Official notification - Angela A is a STAR!!!!

Angela A has raised over £600 for the Magic Moments charity in memory of her friend Lynne.  That is a fantastic achievement - so well done to you hun!!!

Day 4 - Sleep tight!

Introducing Angela no. 2

I am really looking forward to going on this trip with a great bunch of people. I have never done anything like this before and I hope I can keep up with everyone! 

And never mind the hair!!!!! Watch this space!

I am most looking forward to the camaraderie and a totally different experience.  I have never stayed in a hostel or back-packed before.  With so many kids going off doing this now I have been able to beg and borrow loads of stuff and then I can invest in my own if I like it!

There isn't anything I am not looking forward to.  I suppose that if I have to say anything it would be sore feet and blisters.

In memory of a good friend

I am (Angela A) walking in memory of my good friend Lynn McFaull who died of ovarian cancer 3 years ago. She is pictured here with her daughter Megan and is sadly missed by all of her family and friends. I am grateful for this opportunity to raise awareness and funds for this charity which was a great support to her and a place where she was able to speak to and befriend people in the same position as herself.

Mark McCarthy's Magic Moments is a charity offers special treats to patients undergoing cancer treatment. This may be a short trip away to provide a welcome lift after treatment or the opportunity to spend one last holiday with the family. They also take out large groups of patients twice a year, once in the summer on a boat trip up the Thames and again at Christmas to a panto followed by lunch.

This is a local charity for people in the Barking, Havering and Redbridge area and was brought about by nurses in Queen's Hospital (Oldchurch) and King George hospital in Ilford. They now have several volunteers.

If you'd like to pledge a donation please add a comment and I will email you with details.

Thank you so much for your support and thoughts.

Introducing Angela

My mate Jenny came up with this mad idea. At the time I dismissed it completely then a little I don't know what came over me, a little challenge I thought! A big bloomin' challenge. So that's how I became involved!

I thought I would do it for a reason, and make it worthwhile (I know it's her birthday but you know what I mean) so now I am being sponsored! More about that later!

My preparation so far has been walking to work (well once) and proudly texted everyone to say that I had managed 13 miles in 2 hours 50 mins! Jen got a minute by minute update! However .......... the next day I drove the same route and had to revise my distance. It was only 8.7 miles - damn those pedometers! That and another 2 hour walk has been my only prep. But by all accounts that's more than anyone else!

What I am looking forward to most about the walk is ....... the feeling of accomplishment. I have walked 7 hours over mount Tongariro in New Zealand in awful weather, feet soaked from the very first hour, being pushed on by a girl half my age. But what a feeling when I got to the other side! To be able to do it. That is what I am aiming to do.

What I am not looking forward to is if the weather is too cold or too hot, sleeping rough, aching body and feeling hungry and pretty much everything about it!

On the spiritual side I'll take whatever I can get. Let's hope God gives me some wings so I can fly it!

Finisterre 2008 - This is the way to camp!

We hurriedly picked up a 2-berth tent before we left England, just in case we had to camp en route and Martin carried it the 150 miles across Portugal and Spain.  When we arrived in Finisterre at Cee we assembled the tent - that is me reading the instructions to myself while Martin did his own thing.  At the same point we both realised the mistake we had made ..........

It was a sun shelter for the beach!!!!!! How totally embarrassing!!  Naturally at that point it started to rain and the only option other than sleeping in the toilet block was to book into the expensive sea-front hotel!

Camino Portuguese 2008 (Part 2)

We started our Camino in Porto - 150 miles from Santiago de Compostela - which can be split roughly into 11 days of walking of 11 stages.  During that time I sent emails to my Dad (via my daughter and sister) as I was going to be away for a month and was a way of staying connected.

We stayed in Porto for a couple of days and took the train to Vila do Conde on the coast and walked to Rates the next day.  Martin tangled himself up with his sticks and feet and the kerb within moments of walking and fell face down wrenching his shoulder.  His pride recovered but his shoulder gave him trouble throughout the camino.  The albergue in Rates was empty and we had to collect the key from the local shop and was apparently clean. However I used one of their blankets and woke up in the middle of the night thinking that I had been bitten on my eyes;  but I had had a reaction to the dirt in the blanket and the area around my eyes had swollen so that I looked like I had been hit full on the face with a frying pan!  What a start!

Barcelos stage 3

Hi Dad,

There was no albergue but we found a lovely hotel for only 35 euro as they gave a discount for pilgrims. Really good room and bathroom plus a balcony and so like gypsies Martin erected a washing line and we washed all our clothes! Very posh!

We liked Barcelos very much. It was a nice medieval town with a friendly atmosphere and be decided to stay another day and visit yet another medieval town called Braga. This wasn't as nice as Barcelos, quite busy and business like. We feel like tourists at the moment as there are no other pilgrims and with no albergue (cheap municipal hostal) we are staying in tourist hotels generally at tourist prices and even with the discount we are still exceeding our budget. It is harder to get into the necessary pilgrim mindset of hard walking when you have a nice place to stay in and everyone is asleep in their nice beds when you start the day at 4.30!

My eye is still inflamed and I have to wear sun glasses all the time even inside cos I am SO embarrassed by how they look!

Lots of love

Jennifer and Martinxxxx

Ponte de Lima Stage 5

Hello Dad,

This is Ponte de Lima and is the prettiest and loveliest town you can imagine! This is day 4/11 of the walk and started the 20.9 mile walk from Barcelos at 5 o clock in the morning. We didn´t know how we were going to get on but thought we would be able to find accommodation en route if it was too far. We managed for 12 miles and then we knew there was no way we could finish it.

However there was also no accommodation either and as it was Saturday, there were no buses as well! So I had to find a shopkeeper and ask him to ring for a taxi! I can´t speak Portuguese and he couldn't speak much English so it was very interesting.  There was no albergue so we found a pension just by this church. A toothless hag was the landlady and charged us an exorbitant 40 euros for a a room with a bathroom that came straight out of the early 1950s and not in a good way. Martin was scared. It reminded him of a hammer house of horror film set. We did the usual bit of washing and hung it out of the window which had a pretty view of the main church of the town. We were very close.

You can just see our bathroom window in the house on the left.  We could hear the priest saying mass but worse of all the bells went off EVERY 15 minutes ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. It was loud. Literally we would sit up in bed wondering what the hell was happening. Our alarm was set for 4.30 again as we had to be out by 5 cos hagless tooth was off to Santiago at 6 herself she claimed. We had decided to take another day off and to swim in the river so we had nowhere to go for 2 hours before the sun came up and we could go in a cafe!

It was a fabulous place with lovely gardens and cold river to swim in we had a lovely time there.

Have to go now,

Love you lots

Jennifer and Martin xxxxxxxxxxx

We were only given the hotel room on the condition we left at 5.30 (all negotiated in Spanish - how?) because the landlady was going to Santiago herself at 6. We had decided to take a rest day and so had nowhere to go and had to sit in the square with all our stuff on a bench. We did not have enough clothes to keep warm and the square was dirty with food and drink from the night before. Tired and cold, we felt a bit sorry for ourselves (me that is) and to top it all, we saw the landlady going to 8.30 mass.

A quick mention of the area around the borders of Spain and Portugal.  Memories of pre-dawn walks, cooling down in ice-cold forest streams in the heat of the day, yet another medieval castle not forgetting the brilliant views at the top of mountains (but forgetting the tiring walk up them!)

Porrino to Redondela stage 7

Hi Dad,

This walk was from Porrino to Redondela which was one mountain that went to 210 metres in only 2 km and down in 5km. It was really hard. No, really hard. Words cannot express how hard!!!! Our book is not up to date and where it said there were cafes there were not and any cafes we saw were closed. It was physically really hard but also psychologically because we we pinning our hopes on finding a cafe and food and a coffee and we were constantly being disappointed. The landscape didn't seem to match the book at all and the last 5 km went on for ever! miles in fact! We always seemed to have another 3 point bloody 4 km to go no matter how far we walked!

Stayed in the Albergue (government run hostals which are for pilgrims) which was a converted medieval tower. So exhausted after the days climb that couldn't be bothered to go out and look around the town. Not looking forward to the climb the next day which is 2 mountains but not as high as today's one.

The next day we started off early - left at 5 - and made good progress but then we reached a point where we had to climb down a dirt track with forestry and no light. So we had to sit until dawn broke as we could have broken our necks instead. That was the low point of the whole walk so far. I was at my physical and psychological low of all time and just couldn't face the day. Martin was a star. When we did get going I cried with relief when we got to the top of the first mountain and knew it wouldn't get any harder.

Anyhow gotta go now. I have to say that the earlier days have been really good fun and I will write to you about them as soon as I can. Portugal is a really beautiful country and really friendly people. The medieval towns are a real treat and Martin´s need for history in the holiday have been more than satisfied.

Love you lots,

Jennifer and Martin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Redondela to Pontevedra stage 8

Hi Dad,

The walk is 11 days long in all. The walk to Redondela to Pontevedra was only 11.3 miles but involved 2 mountains. I didn't like the town very much as it was quite commercialised although it was another example of a medieval town with much of the original features. Its funny how they are all different! You would think that one medieval town would be like another but in fact they all had their own character. Pontevedra was a bit of a rip-off place I felt. it was expensive and busy.

The best bit was the roman bridge that we crossed to leave! The albergue was full up (much to our relief) and so we stayed in a basic hotel which had a TV and en suite bathroom. This was great! We watched badly dubbed Australian programs which was strangely soothing, had a take-in meal (as restaurants so dear) of pie and rolls and was just what we needed to do. The albergues are cheap (3 Euros each or donation) but there is no privacy and it is quite stressful being in such close proximity to so many foreigners lol! We seem to be hanging around with the same group of people now. They are mainly Italian and Spanish and we cross paths during the day and meet up in the Albergue or the bars in the evening. It is a shame there are no English as it would be good to have conversations with people. They do not speak English well enough and I guess that after a hard days walking and for them being part of a group anyways, it is probably too much effort to try and engage with us too much.  The next days walk is to Caldas de Reis and is a gentle mountain. It is 15 miles though and as there is no such thing as a piece of flat land in Spain I guess it will still be hard.

Love you lots

Jennifer and Martin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Caldas de Reis stage 9

Hi Gill,

Having problems with stamps, postcards and post boxes so can you print and give to Dad for me please!

Hi Dad, how are things? Having problems with finding stamps and postboxes and now I am in Spain with 2 postcards for you with Portuguese stamps on!

We are in Caldas de Reis in Spain which is a Spa town where people come to 'take the waters'. We arrived having walked for 8 hours up a gentle mountain and we were on our last legs literally.

In the front of this hotel is a fountain where you can bathe your feet in the healing waters, so the first thing we did was to throw our rucksacks down, boots off and into the fountain with our painful feet! It was really hot! 40 degrees and the floor of the fountain was covered in moss and slippery. Martin slipped in his haste and nearly got another part of his anatomy scalded! It smelt like rotten eggs but we persevered and it was lovely. We lay out on the floor with our feet dangling in it which shows how bad we felt. It was a build up from the previous 2 days of bloody hard walking up sodding mountains! Yes we ARE having a great time but this was really hard haha. We found a place to stay and the woman offered to do our washing for us which was fantastic as we were down to our last bits and my rucksack was a washing line with 2 pairs of socks pinned to it so that would dry during the day. It was washed and ironed too!

We decided to take a rest day today and so went out for a nice tapas meal by the river and drank 2 bottles of wine between us followed by brandy and coffee - excellent! A lovely, lovely lie in until 9 o'clock rather than the usual 4.30 and a nice breakfast in the bakers. However we do have a bit of a headache this morning so that's one more to add to the list of aches and pains. We are actually hobbling! When I find another internet cafe I will send you another update as I am giving up on the snail mail.

Love you lots,

Jennifer and Martin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

It was an atmospheric taverna, situated overlooking the river, with an enigmatic waitress who while taking our order swiftly stuck her chewing gum under the table after it fell out of her mouth while she was speaking!

Santiago stage 11

Hi Dad,

Well we made it. It was bloody hard going that's all I am going to say haha as you have had enough of my moans already. We did it on a bit of a hangover as well. The first part was ok but there was a really, really, steep mountain just to finish the day off.

We had to queue for 1 1/2 hours to get our official certificate which added insult to injury. As before it is a bit of an anti- climax as Santiago is busy busy and full of pilgrims and tourists.

We are staying tonight with the woman I stayed with before which is nice. She doesn't remember me though! We have just booked a place on a campsite for 7 days in Cee (pronounced Thee) which is great although I don't know how much it is going to cost as we asked the woman in the internet cafe to book it for us! It is near the bus stop so that is very good for our feet but we didn't want to turn up at the site and be told that they were full and we have to walk 10 miles to find another!

It looks really nice and we hope it will solve our finance issues! The first part of our holiday was more expensive than we expected.

OK bye for now love you lots

Jennifer and Martin xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cannot resist including this picture of my favourite thing in Santiago.  I want it!!!! It is actually a piece of furniture but it is fantastic!  Where can I put it in the cottage? It's like a big happy welcoming mumma!  And I just want to hug it!

Camino Portuguese 2008

I met Martin 2 weeks after I came back from Spain in late August 2006.  It's quite difficult to write this in retrospect as we edit our memories and this blog isn't about "Our story" but of course the two are deeply entwined.  My aim is to show that walking the camino can be a one-off experience or can be the first of many.  That the experience is different depending on the stage in your life, the people you are with and the place you are in.

We decided to do the Camino Portuguese but I quite fancied the Camino de la Plata (SIlver way that runs through the centre of Spain through Madrid) as neither of us had been to Portugal.  The walk was 150 miles long which could be broken into 11 days of walking.  We planned to allow for rest days to explore towns and then to finish with a spot of camping in Finisterre for the rest of the time.  I think we were away for just under 4 weeks.  The picture shows us at the border of Spain and Portugal.  We are still in Portugal and the other side of the bridge is Spain.

I found that the characteristics of this camino was  quite different to the French way.  There were far less pilgrims, we saw less than 10 while we were in Portugal, and correspondingly less albergues, so we were staying in hotels very much as tourists.  Hotels generally gave a pilgrim discount but it still was quite expensive.  Hostals are essential for the longer caminos unless you have a fair bit of dosh.  There were very few English speaking people en route in fact the first actual english voice I heard was on the beach in Finisterre and I had to rush over and speak to them because it was the first english voice I had heard in 3 weeks!

As a christian, the spiritual side of the camino is important for me but I found that I was more of tourist than I had hoped to be.  There was a real conflict between wanting to be on holiday with Martin and wanting to be on pilgrimage.  As on camino as in life haha - it is still my conflict!  How to be an active part of a church community and also spend all my time with my husband and best friend?  Don't know!  Maybe it is one to consider for the Camino Ingles!

The camino cemented our relationship.  We spent 24/7 with each other for a month without a row or disagreement other than grumpiness over lack of food or sleep (that was me), and without the distraction of other people.  And we had such a laugh.  We bought our wedding ring on the way somewhere in Portugal and the happy day was 25th July 2009.

Camino Frances 2006 part 2

Here are some pics from my first camino (French Way) starting in Sarria walking 70 miles to Santiago. Much of the walking on this route is through countryside passing through villages and farms. The views are lovely.  The Spanish people were great and really respectful of the fact they you were walking the camino and they would go out of their way to let you know if you had taken a wrong turn. They would call out "Buen Camino!" or "Buenos dias!" as you passed.  The same goes for the other pilgrims and everyone says "Buen camino!" even though they are travelling past you on a bike at 20mph.  I realised that I took a lot of photos of the ground in fact I spend a lot of time looking at the ground! When you go uphill, looking down slightly bent over, that is the most comfortable position and I was very aware of the changes in the landscape that way! 

The pathways were clear when I walked in mid-July but at other times of the year when there has been more rain I guess it could be a bit tricky.  Especially at the best of time streams may be plugged with a few rocks.  As a Londoner at heart I never ceased to be thrilled by real countryside! 

The pathway was very well-marked with yellow arrows or the camino symbol and often houses that were en route made their own contribution to help the peregrinos as well.

An horreo is a traditional Galician method of storing grain.  You see them everywhere!

I caught these two men passing the time of day.  I think I'll have to use this as a screen saver!

This is the hill where you first catch a glimpse of the cathedral.. The hostel here is a hideous carbuncle that should be destroyed.  It looks like the Southbank Centre on a bad day.  This "interesting"  graffiti covered sculpture should be dealt with in the same way.  It is desolate and windy and with the many grey clouds it makes this "nearly there" moment a bit of a downer. 

'Fraid this mood continued when I reached the outskirts of Santiago with it's impersonal city focus.  No "Buen Camino!" as you come to end of your journey; rather I felt somewhat tolerated and certainly not welcomed.  Much the same I guess as we feel towards tourists on the London underground who have trespassed on our daily commute to work. People have different responses to the arrival in Santiago - some feel triumphant "I've made it after all" feelings and others similar to me, a bit of an anti-climax.  Contemporary wisdom tells us that the journey is more important than the arrival.  Does that make my gloom "right"? Or is it that I valued and enjoyed the warmth and camaraderie of fellow pilgrims who share their stuff, time and kindness with you?  The contrast between the two environments highlighted issues about my significance in the world; to myself, others, the world, to God.  It was quite painful.

In the midst of the crowds in Santiago it was funny that mostly you didn't recognise anyone you knew, even though you had been walking with hundred different people along the way. You saw people in the background, waiting at a bar, resting along the way, stopping at a different stage to you and then seeing them pass you later as you were resting. It can all seem a bit unreal when you make it to Santiago and it can feel like you are back in the real world. Not surprisingly many people head off as soon as they can to Finisterre to recapture some of the peace of the camino. Having queued for the compostela and been to mass at the cathedral many either walk or bus it to the "End of the world"  -Finisterre.  There's not a lot going on - sandy bays with a lighthouse. Met up with many of those who had been part of the crowd who walked together.  People hung around the bus stop as it arrived to see if they recognised anyone.   I wasn't the only one who felt a bit lonely.

 

As I said earlier, the plan was to walk with my sis, son and his friend to Finisterre when they arrived in Santiago.  But having been to Finisterre thought it might be a bit too desolate for a first camino So I suggested that we walk the last 3 stages of the  French way instead so that they could get a better idea of what it might be like.  Unfortunately there were so many new pilgrims on the walk due to the school holidays starting that it was impossible to get accommodation so we only did 3 days walking and caught a cab into Santiago.

Here are the boys arriving in a typical village.

 

Here's one of me and my sister yakking as we walked!

There is a saying "Mi camino, Tu camino" which means that  as in life, we all walk our own road and mine is not the same as yours.  It is an opportunity to reflect on issues that are current in our lives or not, whatever you choose, as you want, as you choose in your normal life.  I found that my experiences on the camino mirrored those in my life at that time and it helped to see more clearly patterns of thinking and behaving that were not right for me and I was able to take those insights back into normal life.  It was just really helpful to me at that point in my life.

Camino Frances 2006 (part 1)

I went on Camino in July 2006 having just completed my BSc in Psychology. Why did I decide to do it? I had only vaguely heard about the Camino but the idea of walking took seed when a friend walked the Camino the previous September arriving in Santiago on his 50th birthday where he met up with non-walking family and friends. I thought it was a great way to mark an event and having investigated, decided that I would walk the 500 miles from St Jean de Pied de Port to Santiago over 5 weeks. It seemed so right, such a perfect thing to do. I would've completed my studies, and had the time to do it as I was going to continue with an MSc in the September, but more importantly had also just separated from my husband of 23 years and was going to have to sell the family home and move on when I finished my degree. The walk would perhaps give me the space to think, consider and make decisions about my future. 

So the plan was that 1 week after my final exam I would nip off to France, walk 500 miles over 5 weeks, meet up with my sister, Gill, son Stuart and his friend John, walk the Camino to Finisterre, then hire a car and drive back across northern Spain to Santander for a 2 week break in a caravan in Noja. Phew! But ......... I missed one exam so had to go for a resit which meant I could not do the 5 week walk just the last 70 miles. I would still get a Compostela (it still qualified as a pilgrimage) but I was sorry not to be able to spend 5 weeks walking which was the appeal for me. We didn't walk to Finisterre, instead I thought it would be more enjoyable to repeat the last 3 days of the Camino Frances as the camaraderie with the fellow peregrinos was fantastic. Everything else went ahead as planned!

Just found out about this film that is being presented at the Toronto Film Festival 2010. The story is based on the Camino Frances (French way) that begins in St Jean de Pied and this route is 500 miles in total. One for next year Martin!

Catch the trailer on http://www.theway-themovie.com/
Bring on the popcorn!

First Get-together Camino Ingles: Day -27

Introducing the peregrinos!
Starting at the back left we have Roy and Martin. In front is Veronica. Sitting in a row on the sleepers we have Ann, Angela, Dave and Sue. Angela is to the right of the picture.



Make way for the birthday girl Jen (me) to complete the set but everyone seems to be looking at Veronica for some strange reason!

We are a happy bunch and with a nurse (Blonde Angela) and a vet (Ann) amongst us we a can be assured of good medical attention en route! Angela's not prepared to steal supplies from the NHS to support our habit so we have to bring our own plasters and Ann doesn't have a passport yet so her administrations may end up being via the blog! However, we will all bring our gifts and talents to the camino. Veronica has already proved her worth with her professional tortilla making and my sangria was very drinkable although cannot make any claims for authenticity. We will have to sample a few glasses in the wilds for a true consumer test.