Chris's Camino

With only 19 km to go (this pic is the last 1.5km), It was advised to arrive at the cathedral early as it can take some time to get the “ compostela“ (certificate of completion of the pilgrimage), sometimes even the next day as it can be so busy. Take a ticket number system and wait to be called 🤷. Not that that’s my reason to do a Camino walk, but it’s nice to have the proof that I did one. It’s still surreal to me that it has come to an end. The first couple days were wow this is gonna be a long trek and I don’t know if I can do it mentally, and then it turned into an “oh my gosh” I only have 2 days left. I can’t believe it’s going to end this soon. I’ve met many interesting people. I’ve learnt of many reasons people walk a Camino. Some are personal and deep that resemble mine…to… I just need a break from life or spiritual reasons. Most are 55+, few under the age of 20. You would be surprised to know that about half the people I asked said they don’t have any reason to walk a Camino...

It was a cooler start this morning at about 12°, thank goodness. This city Madeira is where three Camino routes converge for the last two days to Santiago. That being said there’s probably about tenfold more people on the trails now, nothing like what I experience the first eight days. Within 200m there’s always at least 4 or 5 other groups or people walking. As I pass them all the lineup of people just continues. It’s crazy how many people are walking the Camino. This section of the Camino Trail has a café anbout every 2 km and every one is usually pretty full as I go buy them. I’ve met way more Canadians now in the first three hours of the day then I did in my first eight days, and almost all of them are from Quebec or Montreal. One younger gentleman asked me if I’m excited or disappointed that my Camino is almost done. I told him both, there’s the emotional/memoriable and relational aspect that I definitely don’t want to end, and then there’s the physical aspect of doing it four day...

5:30am start to beat the heat today for a 47km trek. Not going to lie, it was a hard one being so long after doing 218 km the previous 7 days. The legs were sore after 40 km, and the feet hurt. No real blisters, just tender pounding through 47 km in 9 hrs. Temp was 25° at 10 AM and reached a high of 31° by the time I reached Melida at 2:30. Little shade today, a lot of road (trail by road) walking today. There Always seems to be one or two of these mausoleums on each of the hikes. You can actually ring the bell. Had more than a few times where I was distracted and missed my turn. Funny thing about every time I do this, and it does happen a couple times a day believe it or not. I’ll be listening to music, a pod cast, an audio book or planning the next couple days on my phone, then miss a sign and head down a path that won’t reconnect with “the way”. I truly believe I would get a nudge from Char within a minute or 2, as I’ll just randomly think about her or what would Char think of this...

Everyone staying at O Cadavo is doing a 30 KM walk to Lugo today as there is no places to stay between these towns. Not a hard walk by any measures other than the heat so I opted to start at 6 AM instead of 7 AM to beat the heat today. I arrived in Lugo about 1145 at the temperature of 29°. A cute town, the largest I’ve been in so far, the old town is surrounded by a wall, similar to the Great Wall of China, built by the Romans and still intact. I broke down a little emotionally as Char would’ve loved this town with the old architecture of the wall surrounding the old town. It’s a place that she would’ve enjoyed visiting. Inside the wall, Old Town Lugo Lugo basic marks the 100 K distance to San Diego and the spot where you have to start collecting the stamps to get your “official credentials” at the end of it, but I’ve been getting my stamps at every place that I stop. Long day tomorrow again, 47km, (but no hills this time), if I want to finish by Sunday

24.5 km today, A far cry from the 42 km yesterday, my feet needed the break 🤷. The trails were full of more pilgrims today sometimes I saw upwards of 8 people at a time. I’ve reached the point in the Galacia region now where the Camino markers actually have the final meters to Santiago. This sign says 149,696 meters (149.7 km). This was early in the day, so I think I’m about 125 km away. Started at 318km. I’ve charted out my next few days and I should be done by Monday mid day or if I push it Sunday. Some restaurants offer a pilgrims menu for about 18 euro. It’s a two course meal with a small dessert. It usually consists of either a salad and a main protein and a dessert or sometimes two proteins and a desert ! I’m continuing to spread Chars ashes as I go from town to town and I feel great about it, I’m able to let her go and feel good doing it.

Woke up to a beautiful clear sky above the clouds after a night of partying with other pilgrims. Yesterday‘s trek I purposely went an extra 5 km to La Mesa to make today’s track a little bit shorter. Typically pilgrims will go from Berducedo which was 5 km back to a town called Castro for a total of 25 km but the hostel at Castro was closed and there’s only one there so the only other option is to go 16 km which is too short for me, or go another 40 km, which is probably my limit right now. So I chose to go to 40 km and it just happens to be the hottest day of my trek so far at 28°, it’s a good thing I work out in a 32° hot yoga sauna so I was kind of prepared for it 🤷😂 Most start at around 8 AM after a 7:30 breakfast of some sort. After passing everyone within the first 15 minutes, I didn’t run into anyone at all for about four hours. It was a good uninterrupted time to listen to the book Mariam suggest I read. Then I met Rachel who was from Victoria the living in Australia and we h...

Amazing hike today 33.80km 6:30hr over the mountain range, steep climb up, through fields of cows and old ruins where the pilgrims would rest. The trek called “The Hospital” refers to the hostel at the peak, where pilgrims could rest. Great views and history of pilgrimage. Jacque left before me today, so trekked on my own for a few hours, then met many pilgrims from all over the world, and Martin a 35 year old from the Czech Republic just after I layed some of Chars ashes at the peak height of the Camino Primitivo, a spot well deserving of a beautiful soul. The following views are where I spent more than a few moments with Char. The pilgrim route is marked with many different directional indicators, here’s a few of them. Hard to get lost, but easy to get off track if you’re not paying attention. Staying at an albergue with a pool today, a well deserving treat after the hardest leg of the trek in terms of terrain.

First night in an actual hostel, and it was almost completely empty two rooms with 10 bunkbeds in each one Jacque was in one room by himself and me another were in the other room. A very basic albergue, but it did the job, peace and quiet and a good sleep after the longer trek yesterday. Today’s trek will only be about 22 km with an easier terrain, which is good in preparation for the harder ascent climb tomorrow through the mountains. Jacque and I stayed together for most of the day again we had a 10 K hike to a little town called Timeo and had to wait till 12:30 for the restaurants to open so we can get our lunch before we continued on to the next albergue at the base of the mountain. In Spain on a Sunday everything is closed till 12:30-1:00. The scallop shell also played a role in time of day, the spines acted like a sundial for the pilgrims I ended up splitting from Jacque after lunch as he kept saying go go it’s ok, I think he thinks he was slowing me down but I was actually using...

Day 01 evening recap, Met Jacque from France on Day 01, caught up to him at 3/4 mark of 1st day. Pleasant gentleman, limited English but enough to hold a conversation for our 5 min exchange. I forged on ahead and checked into my hotel, quick little nap then a couple of beers while watching a Rally Car “show and drive” at a cafe. In Spain, they don’t start the dinner menus till after 7 or 8 pm. I was tired after only getting a few hours sleep the night before. Ended up getting some croissants and deli meat for my dinner and breakfast in the morning. In bed by 8:30pm In the morning, after re-packing the backpack and eating breakfast I stepped out of the hotel and there was Jacque!, 2 steps behind me. We reunited and started walking and talking. I didn’t plan on staying with him, but we had made a connection. His pace was what I was looking for and his experiences on the Caminos was priceless. And he was a really nice guy. I thought I had prepared enough, but after talking with Jacque he ...

I woke up as planned at 7 AM but by the time I got everything packed up and going, I was out the door by 745. Off to the cathedral in the middle of the city, where the Camino typically starts is where I headed, took a few pictures and started on my “journey” I got my first stamp for my Pilgrim's Passport at one of the local hotels that had the scallop shell displayed prominently, picked up a couple breakfast muffins to get me going and headed out of the town. I found a nice park where I laid some of Charlene‘s ashes and thought to myself that we are on this journey together and everything is gonna be just perfect. Day one started off perfect and continued perfect and as I’m writing this after a quick nap, I’ll go have dinner and head to bed early as I did feel that I was tired during today trek. The trek itself wasn’t overly difficult, kind of like walking through Tynehead forest x 3 in difficulty with some paved roads, farmers fields, very narrow paths and normal streets. Not a lo...

So there is a saying that “getting there is half the fun” I can totally relate to this saying, but in a different context. For me, it would be more like “getting there only half of it was fun”. Ryan dropped me off at the airport in Vancouver and my flight to Madrid through Munich was uneventful, I would even say it was kind of fun, I was looking forward to the days ahead. Next was an Uber to the train station to catch my fast train to Oviedo. That went just fine, but what transpires after is the part where it makes my getting their journey only half fun. I arrived at the train station about 40 minutes before my train is scheduled to leave and what I walked into was about 1000 people waiting outside the train station platform all looking at the big screen on the arrivals and departures. Of course I don’t know any Spanish at all and was curious why there was so many people just waiting, after asking a few staff members who didn’t speak English one spoken enough that I understood there is...

The Camino's treks are filled with thousands of people doing it for various reasons from spiritual to personal. Although The Primitivo is less traveled because of it's ruggedness, it will be populated, but not over crowded like the other Camino paths can be.  There will be lots of alone time to ponder, think, remember, reflect, etc. There will also be times where I'll be with other like minded hikers doing the trek for different reasons. So fear not, I will not be alone.