We have been busy. Up and down. Today we walked about 28 km, and went down 500 meters, and then at the end of the day, we went up 440 meters. This has been the hardest day, but the greatest rewards. At the end at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, the owner has over the years posted shells with the names of the pilgrims passing by. He also has a collection of international music and played Lenard Cohen, and Gorden Lightfoot music for us…….and then more music from the 70s………we danced.  What fun. I am certain the photos will not adequately show the splendor …..we saw from way up there….. I will catch up on the stories, but right now the days are too long to write more…….

We have had many days with ups and downs, but somehow today was much harder. We have been walking for two days ……on top of the world. My pictures will not do it justice……but truly spectacular.

We are in Lubian now and had quite the experience today. We had a wonderful hike up the 320 meter climb today, and figured it was like climbing up to the road from our cabin twice ( with 20 lb packs on). Had a  wonderful time,and then settled into the “casa rural”, which I figure is sort of like a bed and breakfast. We then went to the bar and were just settling into our second glass of vino tinto, when all of a sudden there were some loud popping sounds and people were running, some appeared to be “hitting the deck “. I guess in the world we “live” in, our first thoughts were gunfire. Then a woman was running up the road yelling in Spanish and many men were running towards where she came from. Turns out that a house was burning down. Sounds like an elderly couple and a barbecue???

We ran down towards the fire with the thoughts of somehow helping, but the intense smoke made it impossible to see, or breath, for that matter. This is a small town, perhaps 300 people, and everyone was trying to help. Many people ran home to grab home fire extinguishers, which seemed to do very little. The only hose seemed to have such a small volume that it seemed to do nothing. I am sure it took at least 90 minutes for the fire dept to arrive. We were thinking that the closest fire dept was likely pueblo de sanabrio, and likely volunteer, so took awhile to get together for the 30 km trip.
It was a rude awakening, to the feeling of complete helplessness. Even if someone had been in need of medical help, they most likely would have needed oxygen which would also be a long ways away.

I think we are doing pretty darned well for what I might have considered “old folgies”, at one point in my life. I will be 60 in a few months and Ken will be 62 in a few more months. Neither of us really have any complaints to speak of. Interesting though, I do have a rather chronic problem with lower back pain (like about 70% of the population my age). On X-ray it is the facets that are arthritically deteriorating. I was concerned about this trip and carrying a pack etc. Well surprisingly that problem has disappeared……seemingly cured…… I am thinking that the pack works as a back brace, and my back is loving it. Isn’t that odd?

Ok so here we are a full day off, just hanging around the castle. We even found a place to stay tonite near the castle. My thoughts are that a day off is not good……ones mind wanders to, ……other things. I know that sounds rather melodramatic, but I feel more focused when doing the same thing each day. When you are walking each day you just focus on where you need to get to today, if you have enough snacks, and if you get there before the early meal. (If you do not, you have to stay awake until after 8, for dinner, which seems late for us. )  A day off makes me miss my dog…… So many lovely dogs here.

I love castles, especially the outsides of castles. The “insides” eventually get around to the nitty gritty of what actually went on there, and I usually find some part of it, depressing. Take today’s castle, for instance…… Turns out there was/is a basement/dungeon where they just threw “other nobility” down into, such that they would eventually succumb to their wounds, from the fall?
Captain bringdown!!! The outsides are gorgeous though. No moat for this castle though as it has a river around parts of it.
We head out tomorrow, and there is a lot of “chatter” about the condition of the trail with all the water. It is hard to interpret, as much of the information is a week old.

So tomorrow is today …….

Most everyone else stuck to the road today, with the poorly marked trail, and the water on the trail. We took the trail armed with an app,”the wise pilgrim” app for the via de la plata trail, which works like other map apps showing you exactly where you are on the map in relation to where the trail is. This app has saved us a few times already and worth the 99 cents we invested in it. We did run into a group of pilgrims who had all wandered ankle deep into the water, they had the app but were not using it.

Tomorrow  we have plans to get to Lubian, which is 19 km, and 320 meters higher than we are here. (Which is 1049 feet). Not dreadful, but perhaps harder than what we have thus far encountered.

we did have an encounter with a field of bulls today, although the picture does not do the circumstance justice, we were not into hanging around for a better shot.  No fences in the vicinity………

Well we have gone and done it…… Our first night in a posh hotel. Well perhaps posh is a strong word, or is it really a relative word. It has a bath, how much more posh can you get? It also has a bidet (one of those soak your bottom things) I guess that was not the main area I wanted to soak so, gave it a miss.

i have to say that the hardest part about staying in Alburgues, is the snoring. Ken snores, and I have worn ear plugs for years, problem solved.  Well turns out there are snorers, (small time snorers), and then there are those who seem to be training for the olympics of snoring.  If you watched the movie about the Camino, “the way” ,  when Martin Sheen could not sleep he went outside and the guy offered him sleeping pill, ear plugs, or a joint. I have to say the first two do not work.  It is difficult in that there is absolutely nothing that the “perp” can do about it. A night in a private room is a solution along the way.

Many of the small towns along the way only have the municipal Alberque, which can be quite nice, just the dorm style.  Some small towns have private hostels, or  Albergues, some even with a few double rooms, but they are always taken. You can book ahead to save a bed, and we have done this once, but again a dorm room.

i have to say that this was one of the personal challenges of this trip, and really except for the one issue, I do not mind the dorm rooms at all.

All and all I have done ok, just a few nights near a snorer, I get a bit behind on sleep.

So all is well now, a good sleep had by all last night.  Tonite we are staying up just outside the castle (in the pictures yesterday). It is beautiful up there, it is always so hard to really get your bearings when you arrive in a town.

So today is our rest day, going to check out the 12th century castle in more detail.  We are currently in Pueblo de Sanabres.

…a fence of bed springs….

I believe my body has decided to stop protesting this journey, and just go along with it. Everything seems to be functioning well. I seem to have enough energy and do not hurt really anywhere, however I fear that a statement like this could seem akin to shaking ones fist at the devil. Never be too glib. I believe it was a comment like “what great weather we are having, just a short rain each day”, that brought on the deluge we got hit with a few days ago. Heavy heavy rain, hail, soaked right down to the skin. Lesson learned, never be too confident or at least not out loud.

Today we walked 30 km, not totally planned, but nonetheless tolerated well. Either we calculated poorly, or the maps were wrong, irregardless, will sleep well tonite.

…..Then this note goes on……
We have left behind fields of lavender, rosemary, and wild thyme. We are climbing in altitude ever so gradually. The wild plants alongside us now are scottish broom, heather, and sadly the occasional gorse bush. My Oregon friends will relate to this. We figure we are about halfway to Santiago now. We have had two very long days of 30 km each, and my blog writing time has been usurped with walking. Today will be a shorter day 15 Kms, and then a rest day. We have had several warm days now and so I think that the snowpack is melting and there’s water everywhere. Many places along the trail are thick with mud and or flowing water. We have had to be creative trying to keep our boots dry.

Yesterday was an interesting day in that we started out to do 10 km but got to the town early and it looked like we would have to wait a long time for hotel to open so we opted to move on. There were many towns along the way, but none had Albergue, or any accommodation for that matter. At one point there was even the promise of a guest house in an old castle, but the book that promised that was sadly outdated.

We are not alone, in fact, have many fellow “peligrinos” that we meet up with some nights, and then do not see again for several days. Our group, which started as 6, is now down to 4. We began with friends Greg and Helene, their daughter Anne, and a friend of theirs, Tammy. Anne, as expected, walked with us for about 4 days (but way ahead of us), then decided she was ready for a Camino on her own, so went on ahead. Tammy, who also happens to be from Texas, so I will hereby refer to as Miss Tammy, had a knee injury in the first week. Taping and TLC got her through to Tabara, but alas the injury became too much,and from there she caught a bus to Orense, and then Santiago. She has plans to come back to complete, which by the way, is what a lot of people do for one reason or another.

There is also a group of delightful French ladies, whose ages appear to average at around 70. There are 5 of them, and what French we know and what English they know, and with a lot of sign language we feel like we understand each other. There is a British couple (say no more), an Italian couple, one man from Finland, and many Germans.

Ken and I are really having the time of our lives. I thought I needed to say that in case the point has not been made in the notes thus far.
Also not sure if it is clear, but this note has been written over a few days.
ONWARD …….to the castle…..more on that later

oh and if you are wondering what ken is wearing it is his swim trunks, today is laundry day

There is a routine to the days and we are beginning to GET it. We are walking between 18-25 km/day. I am finding I am tired after about 15 km, and we get lucky when we find a coffee place at around that distance. Cafe con leche to recharge for those last Kms.
Most nights we have stayed in the Albergues, which are dorm style rooms with 8-20 people sleeping in bunks. Sometimes they have some cooking facilities, but not always. I have been packing around a large broccoli and a bag of pasta, hoping to cook a meal, but finally left them behind at the last place as they were taking up too much pack space.
So the days start early, we just get up, re-pack our bags and then either find the café and have coffee and whatever breakfast they have. Somedays we have jam on the bread from the day before yesterday for breakfast. The key is the snacks.  We stuff the side bags of our packs with nuts, dried fruit, and whatever chocolate snacks look good. Each day we have lunch somewhere along the path. We make sandwiches with large loaves of “pan”.  We have cheese, Dijon, and caper sandwiches. It has become our Camino tradition. I even found some fennel along the way to add to sandwiches.  We arrive in most places between 1 and 2 pm.  The difficulty is that the “meal time” usually ends at 4 and then starts again at 8, which is late.  I usually go to bed at 8, so we have either been making sandwiches for dinner or having dinner at 3-4. Then it is time to spend getting ready for bed, checking your feet, treating your feet, then time to read etc…..then sleep…….very good sleep.

Where we are tonite  

Amazing that these vines grow in what appears to be a field of rock…..

So it is not all fun and games on the Camino. ………… There IS some work involved. Or it is not all work, some fun is involved, depending if you like looking for clues.  

You do have to find your way along the trail. It is not dead easy, you have to find markings along the way to find your “way”. If you miss the signs, you will end up somewhere other than where you are going. The signs are usually yellow and can be as simple as a yellow arrow painted on a wall, or as complex as a brass caricature of a shell.

For the first day or so, I did not pay attention to the searching for signs, because I was following others, but when they disappear, you have to start looking for them yourself and they can be hard to find. Essentially there is some sort of sign whenever there is more than one way to go. If you have not seen a sign in awhile, you likely have missed a turn.

That all bein said yesterday we came across a small flood that prevented us from following arrows.  Took us awhile to find ulberge.  The other picture is of one of the ancient markers, alongside a grape stump.  Bon Camino.

To paraphrase a famous Steve Martin line, ” those Spanish, it’s like they have a different word for everything” , so true. We checked into this place yesterday and listened to the owner tell us all about the place not understanding a word. Well OK we picked up a few words here and there. I asked about wifi and assumed his answer meant no,with an explanation. No biggie, I have a SIM card so can check email, find out about the Alberta fires, and the USA primaries on my iPad. Later on after Ken went to bed, the phone from downstairs rang and there was a man speaking In rapid Spanish. After this I put down the phone and then there was someone at the door. It was a little scary, but there was the owner with a little wifi device. He stayed until he was certain I had mastered its use. What a nice guy.
When we went to France a few years ago I worked for months on my French only to end up on a bike barge tour with a Dutch crew and all of the passengers were English speaking. I found it hard to motivate myself to work on Spanish for this trip until the last week or so, not long enough. I wish now the circumstances were reversed. All of my work would have been put to better use. My priority has always been to learn French living in Canada. I do love France, but I am now loving Spain equally, and it seems that it might just fit better into a retiree …….and  a low Canadian dollar budget. Spain is SOO much less expensive than France. This is view out our back window, old old wall with years or repairs.  5 feet away.

Most people we meet along the way have also done the Camino Frances in fact many are surprised that this is our first choice. The friends we came with, Helene and Greg have done many “ways”, in fact Helene many more so than Greg. The draw for them was how busy the Camino Frances has become and the Via de la Plata, not so much. I have come to realize that like everything in life, everyone has a different take on this. The Frances is extremely well established and although there are many more people enroute, they are more set up to handle large groups. They even have large dorm style rooms with 50-100 people. The most we have seen has been 10 to a room. The Frances also has many alternatives for places to stay, but the “via” is catching up. Speaking to a few “pilgrims” yesterday who were traveling alone, they found this route more “lonely”. They said you never get lonely on Frances. Guess a matter of opinion.

We are now in Zamora, and having a day of rest from the trail.
Zamora is a city we would love to spend a week. Today we explored the remains of a “Castillo”, built in the 11th century. The walls were fascinating, an anthropologic map. The lower walls essentially large stones cemented together, whereas as they ascended more precise edged bricks. It appeared as though each subsequent culture has added their own technological skills, as the walls went higher. The apparent “repairs” also each had their own cultural flair.  I hope this shows what I mean.

The etiquette of the Camino takes awhile to fully learn, many lessons on the way. The “mulligan” in golf comes to mind. You are allowed that one bad shot/mistake, and then you move on, well I have to say that I have been taking my mulligan daily. The first night it was the flashlight. Why is it that flashlights don’t just turn on and off? Why all these extra settings? So the first night in the middle of the night I get the flashlight from Ken and in trying to turn it on, I managed to wake every one up. First it was the struggle to find the ON button, and by the time I DID find the ON button, it was shining in someone’s eyes, and then in a panic to shut it off, I got the next setting which was a flashing light. Well, by then everyone was awake as I skulked down to the bathroom. Mulligan. Clearly a beginner.
I could go on……but we have been walking now for 4 days and 4 nights in dorm style rooms. We are now in Zamora and decided to splurge on an Airbnb. All I can say is WOW. I guess I had envisioned Airbnb as a mattress on someone’s living room floor. Well for 50 cdn dollars a night we have a whole apartment complete with a kitchen,laundry and a shower (a perk I could easily rent out on an hourly basis on the Camino.)

We have not seen a bank machine, or a business that takes credit cards, for 4 days. So we have had to borrow cash from the youngest in our group so that we could have dinner last night.
The towns we have been in the past 4 days have been 3-400 people populations. Small farming towns.
So we have stocked up on cash, groceries and wine. Zamora is a small city, and well equipped.
We have now walked 75 km, so more than a tenth of the way there.

Last night Greg (one of our entourage) meeting me coming out of the men’s bathroom/shower just said  “mulligan”