Gwaihir
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2019: Nijmegen-Fisterra
2022: Trans-European Trail
Hello pilgrims - and those who don't identify as pilgrims.
I just wanted to update you on my Camino Non-Camino. Because honestly I thought I was going to do some official route - first I thought of doing the Primitivo. But I ended up in León instead (I took the train there). And then a voice in my head said: "go to the Pyrenees".
So I did a tiny bit of the Francés-Reverso, to Mansilla de las Mulas, where I started the Lebaniego. I walked through Gradefes and Cistierna, and Riaño, Fuente Dé, then Potes... up to the monastery (which is another pilgrimage site). Didn't like the monastery, as usual I couldn't find the faintest trace of true Grace there.
From Potes I started on a trail, a GR, which had been laid out before me by Dylan, a guy I once met. He'd walked from Bulgaria to Santiago over the mountain ranges and I thought that was super-cool. I was attempting to follow in his footsteps (reverse footsteps, that is). And so I did, nice break from the Camino, absolutely no stores nor supply points, I ate at restaurants. Then heatwave n1, struck me with 40Celsius. No frequency of water points on the trail, and I had to consider quitting.
I did quit (the GR) and then took a train to Reinosa (very close to Bárcena) and started walking the forgotten trail, the Olvidado, which I liked at first, "tarping" next to El Embalse del Ebro, superblue water, crossing the forest (Cabañas de Tomasuco - not on the Camino, but pilgrims who are inclined to go off-trail and way around will appreciate this way round). Then to Pedrosa de Valdeporres, amazing bridge over a river. Town very weird, there's a theme park but then nobody lives there.
It seemed like a ghost town to me, so had Arija, I disliked the desolation of it, so I guess I didn't want to be Forgotten, and I decided to go to Del Norte where a wandering soul may latch on to the surf-spots and tourists. Took the train in Robledo-Ahedo (passengers at the station: me and three boney cow-skulls), to get the train to stop, you stick out a thumb. Like hitch-hiking. From there to Reinosa (again), and to Santander.
From Santander the usual, surprised by the number of pilgrims (really quite a lot), slept on a few beaches, some bursting with horrible suicide-mosquitos (like Kamikaze), slept at the Monasterio de Zenarruza, encountered a gorgeous valley, where I saw the most beautiful rose last time, closed my eyes all through San Sebastián (I dislike cities), was stunned by Pasaia and the Ultra-Basqueness of the people there ("tourists go home") and enjoyed the view of Irun from the mountaintop.
That's half of the adventure thus far. The second half I'll write below.
I just wanted to update you on my Camino Non-Camino. Because honestly I thought I was going to do some official route - first I thought of doing the Primitivo. But I ended up in León instead (I took the train there). And then a voice in my head said: "go to the Pyrenees".
So I did a tiny bit of the Francés-Reverso, to Mansilla de las Mulas, where I started the Lebaniego. I walked through Gradefes and Cistierna, and Riaño, Fuente Dé, then Potes... up to the monastery (which is another pilgrimage site). Didn't like the monastery, as usual I couldn't find the faintest trace of true Grace there.
From Potes I started on a trail, a GR, which had been laid out before me by Dylan, a guy I once met. He'd walked from Bulgaria to Santiago over the mountain ranges and I thought that was super-cool. I was attempting to follow in his footsteps (reverse footsteps, that is). And so I did, nice break from the Camino, absolutely no stores nor supply points, I ate at restaurants. Then heatwave n1, struck me with 40Celsius. No frequency of water points on the trail, and I had to consider quitting.
I did quit (the GR) and then took a train to Reinosa (very close to Bárcena) and started walking the forgotten trail, the Olvidado, which I liked at first, "tarping" next to El Embalse del Ebro, superblue water, crossing the forest (Cabañas de Tomasuco - not on the Camino, but pilgrims who are inclined to go off-trail and way around will appreciate this way round). Then to Pedrosa de Valdeporres, amazing bridge over a river. Town very weird, there's a theme park but then nobody lives there.
It seemed like a ghost town to me, so had Arija, I disliked the desolation of it, so I guess I didn't want to be Forgotten, and I decided to go to Del Norte where a wandering soul may latch on to the surf-spots and tourists. Took the train in Robledo-Ahedo (passengers at the station: me and three boney cow-skulls), to get the train to stop, you stick out a thumb. Like hitch-hiking. From there to Reinosa (again), and to Santander.
From Santander the usual, surprised by the number of pilgrims (really quite a lot), slept on a few beaches, some bursting with horrible suicide-mosquitos (like Kamikaze), slept at the Monasterio de Zenarruza, encountered a gorgeous valley, where I saw the most beautiful rose last time, closed my eyes all through San Sebastián (I dislike cities), was stunned by Pasaia and the Ultra-Basqueness of the people there ("tourists go home") and enjoyed the view of Irun from the mountaintop.
That's half of the adventure thus far. The second half I'll write below.
Be safe
