Today we started a new camino.

Our old friendly camino is finished, gone, just a memory. Today we walked alone, strangers among over 500. Where are all the familiar faces?

Tom and Eileen we haven’t seen for two weeks, Roger and Bryony for ten days, Victoria and Craig for a week, Janie for a few days, Trish finished in Sarria. Helen, Carolyn, John, Alison, Vee, Jackie and Peter all have a rest day in Sarria and we won’t see them until Santiago. The path and the cafes are full of people and they are all strangers.

The path was very crowded for the first hour with groups of eager, chatty, even singing pilgrims. We decided there are some tell tale signs to distinguish the newbies from the seasoned :

Their John Brierley guide books are clean and tidy. Ours are tatty, ripped, dog eared and held together with tape.

They smell like they have come from a perfumery, we smell like we slept in a barn.

Their shoes are pristine, not a speck of cow dung, ours are muddy, scruffy, half worn out and reek of something dead and rotting.

They wear white tee shirts that are spotless and still have the fold creases in them, ours are raggy, shapeless, stained, soon to be binned.

They are well groomed and have neat hair, we are in desperate need of a haircut.

They don’t limp, they haven’t suffered. Yet!

They walk too fast, they haven’t settled into the Camino shuffle.

Their outfits are all matchy and colour co-ordinated. Don’t they know your least dirty top goes perfectly well with your least dirty pants.

Their legs are a uniform colour, not deeply tanned on the back and pearly white on the front.

They twirl their walking poles like cheerleaders ‘ batons. They don’t wearily lean on them dragging their feet.

They are noisy and talk, talk, talk. They will learn that after 30 days everything you could possibly want to say to your partner has already been said – many times.

John Brierley, whose knowledge and wisdom of the Camino is second only to God, has warned us :

“Note for seasoned pilgrims: beware of signs of irritation at the intrusion on ‘my’ camino – remember that many of the new arrivals may be nervous starting out and the last thing they need is aloofness built on a false sense of superiority. A loving pilgrim welcomes all they meet along the path with an open mind and an open heart… without judgement”.

I must go within myself and find some humility and piety. It will be buried very, very deep and may take some time to find. I remember our first day. We were so excited, nervous, hyped up, keen to get going. To see this again in others is lovely.

But they are carrying so little. Not even a day pack. And there is a huge blue coach parked in a farm lane. It has just done a 27 point turn in a tiny farm yard.

We walked and talked with two irish girls, they were about 18 or 19. They were very friendly and excited and had just started today. They asked where we started and couldn’t believe this was our thirtieth day. I nearly said when we started we were just as young looking as they are, but I didn’t want to scare them.

Two other changes on the Camino. The kitsch level has gone up about ten fold. Shops selling all the rubbish you can imagine. There was a little of this before but now at times it is in your face and you almost have to step over it to go on your way.

The other is the prices seem to be increasing. There is a buck to be made and that’s okay. The Camino is a wonderful experience and we are happy to support the Spanish economy.

The new pilgrims today would have had a wonderful introduction. Gently rolling hills slowly climbing until a drop into a river valley. A patchwork of green fields, narrow lanes between stone fences or rows of brambles. The smells and deposits of the dairy industry. Heh, heh, those pristine shoes didn’t last long!

Ipod theme tune for today: Old Friends/bookends by Paul Simon

Old friends
Old friends
Sat on the park bench like bookends
A newspaper blowin through grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends.

Entering a city never seems to be quite right. It feels much more natural to be walking in the countryside and stopping in villages. Sarria is a town of 13,000 and is a major starting point for pilgrims with a limited amount of time. It is just outside the required 100km minimum distance for those wanting a Compostela. We expect to see a big increase in the number of pilgrims from tomorrow, all fresh and eager, and no doubt a lot faster than we old hands.

Sarria signifies a change in attitude for us. Until now we have not thought about getting to Santiago. The distance to go was so beyond comprehension we did not do a tally each day of kilometres done and kilometres to go. From Sarria it is about 110 km to Santiago. This is the same distance as Raumati South to Wellington and return, which we have done twice. So we can now get our heads around the distance to Santiago.

Now we have to get two stamps per day in our passports, signed and dated in order to qualify for a Compostela. All the previous stamps count for nothing.

For the first time we arrived at our hotel before our maletas (suitcases). It is always very reassuring to walk into reception and there at the counter, patiently waiting for us, are our maletas. They are not guaranteed to be delivered before 4.30pm. There are many stories of bags going missing, being delivered to the wrong hotel or just not being picked up. It must be a heck of an operation each day delivering hundreds of bags to dozens of hotels in dozens of towns. Ours arrived a couple of hours after us.

Another magic morning, we again set off in mist but it quickly lifted. The shortest route was also the more scenic for a change, going through many farms. Lots of cows in this area and the paths which are also sometimes mini streams are awash with cow shit. Not that many cafes today but just enough for a short day. We didn’t feel like stopping to eat as the farm smell was so strong. It wasn’t a fresh cow pat smell but a very potent fermented cow pat smell. Something to do with the farm animals being kept in barns and not feeding on grass.

Ipod theme song: Roy Rogers, Get along little dogies.

Whoopee ti yi yo, get along little dogies
Its your misfortune and none of my own
Whoopee ti yi yo, get along little dogies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home

I woke up this morning and thought, we are high on a ridge, I’ll get up and watch the sunrise. Wrong on two accounts. It was already 7am and we were in total white out. Everything was shrouded in mist. We put on our ponchos thinking it could be a wet day but after a few hundred metres realised they were still perfectly dry. It was a dry mist so the ponchos came off again.

At O Cebreiro we came across the remnants of an ancient architectural style that goes back to Celtic times. Low, oval, stone houses, with ridge-hugging thatch roofs. These houses are called pallozas. They had two rooms, one for animals and one for humans. They do not have chimneys. Smoke just escapes through the straw roof.

This was an easy day. Only nineteen kilometres. The first twelve undulating along the ridge on a good, soft, dirt path. The misty conditions blocked any view but kept us wonderfully cool. The quiet made it quite ethereal and there didn’t seem to be any perception of time or space. There was no pressure today and we felt very contented just ambling along.

We had our usual coffee and santiago cake with our long time friends Helen, Carolyn and John, and our new friends Jackie, Peter, Alison, and Vee. After the efforts of the last few days everyone was very relaxed. We walked on and off independently but met up again for lunch of cheese omelette at Cafe Biduedo. Here Barbara finally bought two scallop shells to hang on our packs. We should have done this at the start in St Jean Pied de Port but didn’t and have been meaning to do so ever since. Well now it’s done.

The last seven kilometres were downhill on a good farm road. We passed through many farms, close to farm houses, barns, milking sheds, with lots of tractors, cattle, dogs, chickens and all the accompanying smells. Concentration was needed to tip toe through the mess on the road. Every farm had at least one large Alsatian dog. Usually lying in the middle of the road and keeping a casual eye on the passing pilgrims.

Compared to the other day this downhill was easy and very pretty in lush vegetation and under a canopy of trees. Before we knew it we were at our destination of Triacastela thinking how could this be – we still feel so fresh. Triacastela means three castles but none survive. The parish church has a picture of each of the castles carved into its tower.

There are limestone quarries nearby and the stone was used in the construction of the cathedral in Santiago. Medieval pilgrims would carry as much stone as they could to the kilns nearer the cathedral. Thankfully for us the cathedral was completed centuries ago.

For much of the Camino we have seen suicidal slugs slithering across the path from one field to another. At first we thought they were droppings from a small animal, until we noticed the feelers. The slugs are up to 100mm long and are jet black. Here they are a pest. They have a death wish as to cross the Camino is very dangerous. Hundreds of boots ready to crush them and hundreds of walking poles ready to skewer them. For bored pilgrims they are fair game and a challenging entertainment.

Ipod theme tune for today: The MASH theme tune.

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
Is it to be or not to be
And I replied ‘Oh why ask me? ‘
‘Cause suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it as I please
And you can do the same thing if you please.

Today was uphill. 29km uphill. Every single step uphill. A long strenuous day, particularly at the end.

The first 22km was up a beautiful valley which we shared with a fast flowing river, the old road (now very quiet) and the new motorway which soared overhead on a tall viaduct and often disappeared into tunnels. The river and two roads crisscrossed each other all day. Our path was at the edge of the old road, separated from it by a concrete crash barrier. The valley was steep sided and heavily wooded with pine and chestnut trees. This made it well shaded and ideal for walking.

There were villages with shops, bars and cafes sprinkled all along the valley and it was quite idyllic. Again we met a young man selling cherries and we bought a bag to eat as we went. We stopped mid morning for cake and coffee and at the 22km mark for lunch at Las Herrerias. A hamlet that lazily stretches along the river and whose name derives from an iron foundry. From here you can get a ride for the last 7km on a horse, no previous experience necessary, the horses go by remote control.

These 7km rise 600 metres, probably the steepest section of the whole camino. Not too bad at first on a sealed road and still among the chestnuts. Then it turned into a rough track and went straight up. It was a bit wet and the deposits from the horses made it a bit slimy and slippery. Fresh deposits from the horses attracted a zillion flies. We made good progress here as we are used to bush tracks in NZ.

About half way up we broke out of the trees and into open farmland and we started to wilt. Another 30 degree day and the sweat was pouring off us. Every item of clothing we were wearing was soaking wet. Fortunately we came to two fuente with fresh, sweet cold water. We guzzled this down, splashed it over ourselves and refilled water bottles. We both felt strong, with no sore legs but the heat was killing us.

About 1km from the top we passed a freshly painted concrete marker that records the fact that we have moved from the region of Castilla Y Leon to Galicia. This is the fourth and last autonomous region of Spain we will visit.

The tiny hamlet of our destination, O Cebreiro, population 50, straddles the ridge and is one of the significant places on the Camino. First it has a hospice that may go back to the 9th century and even today most people stop here so it has plenty of accommodation, cafes, bars and souvenir shops. The other significance is that Don Elias Valina Sompredo was the parish priest here. I have written about Don Elias in an early post so won’t repeat it here, suffice to say that the recovery of the camino for our time is largely due to his scholarship and hard work, and he is responsible for the yellow arrows.

Our walking seems to be much like our cycling. Slow on the downhills (poor technique), average on the flat, but good going uphill. We find a comfortable cadence we can maintain constantly. We also probably have a good power to weight ratio for hills.

Ipod theme tune for today: The Beatles,  Fool on the hill.

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning round