Return to the Camino 2016

My next Camino - but not my last, I know, will be in August of 2016.

My grandson Cy and I have chatted about doing the Camino together, but this winter Meghan, his mom and my eldest, came to me with the idea of the 3 of us walking in August of 2016 - and my answer? SI!

No details have been worked out, but I have a rough plan.

 Astorga,with a visit to the Museo del Chocolate
 http://www.travelbelles.com/2011/02/chocolate-castles-astorga-spain

Museo de Chocolate, Astorga
 

 Rabanal, Refugio Gaucelmo, where I volunteered for 2 weeks in 2012, and will again in Sept 2016
https://www.facebook.com/RefugioGaucelmo



 Refugio Gaucelmo, Rabanal

Ponferrada has a Templar Castle - we'll stay here for sure - who wouldn't want to visit a Templar Castle?
















It is still another 200 km or so to Santiago - too soon to make definite plans, but I have more ideas.

After they return home for school at the end of August, I'll walk to Finisterre, bus back to Santiago, and on to Ferrol, in order to walk the Camino Ingles.




Then, back to Rabanal for another 2 weeks taking care of pilgrims.

So, I'll be busy this year, training, planning and dreaming!

Sleeping arrangements, the alternatives

Day 22, Villavante to Astorga, 21 km

Today was another easy day, and we were checked into the municipal here in Astorga by noon. We did our chores, then went out to soak up the sunshine, and meet up with people we hadn´t seen in a while. We had the best meal yet on the Camino- cauliflower soup with a poached egg in it, and turkey with grilled vegetables, and for dessert, a baked apple!

I thought my blog on albergues might frighten some of you off, so I asked Pat Concessi to do a guest blog on her Camino, and sleeping arrangements. Here it is.


Darlene asked me to write a guest blog about the alternative accomodation, for pilgrims who might be scared off by stories of the albergues. This is based on my experience walking the Camino from St Jean to Finnesterre with my husband Wayne.

We started our Camino from St Jean Pied de Port on April 14, 2013. The first night we stayed in the albergue in Roncesvalles, and it was lovely. The second night we stayed in the municipal albergue in Larrasoana, and it was not so good, with 27 people in the room. The constant snoring let us know we would be happier in our own room, so we continued our Camino staying in Casa Rurals and hotels.

Casa Rurals are the equivalent of bed and breakfasts in North America. They have 3-7 rooms, and the owner/manager lives on the site. We stayed in some very charming rooms. Old buildings with stone walls inside and out provided some excellent soundproofing! We always had our own bathrooms, including a shower. All the bedding is provided, so you could walk without a sleeping bag, but I wouldn´t. Breakfast was normally provided, and was usually tostada with jam and cafe con leche, and sometimes tortilla was offered. Plenty to get our day started! Casa Rurals cost between €35 and € 55, and are priced per room, whereas albergues are priced per bed. So with two of us in the room, the price was reasonable.

The Spanish have a star rating system for their hotels, but we didn´t find much relationship between the number of stars and the quality and cleanliness of the rooms. I think maybe the stars relate to other aspects of the hotel like elevators and conference facilities. Not features that pilgrims care about! Hotel prices range from €45 to over €100 with the main factor being the size of the city. Hotels are more expensive in Santiago, so plan carefully. If your finances permit, you should stay in a Parador at least once. These are historic buildings converted to hotels, and managed by the Spanish government. We also stayed in a couple of lovely converted monasteries.

Neither Wayne nor I speak any Spanish (beyond ordering cafe con leche or bocadillos). Our approach was to talk to the owner/manager in the afternoon, and use our guidebook to show them the town we were walking to the next day, and ask for a recommendation. (Manana, habitation and pasado manana were helpful words). We always took their recommendations. Then we would ask them to call and make a reservation, which they were very willing to do. It is important to specify the time you will arrive, so that they don´t give your room away, thinking that you are not coming (rather than just a late starter and a slow walker). Being able to reserve ahead made a big difference to our Camino.We were able to walk at our own pace and enjoy the day.

How to explain your choice to other pilgrims:
  1. We are supporting the economy of Northern Spain
  2. We both snore, so we stay out of the albergues for your benefit!
  3. Everyone walks their own Camino, and yours is no less valid for staying in a private room.

Enjoy your Camino
Pat Concessi

Thanks Pat for this great information. She included pictures, but this computer won´t let me copy - I had to retype her info, so hope I got it correct.

A day without pilgrims

The albergue was fumigated when I got back from blogging yesterday. Then the plumber/gas guy arrived. Dave has been waiting since we arrived for him to show up. He will send an estimate to fix the instant gas hot water heater manana. Then the builders who want to erect a scaffold in our huerta (garden) to facilitate the building next door showed up with the priest, so that everyone was clear. Then the roofer showed up - they had been waiting for him since the spring rain. He said he would check and fix the roof in the winter. So by the time we got away to Astorga it was 5 pm, and we met Dick and Liz on the road and we pulled over to chat. They are taking over for us as hoapitalero/as, and we planned to go to dinner once we returned from Astorga. But as they pulled away we realized that we hadn´t told them not to go into the fumigated dorms, so we reluctantly turned around, and returned to Rabanal. We went to vespers together, then the 4 of us had dinner together. That was a novelty, as Dave and I have been going in shifts.

I slept until 6.30 am - what a treat! Shower, laundry, breakfast, then Astorga. I shipped my excess to Santiago for 4 euros, got cash and more dark chocolate with almonds, and more oats. I am going through a lot of them since both tea items use oats. Then the hardware stores. Since there is no Canadian Tire, with everything you might need, we were in 5 different stores getting keys cut, squeegies, pens, and vaccuum bags.

We had lunch, set up the dorms, and I ran off to blog. There are already about 10 people outside, and we will let in everyone who arrives by 2 pm. Dick is the chair of the Rabanal committee, so we discussed this very subject last night at dinner. There seems to be no rule that is fair to everyone. Dave and Dick are rewriting the Handbook, and will call it guidelines rather than rules, as we must use our discretion so many times. I pray there are no cinchas (bedbugs) today hitchhiking in with the new arrivals.

Mochila Nueva!

Yesterday morning we kicked Carl out for a few hours to go to Astorga. We cannot leave anyone in the Albergue when we aren´t there. We went to the bank, the grocery store, and 3 ourdoor stores, and I bought a new backpack!! Dave helped me choose, as he said my old one is sh... It is a Trangoworld 40 litres, and it seems perfect. Everything wrong with the old Gregory is better on this one. I am now excited to leave, rather than apprehensive. It has a camera bag, a rain cover built in, a place to attach jackets, poles and shoes, narrower shoulders and an adjustable chest strap.

We came back and opened at 2, let in everyone who was waiting and locked the door. That made 26, so we opened the barn. So many people make Gaucelmo their destination for the day, and a lot of older people want to stay with us as our comfort level is high. But if they are slower walkers, we have to disappoint them. What a dilemma.

Last night we had
6 Irish, including Carl. They drank a lot of tea at teatime and breakfast.
6 Australians
5 English, including a couple who are interested in being hospitalero/as, and let me tell some stories
2 Germans - young women, one of whom translated the instructions on Carl´s prescription into German, then the other translated it into English
2 Belgians - a brother and sister. It was Luc´s 7th camino, and he usually walks with someone who is afraid to walk alone. This time it was his 79 year old sister, who has only 40% vision
2 Italians
1 South Korean
1 American
1 Canadian- an Italian-Canadian film maker

The film maker, Gian Ceccato, is making a documentary about the Camino. He is interviewing people. and letting them tell their own story in their own language. His pack is 18 kilograms - about 40 pounds! There is a young Korean film student who is following him and making a film about Gian´s journey. The Korean was staying at El Pilar, and though we called for permission, we didn´t hear back, so couldn´t let him film in the Refugio.

When everyone was signed in and had done their laundry, Dave and I went out and picked up garbage in the lane and swept the Plaza del Peregrino Julian Campo, which is bounded by Refugio Gaucelmo, Monasterio de San Salvador del Monte Irago, the guest house for the monastery, and the church, which may have another name. The compost of Father Pierce benefited from the sweeping of leaves and horse chestnuts. I took Father Pierce empty jam jars and some oatmeal fudgies to thank him for the elderberry  jam. It was very cold and rainy yesterday - about 8¨ when the pilgrims set out, and today, though a bit warmer, is still rainy.

We are having tortilla today with Isabelle at El Pilar. Then back to open the doors for 1:30.

Have a buenos dias.

Darlene

the Pilgrim community

Another elderberry concoction from the priest next door. He picks the wild elderberries and makes jam and a kind of stew from them. I feel like I am growing into the community, but of course in only 2 weeks there is only so much connection you can make with others here, especially given my limited Spanish. My community is the pilgrims. It is amazing how close I can feel to certain pilgrims as they pass thorough. There was a young couple last night from PEI, and I really enjoyed talking to both of them. They cooked for themselves - Dave and I had my lentil soup for lunch, and they had their own lentil soup for dinner, supplemented with sorrel from our garden. They have 2 weeks after the camino to see Europe, and were asking for tips at breakfast.

We have another stay over guest today- A young Irish guy with food poisoning. He is very weak and shivvery, so will see the pharmacia tonight. I gave him some drops of oil of oregano  and a cup of camomile tea- I didn´t know what else to suggest. Hopefully he can be on his way tomorrow. We had another Canadian stay over with tendonitis. He is off this morning, hitching a ride with a Polish group of bus pilgrims.  We also put another young man in the ïnfirmary¨. He begged to stay after we put up the completo sign at 22 pilgrims. He is on a very limited budget, and has been sleeping outside, but it rained off and on yesterday, and one of the other albergues sent him to us as we are donativo. When he sat down to a meal of a tin of sardines, I offered pasta from the cupboard we keep for pilgrims. A very kind ex pat New Zealander who brought up her children in Norway, and is travelling with another Norwegian pilgrim, offered him the last half of her lunch boccadillo (sandwich, which is always on a big baguette). He was grateful, and a very interesting guy.

We have decided once again to close at 20, approximately, as we don´t want to take business from the commercial albergues, but it is always a challenge saying no, and Dave has a big heart, so it is a balancing act.

We are off to Astorga, hopefully, depending on the plumber. We are almost out of toilet paper!

Til tomorrow

Darlene

What have I done?

Saturday Sept 15 in Rabanal

So, dinner with David and a pilgrim was great - the food was fine, and the talk was great - the pilgrim was a psychologist, so who and why the Camino was an interesting topic.
I was in charge of the Albergue while my partner David Arthur went to dinner with Claire and Keith, who are leaving tomorrow, then they went to Compline. There are 3 services a day at the church across the plaza, run by the Benedictine monks, who have a monastery beside us. I didn´t get to bed until 11, but for now I am not a pilgrim.

However, the day begins at 6 am, as we prepare breakfast, which is coffee and tea, hot milk, bread and jam. It is served from 6:30 to  7:30, then we encourage the pilgrims to leave so that we can begin the breakfast cleanup, then the cleaning of 4 bathrooms, containing 8 showers and 8 toilets. Then we also wash all the stone and tile floors, in the bedrooms, the barn, which has 16 beds, and the stone floor in the garden. The mind boggles! It took 4 of us about 2.5 hours, and tomorrow just David and I will clean. We have already registered 32 pilgrims, and will take 8 more if they show up. It was hot today, and several walked 40 km, so I have seen some damaged feet (to put it delicately).

David and I went into Astorga from 11-1, to pick up supplies for the hostel and pilgrims, and lunch type food for he and I. We are aiming for salad for lunch each day, as our cost for the pilgrim menu is covered each day.

I served tea in the garden from 5 to 5:45 - we went through many pots, and most of the pilgrims made a point of showing up for some, and the biscuits, of course. It felt easy and familiar, as will breakfast, but I am not looking forward to the cleaning, to put it mildly.

It will happen, but just how I don´t know. Wish me luck, and good rubber gloves.

Darlene, the  hospitalera

The benefits of tea

I´m rushed today as we went into Astorga to shop for supplies, so must rush back to serve tea.

Yesterday´s pilgrims could not have been different from the German cooks of the night before. We had 7 from Taiwan - our previous total over 10 years for Taiwan was 11! We usually don´t host groups over 4, as they change the dynamics, and usually keep to their own group, but I made it work - the magic of tea! We also had a group of 5 Spanish, who usually keep separate, but once again, they loved the tea party. Also, 4 Danish women and a Danish man,  a couple from the USA who run a hostel along the Appalatian (sp?) Trail, an Austrian who went out and painted a lovely 9x12¨painting in watercolour of the church, (he is staying on at the monastery next door for a rest and to paint more) and a German girl who helped to set up for brieakfast this morning.

Tea was a smashing success. Everyone talked, there were bottomless pots of tea, and the oatmeal fudgies were a great hit, and I could eat them too! Hurrah for the soothing benefits of tea.

One of the Taiwanese women has 2 children in school at U of T, and when she found out I was from Toronto, she helped me to wash up from tea and told me about her visit to Ontario and Quebec.

It was a very peaceful and restful group, and I ended the day by going to Compline at 9:30. The service is entirely in Latin, and most of it is sung by the 3 priests. They did a blessing of the pilgrims - also in Latin. I had a very healing sleep last night, and woke promptly at 6, just in time to head down and turn on the coffee pot. And so it goes.

Darlene