It has been a while between writing posts, although #6 just got published because of low wifi strength at our last stay. We entered Santiago de Compostella today (Saturday). Susan said she nearly cried when she saw the incredible cathedral which is "Camino Central". I was grinning pretty widely which is a bit of a miracle given how my feet were feeling (on fire) at mile 5.5. We stopped for nearly half an hour, had a chorizo tortilla and chocolate pastry, and through the miracle of chemistry -- ibuprofen - I felt pretty good for the remaining 6.3 into SDC.
To pick up a few days back, Susan was feeling really poorly on Tuesday in Redondela. We had done an 11.5 mile day with Susan and Jan, the first and only time we were able to walk together. But Susan's sore throat and shortness of breath came back and she had trouble breathing that night. Not much sleep. And the day came up dark and pouring rain to boot. An executive decision was made to taxi to our next stay in Pontevedra, which also led into another rest day, so she got two days to recover. The hotel was very nice -- much nicer than I thought I was paying for, with breakfast included, and we walked the small town just a bit but basically rested.
Walking under grape arbors. Kind of amazing.
On Thursday we did 13.5 miles to Caldas de Reis. We did great and Casa Herreria was wonderful with a small inground pool, wine available, and space where the guests could gather and talk. If I have not mentioned (I have), talking with other walkers is one of the delights of El Camino. We spoke with John (ireland) for an hour as we sipped a good red wine, talked with Anna and Becky from Argentina in the pool, and watched the cyclists roll in. (Note: cycling El Camino should be outlawed.) Then we found a place to sit at O Muino, a great restaurant, with a Spanish young man, Fernando, who was walking also, and talked to him for an hour an a half as we ate calamari and sausage, and empanada. Just too good.
Backyard at Caldas de Reis
On Friday we had another surprise with the location of Camino de Viera, our stay on our last night of the Camino.It was listed as being in Padron. So we walked 12 miles to Padron. We were dragging a bit and it was 4:00 p.m., but our GPS said we were still 5 miles away from the place. It did not make sense, so we called and the host confirmed that the house is far out of town. If you remember that our first (and last) 17 mile day was brutal, you will probably forgive us for hailing another taxi. The joy was that when we got to Camino de Viera (at 4:15 p.m.!), there was another swimming pool with cold water and lounge chairs to soak up the sun. And more wine and wonderful conversation with two German women and another Argentinian. Dinner was pizza and boxed salad from the host's refrigerator and that was just fine.
Another night, another pool. Cold water on
beat feet. Does not get much better.
We had a private room and shared bath at Camino de Viera but the house was mostly set up as a dormitory-style stay. Lots of people (15 or so). And most of the folks on El Camino get up early to cover as many miles as possible in a day. The bathroom and kitchen sounds began before 6:00 a.m. We got up a little before 7:00 and were the last walkers out the door at about 8:00 a.m.. Amazing. We did 5 miles by a little after 10:00. But three days of pounding were getting to my feet. Believe me, there is some pain on El Camino, and I was feeling it -- growling at Susan is not good, but I could not help it. But as noted above, a 30 minute break plus 400mg of ibuprofen and I was back in the game. Susan, being the amazing physical specimen she is, was doing well and kept pushing.
We both put on our earbuds and listened to music for a couple of hours to distract from the discomfort. I ended up walking the last couple of miles to U2 - whom I never listen to. But, somehow, it fit the mood and the entry into Santiago de Compostela was joyful.
Susan at the Cathedral - the day after finishing
We stayed in a very nice 3BR apartment with Susan and Jan for the weekend before flying to Berlin. We rested a lot, walked a little. Drank a fair amount of wine in two days. And marveled at the accomplishment of 155 miles on El Camino for two 70 year olds.
Post Camino: the days seem to be going faster now. We had a long day of travel yesterday from Santiago de Compostela to Berlin. Two airlines, with the 2nd being Ryan Air. Anyone who has experienced the "customer service" of Ryan understands the concerns about boarding passes, size of carry-ons, etc. Actually the day went reasonably well given the nightmares we have heard about late flights, missed connections, cancelled flights. Iberia Air to Madrid was fine, but about 30 minutes late. But.....who knew the Madrid airport is the size of Texas? We had 2 1/2 hours to get our luggage, checkin, and get through security. The bus from terminal 1 to terminal 4 took 25 minutes alone. The Ryan bagage drop line was about 30 minutes but we got pulled out after 20 minutes as they called for Berlin passengers to go to the fast lane. Then the security line -- oh wait, that is NOT the security line, it was a very long checkin for another airline right next to the security line.
We had eaten a very small breakfast and no lunch thinking we would eat at the Madrid airport. But no time with all the running around. We will just buy some Ryan Air food on the plane. Well, the cabin crew was on strike. Somehow they were on the plane but not serving food. There was one very young steward, who somehow had a different contract (?), and he served the whole plane. We were at the back of the plane and finally got a sandwich about 2 hours in. Frankly,
we were lucky to get to Berlin pretty much on time with all our luggage.
So we had breakfast at Lauren and Cody's. Said "hi" to Theo just before his morning nap. And this afternoon we are going somewhere for another overnight to swim with penguins and eat pickles.
Please do not ask why this makes any sense at all. This is Berlin and this is our adventure.
Best to all. We are back in DC in one week!!
Small church in Santiago de Compostela. Nice music playing and time to think a bit.
Inside the main church in SDC. Incredible.
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