One Step at a Time

After spending most of the past several weeks walking 10+ miles per day, we decided to vary the transportation mix a bit.  We took a cab from Muxia back to Santiago, a bus to Porto, then hopped on a train to Regua in the Douro valley. While we were walking, we never paid much attention to the road signs meant for the motorists. Why would we? So when we were careening back to Santiago, I kept seeing "yield to cow" signs. We are talking a major road, speed limit at 100 in spots. Now I understand the "deer crossing" signs (although we haven't seen a single deer the entire time), but yield for cows? Who knew it was really a thing. 

For dinner in Fisterra Stephen decided to try a Galician delicacy. It took an internet search to learn how to eat the critters that have given him so much so much trouble on the underside of his boat…barnacles.  They taste a lot better than they look.  From an information placard in Muxia: Gooseneck barnacles can be harvested in two ways: on foot (the rocks are accessed from the coast) and at sea (in this case access is by boat). In either case, harvesters must have all the required licences and documentation. A maximum of 5 kg of gooseneck barnacles may be harvested each day, except in December, when the limit rises to 7 kg. Harvesters use a rasqueta or spring leaf scraper to remove the gooseneck barnacles from the rocks. They wear a wetsuit, gloves, helmet and shoes, and carry a bag to place the gooseneck barnacles in. Women also carry out extraction and selection work in the Muxía fishermen's guild.

  Sunrise leaving Fisterra On the trail near Muxia Kilometer 0.0, Muxia Descending into Muxia, by the beach The lighthouse at Muxia Muxia, from the high point on the bluff The "boot" at the end of the world. Finnestra before dawn  Kilometer 0.0 at Finnestra, the other end of the World Lighthouse at Finnestra, from our hotel room skylight  A Long road ahead We saw lots of European Columbine on the trail. These flowers are quite camera shy All the horses and cows we saw in the fields were on leashes, staked to the ground

People have been walking to Santiago, in western Spain, from all over Europe since at least the 12th century.  Their reasons vary, from religious, to political, to personal, but still, they come.  On route we took, the "Portuguese Way", we were preceded by  Thomas Becket , who stayed in Caldas De Rais one night in about 1167 during his pilgrimage to Santiago, and got the local church named after him. For most, at Santiago, their journey is done. They go back home, start a new life, pray, or say good bye to friends made a long the way. A small number, however, keep going the 55 miles to Finnestra, a little spit of land jutting out into the Atlantic ocean: the end of the world (Columbus wouldn't discover the Americas for another century). So off to Finnestra Mary and I went. We walked down to a secluded beach, where Mary said her goodbye to our Camino. Near the end, we ditched the official trail, and walked for over a mile along the beach. Here we are! The end of the World....

Shortly after leaving Santiago, the character of our walk started to change.  There were far fewer pilgrims walking, and the cobblestones and asphalt gave way to dirt paths.  The villages and farm fields that started just at the outskirts of Santiago gave way to forests of pine or eucalyptus.  However, unlike the forests back home, here the trees seem to arrange themselves in neat rows.  The demeanor of the pilgrims that past us (we walk pretty slow) was different.  Whereas on the way to Santiago, the goal was to get there and get the official certificate of completion, in this section, past Santiago, only those whose goal was the journey were walking with us. Everyone seemed happy to just be: getting there didn't seem so important anymore. Two days and 37 miles past Santiago, we spent the night in O Logoso, a tiny farming village whose road in just happened to touch the dirt path that is the Camino at that point.  We stayed at the pension (a pension is lik...

As we've walked through the rural areas of Portugal and Spain, everyone seems to have a dog. I've observed their behavior as we've passed by, and they exhibit one of 4 types. This guy's job is to count every pilgrim that's past by his spot on the path.  We were the first ones to pass by in a long time, so he was taking a rest. This guy couldn't care less Can I go for a walk too. Please Please Please My least favorite: menacing and aggressive, I often wish they were behind taller walls. When we left Santiago, it was early on a foggy damp drizzly day.  After several hours of walking, we were back in a rural agricultural area, on a lovely dirt path bordered by short  rock walls, when I heard a low pitched regular Woof Woof Woof, coming from somewhere in the fog.  After rounding the next corner it was gone.  Around the next bend it was back, still low pitched, but louder.  Woof woof woof. I quickened my pace a bit, but the sound persisted.  Just then, the ...

Feet By the time we reached Santiago, after 12 days and 170 miles of walking, both of us have struggled with sore feet. I'm not sure why. In 2017 we walked over 500 miles in France: it was hillier and we went farther each walking day, yet our feet were fine. The weather's been similar (e. g. we've had lots), and our foot care routine has, overall, been pretty good.  Perhaps our feet are just 6 years older, or maybe it's because of the differences in walking surface. France: dirt, Spain/Portugal: cobblestone. France                          Spain Cigarette smoke The locals smoke everywhere in Spain and Portugal, especially in restaurants, typically at the table next to where we are sitting. It's been tough to get away from.  We've endeavored to sit outside where practical, but it only helps a little. Car Exhaust It's easy, living in California, to forget how much pollution our cars used to spew out of their tailpi...

As we've walked through the neighborhoods in Galicia, I've noticed many houses have two little trap doors by their entrance.  Here is a typical example: The purpose for the door on the left is obvious: it's for the morning bread delivery.  Fresh bread is a requirement for any Galician breakfast, so the bread truck comes by every morning - when you wake up in the morning, the fresh loaf is waiting and ready. I had a trickier time with the other opening:  obviously one doesn't have a morning trumpet delivery, especially since it won't fit into the slot. Then I saw it: a truck with the same logo. A mail delivery truck.  It seems you can get mail delivered through a slot in the door too, just like the bread.  Fortunately, even if you don't have a bread slot, you can still get your morning bread delivery.

 The weather forecast for our day's walk into Santiago was bleak. In what turned out to be a 16.6 mile day, the prediction was for lots of rain, starting around 8am, with almost 1/2" predicted between 9 and 10 alone; more than an inch total for the day.  No way we could avoid getting slammed: if we waited 'til the rain subsided about 11, we could be walking well into the night. It was a restless night. Although we normally don't mind walking in the rain, today was going to be a doozy. I found myself awake at 5:30am, checking the forecast for the seventh time. Either I woke Mary up, or she too was checking the forecast. Anyway, she asked me if anything was wrong.  After a brief discussion, we packed up and left.  At least we'd get an hour or two of drizzle before the storm hit, and by then we'd be well on our way. As it turned out, by the time Petron the town we were leaving got hit by the storm, we were long gone. By the time we got to Santiago, the bulk of the...

 Mary has done a great job finding us a variety of places to stay at the end of each days walk. So far we've stayed in at least one each of: an airbnb, an apartment, a b&b (the old fashion kind), a hotel and a pension. We've avoided the more common alberges who typically house many guests in a large room full of bunk beds. Six months ago when the bookings were made we decided it would be safer to be in our own  room each night.  Yesterday, we got to Caldas de Rais about 2:30 in an insistent rain.  We got to the location in our spreadsheet, and saw the small sign by the door indicating we were in the right spot.  After a long day of wet feet, it would be good to get out of our boots.  The door was locked: no one was around.  At this point, it what clear what we needed to do: there were a set of combination key lock boxes on the wall, one for each room.  We had the pin code in our spreadsheet, we just needed the room number to know which box to ...

 Walking past fields and farms, we've been blessed with some amazing wildflower displays, often covering entire fields. There are three different kinds of yellow: Daisies Lupin  Iris Here is a closeup of an Iris, like the field full of them, above.  Of the three varieties I like the iris best. 

 We have learned that when walking double-digit miles over double-digit days, feet care is important. We take our feet out of our boots, weather permitting, for a few minutes every couple of hours. As soon as our feet feel "funny", we stop and investigate. Sadly, 3 days ago I ignored my own advice; we were having an engaging chat with other pilgrims on a lovely path when my toe started complaining. Instead of stopping to deal with it, I waited for the next scheduled rest stop in a couple of miles. I've been struggling with the resulting blister since then.  We arrived in Caldas de Reis today about 2:30 in a light rain. The city has been  known for its hot springs for over a thousand years.  Fortunately for my feet, the public hot spring pool built many centuries ago is covered and out of the rain.  My feet are much happier now. 

As soon as we walked to within 100km of Santiago, the foot traffic on the Camino has increased significantly.  I've been told that to get an official certificate of Camino completion from the Catholic church, you need to prove you've walked at least 100km to get there.  I guess some pilgrims take the minimal approach.  By contrast, Mary and I have done about 650 miles of Caminoing so far without yet getting to Santiago, so perhaps it's the journey that matters more. Anyway, with the number of pilgrims walking increasing every year, Spain is making serious upgrades to some of the walking paths. in this section, for example, the path is being widened to accommodate significantly more pilgrims comfortably.

 Mary has done a great job organizing our Camino, including booking all of our accommodations.  Everything is in the master spreadsheet, including the precise geo-coordinates of every place we spend the night.  So far, our unspoken agreement has been that I would get us as far as the front door, and Mary would get us the rest of the way (Mary might have a different notion of what our agreement is). Up until yesterday, the plan has worked like a charm: I have every day's destination on the map, which has led us to within 10' of the front door, where our bag of "extra stuff" is waiting for us patiently. With our sore feet approaching Porrino, we were almost there, so I wasn't too concerned when the map started taking us slightly out of town.   Here we are! A Toyota forklift repair shop? Oh my.  (Mary’s viewpoint) Our apartment was actually just next door, its entrance tucked away out of sight around the corner. We were on the sixth floor. Nice to have a livin...

Today we got an early start and headed out of Portugal into Spain.  Immediately after crossing the bridge over the Minho river, we lost an hour (timezone change)  heading into Tui for our morning coffee and provisions. We veered slightly off "the path" to stop at the public WC, only to find it locked shut.   After a quick visit to the Cathedral, it was off for coffee and breakfast; by now it was after 9 and we were getting hungry.  The first 3 coffee shops we past were, like the restrooms, closed. No idea why.  We finally found an open coffee shop 7 miles into our day's walk. It was really good (both the coffee and the facilities). The 13th century church in Tui Is the first church we visited since leaving Porto to have a pipe organ It looked very old, with elaborate decorations in the baroque style,  By contrast, the small pipe organ in the Porto Cathedral was located in a snall side room, and appeared to have been disconnected since at least the last...

In Portela, after leaving Barcelos we came across this hillside along the path lined with Cala Lilies as far as we could see. It was magical  

 It's hard to get lost when walking on the Camino: there is a yellow direction arrow about every 30 seconds along the path. Mary takes the directional arrows quite seriously, so when this one told us to sit, we sat!