Some thoughts and observations – Wednesday, October 12, 2011:




I have probably gone into too much detail in describing our Camino but I must admit that I wrote it as much for my own records as to inform others.

I have frequently referred to Brierley and questioned him here and there. I should make it clear that we were using the 2009 edition of the Pilgrim's Guide and the 2010 edition of the Maps. There is a 2011 edition of the guide and I was unaware until I had finished walking that there is a web page with additional changes.

From the time we left Porto until we arrived in Santiago we did not meet another peregrino whose first language was English.

I walked the entire Camino in very open trekking sandals which others thought odd. Last year I only wore sandals for the final hour or two of each day but I found them such a relief that I decided to wear them all day. This year I did not experience the agonising pain in my feet that I can remember going into Larasoana, Logroño and Estella or coming down the steep hill into El Aceibo. That is not to say that my feet didn’t get sore.

At my age my legs are no longer functioning as they were meant to. For anyone else in the same situation I would recommend Nordic walking poles. I doubt if I could have made it without them.  

What is it about the Camino that you can feel such pain and tiredness near the end of a day's walk and yet never think of giving up?

For my part, how did I feel as fresh each morning as I felt at the start of day one? I probably didn't look it.

The whole experience now seems somewhat magical and all the aches and pains are long forgotten while the people we met are firmly embedded in our memory.

Time spent in Lisbon and Porto prior to the Camino and in Madrid and Toledo afterwards added to the enjoyment.

The photograph we should have had taken on our arrival in Santiago

Dinner with our fellow pilgrims




 
 
Entrance to Hospideria san Martin Pinario

 

 
Cathedral entrance with the imprint of millions of hands




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