penultimate day of our walk and it had a different feel about it. We have been so used to a regular routine that requires little thinking or planning, that to then have to use our thought processes seems alien. In a strange way we are leaving ‘the corners’ and are starting to think about the road stretching out ahead. So back on track - this time a very windy one, the first of our [...]

Looking down on two deep river valleys, we could just hear the waters echoing their different sounds as they made their never pausing way through this, our first major rainforest. A very long gentle slope took us to Cortinas’ hilltop followed by a large drop into the Valga Valley, where we met up with the echoing waters. Similar topography took us through more beautiful and moss gathering trees. A glimpse of our Polish friends was [...]

Started early today but being Monday, the cafe bars open late but fortunately we found an old original one on the outskirts. As Corrie was ordering breakfast happily in Spanish now, I looked out to see a huge hedge surrounding an area the size of a small plaza. It called me to it so I went and found a Parador. For those who don’t know, a Parador is usually a former palace or monastery converted [...]

Dinner with our Dutch friends was fun as we told stories, shared ‘life parts’, and amused ourselves with the local live entertainment. The first part was an older family member who seemed to have a homemade obstacle course leading through our tables to ‘her’ chair. Each time a dinner guest moved an obstacle she would put it back and push her wheelie through it. Sometimes the guest was also as persistent. The performance of the [...]

Darker when we leave now because of the time change in Spain. I like this because for me it is such a special time of day. That feeling of aloneness, the explorer, seeing things before others, and personally when I’m feeling ‘off’, it works better for me when I’m in my own company and/or Corrie’s. Then there’s the rare possibility of seeing the sun roll round in this very cloudy part of the world. We [...]

We dressed for rain because, after all, it is Portugal, well this morning it is but after about 10 it will be Spain but it will be 11 because of the time difference which means we’ll arrive late, but no, there will be an extra hour of daylight...I think. Phew! but we still might need our rain gear in Spain, because it is, after all Galicia, and it always rains.  It was only ‘dodging puddles [...]

We awoke to a misty window with small piles of ice made up of tiny rice-sized balls, which we were later to feel as light hail. Breakfast with a busload of German tourists and 4 pilgrims, 2 Dutch women and a young Belgian couple (she had the blister), started our day. Fully rain geared up except for my New Balance shoes that never seem to get wet anyway, we headed out on our familiar cobbled [...]

Today is the first time the rain isn’t having a break so we won’t be having one either, so it’s off over a very long medieval bridge, pristine because it seems the weather has everyone remaining cosy inside. It’s a day where you become creative with your path-taking choices, edging round puddles, making a new track or just dancing on protruding rocks. Lots of younger people today mostly from Germany, Holland and Belgium, with a [...]