trails on the road

To give you some idea of the kind of trails we traversed the first week I´ve attached a couple of pictures. Imagine this doubled, twice as rocky with a 6 inch coating of mud (never more than that or my Vasque boots would´ve been swamped) and treacherous snarly jungle vines that have razor sharp thorns and you´ve got half an idea of what the first week was like

By mistake we took the ´alpinist´ route a couple of times. OMG, I am fit but that thing kicked my ass and hauled it to hell. I was told later by an actual Everest summiter that that route was the hardest rock route in Spain. We wouldnt think anything of doing this for one long weekend in the mtns at home, but day in day out for a week and longer .....

Funny, we walked into a bar (sounds like a bad joke) and this guy saw my Tibetan bracelet with the symbols on it and proceeded to say hello in Nepali which I can understand thanks to a roommate in college who was from there. He belonged to a joint swiss-spanish team that did Everest in the 60´s

at times for the first week it was hand and toe holds that would get you up a slope. When we reached a village or a shepherds encampment they would look at us like we were insane - then when we said ´camino de santiago´then the beers would come out (and once, Veterano brandy ;) )

San Sebastian to Zarutz '- day 2

Something I realized VERY soon, doing a marathon or a Tri is exhausting but doing this is more so and needs every ounce as much spirit and will power because you get up every day all week, all month and hit the road again and again. These days we do it as a challenge and an inspiration but I wonder what inspired the pilgrims 1200 years ago with minimal to no facilities along the way, marauding bandits, moors and unfriendly villagers to make this journey of what surely must have been a journey of incredible faith !!

This part of the hike involved traversing an ancient Roman road that is now overgrown in most parts with roots and trees, but you can still see the cobblestones and brick road through the mountains . The Romans must have been fantastic people, to have the engineering resources and build these roads and structures along the way- oh wait, they had outsourcing back then in the form of slave labor. never mind, they were just excellent managers and building contractors :) See picture to get an idea of the road, amazed its lasted so long.

This was the Via Agrippa, that we followed - it really took its toll on Tom´s knees which were already buggered up thanks to multiple motorcycle accidents in his wild and wooly youth. He was hurting in a big way

Similar to the people setting out water stations and beer and ice cream stations (Detroit) for marathons, here you´d find self serve water stations and cool little refreshments for pilgrims along the way - people really appreciate that you are making this journey and often times we´d get a round of drinks, hugely reduced bar tabs and food and room rates if they knew we were Peregrino´s (pilgrims)

pìcs of a couple of water stations - the second one was dated from the 1700´s

anyway, at the end of the 2nd day we reached a little town named Zarautz on the north coast and found a tiny pension that had a room in the attic (the roof sloped down so that it was only 4 feet from Tom´s head on his bed)

we were getting conditioned to the walking by this time. No more groaning when we saw a steep incline and I believe I´ve actually learned to love mud :)

signs from God ?

Someone asked about the types of signs that lead the way to Santiago, this is truly interesting. They run the gamut from a clear arrow with a sign that says ´Camino de Santiago´ and have a pilgrim figure on them to splashes of yellow paint that you can barely see on a rock - its really like a cross between hiking, orienteering and tracking - boy scout skills being used to the max.


check out some of the signs in the pictures

so, once we started up what would prove to be one of many steep rocky, muddy trails up the mountain the view opened up of the Atlantic ocean. This is not the friendly one we know down near the florida beaches- this ocean is truly angry at something and keeps trying to bash the coastline to bits. Doesnt help that it is winter and one of the worst ones the spanish peninsula has had for many years. Even places on the coast have experienced snowfall this year


To give you an idea of the typical days walk - imagine a climb that is VERY steep along paved roads from the town or village you start out from in the AM. Then within a mile or so there is one of the many arrows that point to a hiking trail off the road and this is what will bve your path for the rest of the day and culminates in another half mile or so of paved road at the end lead9ing into the next little village or settlement or church

The trails (in the basque country at least) do not follow the norm for most American trails.
Anyway, doing this over and over again after about 34 km or so we got to the coastal town of San Sebastian, a fancy riviera town that is the Aspen of the seacoast and found the Albergue (hostal for pilgrims). A TV crew for the spanish sports news channel was making a documentary on the walk and we were interviewed since (apparently) we were among the first foolish, crazy people to do it this year in the dead of winter

They were mocking it up - essentially driving the cute young thing that was supposed to be doing the trek to a starting point each day, getting some footage of her on the trail and then driving her back to the next Albergue to meet and talk with other ´real´ walkers as though she´d been on the trail with them. Bah Humbug...

she was cute though ;)

Did laundry and slept like a log that night

pictures of the first week

What is the camino? Is it a bunch of monks in a life of poverty sharing their frugal meal of barley soup, crusty bread and an apple, is it attending Saturday mass in a freezing chapel in a mountain town where the entire village turns out to wish u a good walk to Santiago, is it pain beyond anything and still finding the energy and will to walk 12 more miles, is it a basque vilager bringing out his prized wine goatskin and sharing it or a former everest climber remembering his two phrases of Hindi to be able to wish u goodbye - it's all of these and not. In the end the camino is about you. 

Be the road

Thanks to iffy Internet connectivity and being extremely tired after a full day of hiking through the mtns I have not been able to update my blog. Planning for a rest day in Bilbao tonight and see the Guggenheim museum there. Will update this tomorrow.
Today we are leaving Guernika, the scene of the famous Picasso painting

Irun to San Sebastian

Irun turned out to be wet and rainy. A trend that would continue all day. On the way to the trailhead we spotted a beaver pond and a huge beaver ad well as several marsh herons and a stork. 

The trail turned out to be incredibly steep and led up to a church at the mid-way point. Pausing to catch our breath we took a bunch of pics of the Atlantic ocean to our right - the camino del norte essentially follows the spine of the mountains ( Pyrenees near irun and then the cantabrian mtns) along the coast for almost 300 km. Beautiful.   

Starting the walk from Irun

so, we decided to take the night train from Portugal to the French border @ Hendaye and start the walk from Irun - which is just across the border in Spain.

The compartment (sleeper) was just like trains I was used to used to in India, only a LOT smaller, six bunks to a 10 x 12 area . When we got on the lower two (which were alloted to us) were already occupied by an older couple who looked like they'd have trouble clambering up into the upper ones, so we let them be and took the middle ones. Lights off seem to be at 7:00 PM and spent the rest of the night listening to music and / or texting some friends.
Turns out Coban was doinbg all right and eating well.

finally crashed at 2:00 and was woken up at 6:00 AM by the conductor who slid our tickets under the door and said the station was coming up.

Got off at Irun and tried to find the first Albergue (pilgrimage hostel) to get our credentials and stamps to start the journey - too bad, it was closed for winter - the first of many on the route that would be. Turns out the weather is so harsh and bad until April or so that noone walks at this time. Oh well....

Tom was the first to spot the first of a million yellow arrows that lead the way to Santiago - quite incredible really, a host of volunteers donate their time on weekends and holidays painting these yellow arrows all over the country to mark the route, sort of like a 'where in the world in Carmen Santiago' game :)

Anyway, introduced Tom to his first chocolat y Churros breakfast (syrupy hot choc with donuts to dip in it)

then we started the walk

Monday - we start walking the camino

Sat in Porto - onward to Spain and beyond !!

wake up on Sat, Tom (who has difficulty sleeping without a sleeping pill) is still knocked out and wont answer knocks on the door or the landlady´s phone calls to the room. so I go for a jog, shower and then go out to enjoy all the sunday morning markets - the book market, bird market which saddens me - beautiful birds in tiny cages, tons of birdseed and one poor skunk in a cage

after breakfast we go to take a tour of the famous port wine producers in the area (Port got its name from Oporto in the 1600´s) after the usual attempts at backdoor entry into Fonseca and Grahams we finally get admitted into Sandeman´s and take a tour and tasting.

Portugal and beyond

So, landed in Oporto on Saturday after a decent flight during which I slept well as usual. all the years of flying for work have given me the ability to fall asleep within minutes of the plane taking off. woke up and ta dah, in frankfurt. did the usual in and out there (bizzare immigration scheme and security there, to get to A gates you have to clear Schengen security !!)

got on a slightly delayed flight to Portugal and slept again. The fact that I dont even have a backpack to carry on made things easy.

landed and took the train into city center where after a glass of beer in the one spot I remembered from before and then asked a local lady for any inexpensive places to stay, she takes us through some alleyways to a place where we get clean rooms for very little. stored our stuff, took cameras and went out to hear cannon, gunshots and stuff.
turns out its the centenary of the revolucion of the new republic. So, we hang with a camera crew that is covering the reenactment (complete with people in costumes, soldiers, horses trying to trample the poor citizenry and all) and get the inside scoop.

wander around looking at stuff and find an immaculate chevy fireengine still in use - the female firechief is very attractive (until she starts smoking) and insists it is a ´chevrolet´ and not a chevy ¨,)

see picture attachedç

Also found free internet at a cafe ´(pizza celeste) where I finally convince Tom that all the stories of Europe being incredibly expensive are just that ´stories´ I can out fodor fodors´ when it comes to bargains. all you need is 2 or 3 phrases of immaculate local language, just 2, then the rest you can wing ..... and people start buyiong you drinks after that and pointing out others and making jokes

back to the hotel and a hot shower and bed after a couple of beers - following this recipe I have beaten jet lag with succcess