backpacking – Page 2 – everydaysparks

Highlights of Day 24

Posted on September 13, 2013September 13, 2013 by Cate

Today, we were very excited to be reaching Cruz de Ferro, a true landmark of the Camino. We timed our arrival to coincide with the sunrise – and what an incredible experience it was. People bring stones and other bits and bobs (including photos of loved ones) from all over the world to add to the pile at the cross. You can read more about the story behind it somewhere else – Dave from Dublin told us it’s something about tipping the scales in your favour when sins are being weighed up on judgement day. Would’ve been good to know that before I chose my small stone from Bobbin Head (scene of so many of my favourite childhood picnics) in Sydney.
My stone carried the fingerprints and wishes of my Mom and my Dad and me, as we picked it together before I came away – it was pretty emotional being at that special place at dawn, thinking of my special peeps. Awesome.
A beautiful day of walking followed our special morning – stunning mountain scenes as we climbed, then lots of challenging rocky downhill runs.
And now we’re in the municipal albergue in Ponferrada – a great big place where you pay by donation, rather than a fixed rate, and we have our own room of four again. We had a HUGE late lunch at a nearby restaurant – cured ham, seafood pasta salad and pork chop things that made Andy nostalgic for Bavarian food. And tortilla & ratatouille for Chris. And lots of delicious chunky baked potato pieces for me.
I finish my meds tomorrow and my leg seems fine with painkillers, so all set for the last 200km into Santiago!

Oh, and today’s other sparks – a man with a spaghetti scarf (advertising pasta at a cafe) and churros-in-a-can at the local supermarket!

Travel sparks

Day 23 – the barnyard albergue

Posted on September 12, 2013September 12, 2013 by Cate

Refreshed and raring to go after our rest day, we set off at around 6.30am and made our way out of Astorga. As the sun rose, we were so glad to see that the landscape had returned to the beauty of earlier Camino days. After the tedious ugly roadside vistas of the past few days, it was nice to see some greenery and mountains instead of endless plains of nothing.
There was a bit of a climb today, but a gradual incline, so it wasn’t too tough. The book suggested stopping in Rabanal del Camino, but we had walked that 21km distance by 11.30am and were all feeling good, so continued on to Foncebadon. Our Chris from Texas is a vegetarian, which is largely seen as a crazy idea in rural Spain, where tuna is seemingly considered a vegetable, appropriate for vegetarians. Anyways, Chris has been pretty much existing on eggs & potatoes for his main meals and the book said an albergue here had a vegetarian menu, so we decided to stay.
The book didn’t quite cover it – a vegetarian menu, yes, plus a farmyard of free range animals out the back and a yoga studio (think a big old shed) with lots of mattresses on the floor and lots of flies. We have a gate outside the studio to keep the dogs, chickens, goats and rabbits out. But nothing can stop the sound of the crazy rooster, who has been crowing regularly since we arrived this afternoon, poor dear. Another Camino adventure!

Travel sparks

Celebrating our 21st, Camino-style

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Cate

After a good night’s sleep (my first for this trip) in Leon, we walked along an extremely mind-numbing and slightly depressing part of the Way to Villadangos del Paramo. Walking alongside the highway in the hot sun, with no real landmarks along the way, I was hit with a new physical challenge: a crippling pain in my right shin that was so intense it stopped me from taking a step on a few occasions.
As I lagged far behind the rest of the group and there was no one in sight – ahead or behind – I switched between anger and sadness and disappointment at my new malady. I don’t recall ever experiencing pain like it (although I’m sure it can’t compare on the pain scale, it did make think of the amazing mothers out there). I may have even started shouting like a mad woman, but as there were no witnesses, it doesn’t count. I’m not used to my body letting me down (but, of course, my body is not used to me trying to kill it by walking across Spain), so I’m still a bit shocked by it all. But then after a short rest and a painkiller, I just focussed on one step at a time. And with that, I got to our destination. An albergue atop a grassy knoll alongside a major highway.
Dave and Andy made us another delicious lunch and we spent the afternoon chillaxing on the front lawn, watching the cars and trucks go past. Yes, really. It was not a happening town, especially on a Sunday. But Chris had some amazing Lindt dark chocolate with strawberry and that made everything seem alright.
I wasn’t sure how my leg would go on our 21st day of walking, but after a night’s rest, it seemed ok and we set off for Astorga. I had decided to take a rest day in Astorga, as it sounded like a nice town of around 12,000 peeps. Oh, and apparently it’s the chocolate capital of Spain. Andy had picked up a tummy bug, so he was happy to stop too, as were Chris and Steph. Sadly, Dave decided to push on, so our group is down to four…for now, anyway!
After a tough walking day, we picked a great place to stop – a lovely town with a beautiful square, pilgrims a-plenty…and a 4 star spa hotel, where we spent our 21st night on the Camino in style. It’s amazing how we have become so used to having so little – our eyes were wide as we checked out our palace and enjoyed the town, knowing that a 10pm curfew, snoring, a 5.45am wake up and the rustling of plastic bags weren’t on the agenda. It was magical.
We slept in and this morning enjoyed our breakfast buffet. ALL of the breakfast buffet. So nice to just relax and enjoy each other’s company and the little luxuries that we’ve not had these past weeks. 4 star pilgrims, baby!
Today we have spent day 22 here in Astorga, enjoying a leisurely morning wandering around the busy markets that took over the town (lots of different food stalls & trucks, plus clothes, curtains and the usual range of crappy crap that must be sold at every market around the world), then a late lunchtime picnic in the park, followed by a visit to the incredible Palacio designed by Gaudi and the cathedral (which was impressive, but the Gaudi was AMAZING).
We have tried a small amount of the chocolate that the area is famous for – tried to work out if we could leave clothes from our packs to take more chocolate for the road, but guess that doesn’t make much sense. OR DOES IT?
Anyways, onwards and upwards for this gang of four tomorrow (literally, as we’re approaching the highest point of our journey) – we’re feeling very relaxed and I’m so glad we took a day out here to really enjoy it. To help us ‘flash-packers’ transition from the hotel, at least we have our own four person room in this dorm. Four persons – and hopefully no biting bugs. (After munching on only me in our group til this point, they have now taken a shine to Andy and started chomping his fine German skin – luckily my pack is now full of all the medicines we’ll ever need!)

And with that, goodbye from Astorga!

Travel sparks

Day 19 on the Camino

Posted on September 8, 2013September 8, 2013 by Cate

Day 19 saw us walk about 24km through to the bustling city of Leon. It was hard going, mostly flat and boring scenery as we walked alongside busy roads. Leaving Reliegos, we passed the statues of the Weary Pilgrims. We felt their pain, I tell you.
It was nice to see some of our Camino mates again in Leon – Shane is here, Maria from Hungary (fortunately feeling much better now), plus the fabulous Bev and Nicole from Queensland. It’s amazing how excited we all get to see familiar faces – greeting these 2 week old friends as if they’re family. It’s lovely.
We girls decided to stay in a smaller albergue with private rooms in Leon, mostly so that I could finally get a good sleep, without worrying about bugs! It’s actually university quarters, so I am in a dorm room. It’s not as cool as what I’ve seen in movies (and there are no sororities to join), but it is nice to have some private space to recover a bit. And they have very funky wallpaper in the foyer (close-up pic below).

Travel sparks

Camino Days 17 & 18 – This was NOT in the guide book

Posted on September 7, 2013September 7, 2013 by Cate

I had hoped that the previous post would be the first and last tale of illness on the Camino. Fortunately (I guess), this part of the Way is very boring scenery – long, flat plains and endless fields – so this illness is a bit of a focus! I woke on Day 17 with even more bites on me – I will spare you the graphic details, but they were horrific: clearly, whatever is biting me does not agree with my system. There were now around 15 angry bites on my feet, 8 on each elbow and one each on my face and neck. Imagine a normal mosquito bite, now multiply the size by five, the puffiness by 1000 and the redness by 10000 and the itchiness by one bzillion. And that is what I am riddled with, my friends. Oh, and just for extra points, some of the bites have become hideous blistered messes as I have walked on – no foot modeling in my future, dammit.
The swollen left foot was at least a little better after the painful ice & boiled water technique, followed by the chopped potato bandage overnight (thanks to the incredible Bev, the 66 year old hockey player/tax accountant/yoga instructor/natural therapies whiz from Queensland, walking the camino after winning Hockey gold at the World Masters in Turin).
But, advice from my medical consultant on the other side of the world (shout out to my brother Tony, responding to photos and messages with excellent real-time support and guidance) was to rest up. So we only walked around 12km to the town of Sahagun (officially halfway to Santiago) after stopping for coffee at a German cafe/albergue along the way. We arrived very early – around 10.30am – and it was a good day for walking, with the temperature and cloud cover all looking great. Shane walked on, figuring that we’ll meet again when he needs a shorter day himself down the track, so our group was back to six.
The day actually passed quickly in the quiet town and I was glad to be able to rest and ice my foot. A delicious banana from the local supermarket served a dual purpose as I used its skin in a bandage to reduce the swelling even further.
Day 18 saw my foot a lot less swollen, which was great. But I had about a dozen new giant bites on my hands, leg and neck. My foot felt the best it had in days though, so I was well able to hike the 31km to Reliegos with the gang. The weather was great – a bit cooler and overcast for most of our walk and we arrived in time to choose a nice albergue. One of the key criteria was a kitchen so that we could boil all of my clothes, like witches of old, in case they were hiding any bugs. Steph and Susana led the cooking and the water was certainly an interesting colour after we were done.
As the afternoon progressed, I was starting to feel a bit sickly and my feet were getting redder and itching and there were a few worrying marks appearing. So Steph and Susana took me to the hospital where I was seen straight away. God bless Susana’s fluent Spanish, which translated the clucking and tsk-ing of the doctor and nurse as they issued terse instructions. They bandaged some of my bites, popped some of the creepy bite-blisters and then whacked two painful injections in my butt. With some antibiotics and cortisone coursing through me and a script for more from the pharmacy, along with insect repellant, I am hopeful that tomorrow will be a better day.
The lovely staff were very direct – I was crying with Susana and the lady apparently asked, ‘Why is she crying?’ as if to suggest I was a bit too silly for her. But then when she finished the injections and gave me a whack, I turned around to check if she’d done one or both already. When she gestured that it was two, I said ‘awesome, high five!’ as I was so relieved. She indulged me in an awkward high five, bless her. And then they didn’t charge me anything – so so nice and a world apart from the last doctor. They said I could definitely keep walking as long as I looked after everything, so onwards and upwards tomorrow. Thanks so much for your words of support and encouragement here, on Facebook and by messages – it really has meant a lot to me and I’m very grateful. And, of course, MVP awards to my angels Susana and Steph for looking after me so well. Bitten, but blessed, so I am.