Trondheim (Nidaros) to Santiago de Compostela

[lovingkindness]

Zumaia

 

[vandrefalk]

Nice pictures LK, as usual. But how is your dear self?

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 329 Zumaia to Deba following the GR 121 along the coast occassionally the GR 121 coincides with El Camino

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Deba

 

[lovingkindness]

Santiago in Deba

 

[lovingkindness]

Days 330-332 an oceanic climate....
Sometimes a peregrina just has to dive in clothes and all and swim with the frogs. She has to drink ice cold water from a mountain stream and camp out in a sweet hollow. But then just as sleep drifts in to the sound of a farmer sything hay, violent winds stir and clouds roll overhead and a girl just has to sprint. Soft braken becomes a cold concrete bench and the torture of dripping water displaces the song of birds...

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Lluvia! Lluvia! Allelluvia!!!!

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 333...Gernika

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 334 Agur, Gernika. Agur.

 

[ksam]

Dearest LK !! You are doing amazingly well...wishing you everything...and then some more! Your pictures are like special little gifts from the Camino...thank you!

Buen Camino, Karin

 

[lovingkindness]

Hola, Ksam well, here you are again, back on a Cyber-Camino, dreaming parched thirst along carreteras asphaltas....

Days 335-338 Lezuma to Castro Urdiales
I´m a wreck. Too many nights stretched out on concrete instead of tracing luminosities in velvet skies. All I want is to sleep with the pajaros not the peregrinos but there´s not much choice, it´s lluvia, too much mud and lluvia. The past three nights I have drifted into an Albergue de Peregrinos out of desperation. I´ve slept outside one under the eaves (Lezuma), alone on the common-room floor in another (Probeña), and behind a tiny breakfast bench beside garbage(Castro Urdiales). I´m doing my best to respect The Others need for rawcous chatter and togetherness whithout demanding they shut up. I am practicing earplug-Calmness and smooth-faced-Tranquility but haven´t quite learnt the art of smiling Friendliness when feeling desperate and harrassed. Love Thy Neighbour as Ones Self is a curious command. Sometimes I think that the most loving thing I can do for myself and for peregrino humanity is remove myself from the equation. Some days I follow alternative routes and squander my cash on Pensiones .

-Lovingkindness

 

[oylero]

Your first post:

In my heart are the highways to Zion,
In my soul are the words of the Lord,
and I will always be,
I will always be
a Peregrina to the end

***

You're “doing fine” – even now protecting "your Neighbour" (from yourself...) You're washing out what is preventing The river of Love to flow free.
But (we or) the other peregrinos can't imagine too much of the state you're in. I don't know if God is present – they say closer when hidden (maybe the Ziortza-brother spiritually knew?) – I guess one of the kind like Juan de la Cruz, Joan of Arc and their equals can walk along with you… if that is of inspiration.
Pax
Oyvind

 

[Pieces]

Hi Lovingkindness

I stumpled across your tales while trying to find the best way from Viborg to Santiago. Starting on page 3 because that is where google took me. I became so enthralled that i went to page one and have been reading every night now for three days. So moved by some of your adventures that more than once I had to get out the tissue.

While reading I was mainly thinking two things. Why would anyone ever want to do anything else, and how is one (she) ever going to be able to get back to "real life" after such a magical adventure.

Maybe we are about to get some answers, just don't be too hard on yourself in the process.

On friday I set out for Viborg following in your footsteps to the German border before I return to work.

When I will walk next I dont know, but I am sure that as I walk I will sometimes think of you. You are a great inspiration and my faith in human kind has been somewhat restored by your stories of kindness and generosity and maybe also of divine intervention....

Buen Camino
Pieces

 

[Sojourner47]

Pieces - my thoughts exactly....

 

[lovingkindness]

Hola! don´t panic. No internet access for weeks. Unable to download thought or photos. Have gone AWOL but still heading south. ´

-Lovingkindness

*nice to meet you, Pieces Viborg to Flensburg. Flat, endlessly flat but beautiful colours. Thanks for your thoughts.....

*and nice to hear from you, too, Oylero + Soujourner.

 

[jprogers]

Hello lovingkindness
Great to hear from you again and maybe you heard the collective "phew" from many many readers, with just this one wee post. It brings to mind the recent (unsuccessful) Australian tourist campaign "where the bloody hell are you". Your words and photos have been wonderful and I hope it all works out well.
So now I can go back to what I was doing -cooking the meal of lamb roast followed by pavlova...ooohhh.....just kidding

Cheers Jill..

 

[ksam]

Jill, that was cruel!! I couldn't do a pavlova in this heat and humidity if I tried...so when I get done making gazpacho...I'll be over for dessert!

Seriously LK...glad everything except the electronic world...is going well! Hopefully none of the exhausting horrible heat and humidity will survive the Atlantic crossing! SO...sending you cool breezes and happy thoughts, Karin

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 336 Bilbao to Portugalete and el penance del asphalto begins and doesn´t let up for weeks. El Camino from Bilbao to Portugalete is a climb up through the city, through industrial areas and a multiplicity of highrise apartments. Then down again. There are occassional moments in the green belt and many artistic surprises. After a night in a cheap Pensione overlooking the Cathedral square I felt fantastic....until i staggered into the Portugalete albergue....and saw....20 sardined souls....but, hey, there´s an excellent stretch of floor, secluded, round a corner... Yes! That´s mine!

 

[lovingkindness]

leaving Bilbao

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 337 Portugalete to Probena El Camino from Portugalete to Probena heads inland and mostly follows a cycling track. I rebelled. NO. the next morning I took off to the Oficina de Tourismo to find out if it was possible to follow the river to the sea. Yes! and that´s what I did. Sure, it is densely populated in parts and the river mouth is an international port but, hey, I looked on water most of the day and had solitude-sweet-bliss.

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 338 Probena to Castro Urdiales ...and I´m laying on the floor feeling depressed, practicing detatchment and calm, wondering about the nature of relationship. What is the point of forming relationships with Peregrinos when they move off after a moment , a few hours, a day? They imprint on my soul and affections then vanish and I´m left feeling bereft.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I agree Bilbao was bustling.
But I did enjoy seeing Murillo's early works here at the Museu de Bella Arte.
Wishing you a peaceful walk along quiet beaches.

 

[lovingkindness]

Probena Albergue ...and I´m on the floor again.The dorm is full, there´s one shower for 20 beds and all the extras are sleeping on the Iglesia porch up the hill. It´s raining again and I´ve migrated from sleeping under the albergue eaves to dozing on the common room floor. The hospitalera is excellent and kind. She has prepared breakfast for everyone and the tables are ladden with fruit, bread, cartons of milk and otros cosas....and i´m stretched out flat, willing myself to behave politely at 4.45 am when the first peregrina will appear for food....she´s determined to set off in the dark....

 

[CaroleH]

LK, you amazing adventurer, you are so naughty making all of us want to be 'out' there walking right now! Your pictures inspire, tempt and paint a picture of your long journey.

Yes, it's sad to be always 'losing' people on camino, sometimes very sad, but some of the people you share time with, will return to your life in some way... and maybe there's the "little life" analogy of camino, people wafting into our lives at different stages, some having enormous, joyous, life-changing impact, then drifting out again. But.... we keep them happily with us forever, in our hearts and in our thoughts.

Besides, all those people would make one hell of a crowd if they hung around all the time!

Keep on rebelling! Keep on.....
Buen camino todo el tiempo. Carole x

 

[LTfit]

So good to read an update from you Lovingkindness! I often thought about you while I was on the VdlP this July and mentioned you on several occasions to fellow pelegrinos.

I am longing to do the Norte but given my hospitalization (see thread Off to Sevilla) I will not be out on the road for quite some time - at least not on foot!

CaroleH - you word my feelings exactly! I am currently "withdrawing" from my walking buddy who is now in Laza and most likely will arrive in Santiago on Wednesday!

Will continue to follow you with great interest - from my hospital bed!

Cheers,
LT

 

[sharon w]

Hi Lovingkindness. Your photos are superb. I always look to see if you have posted anything when I get on the forum.
Even though some peregrinos move on, it is great to meet new people. The camino gives us such a rich experience of friendships. I am looking forward to "catching up" with some people we met on our 2007 camino next year. After 4 years have only just been able to make contact with one person that I had written down the wrong email address. We have had visits from some of our camino buddies and one day hope to visit them.
Here's to the rest of your camino and your many friendships.
Sharon

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 339 Castro Urdiales
....and I´m on the floor again but this time with sweet consolation. The hopitalero interresante/guappo de Gambia has provided me and two others with real, authentic well-stuffed mattresses. The Albergue in Castro Urdiales is pequena but tranquilla. Others are packed into bunks in the room next door but I and my matress mates are content and happy with oodles of space on the kitchen floor. There´s another peregrino sleeping in the boiler room and another with a French horn tatooed on his hip round the corner. This one is fresh faced and full of hope. He dreams of playing Horn in an orchetra, finding a loving girl and setting up house forever and ever Amen. This morning he took off rapido down to the beach for a pre dawn surf. I love this kind of peregrino/a their souls seem untouched and new, without burden or despair.

 

[lovingkindness]

.... La Madelena...and so I am become...estoy peregrina solita de los porches de las iglesias, Amen

before 8 am, day 339...un peregrino y su esposa from the past two days are also here in C.U. He has ordered me and my matress buddies out of the kitchen. He and his wife and their friends want to eat desayuna juntas, in peace, at the table thank you very much. Obnoxious man.....so we grab our gear and move as fast as we can, dishevelled, disturbed ....

later that day...my mood is difficult, I´m struggling. I want my own Way. Not to feel rail-roaded into conformity, to doing what is most convenient for everyone else. I did not sign up for a Romeria so how come I now find myself on one?????

self-analysis:I need aloneness. I´m not behaving politely enough arround The Others.....

and much later still ...I meant to sleep in the Albergue in Guriezo but somehow completely missed it. A man was doing something unmentionable in the long grass by the wayside and I took off in deep fright. In the next pueblo I asked at the Casa Paroquia if I might sleep on the floor but was told, ´No. Go back to the Albergue.´ No, I won´t. I feel too disturbed. So I kept dragging my feet, walking the kilometres until finally I arrived at a sweet hamlet with a fuente and una Iglesia con porche. The local jovenes were hanging about, toddlers were playing in the grass, and a couple of old guys were slouched on a doorstep smoking. This is it! Profound relief. I´ll sit here by the fountain and if the locals don´t mind I´ll sleep on the flagstones of the porch...the teenagers came over and said, Hola! and they didn´t seem bothered when later i set up ´house´ ....

The next morning It´s heaving with rain and I´m sleeping in. It´s 9 am and there´s no need to move. Work men have arrived to set up for the village fiesta. Today is the feast day of Santa Madlena, and I have found repose under her benevolent eye. A local authority has just driven up in a flash car. We chatted a while and now he´s returned with a large glass of cafe con leche and a 6-pack of Madelenas for me to eat! Gracias senor y Dios y Santa Madlena and as I sit here eating I´m also remembering the other Madelenas that have crossed my life, all of them kind: a violinist with red hair; the mother of childhood friends....

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 340 El Porche no. 2
...and so I dawdled my way through two hamlets and a pueblo as rain embraced my soaring soul and after a while, an exquisite length of time La Paz and Freedom returned.... I danced and hollered till my leaden feet sang and a silvery gloom descended. Then I chose my porch with utmost care and gave thanks for a day well ended.

Porche No. 2 ( Iglesia de Santa Cecilia, patron saint of music/singers?,) keeps company with a crowing rooster, a fleabitten dog and a bellowing discomforted cow. A multitude of singing birds greet the dawn and crickets and insects the night. Yes!!!!!!!

-Siempre Peregrina!!!!! (LK revived)

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 341 Fuente Peregrina

I´m living an idyll. All is serene. My limbs and thoughts are gliding through space. Stress has dissappeared. For the past 6 hours I have splashed and played in a fuente, solita, sunning myself and drying clothes in a breeze. The situation is elevated. I can see Laredo and the old part of town below. The sea is glorious ......mi vida del porche has it´s trials -i´m covered in fleabites, have itchy eyes and a rash, but, hey, who cares......I´m free. Gracias a Dios y Gracias to the thoughtful people who cared enough to gift a fountain....

-Lovingkindness

 

[oylero]

Lovingkindness
Esto es música para nuestros oídos. ¡Gracias!
-and the pictures amazing as always...

Tusen takk,
Oyvind

 

[lovingkindness]

Laredo... and late in the day I head down hill and walk the streets in search of a room. No, Senora. Complet. Complet. Complet... Lo Siento, bye, bye. So I compose myself and accept fate: There are two Albergues Religiosas in Laredo. One sleeps 20, the other 6.

´Quantos peregrinos?´a voice whispers through static. Soy peregrina solita´...silence..... ´Vienes!´ and after a while I am lead through an ancient door up two flights of stairs through 3 locked doors past a gory cross dripping blood and sentiment by a pink-faced Sister in white robe plus sandals to ...........a simple room.

Una cama, solo, solita, tranquilla, tranquilla, blanca......

...I´m overwhelmed. My head´s spinning. I want to bow down and kiss her feet.....She hands me a handful of keys and tries to explain which ones which but I´m too far gone to take it in.....

Then somnalent sweet nothingness embraces my head and for eleven long hours I sleep.

-Gracias

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 342

 

[lovingkindness]

Laredo....Santona......Noja to.... it´s sweltering hot ....caminocomolavoduermoduermoduermo...according to my sweat-soaked fraying Tourist pamphlet Guermes should have appeared hours ago

==========tarmac===================tarmac==================

?¿?[______]?¿? ZZzz.......?

Is there any difference between a dead peregrina and an exhausted one? Can I sleep here?

 

[lovingkindness]

....9 kilometers later. I stagger in. Someone hands me water. I´m guided to a shower......something about a lecture up there.....dinner down there.....bed.
-H´luego.

....and there they are, 27 spruced up peregrinos obediently sitting on chairs. There´s a map on an easel with three routes to Santander marked on it. Advice is being given in Spanish as someone interprets in English:

Choice no. 1 Sea to the right, cows to the left then take a ferry. Santander, rapido. Albergue, pronto.

Choice no. 2 don´t walk the bridge. Accommodation at a price near by.

Choice no. 3. Haven´t a clue. As a river of Spanglish swam round the walls, I suddenly realised there´d be no mention of Choice no. 4, the one on my sticky gummed together Tourist scrap/map.

Manana: Santander Albergue 27+, Astillero Albergue o un Porche 1

 

[CaroleH]

Cute Saint James statue, LK. Love it.

 

[lovingkindness]

cute? Buenas Dias, Carole H y todos.

Day 343 taking an alternate route: Guermes to Solares
c. 10 am ....I know I should have moved off by now but my body is leaden. I´m slouched at the table dreaming, tracing zigzaging trails up a stoney peak. Breathioso.....Someone comes over and guides me through the book. This man, here, he´s our Cura, Ernesto and this albergue´s his home. He grew up in Los Picos de Europe and these are his people. I know it´s time to leave but I just can´t, not yet. I want to fill my soul with these powerful images and transport myself .

Then I leave. In my rubbish bag.

Alone.

 

[lovingkindness]

....and when you pray go in to your room and shut the door. Pray to your Father in Secret and your Heavenly Father who sees in Secret will reward you....
-Jesus

Solitude. Silence. Detachment.

I´m alone. How do I slam the doors inside my head?

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 344 Fiesta de Santiago Apostel
25 Julio, 2011

.......another day on tarmac. Another day in the rain. I´m itchy all over, my eyes are gummed up and I´m feeling retched, flat....Lavedero! Yes! Rags off, soap out. I´m going to celebrate. I´m going to croon Hallelujahs and make happy sounds in the aqua and mud. .....A curtain twitches. Oh, no. On with the gear, clack clack clack clomp..... down the road.... Hey?....Hey????.......Fiesta!!!!!

 

[Anniesantiago]

I can hear my Portuguese aunt saying, "You poor thing!" with those bites! Do you think they are bedbug bites, not fleas?

I know the little nun who let you in through the door in the Laredo albergue. I have her photo! That was a nice quiet place, but when I looked behind the Jesus picture over the bed, it was brimming with bedbugs, so I left for the other albergue. She was horrified but sweet, and returned my money.

 

[lovingkindness]

bedbugs? me? Never! Annie, what a suggestion.!!!!
- siempre Fastidious!

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 345 Astillero to Arce (34+ kms)

...and so I arrived at the Astillero-Guarnizo Albergue, an excellent place situated near wetlands and in a historic building. No peregrinos had appeared for days, perhaps weeks and judging from entries in the Peregrinos Libros which spanned about 10 years, this was the normal state of affairs. The comments were glowing and full of thanks for excellent hospitality, tranquility and solitude.

It wasn´t until the next day that I began to understand why peregrinos were being encouraged to take other routes via Santander. The one listed on my tourist brochure didn´t seem to exist. Instead of arriving in Puente Arce, 11.1 kilometers after Astillero and thus avoiding Santander all together, the only Camino signs I found kept directing me into the Santander metropolis itself tracing a 20 km arc by industry and suburbia, tarmac all the way. Without a map I was dependent on yellow flechas and local advice. So after an hour or so trying to find the shortcut outlined on my pamphlet I gave up. For hours I walked in the rain and mostly enjoyed the quiet. But by the time I saw the sign to Boo via Cruz de Bezana (9 kms) I´d had enough. I´d walked 16 kms to get to this sign and didn´t want to go further.

So, where´s the next porch? or albergue?
*Iglesia, St Cruz de Bezana (4 kms): barred and locked.

*Iglesia, Boo (+ 5 kms); barred, locked and a person guarding the gate. I asked if I might sleep on a floor somewhere and was directed to a bunkroom in a house close by, already jam-packed with peregrinos.

* Iglesia, Puente Arce (+ 9 kms): stone fence, gated, locked. I sat outside the gates for an hour watching as forty or more teenagers jumped the stone wall and congregated arround the back of the Iglesia. It was fiesta time and they wanted to party. Opposite the Iglesia is a bus shelter. For another hour or so I considered sleeping in there but then it began to rain and youths began to use it as a urinal and so I packed my things and followed flechas down to the pueblo below. There I asked for a place to sleep.

You may sleep under the car port, beside my car if you like.
Thanks!
Five minutes later she changed her mind.
Perhaps it would be better if you slept in the basement. Tonight is Fiesta. Teenagers plus alcohol, you might have trouble if they see you in the carport.

So that is how I found myself sleeping on a dusty mattress amidst wood shavings, spiders webs, the stench of cat pee and generations of accumulated junk and I was thankful. It was warm and dry and I felt safe. I covered the mattress with a ground sheet, spread my own mat on top then flaked out for the next 10 hours.

Carpe Diem - ceize the day and the night and everything else between----------------------bedbugs? Never!!!!!

 

[Anniesantiago]

I love it!
:lol:

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 346 Puente Arce to Polanco

How many peregrinos in Santander last night?
40. Six more arrived later but had to keep walking.
...They must be the ones in Boo. I know of another 27+ a day ahead.

We´ve ´hit the jackpot´, a miraculous blib. There´s a gap in The Camino conveyor belt. Three of us are sprawled out, comatose in Polanco. It´s lovely. Senora over the road is cooking us dinner and there´s nothing to do, absolutely ziltch, zero-null-nothing. Someone has put a lot of love into this little place. There´s Camino art on the walls, a hand-painted frieze running round the rooms, a Santiago in gradations of white, grey and mauvy black, beautiful hand crafted furniture in the tiny lounge and an arbour plus chairs out front. The only negative, there´s absolutely no turning space in either of the miniature bedrooms. Each has a three-tier bunk taking up all the space and air but that´s turned out to be a blessing. Others have dropped by, taken one look then left! We talk for hours.
-Lovingkindness

 

[CaroleH]

Tarmac and busy road walking.......... not much fun. Horrible! I hate it with a vengeance.

Keep your spirits up LK, keep on looking for alternatives, for escaping onto rustic country tracks and forest escapes.

 

[lovingkindness]

Buenas Tardes, CaroleH hi! just plodding along, plodding

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 347 Polanca-of-blessed-name to Cobreces-egualmente

=== ? porcheX==tarmac==?porcheX======tarmac=====?PorcheX====?porche-porCHE-PORCHE?X===Albergue


She's here!
plus a couple of muscly perequappo cyclists with beautiful chests and and .......shins. + we have two gigantic dormrooms all to ourselves. The Blip continues.

It´s surreal. She found ´God´ with the Jesus Freaks and I ´met´ Him as an 8 year old. She spent years alternating between evangelical groups and Lutheranism before studying theology and I, I migrated from a Traditional expression through Charismania to something simple. We´re absolutely serious in our spiritual pursuit and enthusiastic to understand and learn. We dissect and parse scripture and haggle over doctrine and explore The Curious and The Difficult. We agree: there are impondrable pondrables. Then, when we´ve talked till we´re hoarse in the healing depths before dawn, we say, Buenas Noches, Amiga. Guten Nacht, friend.

-Sleep

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 348 Cobreces to San Vincente de la Barquera

...It´s sunny again! 19 days of rain in Julio and now all the world is hitting the beach. Yes!

I´m reading headlines in El Bar having cafe con leche y chocolates. As soon as I´m packed I´ll walk to Comillas and swim. I´ll dive deep in the surf and emerge like Boticelli´s Venus-in-a-Conch-shell-plus-ropas. I´ll take the coastal road to San Vincente de la Barquera, crash in the surf again then head straight to the Albergue and sleep. I´ve improved! I´m doing ok! I haven´t felt hostile in days. I can do this! I can sleep in an Albergue bed afterall.

-Estoy contente

 

[Sojourner47]

Day 348 Cobreces to San Vincente de la Barquera



As soon as I´m packed I´ll walk to Comillas and swim. I´ll dive deep in the surf and emerge like Boticelli´s Venus-in-a-Conch-shell-plus-ropas. .

-Estoy contente

Wow - eat your heart out, Boticelli!!

 

[lovingkindness]

Boticelli, Boticelli. I adorrrrrrrrrre Boticelli Hi SJ47

Day 348 cont. and so to San VdlB

I´m here! I´ve arrived!

You can´t eat that here. (?He hasn´t greeted me¿ )
Not a problem. I´ll eat outside.
No. Leave. Walk 8 kilometers to the next Albergue. (?he´s not smiling¿ I´m confused)

No, I can´t. (I´ve got heat stroke, my brains fried)

Unless you eat with all the other peregrinos, you can´t sleep here.(That´s strange. Never encountered that rule before)
But I´ve already had a big dinner today. (€10, fried eggs, fried bacon, chips, two pork fillets, a coke and bread -at the beach, Comillas) I don´t need another. (Perhaps I could just sit at....I´m not thinking straight. My eyes are blurring)

Go. 8 kilometers.

It´s nearly 8 pm and he´s telling me to get lost.
I leave. Shocked.
I walk down the cobbles. Two peregrinos come out of the shadows.

Don´t be upset. We had problems, too. We´ve found a room down there. Perhaps you´ll find somewhere too.

I go to the harbour. Sit on a bench and howl. Silently. Then I eat and choke.

I know, I´ll go to the Guardia Civil. Perhaps they know of a floor I can sleep on.
No. Go back to the Albergue. Ask there.

(Can´t. I can´t)

So I go back to the bench and sit.
I´m not anxious, just upset.
I wait for a very long time, till the sun begins to shift.

Then I hear a church bell across the bay.
The porch will be barred and locked, no point going there......?................?¿?.....I don´t know....ok....
...and there it was, Porche no. 4. Before I retired I went to Mass and gave thanks and afterwards as the night began to settle I sat by the sea and listened to the gulls.

He gives His angels charge over thee least you dash your foot against a stone
-Psalms

 

[lovingkindness]

San Vincente de la Barquera...

 

[lovingkindness]

Days 349 to 354 Escape
....and so I quit the coast and took off to Los picos de Europe. And that´s where I´ve been ever since, hiking el Camino Lebaniego from San Vincente de la Barquera to San Toribio de Liebana then stopping for a big long rest. Somethings calling me, drawing me to Silence, challenging me to come to The Quiet. I feel I need to humble myself somehow but I don´t know how to do it.

-Lovingkindness

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, lk,
I am still enjoying your every step. but you must tell us -- where oh where did you get that fabulous eye for beauty and design? Your pictures are just stunning, I think one of the most amazing ones is your hay bale art, wow.

BTW, your comment on the hospitalero in San Vicente sent me scurrying to my notes about my Camino del Norte in 2007. Here's what I wrote about the hospitalero there:

"Our first mistake seemed to have been when we (politely, we thought) declined to eat lunch and dinner with the group. This is one of those albergues where people pitch in and eat together, an experience we have enjoyed on other occasions. But not today -- no lunch, because we had already eaten our sandwiches/fruit/etc right before arriving in town, and no dinner because we had planned a special goodbye meal since one of our group had to return home to Switzerland on the bus the next day.

The hospitalero promptly started to grumble about how some walkers just abuse the system, don't really want to be a part of the camino, just want to use it as a place to sleep, etc. As the primary Spanish speaker in the group, I tried to change the topic, and we promptly left the building for the rest of the day, returning only after dinner that evening.

The next morning, the hospitalero started in on me again, saying I looked very sad and maybe it's because people like us are never happy no matter where we are. I tried to be polite, said that if I looked sad it must be beause one of our group had to go home. And then, out of the blue, or so it seemed to me, he told me he had always thought that we Americans were incredibly arrogant, but that it wasn't our fault, but rather due to the hegemony of the American empire, etc., etc. Now, I've been criticized as having many faults, but arrogance has never made it onto the list. I really didn't want to have a fight, so I just said that I was very sorry if our behavior had led him to label us as arrogant. I was tempted to respond but finally thought it just wouldn't accomplish anything. But I left very confused and not sure exactly how we had gotten to this."

So, LovingKindness, I guess you should consider yourself lucky, because if you had slept there and eaten breakfast you would have probably been subjected to his rants. I just couldn't figure it out. but your experience makes me think that he's the one with the problem.

And now you must be ready to start out on the Camino Vadiniense, which Rebekah has just completed and posted about. I wish you many days of beauty on what looks to be another stunning camino. Laurie

 

[Deleted member 3000]

he told me he had always thought that we Americans were incredibly arrogant, but that it wasn't our fault, but rather due to the hegemony of the American empire, etc., etc.

As a generalized sociological comment, he may not be wrong. But he has completely missed the point that he resents the United States because of our success and wealth.

He could rightly say that I have jumped to a conclusion about him without knowing him. In our mutual ignorance, we both err. There must be a lesson on stereotyping somewhere in there . . .

 

[ksam]

Ohhh LK...your journey is incredible! That last porch too, how lovely, all flower decked...just for you! Hope this finds you at peace, well rested and fed...Karin

 

[sulu]

Hi
I sat down at the computer to do something this afternoon and opened this thread instead! I hadn't been following and I'm very sorry I hadn't. What an inspiring walk and your photos are awesome. I wonder how many of us will be heading off around Europe because of this
I am sorry you have met some weird people but I suppose there has to be some bad else we wouldn't appreciate the good.
All things considered you're nearly there, Buen fin de camino.
Sue

 

[anniethenurse]

Lovingkindness where are you???
It is your walking anniversary today!!!!!
A whole year of walking through Europe!!
We all hope to hear news from you VERY SOOOON!
Buen camino
annie

 

[CaroleH]

Congratulations LK ........ a whole year! I hope you are well and happy.

You've changed the way many of us think about camino.
Buen camino always.
Carole.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Wow! A year!
What a wonderful journey you've had.
Can't wait to hear how you celebrate.
I'd bet odds it was a quiet evening someplace magical.

 

[ksam]

Here's to all your sharings! Thanks for all the peeks over your shoulder that you've given the rest of us. Thinking of you often, trying hard to pray the clouds here away from you as they cross the ocean! Karin

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, LK,
A full year on the Camino is something most of us can only dream about, but your posts have given us a glimpse of what it might be like. You've been walking for a year, and I've been clicking on your posts for a year. And enjoying it so very much.

Like the rest, I'm eagerly awaiting more posts to take us through to Santiago. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[lovingkindness]

Days 350-354 El Camino Lebaniego

Sometimes I wonder,

What would I find in the Silent Place if I hadn’t heard of Jesus?
If His words weren’t my guide would I still find Peace, a Hiding Place from the Wind?

When I ´enter´ the Secret Place, that Quiet Space, is the Comfort I sense from Another? Does God meet me there as Jesus says He will or is it just more of Me-loving-Self-wanting-Other? -Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

...and so to Lebeña
...And I descend to a mystical hollow, a place suffused with light. Insects sing as pajaros nest in trees laden with peaches and almonds. Bunches of grapes bow the vines where they weigh as blackberries twine through the hedges. The air is softly hased in timelessness and something in me unclenches.

Lebeña has its own microclimate. I ask the abuelas if the Iglesia down by the stream has a porch, if it´s ok to sleep there. They smile and say, Yes. When I see it I am awed. An olive tree with beautiful line grows between iglesia and tower. The Iglesia nestles between soaring Picos and eminates warmth and peace. When the last of the tourists disappear I decide to sleep. But before I can others arrive with tables and food and gear.

Would you like to eat with us?
OK. Are you sleeping here, too?
Yes. We’ve been here a few days. We’re climbing in Los Picos and using this porch as our base. Others will come later.
How many?
Oh, about 6 or 8 maybe more…..

We eat a mixture of tinned peas, tinned tuna and pasta doused in oil. Then two big guys arrive. We watch silently and drool as they produce gigantic steaks, a sack of spuds and half a dozen eggs which they fry in a pan. My stomach ….speaks… but I am polite. I retire to the farthest arch and lay out my ground sheet and mat. Los Picos rise through the night bathed in shades of blue. Feelings of worship and contentedness float and drift then I am guided to sleep...

-Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

El Porche no. 6 : Iglesia de Santa Maria, Lebeña

He´s Dead.

I´ve whacked the living daylights out of him.
Honey seeps through my spleen as sweet stillness silences my….
Oh God, what have I done? Horror rips through my veins. I bolt as ´bullets´ pelt through my brain and a ´jackhammer´ smashes my skull....

Then I’m awake. He’s alive.
Pneumatic snorts belch from his barrel-chested paunch.
Slowly….I… reach…for…my….hiking….stick. Its smooth aluminium coolness soothes my palm. My other Self watches, curious.
I test its weight....
then
stabSwiftSharpJab.

Catharsis

Suddenly
Lightening/strobes/the/night. Thunder crashes from Picos to Picos. Rain shards hurtle through darkness and I´m lashed.

-Lovingkindness?

 

[ksam]

Love the olive tree story/legend! Also glad to hear...he's still alive!!

Buen Camino, LK, Wishing you more days such as this!

Karin

 

[Sagalouts]

"A burnt out stump charred with melancholy"
I know the feeling but I walk again, this time on the Norte in 3 weeks time
looks a great place your walking through.Hope you find peace and quieter porches
Ian

 

[lovingkindness]

Hi there, Ksam and Peregrina2000 and all who wished me well on the 17+18/08/2011. ....still out there, still a peregrina! [28/08/2011]

Cast sheep can become distressed and die within a short period of time if they are not rolled back into a normal position.www.Sheep101.info

-Ashamed

 

[lovingkindness]

He lay trustingly at my side and I ´stabbed´ him

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 353 El Santuario de Santo Toribio de Liébana

I fled the coast without a plan just a tatty pamphlet listing the distances, profiles and albergues between San Vincente de la Barquera and Santo Toribio. I don´t know how I´ll get to Santiago d C from Santo Toribio. I´ll sort that out later.

Today I plan to hike up to Monasterio de Santo Toribio (2 kilometres from Potes, established 8th century). I´ve heard there´s an albergue for peregrinos up there that´s sparse and quiet. It sounds perfect. I hope to meet the Hermanos. Perhaps we can talk?

Yesterday I dropped by the Beatus Exposition and was amazed. I learn there´s a piece of the True Cross, the Lignum Crucis guarded at the Monastery, discovered by St Elena, Emperor Constantine´s mother (4th century), brought to Spain in the 5th century by Santo Toribio himself. Wow! I´m curious.

I arrive at the Monastery just in time for Mass. The people sing, the Priest gives a homily then after the Eucarist he removes The Cross from its gilded cage. He waves it in our direction and says a Blessing. Then the people file behind the cage. They venerate The Cross. With each kiss the Priest wipes the handle with an antiseptic tissue then he hands the pilgrim a card. I join the queue. When it´s my turn I hesitate: To kiss or not to kiss....what am I doing? Then I decide. I place my hand on the base of The Cross and pay homage to all who´ve suffered: Perhaps this relic is a part of the Cross that Jesus died on. Perhaps it isn´t. Somebody probably died on it, if not him. This worm eaten piece of wood encased in gold and jewels and crystal has terrible significance. It is a symbol of torture, of excrutiating death. For the next little while I think of all who suffer and those who were crucified both before and after Jesus. I think of the atrocities occurring today. And I wonder, What did Jesus mean when he said´Take up your Cross and follow me´. Was he advocating suicide? martyrdom for his cause? I´m not sure I understand.

I leave.

Later I return for a photo. For an hour or so I watch the Priest and pilgrims. I mull. I see the ones like me who zoom in and out with their cameras. They go snap, snap, click then vanish.
-Lovingkindness

 

[Anniesantiago]

Did you really roll a poor old sheep over onto his back? :?

I love your writing and your photos and your journey.
I'm glad you came back online and fed us.
Nice to see you.

 

[lovingkindness]

Did you really roll a poor old sheep over onto his back? :?

No I jabbed him. He was prone, knotted in his sleeping bag. It was 3 am and hours before I could get up and leave. I was trying not to wail. The dream was vivid, a warning. I observed myself. I weighed consequences: Which end? Handle or spike. I waited, trying to surrender to his snores but couldn´t. So eventully I prodded him with the rubber stopper hoping he´d roll over. It felt cathartic at the time. Now all I feel is remorse.

Gracias, Annie-girl.
-Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 353 cont. La Tardes

Buenas Tardes. Quisiera a dormir en la albergue de peregrinos, Por favor.
No. (short sharp, jab) Vuelves a Potes.

I´m taken abake. I´m in the souvineer shop. Three shop assistants are staring at me expressionless.

The Tourist Officer in Potes said I´d be able to stay here....

No response

I leave. Five minutes later I return. I ask if I might have a Sello for my Credencial. An assistant produces a register then tells me to fill it in. In the slot, Albergue?, I write, Por Favor. Then I ask again if I might sleep here.

No. It´s full.

I look at the register. No entries. How can it be full? I am the first to write in it today. According to my Tourist Pamphlet 38 beds are available for peregrinos. The Tourist Officer in Potes said there´d be no problem..... Perhaps this is a ´book-ahead-albergue´. Perhaps it´s a first-in-first-served-free-for-all hostal for anyone who come by bus, car, motorbike, tandem, bicycle, unicycle, rollerskates, on foot no Credencial required. I don´t know and nobody tells me.

I smile and say, Gracias. Adios.

and feel joy as I leave: No tengo probleme. Este noche, voy a dormir en el porche del Monasterio antiqua muy grande muy espiritual con Espiritu Sancto, los angeles y sculturas y flood-luzs amarilla!!!!!!! Si! Muchas Gracias. Amen.

It´s 1 pm and severely hot. I empty my pack onto concrete. My gear is sodden. It stinks. I´ts been mouldering in plastic for days. My ground sheet and mat are wet and odorous, too. They dry in seconds. Then I recline on a sheltered bench along with others beside an outdoor chapel.

Heat...seeps....into my weary bones as..I....flake out.....near ´Jesus´. WhiteLightBounces off the court....

Where are those hikers going? I sit up. There´s a steady trickle heading uphill. I decide to follow and that´s when I find...

La Ermita de Santa Catalina, ruin.....Tower, temporary roof, open to the mountains...

-Lovingkindness

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Oh my gosh how breathtakingly beautiful it must have been to be surrounded by that morning view. I can feel my heart leap just looking at your photos.
There was a night I stayed alone in a hut in the northern Ruahines, as the terrain was too difficult for me, and I let the rest of the group move on without me to the next hut. And I had the joy that evening of seeing rare blue duck swimming and playing in the rocky stream nearby. It is a joyful memory that has remained with me always. I imagine a morning with such mountains must perhaps be a similar moment of joy.
Margaret

 

[lovingkindness]

Buenos Dias/Noches, Margaret you´re back! Lovely to hear from you.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I always read this thread and look at your photos- I just don't make as many comments on the forum as I used to.... But I am here!

 

[lovingkindness]

Days 354-359 Potes (resting)
...at 7am I walk back down the hill to Potes, have cafe con leche y something else then beg at the Tourist Office to be allowed to stay in the Albergue for a few days.

Estoy un poco sick con allergies de dust y fleas y la vida del porche. Estoy cansada, tambien.

Si. you can stay.
Gracias.

I spend the next few days sleeping, eating and on the computer. Inbetween I immerse myself in Beatus.
-Lovingkindness

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, lk,
You know you've been on the Camino for a long time when your "live from the camino" posts take ages to load on my computer -- what an amazing compilation of stories and pictures. The most recent ones from Liebana and Potes are wow-zers. I wonder how many of us have read your posts and then sat dreaming and wishing that we could just pick up and go like you.

I'm not sure where you are right now, but know that there are many of us who are enjoying your every footstep. Laurie

p.s. What was the Hell display in the Beatus exhibit? carving from a church? Your shot captured some pretty hell-like lighting.

 

[lovingkindness]

p.s. What was the Hell display in the Beatus exhibit? carving from a church? Your shot captured some pretty hell-like lighting.

Hola, Laurie Someone has taken various scenes from illuminated miniatures in a ´Beatus´ and crafted sculptures in a Romanesque style. I´m not sure which medium they used, whether it was plaster or clay or something else easily moulded. There´s a Judgement scene and other themes of a kind found decorating the outside of XI-XIII churches eg Saints and angels, the Church. I think one purpose of the display is to show how 2 D images became 3- dimensional tympanums, portals etc. Extremely exciting. It´s opened my mind.....
-Lovingkindness

ps Sagalouts you better get into shape Chico. I´ve just been speaking to a peregrino from El Camino del Norte. After 4 days struggling and wheezing up/down ^^^^^^^^^^ horrendous inclines/////// and slopes he quit and took a bus down to --------------
The Flats ....

 

[lovingkindness]

La Ruta Vadiniense: Picos de Europa (Camino de Santiago)
My knowledge of Spanish is basic. I survive using nouns, a few verbs in the Present and Perfect Past, simple prepositions and adjectives. When these don’t work I speak Spanglo-Franzoersich with an Italio-Spanish inflexion. Or, I mime. I´ve given up trying to read the text in my latest Guia. It´s easier following symbols. All I need are pueblo names, distances, and profiles. Most places have an El Bar so that´s where I´ll head if there´s no other option for food.

I am staring at Etappe I : Potes to Puerto de Pandetrave . What I see is a

red line (Potes to Fuente De)
Cable Car symbol
two figures hiking a ----------to Puerto de Pandetrave.

Okay. I interpret this as: Punishment followed by two Rewards
23 kms on tarmac followed by a Cable Car ride up a Picos then hiking at the top of the world.

Yes! I set off from Potes at 11 am. It is a cloudless day. The sun is high and I am excited. Wild flowers grow in fields by the road and I´ll be staring at towering Picos all day. Here goes…..

-Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 360? Potes to Espimas

Temp: 50 C ?
Wind: 0
cloud cover: 0
Dist: 19 kms

I am a mouse in a tarmac wheel oooooooooooooooooo I spin as I watch the Tele ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 7 hours later I quit.

-con-de-Mentia-

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, lk,
Thanks for your explanation, it looked to me like those carvings were in too perfect a state to be capitals or on a tomb, etc. What an amazing exhibit, I hope it's a permanent one. And if you have more photos, I'd love to see them because the one you posted was stunning. (makes it hard for me to decide whether I'm a bigger fan of your writing or of your photography).

How can you stand this, being in Romanesque Heaven and Picos Heaven at the same time? I think you are now following in Rebekah's footsteps on the Camino Vadiniense, can't wait to hear more. Abrazos, Laurie

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 361 ...taken for a ride
I’m elated. I jump off the Telefonica and soar. Spread out before me is a Moonscape. Light bounces off strange rock formations and little flowers hide in the crevices. I’m inhaling rarefied air. Within minutes my leeched bones revive. I walk about dazed, hunting for arrows and conch shells. After a while I give up.

Where´s El Camino?
Not up here.
Yes it is. I produce a crumpled scrap. According to this map I’m to walk the red line from Potes to Fuente De, take the Telefonica then hike a trail to Puerto Pandetrave. See?

He shakes his head then guides my gaze to another world beyond the cavern yawning at our feet. You’ve come up the wrong Pico. You have to take the Telefonica back down to Fuente De and walk that camino over there. Far away between purple mountains and other Picos I see an exposed trail zigzagging up a dip....

In a flash I decide. I spent €9.50 or there abouts to get up here. I´m staying. And suddenly I´m laughing, crazily. I am being ´twisted´ a wild golden Camino round curves and awesome tangents.
-Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 361 cont.

…..for hours I roam the moon and Self unfolds before me. I drift in the heat over chalk white crags as the sun etches fantasies and visions. I am skinless.

At 21.30 the last of the day trippers disappear and I stretch out beneath stars. A faint breeze feathers my neck as cow bells burble the night. Luna light bounces off Picos and all night I lie there fitfully. My thoughts are stark. Finally at 4 am I’ve had enough. I roll up my groundsheet and Sac and check into.....

The Last Resort –ve********

.....and there I am embraced by fetid air as the stench of detritous greets me. I succumb to the fellowship of mould covered walls as a lullaby rises within:
Buenas Noches, Peregrina...... Buenas Noches.

-Lovingkindness

*The Last Resort, a derelict baños near the Telefonica, Fuente De. Photo? ....No, too disgusting

 

[ksam]

Ok...I think we need to cobble together and get a GPS thingy in your pack...just to make tracking where in the world our Perigina is!! Incredible pics, amazing adventures! My only complaint...I wish I was there too! Absolutely in love with the moonscape!

Be well, Karin

 

[lovingkindness]

Nunca, Ksam. Nunca.... I hiked The Penine Way (UK) solo with a GPS. For days there was white-out fog and I couldn´t see more than a few feet in front of me. The GPS was fantastic, just follow the arrow, follow the arrow....I loved that hike. It was bog-hopping all the way across great moors and hills. Awesome. Six weeks later I followed it up with the Swiss Apline Pass Route, my most strenuous jaunt ever......Ah, give me some earth, more mountains, more something......

Lovingkindness

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 362 Fuente De to Portilla de la Reina

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 362 cont. ...it´s uphill, Babe, in the searing heat you Loon .....
The next day I descend to ´Hell´ and that’s where Great Uncle George finds me. Gently he places his hand inside my onerous ´pack´ and removes the ´spuds´ one by one. Then he wisps back to Egypt and adds the spuds to the huge mountain of potatoes before him…..How strange, this is the second time Gr. Uncle George has joined my Camino. He exists only in Sepia between the leaves of my mother’s Family Album. There he is forever peeling potatoes, an army cook. I don’t think we met.

George was one of Nana’s twelve brothers and sisters. By the time Nana passed away 100 descendents were there to farewell her. She had 7 children, 32 grand children, 52 great grand children and 9 great great grand children, bless His Holy Name [oops, can I say that?... Maybe....(I´m wracking my brains for a connection)....Yes! I´ve found one: Grandad started out a Catholic but got excommunicated. ...that´s good enough]. I think Nana and her siblings must have populated a third of the Nation by now….and perhaps my father and his forebears had a good shot at it as well…..

Suddenly I´ve forgotten my heavy load and the sweltering heat no longer matters. What lays before me is a superb stretch of Piste, eleven kilometres up and over to Puerto de Pondetrave. After that there´s 10 kilometers on tarmac and if I survive a bed….I hope….

-Lovingkindness

 

[maricristina]

From Maricristina
I am so moved by your posts. I have walked the route along the coast and the paths around Potes and the National Park. I am unsure about your route now. When I went to work as hospitaliera in Miraz, a few years ago, there were three German pilgrims who came that way from the coast and then by the Sanctuaria at Covadonga. As I had walked in the Picos before going to Miraz I was most impressed by their journey but, sadly, cannot remember their route. There was also a ruined pilgrim refuge south of Liebana up in the mountains and I hope that, one day, someone may trace that route back. (It would require camping, maybe GPS etc and I am too old now!!) I put an article in the bulletin of the CSJ in the hope that someone would take up the challenge. My own interest in Liebana was because of Beatus and his commentary on the Apocasypse which was of such importance to so many European scholars. There was a good exposition on the various manuscripts in Potes. I also discovered that there was a pilgrim refuge there , the one in which you stayed. If you continue as the three Germans did you would be sure of a welcome in the CSJ refugio in Miraz. May God and St.James bless you and keep you. You are a true pilgrim.

 

[lovingkindness]

Buenas Dias, Maricristina Mucho Gusto! Gracias. I noticed several signed trails leading off the motorway between Potes and Fuente De and at the top of the Picos. Perhaps you hiked some of these and can comment:

* St Toribio to Casgaya, 3 hours. Yellow + white balis.
* Casgaya to Pido, 4 hours. Red and white GR.
*Pido to Fuente De, 1 1/2 hours. Green sign, white lettering. (ends directly on the Ruta Vadiniense, a few hundred metres after the Official sign.)
* There is a trail from Espimas up to the Picos, Fuente De (Ruta de Reconquistadors?)
* A trail at the top of the Picos going to Puerto de Pondetrave, marked as a dotted line on a map. I spoke to someone who had hiked this particular trail. I was concerned that with 10-12 kilos in my pack it would be dangerous. After consideration (I´m not sure how he decided) he suggested it would be better for me to go back down the Telefonica and walk the route by the Piste, ie the signed Ruta Vadiniense.

These routes may be an exhilirating alternative to the stretch of tarmac between Potes and Fuente De. There are albergues and/or hotels at the end of each. Before setting off from Potes I had enquired of alternatives but heard of none.

-Lovingkindness
ps perhaps we could copy this to the Ruta Vadiniense thread which Rebekah has created? Shall we continue there?.....

 

[lovingkindness]

Day 363/361? Portilla de la Reina to Riaño

....oh, no. The Days are out. Thousands of incorrectly labelled photos, my Diary ....helpppp.

 

[lovingkindness]

...

 

[lovingkindness]

...