The Cicerone guidebook for today suggested walking the final 40km in one day but we were not doing that - I have before walked about 32km in a day (once on purpose and the other time because the albergue we had planned to stay at was closed and it was five kilometers back to an albergue or, we thought, six kilometers on so we decided to go on only realizing that we had mis-calculated after we had arrived!) and if it was entirely necessary we thought that we could walk 40km but seeing as there was some where else to stay and we had plenty of time before our flight we decided to split this stage into a 24km day followed by one of 16km.
The first challenge of the day involved getting out of the albergue - there was a small courtyard bounded by the wall of the albergue, the toilets, a rock face and a wall with a door in it that we had entered through the night before but this door was locked. 'No problem,' we thought as there was another door in the kitchen so this must be the one to use in the morning. That door was also locked and us and a Spanish couple could not find a key. I was beginning to think of my first stay at Ave Fenix where we had been told that the door would be opened at 6:00 to get out and yet we were waiting until seven when the hospitelero ran over full of apologies with the key telling us that he had slept in and apologizing - how long would we be trapped this time? Today was meant to be hot again so we had no desire to set off late but then I spotted what looked like a small gap between the albergue wall and the rock face and sure enough it was possible to squeeze through (thank goodness our bags weren't any wider than they were!). We went and told the Spanish couple and then set off into the gloom and cool of the morning passing the French guy as he was putting away his tent.
The first bar after 3.5km was closed but the one 5km later on was open so we nipped in for Cola Cau and tea and I was able to find somewhat functioning Wi-Fi.
I had done some research on this route before we set off and so I knew that there was an area with some unusual statues including a dinosaur one and some tractors lifted up on a curve of on rails, I wasn't sure when exactly we would see these things but had told Dad jokingly that I wanted to see a dinosaur and a flying tractor on the Camino on our first day of walking. He had nodded and no doubt thought that I might be a little crazy so it was fun to walk through this little display and see him smile as he understood what I had been on about!
Today was indeed a hot day and we found a farm with a drinks machine outside and were more than happy to pay a euro each for a cold drink from it despite the extra water we were carrying after Al's advice the day before. We found a bus shelter to sit in and talked to the gentleman from France from yesterday for a bit before heading out into the heat.
The next section was straight on for ages - there were plenty of turn offs as we went up and down gently but no arrows so we just had to assume that the Way was straight on -other Pilgrims were heading on as well so we hoped that we were right! After a long, long time we saw that a female Pilgrim ahead had turned off the path 0 were we nearly at Siguiero? But no, the French gentleman had stopped at the turn and was watching her. When we caught up it turned out that she had gone to ask at a small house if they could refill her water bottle. This Pilgrim was Sara from Holland on her very first Camino and she told us that at the house they had told her that we were only ten minutes away from Siguiero so the four of us walked together and quickly realized that it may be a ten minute drive from the city but it was certainly not a ten minute walk.
The French gentleman was continuing to Santiago that day but us and Sara were staying in the same albergue so using the very meager instructions in the English Confraternity's guide we set out to find our bed for the night.
The walk into Siguiero is pleasant - there is the usual industrial area but here it was quite small and was followed by a walk through a park (complete with swimming pool that I think all four of us wanted to dive into) and then into the city where we lost the way markers. Our French gentleman went into the nearest bar to ask for directions but no-one had any idea. While he was in there though we spotted a way marker right outside the bar - even where the English Way runs through it is apparently not very well known!
We found a Spanish couple from the night before who pointed us towards the albergue but told us it was 'completo' and we wouldn't get in unless we had booked. The French gentleman took his leave of us and we walked for what seemed like forever in the heat to our albergue where we were very warmly greeted by Delia who showed us to our rooms - just one bunk bed in each meaning that me and Dad had a room to ourselves. After we had settled in and showered we were shown where everything was for breakfast and told that we just helped ourselves when we were ready in the morning. Delia did continue speaking but my Spanish failed me so she happily called a friend who translated everything into English for us. This was a very warm and welcoming albergue where Delia did our washing in a machine for free (and even folded everything nicely when it was dry), tended to Sara's blister with a smile and had information in English to suggest to us what we could do in Santiago, a wonderful place to stay.
Being Sunday not many places were open but we found a small shop and bought some tuna empanada, a pepito (a custard filled long donut) and some drinks and sat in the park under a tree. During this five or so Pilgrims walked past and asked us where the albergue was but we had to say they were full (the Spanish couple who had directed us to our albergue had told us that they had tried both) and that we knew there were hotels in the city but we didn't know where (also no, we had no idea where the tourist information office was or even if there was one in the city which looked to be a commuter city for Santiago).
Tea that night was massive pizzas - so big that even Dad could not quite finish his!
It was nice to settle down in our room that night - it was quieter than usual and tomorrow we would be in Santiago!
Image from http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/llevatela-al-camino/completa/?camino=camino-ingles
The first challenge of the day involved getting out of the albergue - there was a small courtyard bounded by the wall of the albergue, the toilets, a rock face and a wall with a door in it that we had entered through the night before but this door was locked. 'No problem,' we thought as there was another door in the kitchen so this must be the one to use in the morning. That door was also locked and us and a Spanish couple could not find a key. I was beginning to think of my first stay at Ave Fenix where we had been told that the door would be opened at 6:00 to get out and yet we were waiting until seven when the hospitelero ran over full of apologies with the key telling us that he had slept in and apologizing - how long would we be trapped this time? Today was meant to be hot again so we had no desire to set off late but then I spotted what looked like a small gap between the albergue wall and the rock face and sure enough it was possible to squeeze through (thank goodness our bags weren't any wider than they were!). We went and told the Spanish couple and then set off into the gloom and cool of the morning passing the French guy as he was putting away his tent.
The first bar after 3.5km was closed but the one 5km later on was open so we nipped in for Cola Cau and tea and I was able to find somewhat functioning Wi-Fi.
I had done some research on this route before we set off and so I knew that there was an area with some unusual statues including a dinosaur one and some tractors lifted up on a curve of on rails, I wasn't sure when exactly we would see these things but had told Dad jokingly that I wanted to see a dinosaur and a flying tractor on the Camino on our first day of walking. He had nodded and no doubt thought that I might be a little crazy so it was fun to walk through this little display and see him smile as he understood what I had been on about!
Today was indeed a hot day and we found a farm with a drinks machine outside and were more than happy to pay a euro each for a cold drink from it despite the extra water we were carrying after Al's advice the day before. We found a bus shelter to sit in and talked to the gentleman from France from yesterday for a bit before heading out into the heat.
The next section was straight on for ages - there were plenty of turn offs as we went up and down gently but no arrows so we just had to assume that the Way was straight on -other Pilgrims were heading on as well so we hoped that we were right! After a long, long time we saw that a female Pilgrim ahead had turned off the path 0 were we nearly at Siguiero? But no, the French gentleman had stopped at the turn and was watching her. When we caught up it turned out that she had gone to ask at a small house if they could refill her water bottle. This Pilgrim was Sara from Holland on her very first Camino and she told us that at the house they had told her that we were only ten minutes away from Siguiero so the four of us walked together and quickly realized that it may be a ten minute drive from the city but it was certainly not a ten minute walk.
The French gentleman was continuing to Santiago that day but us and Sara were staying in the same albergue so using the very meager instructions in the English Confraternity's guide we set out to find our bed for the night.
The walk into Siguiero is pleasant - there is the usual industrial area but here it was quite small and was followed by a walk through a park (complete with swimming pool that I think all four of us wanted to dive into) and then into the city where we lost the way markers. Our French gentleman went into the nearest bar to ask for directions but no-one had any idea. While he was in there though we spotted a way marker right outside the bar - even where the English Way runs through it is apparently not very well known!
We found a Spanish couple from the night before who pointed us towards the albergue but told us it was 'completo' and we wouldn't get in unless we had booked. The French gentleman took his leave of us and we walked for what seemed like forever in the heat to our albergue where we were very warmly greeted by Delia who showed us to our rooms - just one bunk bed in each meaning that me and Dad had a room to ourselves. After we had settled in and showered we were shown where everything was for breakfast and told that we just helped ourselves when we were ready in the morning. Delia did continue speaking but my Spanish failed me so she happily called a friend who translated everything into English for us. This was a very warm and welcoming albergue where Delia did our washing in a machine for free (and even folded everything nicely when it was dry), tended to Sara's blister with a smile and had information in English to suggest to us what we could do in Santiago, a wonderful place to stay.
Being Sunday not many places were open but we found a small shop and bought some tuna empanada, a pepito (a custard filled long donut) and some drinks and sat in the park under a tree. During this five or so Pilgrims walked past and asked us where the albergue was but we had to say they were full (the Spanish couple who had directed us to our albergue had told us that they had tried both) and that we knew there were hotels in the city but we didn't know where (also no, we had no idea where the tourist information office was or even if there was one in the city which looked to be a commuter city for Santiago).
Tea that night was massive pizzas - so big that even Dad could not quite finish his!
It was nice to settle down in our room that night - it was quieter than usual and tomorrow we would be in Santiago!
Image from http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/llevatela-al-camino/completa/?camino=camino-ingles
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