Jimandi

1. Distance Today                          8.5 mi
2. Distance Camino 2017            494.2mi

Our final day on Camino 2017! Today started out much like the last few. Foggy, lots of pilgrims, walking on roads… initially few or no cars, then as we got closer to Santiago, we essentially walked in city traffic for the final 3 miles.

 

 

 

 

We stopped at our hotel, Casa de Peregrino (80€) and checked in, left our bags in the room then walked by the Catedral, without stopping on our way to the pilgrim’s office to get our Compestelas. When we finally arrived at the no-so-well marked-location, the waiting time in line was 1:30-2:00 hours. We decided to come back later.

Plan B, we walked on to the train station to buy tickets to Madrid. Our preference was to take the Oct 8 afternoon train, but it was completely booked, leaving only an Oct 8, 6am train or a 3:12pm train on 7 October, so we opted for two tickets on the Oct 7 afternoon train (142€ for non-stop, first class including a 25% senior discount).

After already walking 8.5 miles to Santiago then at least another mile to the pilgrim’s office and train station, our feet demanded we take a taxi (5.80€) back to our hotel, which we did.

It was 1:30, but before we ate, Jim walked another few blocks to Ivar Renke’s office(Camino Forum) and retrieved the extra clothing we mailed to him from Leon on Sept 8, to hold for us. Our box of extras was waiting for Jim and he thanked Ivar and greatfully gave him 20€ for this priceless service for pilgrims.

Jim returned to the hotel and we walked across the street for a 2:00 lunch. We had fun conversations with several pilgrims, a couple from Raleigh, NC, Alex from Liverpool, England and two other gentlemen, one from Poland and the other from Germany.

The rest of the afternoon we spent getting showers, booking a hotel in Madrid for our return trip, matching our now firm train reservations and doing triage on the box of extra stuff for the return trip home.

We decided to try again to get our Compostela, so we returned to the pilgrim office and got in the still long, but not as long line at 5:30. There were 17 stations, each issuing Compostelas an the wait in line is 1-2 hours nonstop from 8 am to 7 pm. every day.

Alas, at precisely 7:13 p.m. we received our Compostelas and Certificados de Distancia thus bringing to a close, Camino 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Distance Today                        5.6 mi
• Distance Camino 2017         485.7 mi

Our walk this morning was very similar to yesterday, mostly walking through thick eucalyptus forests, in some cases very dark eerie, spooky forests.

The size of some of these trees was impressive not only the diameter which was nearly 3 feet but the height was well over 100 feet for many of them.

About 3 miles into our walk we stopped in Amenal for breakfast and chatted with Sonia, who was walking by herself, having started in Samos. She was from New Jersey and was limited by her 2-week vacation, but was hoping to get to Santiago later today or tomorrow.

We returned to the forest right outside the restaurant door and walked mostly uphill until the path leveled as we began walking around the Santiago airport. The heavy forest and underbrush between us and the airport prevented our seeing or hearing any signs of aircraft.

We then walked for a short distance along a main road that, according to the signs, was heading toward Santiago.

We then crossed the highway and began walking again through trees until reaching the hamlet of San Payo.

We stopped for OJ in San Payo (pop.25) which is named for a Christian child who was martyred for refusing to convert to Islam.

We shared a table with a delightful father and daughter, Roland and Christine, from near Hamburg, Germany.

This was his 8th Camino, including the Portuguese Camino, the Camino de North and Camino Frances among others. Sadly, Roland’s wife passed away in January of this year and they were walking this Camino from Sarria for her.

We continued through trees again uphill and then gently down a bit into Lavacolla (pop.171), a hamlet on the outskirts of Santiago.

Lavacolla  (from the Latin Lavamentula) literally means “wash private parts.” Medieval pilgrims seldom if ever bathed along the journey and apparently ridiculed Muslim and Jewish enthusiasms for personal hygiene.  But they apparently took advantage of the small stream in Lavacolla to cleanse themselves for arrival in Santiago. A 17th century manuscript recorded: “There is a river in a wooded place two miles from Santiago called Lavacolla, in which French pilgrims, out of respect for the Apostle, wash not only their private parts but, stripping off their clothes, clean all the dirt from their bodies.”

We arrived at Hotel Gracas (50€), on the main road, 100 meters off the Camino path through Lavacolla, and waited for about 45 minutes, relaxing in the lobby, until our room was ready. We then checked in and performed our routine chores before having some lunch.

We rested after lunch in between machine washing and drying our clothes.

We also discussed how we had avoided and prevented any injuries or major discomforts, which was a concern we had when we began our 500 mile journey over two months ago.  We believe this didn’t happen by accident. We put to practice things we have learned about the Camino, especially taking care of our feet.  We did physical therapy several months prior to leaving home to address potential issues. We learned some PT techniques, also before leaving home (exercises and stretches) and applied them as needed throughout the 68 continuous days of walking with a pack. As a result, we are both feeling physically stronger now than we did when we started.

• Distance Today                      5.6 mi
• Distance Camino 2017       480.1 mi

We took a shortcut from Pousada de Salceda after having breakfast at the Albergue. This is the same shortcut that the Pousada owner shared with us in 2015 along with instructions to locate the clinic in Arca to treat Lind’s spider bites. The “shortcut” allowed us to angle back into the Camino (the hypotenuse of the triangle) rather than having to reverse the 400 meter deviation we took yesterday to get to the albergue. About halfway along the shortcut, a car approached us coming toward the Albergue and slowed to a stop. To our pleasant surprise, it was the owner of Pousada who shook Jim’s hand through the window, gave us both a warm smile and wished us both a “Buen Camino” and then we parted company once again and continued on our respective ways.

The path to Arca was relatively easy with gently, rolling hills and lighter pilgrim traffic. We walked along and crossed the highway for short distances when we weren’t walking through, into and out of thick eucalyptus forests.

There were many small hamlets along the way, but not much of interest to see other than a variety of horreos, as has been the case the past few days.

We reached Arca (pop. 5050) and Pension Platas (55€) at 11:30, an hour before it opened, so we walked a few steps to a restaurant and had an early pizza lunch.

Returning to our hotel at precisely 12:30, we checked in and both took naps until mid afternoon.

Our dinner at a nearby restaurant was nice. Jim tried Codillo, a pork butt shank and we shared a side order of roasted baby pablano peppers. Our red regional wine was served in bowls and Linda had chocolate & churros for dessert.

Thoroughly stuffed, we headed back to our room and called it a day. Only 12 miles to Santiago and we’ll split the distance and be there in two days.

• Distance Today                         6.8 mi
• Distance Camino 2017           474.5 mi

Today started with a conversation between Jim and his toe. Toe: “Jim, we need to talk. The end of the walk yesterday was not good. You really need to go with the sandals today”. Jim: “I’d like to but the feet were hurting when I switched to boots and they were much happier”. Feet: “Hey Jim, if you would focus more on balanced weight distribution on your heels vs front part of the foot, take it easier on the downhills and maybe walk a little slower overall and wear an extra pair of socks, we can handle the load better and won’t need to send out those pain signals.” Jim: “Hey, that works for me, we’ve got a deal!”

Like yesterday the fog took until late morning to burn off.

But it wasn’t that noticeable as we spent most of the time walking in the woods… coming out periodically to cross a road or pass through a small hamlet or a small farm.

We had breakfast in Arzuá before beginning our walk out of town and then made a stop for OJ in the hamlet of A Calzada at the halfway point.

We got to Salceda and our Albergue Tourista, Pousada de Salceda (47€) at noon and had a drink while waiting for our room to be ready.

We stayed here in 2015 and the owner was very helpful in guiding us to a nearby clinic to get some treatment for Linda’s spider bites. We were welcomed by the owner and his wife who actually remembered us!

We had all our clothes machine washed and dried, giving us the afternoon off for reading (Linda) and nap (Jim).

After great service and hospitality and a tasty lunch and dinner, we retired for the evening. (And Jim’s feet and toe are all doing well)

• Distance Today                         8.9 mi
• Distance Camino 2017          467.7 mi

Melide was foggy this morning and rain looked eminent so Jim put on his pack cover and Linda removed her raincoat from her pack before leaving it at the hotel for transport today to Arzuá.

Like several other days on Camino 2017, the rain never materialized but the fog and heavy clouds persisted for the entire morning.

Today’s walk was uneventful. We spent the time either walking up or down hills through farms and eucalyptus forests with scattered level stretches.

Jim went with sandals again today to help his toe, but after the 9 mile walk yesterday, the bottom of his feet, missing the extra cushion provided by boots, began to rebel by sending feedback in the form of hotspots, a random pain here and there or general tenderness. The number one rule of the Camino is take care of you feet and after 64 successful days without major feet issues, Jim changed back into his boots at our breakfast stop in Boente (pop. 137).

For the remaining 5.5 miles he babied the toe with some difficulty during the hilly walking, especially the downhills, but made it to Arzuá, with tired but still willing feet, anxious to continue for the remaining days to Santiago.

We made an OJ stop in Castañeda (pop. 157) and chatted with a 76 year old Norwegian guy who had walked from Sevilla and joined the Camino Frances in Astorga. He then met up with his girlfriend in Sarria and they were walking together to Santiago. He has a second home in southern Spain, where he lives except for the summers when he returns to Norway when it’s not so cold. (Sound like a European equivalent of a “snowbird”?)

Arzuá (pop. 6328) is in the heart of Galician dairy country and is well known for its rich, creamy cheese. We’ve tasted it before and like not only the creamy texture but the rich, cheddar taste. Needless to say we procured a supply for lunch and afternoon snacks today and we’re not disappointed.

Arzuá was previously known as Villanova, and evidence exists of both pre-Roman and Roman settlement nearby. When the area was reconquered, Arzúa was repopulated with Basque people. Two pilgrim hospices were located here. This was the traditional stopping point before Santiago for medieval pilgrims.

We have a double room with ensuite bathroom in Pension Arzuá Peregrino (45€). It’s clean and had some extras like soap, toothbrushes (our original ones are shot), razor and a hairdryer. But, it is on the 4th floor without an elevator. After the very hilly 9 mile walk today and the climb to our room at checkin, being the “planners” that we are, we decided on a lunch/dinner combo at 4:00, so we only needed to make the climb and descent once.

Distance Today                       9.0 mi

• Distance Camino 2017       458.8 mi

Pilgrims, pilgrims everywhere! The Camino was like a freeway today, populated mostly by tourists and daypackers, but we didn’t see them. We focused on our journey, greeted everyone as if they, like we, had walked over 450 miles to get here, and enjoyed the small villages, the forests, the canopied pathways and the narrow roads winding their way through the picturesque farms in between.

Jim had a nice chat with a Norwegian couple when we stopped for OJ at Mato-Casanova (pop.8) and they continued a conversation about Jim’s thoughts about the Camino for a while when they caught up to us later as we walked past O Coto (and passing from the region of Lugo to A Coruña). He was a writer and asked if he could include his conversation with Jim in a future article to which Jim agreed. Jim also gave him information on our blog.

We stopped in Furelos (pop. 135)

for lunch to avoid the masses and then walked into Melide to our hotel, Pension Orois (36€).

Jim has been nursing a blister on the tip of his toe and his boots are not cooperating. So yesterday he tried walking in his sandals (Ecco) for the first time for the short 3 mile walk with success. So today he tried them again for the 9 mile walk and again, gave the toe a break from rubbing against the inside of the boot. After over 750 miles walking the Camino since 2012, we discovered you can teach an old dog new tricks!

We rested most of the afternoon and then devoted 45 minutes on the phone, mostly on hold, with American Airlines to change our flight home from Oct16 to Oct10, as we are going to arrive in Santiago sooner than our original plan.

We then walked a few blocks to have dinner. On the way we stopped at Iglesia de San Roque which was rebuilt using a 14th century facade and a 14th century stone cross just outside. It was closed, so we couldn’t see the inside.

An older French pilgrim cyclist who had traveled from Le Puy en Velay, France asked Linda to take his photo in front of San Roque, which she did, gladly.

The area around Melide contains Neolithic dolmens and prehistoric castrum, suggesting that the area was well settled in prehistoric times. The town became a transportation and commerce hub in the Middle Ages, with four large pilgrim hospitals.  Also, the northern Camino Primativo joins the Camino Francés route in Melide.

Because Melide is, today, well known for its Pulpo á la Gallega, (boiled octopus served with olive oil & paprika), we then walked to the nearby Pulperia A Garnacha, where we had pulpo (boiled octopus), pimentos (roasted baby pablano peppers) and a tortilla (Spanish omelette)… and Mencía wine.

It was muy bueno! And for dessert, Jim had helado (ice cream) and yes, Linda finally got some delicious homemade RICE PUDDING!

A great finish to a delightful day on the Camino Frances.