Made it to Singapore airport

Just a quick note to say we made it this far.  Looking forward to being home tomorrow...

Old blighty

Well made it to England.  Had three days in London, did lots of stuff-Highgate cemetry (Karl Marx, Douglas Adams etc.), Greenwich park, meridian, observatory and Navel college, Tower of London and Westminister to name a few things.  In Poole now visiting friends, Tat and Brendon.  Looking forward to getting home soon.

 

Love to all

 

T

 

P.S.  Was sad to leave Santiago but all good things come to an end.  I hope to return one day in the future. 

update Tues 13th Oct

Off today to Poole on the south coast after spending 3 full days exploring London: Highgate Cemetery, Tower of London, Walking Tour of Westminster, Greenich Park, Naval Museum, and Grennich Observatory.  Planning to get around (quickly) the Victoria & Albert, Natural History and If I'm lucky maybe the RAF museum with over 100 planes (can you tell I'm keen?) before we jump on the train this afternoon to Poole and Tat & Brendan.  Wayne & Carol have been great friends allowing us to bunk on the floor, very handy to the DLR line.  Talk later.
M &T

We arrived Sat the 3rd!

The rain in Spain falls mainly on Santiago de Compostela...
Predicting thunderstorm tomorrow, yay.  At least we haven't had floods like the south and east of Spain.

Missed the botafumeira (large swinging piece of silver used to bash naughty pilgrims ;-) today after slogging through 2 masses on pervious days.  Tracy disappointed that she missed it.  Praying for another Japanese tour group to cough up €250+ to make the bugger swing.  Might stick our head in again tomorrow to see if they have installed it.  The pilgrim grapevine works pretty quickly for such things. 

Enjoying the pastries and sweet things, Tracy is aiming to regain the weight she lost on the camino ;-)

We were told that this year 132000 people have done the Camino so far this year and they are expecting 250000 next year for Holy year.  Explains why it feels so busy!

Have really enjoyed catching up with fellow pilgrims, those we have chatted with, walked with or simply just said hola in passing.  We were in the cathedral on Sunday and this elderly Irish guy Tracy gave her immodium tablets to for a bad bought of diarrohea came up to us said thank you for the help.  Was really nice that we could assist him out, he was in a bad way.

Have picked up bits and pieces for the family to haul back to NZ.  Enjoying a good horror story by HP Lovecraft from the albergue library (one of 2 books in English) while waiting for some of the heavy rain to pass.

Take care for now
Tracy and Mark (penned by Mark - can't you tell?)

Update for 1st of October

Tracy asked me to put in a post while she's having a lie down.  We managed 30 km today from Palas de Rei to Arzua with a bit of help from a chocolatier named Orlando.  Kay may know of him, he was walking with Don (a chap from Hamilton that Kay introduced us to before we left NZ to do the Camino) until Don had to race ahead.  We chatted away, well Tracy and Orlando did mostly and before you knew it we had walked 8 hours and 30 km with a few coffee breaks.  Must say that Tracy put me to shame on the Hills now that her feet are in good shape.  However, we all agreed that it was not something we'd care to repeat tomorrow!

Aiming for Santa Irene or Pedrouzo tomorrow depending on whether we want an extra day in Santiago.  The albergues are quite cheap but we are getting sick of them and having to share every facility with the other pilgrims, even if most of the pilgrims are very nice.

Later
Mark filling in for Tracy

Update 30 September

Hola mi hombres

Since we last chatted:

23th Villafranca del Bierzo.  Intersting albergue build on a large rock.  (excellent Golden Retriever named Conan).  Lots of churches, especially liked San Francisco, founded by Francsian monks in about 13th century.


24th Rultelan.   On the way saw a squirrel at Trabadelo, small balck and ina hurry to be away from people.  Trabadelo Cafe did good fair trade coffee and rock´n roll music.  We started with the King, Elvis, and exited with the Beatles.  It was a long walk along the motorway to our distination.  Albergue good if rustic.  Didn´t take up the Shiatsu massage on offer.

25th Up and over OCebreiro to Liñares.  Very steep up to La Faba and then more gently to the top.  We carried our packs the whole way.  We entered Galicia the final state we are to go throught to Santigo.  It felt great to be at the top and look down on a greener and foggy land.  Made us a little homesick for Aotearoa.  Had a room to ourselves at the Casa Jamie (House of James) which was nice as slept most of the afternoon.

26th Triacastela.  Lots of up and down to there.  Galicia is very rural and we both got cow shit on our walking clothes.  Ahhh the smell of the country.  Nice church, lots of boar hunters and their dogs in town.  Not much to do.

27th San Mamed (near Sarria).  We took the detour via the Monastery at Samos.  Unfortunately as it was Sunday we did not have time to wait for the tour to go through the monastery inthe afternoon.  The monastry is huge and use to house 500 monks, now only a handful remain.  Very tiring day as lots of hills to go up and down inthe middle of no where.  Lovely Albergue, clean small confortable and excellent food.  Mark says the lentil stew was particulary nice.

28th Morgade.  When through Sarria, very foggy but interesting fort and church.  Mark was pleased as he found an internet cafe with a printer for our tickets to the UK.  Passed the 100 km to go mark and got the mandatory photo.  Stayed in an albergue above a very small bar and farm.  Lots of flys from the cow pooh.  Spanish farmers like to keep their cows near their houses and then tramp them out to the paddocks to eat each day.  Ran into Dennis (Cuban american) who we hadn't seen since Santo Domingo some 2 and a bit weeks back.

29th Gonzar
Decided to try one of the smaller Galician Municipal albergues just to see what it was like.  Unfortunately in the same town there was a really nice albergue (with free washing machine!), but we had a nice dinner there even though we didn´t stay the night with Kelly from Texas.  She is a lawyer working as a defence attorney for legal aid so we had a long and interesting chat about legal systems and how NZ and the US compare.

30th Palas de Rei
Ran into Dennis again, he was sad as he had to leave some of his travelling companions behind.  Funny how you get to feel like your fellow pilgrims are like family, help each other out etc.  Nice albergue in a larger bar.  Met up with Kelly again for dinner and talked politics.

Off to Melide or Ribadiso do Baixo tomorrow depending on how the knees and feet feel.
love T & M

update 22nd Sept in Ponferrada

Hi everyone
Since we talked to you last in Leon:
17th Villa de Mazirife
Found hobbit holes on the way out of Leon.  Locals have lived in them for centuries.  Even found a bar called Terra Media (Middle Earth!)
Stayed at Tio Pepe, a smokey & noisey little pub with a chap who played nice Spanish guitar.  But we had a room to ourselves!

18th Short day to Hospital de Orbigo
excellent medieval bridge with a story about a knight.  The Camino seems to attract men with broken hearts (we´ve met 3 at least).  Pleasant albergue and nice restaurant for dinner.  Met Canadian and Danish ladies.  Mark managed to make the waiter smile with his bad Spanish.

19th Astorga
Walked with 3 Canadians and an Irishman.  Mark sick with a cold, Tracy visited the Gaudi Bishop´s palace while Mark flaked out.  Tried famous Astorga chcolate, not so impressed.  Had a birthday dinner for one of the Canadians.

20th Rabanal del Camino
Stayed at the Conferternaty of St James Albergue.  Very nice, great meal at the restaurant opposite ready for a big walk up the hill.

21st El Acebo
Walked over the highest point of the Camino, 1517 m, sunny but chill wind.  Left our stones at Cruz de Ferro as is traditional.  Saw some abandoned villages and walked past Tomas the knight´s place.  Stayed at La Trucha, offering vegetarian and vegan meals.  Best food so far and very nice man.  Had dinner with 4 French and 1 Belgain.  Beautiful scenary out the window, except maybe for the windmills.

22nd Ponferrada
Mark really liked the castle (sick of churches).  Large albergue but well appointed, rooms of 4 people but 200 in total.

See you later!

Love T & M

Ok we cheated a little

Kia ora

 

We cheated a little (well alot) today.  We trained with a friend, Freddie from Germany, from Burgos to Leon.  This is about 180km.  We are quite behind because of my silly feet being sore.  Anyway we now can continuing walking tommorrow. Only another 330km to go.  You know it is weird but when your feet are so sore you can´t think about anything else some decision become easier.  I deal with the guilt later.  

 

Side note: some things are different here in Spain.  You use a public toilet or one in a bar or restaurant and the light go off after about two minutes.  I suppose this to save power but can be a nuisence (especially if you are standing up says Mark).

 

Love and miss you all.

 

T & M

update 16th Sept

Happy birthday Robyn!

Didn´t make Grañon, decided to do Burgos in 3 days and not 2.
Stayed in Santo Domingo, very nice cathedral.  Chickens in the church is interesting.  Had some pilrim shell pastries filled with chocolate. YUM!

12th Sept
Stopped at Belorado and got a room to ourselves.  Nice to be away from noisey pilgrims.  Tracy still did't sleep well but excellent shower.  Town square was nice with trees around a band stand.

13th Sept
Stopped in Villafranca Montes de Oca before a hill.  Missed a procession but saw the ladies playing skittles as part of a festival.  Luckily there was a nice English couple, she was fluent in Spanish and could tell us what was happening.  Lots of fun and cheering.  Lots of trucks passing through, luckily we had the back room away from the road.

14th Sept
Over the hill to Atapuerca.  Nice little village.  Rescued a lost dog in Sna Juan de Ortega and walked it into the village.  Managed to find a helpful young man who worked for the council.  Tracy thinks the vet picked it up and he was very nice too.  Went and  saw prehistoric remains at a dig out of town on the bus.  Will check out the museum in Burgos.

15th Sept
Burgos!  Beautiful.  Are staying an extra half day to see the sights.  Must go, albergue is closing.

love T & M

catchup 10 Sept

Hi everyone
Been unable to access the internet for several days so we thought we'd better tell you we're all okay.

After Alto del Perdon, Tracy's foot was really bad (have a nice photo to show you all when we get back) so spent the night in Uterga above a nice bar.  Tracy self medicated with several glasses of Rose provided by Australian friends.

4th Sept, limped on to Cirauqui, a pretty medieval town at the top of a long hill.  Stayed in an excellent albergue and the Spanish lady was hard case and told us how she was sick of loud Spanish pilgrims.  Cooked us a lovely dinner.

5th Sept, staggered into Estella (not from the wine) and stayed at an ANFAS albergue (work with disability adults) and Tracy went off to the Red Cross for some treatment that worked a treat (stung like !"·$%&&/).
Kay, caught up with Don here after he passed us outside Cirauqui. 

6th Sept, Staggered 15 km in light sandals into Villamayor de Monjardin and stayed at a Dutch albergue.  An old building restored with the original exposed trees for roof beams.  Mark hiked up the hill to the ruined castle with a couple of nice American gents and took some pictures.  Met some more Aussie, Peter and Silvana.  This is Peter's 5th camino and so they have been giving us some tips on nice places to stay.

7th Sept Los Arcos.  Austrian albergue.  Nice, got a room to ourselves.  Everywhere has been getting filled up.  Ezcellent  catherdral of Santa Maria.  Camino is really really busy this year.

8th Logroño.  Big city, same as Hamilton.  Good sports shoe shop, Tracy got some Keen sandals that have worked a treat.  Heel healing up nicely (must donate to Red Cross when we get home).

9th Ventosa.  Awesome albergue, highly recommended.  Wonderful reastaurant at the top of the hill (nice dog for cuddles!).  Mark has a sore knee but some Voltaren and rest did the trick.

10th Azofra.  Municipal albergue is very nice, 2 beds to a room (nothing naughty!).  Caught up with our Danish, American and Aussie friends.  Wonderful time, wonderful food and too much wine.

love to all, off to Grañon tomorrow, hoping for a big day off 22 km  now that Tracy's foot is looking better.

sore feet

Lovely scenary. Excellent company.   Sore feet.  Good food and wine. At Lorca.

 

Still alive.

 

 

love T & M

Zubiri to Pamplona

It is only about 20 km from Zubiri to to Pamplona but the last 10 km felt like I was walking on glass.  Struggled to to Trinidad De Arre thinking we might stay there as the refuggeio looked lovely but did not open for over three hours. I could bearly walk but after a nice rest and some lunch by the bridge and river with ut my shoes and socks on I seemed to recover.  Mark seemed to be in better shape but was very patience with the walking wounded.  We caught up with a fellow pilgram there and had a nice cold glass of beer to wash away our worries.  Laurence is from Belgium but he is Flemmish.  We are learnign lots about the rest of Europe from this trip.  Saw a pilgram with a burro who is walking to Africa ( see www.saintmalobamako.net for details). Had to pat the burro. 

 

Here in the main albergue in Pamplona just waiting for siesta to finish to get more batteries for camera and to go and have a wander around and find food.

 

Love to all

 

Buen Camino

Day 1

22 hard km from Roncevalles to Zubiri.  Sore and tired!  Excellent medieval bridge.  Nice albergue Zaldiko.

Met some interesting people on our walk including a lady from Helsinki, a couple from Ireland, a gaggle of French women, and a nice Belgian who likes his wine.

 

Thanks for the comments Liz and Kay

 

Buen Camino!

We are here in Ronsevalles

Kia ora or is that Hola

 

We finally made it to the starting point of our pilgrimage after two long flights crammed in like sardines.  one more pleasant flight and three bus rides.  I think Mak and I are just about the only pilgrims who don´t speak Spanish but everyone is very friendly and nice and can speak a little English to help us out. Went to Mass it was lovely and Tracy tick the box for this decade´s attendance. Too tired to write more as pretty sleep deprived after the last 48 hours.

Love too you all. 

 

Bien Camino

Two sleeps to go

Well only two sleeps to go until we get on the plane.  I must be getting excited because I find myself awake at 5am running through check lists in my head. 

 

 

Testing e-mail to Blog

Testing, testing.  Does this e-mail produce a entery to the blog.

 

 

T

4 Days to go

Kia ora Whanau

Four days to go until we leave NZ. Both Mark and I have been sick for the last couple of weeks with a respiratory virus. Could be a very slow start in Spain but still hoping to set off from Roncesvalles in Spain on the 1/09/09.

Packs now have their NZ patches sewn on and so far still seem to be under 8kg but still a few things to add.

Anyway mi amigos I'd better get back to work.

Amore to you all.

T

Hi Mark

Hi Mark

Here it is a blog.


T

Hi Mum

Hi Mum.

I thought a blog was the best way to communicate while we are away.

Love T

Leave from work check, plane tickets check, Passports check, Spanish lessons check, lots of other stuff still to do check.

T