Cap'n's bLog

Why did you decide to do the Camino? It is a common question heard along the Way. Before leaving home it was a question that I had prepared for even if I didn't have a deep answer. Why we do things is a very important question. Frequently I torment our kids with this question but I consider it essential. Why are you doing that? Why do you want to do that? Why did I do the Camino de Santiago? I did it because Amy wanted to do it. I wanted to be a part of the experience. I figured that I would have a lot of time along the way to figure out why I was there. The office of Peregrinos keeps detailed statistics of why pilgrims make their way to Santiago. Most are for religious or cultural reasons. Mine were a combination. But these statistics are derived from checkboxes, not open ended questions or long conversations over a meal or bottle of wine. Several times we heard of ill or deceased relatives or friends as the reason behind a Camino. Sometimes it was in response to a life cha...

The rain forecast for our final stage into Santiago de Compostella was impatient with our schedule and instead fell while we slept. Like kids at Christmas we were up early and had already eaten breakfast when we started walking in the dark at 7:40. Our small lights kept us out of the mud puddles along the forest road. The day was overcast and gray but it never rained until we had arrived at our destination. The guidebook calls this an uninspiring 12 mile stage until you reach the old city. I always love the old section of a European city. The narrow and winding cobbled streets laid out hundreds of years before cars speak to me. This was the shortest of our 27 stages. Shortly after lunch we stood in the middle of the Praza de Obradoiro at kilometer marker 0. There were a smattering of pilgrims scattered about the square taking pictures. Some were just sitting on the ground and others on the surrounding benches. Some were laughing and others crying. We saw none of our friends yet...

Have you heard the one about the American who walks into a bar? It turns out to be Erin Mosher's brother! There was no breakfast at our albergue this morning but we were excited to see the door open on the small café/bar across the street. Amy, Clare and I were sitting at the only table in the café having coffee, juice and croissants when a man walked in to have breakfast. He sat at the bar. He overheard us talking and asked where we were from. We said NC and he replied, "Asheville?" Turns out he is Erin Mosher's brother, Michael! What a small world after all. We finished breakfast and got on the Way. Our paths crossed several other times that day. He said that Greg had told him to look out for a family from Asheville just a few days ago. What are the chances that we would actually connect. Things like that happen along the Way. At our second coffee stop we ran into Michael again. He had moved onto vino tinto. We met Petra from Holland who has been walking since...

We walked 18 miles today. We had intended to walk 16 but pushed on for the extra 2 because no restaurant or store was open in our targeted ending village. Those extra last 2 miles of course were all uphill and although our walking day was 8-4:30 with a 1 hr lunch break, I didn't feel whipped like I did earlier in this pilgrimage. We've fallen into a rhythm with Ted from Taiwan, who is currently living in Vancouver. He is a great guy to be around because he is always so positive. He has been walking with Marek from the Czech Republic since we've known him. The albergue where we stayed last night purported to offer breakfast. That is not typical and we weren't quite sure if there was an extra charge for that or if it was included. As we stood at the metal roll front counter at 6:30am we weren't even sure breakfast would happen this day. There was no action inside and we were enjoying our rice pudding as a backup plan. Ted walked by and offered us a coffee which would ...

Our day started and finished with the same Korean pilgrims cooking up a feast. In between we hiked 15 miles with a 2,000 feet climb over the first half out of the fog, and mainly a descent for the second half with the sun on our left. Many albergues and cafes are now closed for the season despite the marked increase in pilgrim traffic. To earn the Compostela, pilgrims must hike at least the last 100k, which starts just west of Sarria. Every open café is filled with peregrinos and at times I could count up to 30 pilgrims within sight on the Way. It's really starting to feel festive! Getting back to the feast. This morning's feast was chestnuts. That's right. Old school pilgrim foraging. On the menu were boiled or pan roasted chestnuts. We only sampled the roasted as the boiling was not yet finished. After they had their fill and had filled small bags they offered us some and we dug in. They were delicious! Even better than we had had at the stand in back in Soria, possibly d...

I think I've figured out why the unemployment rate is so high in Spain. The grocery stores only have one employee. They might be re-stocking shelves or carving jamón in the back or ringing you up. With staples in our arms we stood at an unmanned cash register in the front of Supermercado in Portomarin. One gentleman approached and as he only had two items we suggested he go ahead of us. He would have none of that. He sat his items on the floor behind us and then sat down in the seats at the storefront to catch up on the day's events. Another man approached with two large bottles of water and shouted, "Señora! cash register!!, the pilgrims are waiting!" Señora hustled up to the register and rang us up. Señor water bottles struck up a conversation with Clare. They were discussing the recent US election results. He said that the US had missed a chance to elect its first female president. Clare said maybe in the near future. The man said, "How about you? You could r...

We stepped out of our albergue in Hospital and into a dark fog. The sun was not yet up over O Cebreiro. We gave a cursory examination to a pre-Romanesque church and then hit the rolling ridge line to Alto do Poio. As the sun hit our backs, the fog parted, revealing green patchwork fields below. The guidebook called the climb to Alto do Poio short and steep. If it were any steeper we'd have needed ropes. We popped over the end of the ridge and started to follow a shallow downhill grade beside the road. We were above the fog, filling the valleys below. I love this view. We get it cycling back in WNC, particularly when we ride up to Pisgah early in the morning. After a mile we were back into the fog. I was a bit frustrated with the fog but that's my problem. I felt that we had truly earned the views but instead we were inside a cloud. We stopped for coffee in a one café town and ran into Mark from Copenhagen. He had stayed with us two nights ago and then again briefly last n...

Today's day stage called for serious ups. I checked the weather while I was stirring a vat of oatmeal. I was hoping the forecast improved while we slept. It didn't. The weather man was keeping it real with a 💯% chance of rain from 10am to 6pm. Thunderstorms in the afternoon would keep us focused. Good thing we'll be on top of a mountain. We moved briskly through the valley floor gently starting the ascent. We passed cows in green fields by a stream with their bells jingling. Next came a pumpkin patch that led into a coffee break. It was not nearly as cold as the prior days and I was already getting warm with a short sleeved wool shirt and a Goretex rain coat. I'd like to mention something about that base layer. This is our 20th day on the Camino. I have worn that shirt on all 20 days. I'm going for the record. As far as I can tell it doesn't smell but then again I always seem to be given a wide perimeter in the albergues. I have been washing it. It nearly drie...

We have stayed in six different villages since Leon. Padrecito Freddy from Columbia has stayed in the same villages. In only one of six did we not bunk under the same roof. So it should not come as a surprise that we found him sitting at the table taking a meal when we checked into our albergue, but it did. We are not planning this. I don't even think we are discussing where we are staying. Anyway, today we decided to shorten the Brierly guide book stage a few K to make the stages more even. That put us ending in a small village called Vega de Valcarce. It is a beautiful place in the hills just at the foot of more mountains. We had had not seen Freddy all day. We had not seen him since dinner last night when we both picked the same restaurant in Cacabelos. Freddy had been limping pretty badly two nights ago but when we saw him last night he was in even worse shape. He had fallen coming into Cacabelos and had a pretty ugly lateral ankle sprain. It was already swollen. I gave him the...

It's a distance known to all randonneurs. If you are not familiar with how far 200k is then you are not a true randonneur. Now imagine it without a bike. That's what we have left. We can do it but there is still a lot of meat left on the bone. Each week we treat ourselves to a hotel stay. Last night was one of those nights. We had our own room and our own bathroom which had towels and soaps and everything! We had a small balcony that looked out over the Roman bridge. Amy loved monitoring the pilgrims entering the village across the bridge. She had the perfect view. We knew all of them. Most we knew by name. Here comes Freddy. Some we knew by home country. The Spanish couple is coming. Some we knew by what had happened to them. Here is the woman that had her pack stolen today. Can you believe that? She went into the bushes for a nature break and left her pack at the edge of the trail. Just then a car stopped and grabbed the pack. Two mountain bikers saw the heist and g...

We attended the pilgrim's mass at 7 in Rabanal. The monks weren't chanting this evening because only one was in town. He was saying mass along with our Colombian friend Padrecito Freddy. In attendance was the French family except for the 5 month old and the mother who stayed behind at the albergue. The father and five children occupied a pew toward the back of the small chapel but then were invited into the choir seating to the side of the altar. The father was asked to do the readings in Spanish and he did them beautifully. The remainder of the mass was in English and during the homily we were reminded that tomorrow we would be visiting the Cruz de Ferro, the highest point on the Camino where we should unburden ourselves of things that we were carrying but did not require. By tradition, pilgrims carry stones to this point and then unload those stones at the cross. There is quite a pile. I was carrying two. We left mass in a light rain and made it back to the warmth of Albergue...