AMAZING EXPERENCES ON THE CAMINO

We meet the people we’er supposed to when the time is just right

After Villafranca del Bierzo there is a 13 mile walk along side a rural highway, almost walking entirely on pavement.  The grade is gentle, but you are going up hill.  Even though it is next to the road, it is actually a very beautiful walk.  It is in the bottom of a deep valley alongside a rushing river.  The weather is cool and there are cafes along the way.  There were some pushy pilgrims in the first stop for coffee in a very crowded and busy bar.  I waited my turn to be served, but others didn’t.  I am seeing more and more of this.  I was talking to some fellow pilgrims who have also walked before, and they said they are noticing the same thing.  The people walking of more like tourist, rather than pilgrims.  I finished my coffee and got out of there.  A couple of miles down the road, I stopped in another cafe and I was the only customer.  I ordered and ate the best bowl of Lentil Soup I have ever had.  See, the 2nd bar is cool.

BUSY BAR

At the end of the valley, one arrives in Las Herrerias, a small enclave with several options for lodging.  It is a great overnight spot as the next part of the trail is steep, very steep, muddy and slippery.  This is the 3rd time I climbed this mountain and for a change it wasn’t raining.  It is near the top of this hill that you enter Galicia, the province of Spain where Santiago is.  After reaching the summit the village of O’Cebrero, a collection of old stone buildings some with thatched roofs.  After a breakfast of eggs and toast, I continued on to the small hamlet of Fonfría my next stop for the night.  The Albergue there has a communal dinner in traditional building called a palloza.  You are seated as you enter the building and it is the luck of the draw who you are sitting next to.  So in my case, there were French to the left of me and  Koreans to the right, and not a lick of English was spoke by either group.  I did manage to communicate to them to pass the wine.  It as a very good dinner with plenty of food to go around.

The next day was mostly downhill and the little guy with the knife switched sides and stabbed me a few times in my right thigh.  But I made it to Samos, where I stayed in a very nice hotel.  Samos is the end of my walking for a few days, as I definitely needed some time off from the trail after 18 days without a break.  The next morning I took a taxi to the train station in Sarria where a bus replaced the train for some reason to a few towns away.  Then a train into Santiago.  Sarria is 100k from Santiago is from where one must walk if they want their Compstella, or certificate issued by the pilgrims office.  Since I have already done this section twice and it is the most crowded part of the Camino, I have opted to skip it.  Instead after several days off in Santiago, I will continue to walk to Muxia on the coast.

While in Santiago I was able to meet up with two of my friends from previous trips to Spain.  Kelly, who I walked with in 2015, now brings pilgrims from Taiwan to walk the Camino.  Kelly and her group of 10, arrived the same day a I did.  It was good see her again and she invited me to go with her, her friend Xquín and her tour group the next day to Finisterre and Muxia on the Coast.  It was a long day on a bus, but it got me off my feet and it included a very nice lunch in a seaside restaurant.

KELLY AND XQUÍN

KELLY’S TOUR GROUP

That evening I met up with Jose, From Portugal.  Cathie and I stayed in Jose’s B&B in Porto, Portugal when we were there in 2017.  Jose walks the Portuguese Way every year and it just so happened that he had arrived a day earlier.  So, he invited me to go with him and three of his pilgrim friends and participate in their celebration of their arrival in Santiago. And boy, and do they celebrate.  Three different bars and restaurants with lots of food and copious amounts of wine.  There was singing, and laughing late into the night.

JOSE AND FRIENDS

Lastly another surprise,  who would have foretold this. So I go to a restaurant because Kelly said it was good. Mostly seafood. The waiter seats me in a back room past the kitchen.  There is a group of people in the small room and one of them looks familiar. I think he is Bill Bennett an Australian filmmaker who walked the Camino in 2013 and wrote a blog which I followed at the time.  He later wrote a book called “The Way My Way.” I also read the book.  Very good by the way and funny.   So finally after hearing Australian accents I ask if he was Bill Bennett and it’s him. He is is Spain making a movie based on his book. In his blog and book he writes about suffering with extreme knee pain while walking. While in Burgos he visits the Cathedral.  There are several side chapels and in one there is a star made of marble in the floor.  Directly above there is a corresponding star in glass in the ceiling. He stands on the star and writes that the a feeling of calmness came over him while standing there.  I don’t remember how long he stood there, but several minutes at least.  The next day he had no pain and has been pain free since. So when I walked my first Camino in 2015, I was having pain in the balls of my feet  So I figured, what have I got to loose.  I stood in the same place and the next day I had no pain and have been pain free since.  I told him my story and he was so grateful that we ran into each other so I could share my experience with him.  I believe what happened to me, validates what he experienced on his Camino. Just a chance meeting, amazing!  Here is a link to Bills Blog 

PGS The Way