Wednesday 25th August 2010
The day starts well. The Pilgrims – Jenny, Martin, Angela T, Angela A, Roy, Veronica, Dave and me - all meet up at Stansted airport as planned and everyone is in good spirits despite the early start to the day. After arriving at Santiago de Compostela airport we take a bus to the main bus station and then have to wait over an hour for the bus which takes us to our starting point for the walk in Ferrol. This bus turns out to be a travelling sauna so by the time we arrive we’re all flagging from heat exhaustion and have already sweated out what feels like about half a stone (though this turns out to be wishful thinking). We arrive at the office which distributes the ‘Pilgrims Passport’ papers only to find that it is siesta time and that it does not re-open until 5.30 (‘ish’ in true Spanish style). So we happily go off and have a welcome beer, pick up some food supplies and when we’ve all finally collected our paperwork proceed to the first leg of the walk – a mere 8 miles to Neda, which we estimate should take around two hours. So four hours later and we’re walking in full darkness across some bog land with no sign of the hostel to which we’re heading. By this time me, Dave, Veronica, Roy and Angela T have lost Jenny, Martin and Angela A who are somewhere behind us. We frantically race to meet the 10 o’clock deadline for getting into the hostel and just about make it by the skin of our teeth. (Actually the door had been locked but luckily the ‘commandant’ was kindly and let us in and was sympathetic when we explained that others were on their way.) By now we are all quite concerned about the others when Jenny calls to ask for directions from a nearby bridge – in her words they are ‘shanked’ – and they arrive about an hour after us.
So for most us this is our first experience of staying in an ‘Albergue’. Albergues are government owned hostels – but hostels only for pilgrims. Therefore you need a Pilgrims Passport to stay in one (and a touch of madness also helps). Angela T’s face says it all as she espies the funky showers and the ultra-cool row of bunk beds in the 24 bed dorm. If you ever felt that you missed out on those girl guide/scout holidays get yourself off to an albergue! The only difference is that with age comes snoring but let’s not mention the snoring…….
Oh sod it, let’s talk about the snoring. The next morning, having not slept a wink, Veronica is just about ready to kill anyone suspected of snoring and it has to be said that there was a full symphony of snoring going on for most of the night – no wonder those Italian kids left so early! For some reason this was Veronica and Roy’s first and last Albergue experience.
Thursday 26th August
Jenny, Martin and Angela A set off ahead of the rest of us as they want to get a head start before it gets too warm. The rest of us set off a while later and it’s not long before we find a little coffee shop serving delicious ‘coffee con leche’ served with cakes. Fortified, we set off happily on our second day of walking. Somehow we seem to miss the others but when we stop for lunch they arrive behind us so we all have lunch together – delicious tapas with a beer…or two…and maybe a glass of wine….or two…. While we are eating lunch another group of pilgrims come along – a lovely family from Seville, two brothers and five of their nieces and nephews, who we were to see fairly regularly over the next few days. We all set off again and it’s not long before our group separates again and the afternoon stretches out ahead of us. Alarm bells should have been ringing at this stage because today is supposed to be just over 8 miles yet we started out at about 8.30am and it’s now about 7pm. Eventually, the leading group arrives in Pontedueme to find that the lovely family from Seville are installed in the accommodation Jenny had earmarked for our stay here – waving to us from the windows! There is another hostel opposite but it is closed and doesn’t appear to be opening in the foreseeable future. Oh we should have known the Spanish ways better by now – by the time Jenny comes along it has re-opened and she manages to get a room but by now we have already booked into another hotel. It has to be said though that those white fluffy towels seemed so luxurious after the night before. Our evening finishes with dinner all together and our spirits are revived.
Friday 27th August
Jenny, Martin and Angela A leave at some ungodly hour in the dead of night but the rest of us decide to take advantage of the fresh croissants and coffee on offer in the hotel and it’s tempting to linger there. Nevertheless we set off at the planned time of 9(ish – we are beginning to get the hang of the Spanish timekeeping) and climb our way out of Pontedueme heading towards Betanzos. We seem to keep on climbing for most of the day and, oh boy, some of those hills are steep!
We stop for drinks and a snack in a small town called Mino (I think) and get a text message from the others to say that they are there too but somehow we manage to miss each other. Did we meet up with them later? I can’t remember but we meet the family from Seville again and they tell us that they have been unable to book accommodation in Betanzos because the hotels are full. As we didn’t book in advance this doesn’t bode well for us. We arrive and start to scour the town for somewhere to stay and it seems that we have no option but to stay in a fairly expensive hotel but we are saved from this by the ever resourceful Jenny who manages to find some cheap rooms which turn out to be four rooms in an apartment. Some strategic planning puts the snorers (no names) conveniently at one end of the apartment while the other bedrooms are at the other end! Happiness all round! We find a bar which sells interesting cloudy wine and then go to a restaurant which sells interesting paella. Upset stomachs are the order of the night and so, somewhat queasily, we wake up to face our longest day of walking.
Saturday 28th August
The night before we had decided that today we are going to walk together as a group. Although Jenny Martin and Angela A once again set off under cover of darkness the plan is to meet at lunchtime and then stay together. The morning walk seems to go on endlessly and we keep thinking that ‘Julia’s Bar’ is going to come into view with every bend we go round but it never seems to materialise. Just as we think we can’t go another step we get a text from Jenny to say that they have arrived and we are only a short distance away. The place is worth waiting for and we have a lunch in true Spanish style. So now we are all together and we decide to go and sit by the river until the sun has lost some of its heat – it is fiercely hot today. This doesn’t prove to be as easy as it sounds but soon we are all collapsed in a field in the shade with our boots off and taking a well earned nap. The walk resumes a couple of hours later and we think we will reach our destination by early evening. Ha bloody ha! Once again we find ourselves desperately trying to get out of the forest before it gets dark and trying to reach the Albergue in Hospital do Bruma before they lock us out.
And so our next Albergue experience begins – hmm – well for some of us! Roy and Veronica decide that they will decamp to a hotel in order to preserve their sanity but the rest of us proceed for our next dose of self flagellation. The commandant here turns out to be a headmaster of the old-school kind and starts clapping his hands and telling us to move quickly as it’s ‘lights out’ at 10.30pm. No time for dinner then. It was more than Angela A could bear and causes what I like to think of as her ‘I’m too f****** tired to eat my f****** banana’ moment. It wasn’t funny but it kinda was.......I’m sure she’ll think so too, now. And if Angela T’s face was a picture at the first Albergue then it was nothing compared to the look that emerges when she realises that the showers and toilets are in an outside courtyard – oh yes they are!
Sunday 29th August
So we have survived our second night in an Albergue and we have persuaded Angela A to set off with the ‘late’ morning crowd. Jenny and Martin have already left by about 4am but we decide that it is worth taking time to reorganise bags and have something to eat before setting out this morning. It’s like the division of last rations as remnants of cakes, oat bars and portions of bananas are shared. Desperate times. Off we go and lo and behold we find a cafe open and stop after about 10 minutes for some proper sustenance – it’s amazing how our spirits are revived by the sight of KitKats behind the bar! We also see the older members of the Seville group followed by Veronica and Roy looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after their peaceful night! As we leave the cafe behind it’s not long before the Seville family overtake us looking like they are on a mission to somewhere. When we stop later at another cafe for lunch and see them again we discover that they were hurrying to get to Sunday Mass in the village and we wish that we had done this too. This group also prove to be our friends when they manage to secure a plate of food for us even though we have been told by the grumpy owner that food is not available on Sundays. As it happens it emerges that the ‘grumpy owner’ is recovering from illness and listening to his story turns out to be the most spiritual part of the pilgrimage for me.
The next part of our walk is probably the hardest to endure. The road is flat but seems endless and often we are in the full glare of the sun and there are hardly any places to fill our water bottles. Dave finally resorts to knocking at a house door and the owner allows us into his garden where there is a well and cool running water.
We fill the bottles and although Angela T takes some coaxing we are on our way again and eventually we reach Sigueiro where Jenny, Martin, Roy and Veronica have already arrived and are waiting in a bar. Cold beers all round and suddenly a brass band appear as if to welcome us and we even manage a little jig in our walking boots! Our rooms are just above the bar so no more walking tonight and as there is also a restaurant attached to the bar that’s where we decide to eat dinner.
Monday 30th August
Although there have been a few shaky moments we are complete in number and ready to face the final day’s walk into Santiago de Compostela. Jenny and Martin set off early followed by Veronica and Roy and me, Dave and the two Angelas bring up the rear. By the time we leave, the shops are beginning to open and we stock up with fruit and bread for our lunch because it seems that we are unlikely to find any bars en route. Although this is a short walk compared to the previous two days it still seems to be a long haul. We do, however, find a bar and decide that we simply have to get out of the sun and why not use that time for some beers and maybe a glass or two of wine to wash down our little plates of sausages and chips ;-) And so the final leg of our journey sees us walking into Santiago de Compostela where instead of the euphoric sense of achievement we might have expected to feel we’re simply ready to collapse into the nearest bar. Eventually we move and after surviving the walk Angela A decides to make a spectacular fall off the Cathedral fountain steps and nearly breaks her ankle. Luckily she seems to be intact and we finally seek out the Peregrinos office, collect our Compostela and make our way to our hotel where we meet up with the others. After a quick shower it’s back to the Cathedral for Mass. Unfortunately we don’t see the famous botafumeiro swinging high across the cathedral (though Jenny, Martin, Veronica and Roy were lucky to catch this at the end of the previous Mass) but the Mass is still quite special. Unfortunately the priest doesn’t seem to understand the universal practice of giving a blessing when someone approaches with their arms crossed over their chest and I am left exchanging quizzical looks with the priest before I skulk away back to my pew leaving him helplessly waving the host in the air. Awkward moment.
It’s our last meal together and although we’re all tired there is nevertheless a feeling of ‘mission accomplished’ and it’s also an appropriate time to celebrate Jenny’s 50th birthday. I really hope it has lived up to her expectations as she put so much effort into the preparation of the trip. Without a doubt it has been a challenge but I can honestly say that it’s been a great experience for me. I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and spending time with old friends and getting to know new ones. Yes, there have been highs and lows but the highs have definitely outweighed the lows for me. So would I do it again? Well, I don’t know about anyone else but Dave and I are already planning our next expedition – maybe the Portuguese way next year!
Tuesday 31st August – Friday 3rd September
After waving everyone off (well, in our thoughts anyway even if we didn’t get out of our beds) we spent the morning in Santiago and then moved on to Baiona, a small coastal town south of Santiago heading towards Portugal. The journey was interesting as we decided to take the train to Vigo and then a bus connecting to Baiona. When we came into Vigo we wondered what we were letting ourselves in for but we needn’t have worried – Baiona was beautiful with sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. Wednesday was spent exploring the place and on Thursday we took a boat to Las Islas Cies, voted no.1 in the Guardian 2007 as the best beach in the world. On Friday we travelled to Oporto and spent a few hours in the city before returning home on Friday evening. It had been a really relaxing way to end the holiday.
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