Traveling with Joe

Ok, I’m experimenting with Blog Page titles.  They say “Sex Sells” so if I get more hits on this title I will start making sexual innuendos in all of them.  In the meantime, what I mean to say is that we are about to “Get There”.  Tonight we are in Sarria which is about 120km from Santiago de Composteles; our final destination on foot.  It’s Sunday night and we are scheduled to walk into Santiago on Friday morning, check into our hotel, get cleaned up and make it to the noon Pilgrim mass at the Cathedral; this is the “finish” of our 34 day trip.  Here is our current location on the map.

We are going to have some long days to get us that close to the finish line by Thursday night so I thought I’d take some time tonight and do a mega-post because I’m not sure how much time I will have between now and then.

According to my FitBit I am now at 845,000 +/- Steps.  In line to make the 1,000,000 mark.

Because I know that there are friends and family of some of the other Trekkers occasionally looking at this Blog (and thank you for that), I thought I’d actually post some people pictures.

Marji & Eileen this morning (April 12).  The past two days have been spectacular hikes with breathtaking panoramas (pics to follow) and weather so perfect you just want to get naked.  The “forecast” is for rain on Wed & Thur which, in this area could be the “hounds of hell blowing rain” but, for now, it is still showing sunny on Friday.  For me personally, getting into Santiago in the sunlight would be fantastic since I was soaked to the bone and hypothermic when I arrived in October.  It would be nice to not be so cold and wet that I couldn’t remember anything.

(Above) This is Marji a couple of days ago in one of those “Middle of Nowhere” places that dot the Camino.  I have to say, Marji has shown her stuff on this trip.  Out of everybody in our Group and everybody we see on the trail, she seems to be in the top 1% showing any signs of wear & tear.  We are all tired at night but I hear her and Eileen joking all day every day.  You have to laugh, right?

(Above) Jane (right) and Margaret.  Yes, it’s Jane, not June.  God knows how many times I put the wrong name in the Blog but I got it corrected in my head finally.  Margaret (right) is from Canberra, Australia which is ironic since there was a woman from Canberra on my first Camino in October.  Lynn, if you are watching this you two need to meet up when she gets back.  I think you might have some things in common.

This is a group dinner shot from a few nights ago.  We were in a village so remote that you had to eat at your Pension.  Most of the buildings were crumbling but because of the Camino there are a few that are either new or completely updated that now keep this place alive.  If it were not for this village you would have an impossible hike up and over the highest point on the Camino all in one day.  On the left side (rear to front) Marji, Eileen, and Margherita.  On the right side, (rear to front) Ok, I’m in trouble here.  We’ve had two sisters join us that hail from Toronto but are originally from Tehran.  I’ve heard their names several times but they don’t stick. Until I can get them sorted out, in the back in Sister 1, Then Margaret, Sister 2, Lu, and Jane.

I want to emphasize just how close we are.  Since we entered Galicia, our final Spanish Province, they have KM markers along the trail.  They are notoriously inaccurate but the total distance of these trails is anybody’s guess.  There are actually many ways to do the Camino including the route we took today which is completely different than the one I took in October.  Stunning walk on a stunning day.  I’m glad we took this trail.

 

I think tomorrow we start hitting the 100km markers.  As I recall, there are several and not all in the same place.  Like I said, notoriously inaccurate but fun nonetheless.  I’m dying to see if I make the Million Step Mark by Friday.

One of the many things I enjoy about the Camino are the animals that you run into every day.  Predominantly dogs but you can spot wild animals darting around the sides of the trail and the domesticated animals are generally SOOOOO happy and loving.  The other day I stopped for a cold drink after a particularly suck-fest climb and I had 3 friends in short order.  The dog was so big I named him Cujo, the chicken ate out of my hand and the cats and dogs have apparently signed a truce here because they were within inches of each other at one point.  Before I left, Cujo had come out and laid on my foot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cant have a good hike day in Galicia without the cows.  They look like a Far Side comic strip because they are so quirky and curious.  The smell of cow shit is the permeating local smell overwhelming even the billions of blooming trees and plants.  As I recall from October we don’t break away from that smell until one day out from Santiago when we enter a dense forest.

A quick shout-out to my Ecco boots.  On the right (below) you can see what they look like after an average day.  I take them and my dirty clothes into the shower with me, give them a quick rinse (and, yes, they really are waterproof) and make them look new again.  I have not had a single issue with my shoes which is rare on the Camino.  This is my 2nd pair of these exact shoes and the second time I’ve made it (at least this far) without blisters or anything else.  The van has so many pairs of shoes that the Guide is going to empty them out in a few days and the ones that aren’t claimed will go to a charity or something.  Several of the people on the trip have had to purchase multiple pairs of shoes and boots until they got it right.  GO Ecco!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m thinking about it, can someone please tell me what this sign means?  This is at the peak of the highest point on the Camino warning the bikes about something.  Winds?  Curves?  Cars?  I think they left out the relevant Noun.

 When you Google the Camino de Santiago you generally will see a website called something like “10 Reasons Why the Camino de Santiago Sucks”.  This pencil head uses the Camino name to draw people to his website, alternately bad-mouths the trail then praises it then finally asks you to donate money to him for his second book and for $1 he will give you his first book.  Look, I’m no Author, but when your “First Book” is only worth $1 the why would you write a second book?  Based on his website it would go something like this anyway:

“I got up, I ate, I pooed in the woods, I walked, I slept.  I got up, I ate, I pooed in the woods, I walked, I slept.  I did this for 30 days and that was my trip.  Please send me money so I can write another book”

Out of the many false statements he makes the one that rankles me the most is how he says that the Camino is mostly along highways and roads.  I’m not sure which Camino he walked but the following pictures are what I see MOST of the time.  Does the trail track along roads some of the time, absolutely, are the cars a problem?  I can only think of one day when we were near a busy road with big trucks going to Barcelona and, yes, they were annoying.  One day out of 34.  I though this guy was a loser the first time I read his blog, I walked the Camino and had a heated email exchange with him.  Since then he has dramatically changed his website including updating his photo showing his imminent baldness, but he still alternates between saying bad things (then contradicting himself) and saying good things about the Camino.   My conclusion is that he’s not as stupid as he looks because the number of hits he gets by mentioning the Camino a thousand times is huge but the bottom line is he’s trying to make money off the Camino when I doubt he’s ever really walked it.  He claims to have done it twice in something like 24 days?  Uh, not going to happen unless you fly or drive.  Maybe that’s why he thinks the Camino is mostly roads.  DUMB ASS.

Here’s my Camino experience.

 

 So, we all know that babies come from Storks, right?  (Is this “Sex Sells” too?).  Well, that means they come from Spain because these guy are everywhere.  I saw the nests in October but they weren’t up here then.  This is Stork season in Northern Spain so it must be baby-making time.  No?

Here’s a shout out to Margherita.  She had to go home with Shin Splints on this, her 3RD CAMINO, and she is sorely missed.  I can actually hear Marji and Eileen talking in the Bar near where I am working and they were asking each other if she had reached out again since this last pic from here at home with her dog.

WE MISS YOU!

 While I am not completely out of photos I am out of time.  I know this post is pic heavy but I haven’t taken very many on this trip and I’ve posted even less.  Last but not least will be the FitBit Log from today.  Note the long-ass detour around mile 8.  Yes, I got lost (again).  Thank GOD the Spanish people are cool.  I got stopped by a Farmer and re-directed back up a very long and steep hill where I had missed my turn because I was looking left admiring the view and walked right by the turn.  Ugh, it sucked.

April 12, 2015

Joe Jeter