Saturday, May 12, 2007
Pilgrim report
Pilgrim Pares reporting in. Day 2 of walking went well - only took me a disappointing hour and a half to get to Zarroutz, and the look of the beach when it was stinking hot walking was just too much temptation so decided to stay put and walk on tomorrow or catch a bus. Still undecided as to which path to take. Is siesta time here so a good time to escape the sun and do some reporting in to everyone.
Day 1 was a shocker. Decided to do the del costa (coastal) route thinking it would be easy and pleasant scenery. Was spot on with the pleasant scenery but not easy at all. Apart from straying off path (bloody markers) and ending up on a coastal cliff with little tracks going in every direction and a lack of footholds to help me back up the cliff, I also ended up walking for 7 hours rather than my planned 4 hours. Needless to say my frame of mind wasn´t the best when I stumbled into Orio.
John (from London) will be able to confirm that I was losing the plot rapidly when I stumbled upon a random farmhouse and some gypsy lady said I had another 2 hours to walk to get to Orio. This was after my earlier straying experience, and feeling somewhat isolated when climbing for my life.
Walking along escarpments on the coast has never been my thing, so held on for dear life while heaving my pack upwards again. And I hit despair when I had to go up the hundredth hill. AND I CAN CONFIRM THAT THIS IS NO EXAGGERATION!! Will get pictures and send them when i find a photo shop in Spain. Although the angles will seem weird because everything looks steep (which it was). Kind of wished that I had taken more, but it seems I was too concerned for my life rather than capturing the moment :)
After walking for 4 1/2 hrs with my pack on, I was insanely yelling out Ola to the ocean and nature in general when I realised there was a hiking group above me- I just kept thinking - I want to be up there where they are. So pushed myself again to try and catch up. Thought I had lost them so had to sit down again, and had a moment!! Then kept walking and lo and behold I caught up to them! They were a French trekking group of 30 people and I think the old guys were worried when I just wanted to kiss them all! And I am sure I reaked of pure sweat by then - nice one! actually that is probably why they started walking faster - just kidding. When the end guy told me we had another 4 km´s to Orio I almost yelled and damned him to hell. But hey company was good and I even though they were walking faster than me at an average age of 60, I was all good just to be with people again.
I walked deliriously into the village and right past all of the accomodation, so had a lot of angels in the form of old guys telling me and walking me to a hotel, where a lady realised how shattered I was and gave me a room at a discounted price. It also had a bath - alleluiah (not sure of that spelling), so soaked my weary and I have to say BATTERED body for a while then struggled out to get some rest.
So that was a SHORT description of day 1 so many more stories to tell over some cold beers. Needless to say that being a pilgrim at times gives you a rock start kind of status with the oldies who know about the walk. So luckily I don´t know enough Spanish to say - sorry I am a lazy assed Aussie and there is no way in hell I am walking all the way. But then again - who knows. I wasn´t going to even walk further than Zarroutz yesterday, but today I am feeling to continue to Santanda could be good. That would probably clock up about 100 kms. So far I have only walked 22km. Will see. Thanks to my home base troops - John and Maz. They are keeping me sane, not to mention safe while walking.
Not much else to tell at this stage - detoxing is happening as I need to keep my water levels up as much as possible (sound like a dam). and I am loving getting sun!!
Will report in again soon.Take care!
Day 1 was a shocker. Decided to do the del costa (coastal) route thinking it would be easy and pleasant scenery. Was spot on with the pleasant scenery but not easy at all. Apart from straying off path (bloody markers) and ending up on a coastal cliff with little tracks going in every direction and a lack of footholds to help me back up the cliff, I also ended up walking for 7 hours rather than my planned 4 hours. Needless to say my frame of mind wasn´t the best when I stumbled into Orio.
John (from London) will be able to confirm that I was losing the plot rapidly when I stumbled upon a random farmhouse and some gypsy lady said I had another 2 hours to walk to get to Orio. This was after my earlier straying experience, and feeling somewhat isolated when climbing for my life.
Walking along escarpments on the coast has never been my thing, so held on for dear life while heaving my pack upwards again. And I hit despair when I had to go up the hundredth hill. AND I CAN CONFIRM THAT THIS IS NO EXAGGERATION!! Will get pictures and send them when i find a photo shop in Spain. Although the angles will seem weird because everything looks steep (which it was). Kind of wished that I had taken more, but it seems I was too concerned for my life rather than capturing the moment :)
After walking for 4 1/2 hrs with my pack on, I was insanely yelling out Ola to the ocean and nature in general when I realised there was a hiking group above me- I just kept thinking - I want to be up there where they are. So pushed myself again to try and catch up. Thought I had lost them so had to sit down again, and had a moment!! Then kept walking and lo and behold I caught up to them! They were a French trekking group of 30 people and I think the old guys were worried when I just wanted to kiss them all! And I am sure I reaked of pure sweat by then - nice one! actually that is probably why they started walking faster - just kidding. When the end guy told me we had another 4 km´s to Orio I almost yelled and damned him to hell. But hey company was good and I even though they were walking faster than me at an average age of 60, I was all good just to be with people again.
I walked deliriously into the village and right past all of the accomodation, so had a lot of angels in the form of old guys telling me and walking me to a hotel, where a lady realised how shattered I was and gave me a room at a discounted price. It also had a bath - alleluiah (not sure of that spelling), so soaked my weary and I have to say BATTERED body for a while then struggled out to get some rest.
So that was a SHORT description of day 1 so many more stories to tell over some cold beers. Needless to say that being a pilgrim at times gives you a rock start kind of status with the oldies who know about the walk. So luckily I don´t know enough Spanish to say - sorry I am a lazy assed Aussie and there is no way in hell I am walking all the way. But then again - who knows. I wasn´t going to even walk further than Zarroutz yesterday, but today I am feeling to continue to Santanda could be good. That would probably clock up about 100 kms. So far I have only walked 22km. Will see. Thanks to my home base troops - John and Maz. They are keeping me sane, not to mention safe while walking.
Not much else to tell at this stage - detoxing is happening as I need to keep my water levels up as much as possible (sound like a dam). and I am loving getting sun!!
Will report in again soon.Take care!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Hello Pilgrims
Ok not sure how this will come up on the BLOG as I am typing English even though all directions are in Espanol!
I have just spent a week in France, driving down the coast (more the inland areas) with a friend of mine - Maree. Will put pictures up when I get organised and get them onto a CD. May take a while - sorry!
So now my focus is on finding where the El Camino Santiago path begins and what I do to walk it. So while I have planned only for a day here, it may take two to findout where I am. Nice to have the time to plan though and one thing I am committed to, is not being rushed. Major plan is that I arrive back into London from Barcelona on 12 June. So I can do anything I want up until then but a majority of the time will be walking I suspect. and while I do want to go to Andalucia it may not be for long, as I want to walk most of the way.
What did I get up to in France? Drank wine - its nice there, sat on grass in Bordeaux and the grass officer told us off - silly rules! Drank nice beer, learnt some French words, and how to read French menus. And had lots of fun talking with Maz.
Was nice to relax and we met some really friendly french folk. So now we will see what Spain is like - although I like the feel of San sebastian already. Too many late nights and not enough sleep have resulted in a cold, even though the weather is hot during the days, and my pasty legs and arms have been burnt already as they are not used to being exposed to that big hot ball in the sky called the sun!
Oh and I am now on a budget to make sure my money lasts through Spain after undulging in France!
Will keep you updated, and hopefully when i know where to walk from I will be able to let you know how many km´s I am doing per day - my strategy is to build up, so if I only walk 10km´s tomorrow to the next town I will be happy andI am sure that I will be sore!
Tx
I have just spent a week in France, driving down the coast (more the inland areas) with a friend of mine - Maree. Will put pictures up when I get organised and get them onto a CD. May take a while - sorry!
So now my focus is on finding where the El Camino Santiago path begins and what I do to walk it. So while I have planned only for a day here, it may take two to findout where I am. Nice to have the time to plan though and one thing I am committed to, is not being rushed. Major plan is that I arrive back into London from Barcelona on 12 June. So I can do anything I want up until then but a majority of the time will be walking I suspect. and while I do want to go to Andalucia it may not be for long, as I want to walk most of the way.
What did I get up to in France? Drank wine - its nice there, sat on grass in Bordeaux and the grass officer told us off - silly rules! Drank nice beer, learnt some French words, and how to read French menus. And had lots of fun talking with Maz.
Was nice to relax and we met some really friendly french folk. So now we will see what Spain is like - although I like the feel of San sebastian already. Too many late nights and not enough sleep have resulted in a cold, even though the weather is hot during the days, and my pasty legs and arms have been burnt already as they are not used to being exposed to that big hot ball in the sky called the sun!
Oh and I am now on a budget to make sure my money lasts through Spain after undulging in France!
Will keep you updated, and hopefully when i know where to walk from I will be able to let you know how many km´s I am doing per day - my strategy is to build up, so if I only walk 10km´s tomorrow to the next town I will be happy andI am sure that I will be sore!
Tx
