Those who have walked the Camino will probably have seen one or more of the Camino mascots along the Way but do you know their names? http://m.elcorreogallego.es/xacobeo/ecg/xubi-jubila-pelegrin-mascota-xacobea/idEdicion-2010-06-08/idNoticia-555962/
'Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humour, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.' - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happy Saint George's day- Saint George is not only the Patron Saint of England but is also important in the area of Aragon in Spain (see this article http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/spain/st-george-day ) and when in Leon you can see his image in a few places. Image taken from archivalmoments.ca
I did see some of these new 'no toileting' signs as I walked http://mashable.com/2015/04/20/camino-de-santiago-no-pooping-signs/?utm_content=buffer2582a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I recieved my Compostela yesterday but attended the Pilgrim Mass today - seeing as I arrived after 12 yesterday it was in today's mass that my arrival, and that of my family, was announced.
I made Congratulations cards for Becky, mum and Dad for our arrival in Santiago: A ddecorated quote For this card I drew an arrow and wrote the names of all of the places between Triacastela and Santiago.
I wish that I could say that it had stayed dry all day but it rained a little for the last hour or so of walking today and I got drenched on my way back to the albergue from tea! Oh well, tomorrow is meant to be better weather .....
.. and it will keep on raining until the rain has stopped! To mis-quote Gandalf. A wet day with little let-up, never really heavy thankfully but wet enough (and the weather forecast suggests the next three days will be much the same).
Today has been a longer day's walk as me and Dad took the 5km round trip to see the Templar Church at Vilar de Donas which dates from the 13th century.
The Camino was quiet as we left Sarria this morning and indeed last night was the only time that I have ever seen the old main street (where almost all of the albergues are lovated) completely empty.
At about ten last night mum and dad arrived in Tricastella after a long journey exasperated by a french air controllers strike. Today we walked about ten km to Samos
As it's Mum's first Camino I made a little bon voyage card. You may not be able to tell but this will be a paper aeroplane and clouds then I cut this out Here's the card cut out with black outlines added and yellow paper put behind.
Just a quick post today. We walked 25km today from la faba (where there is no wifi at all hence no post) to Tricastella. Another hit day except in O Cebreiro where the wind was so strong I was glad that I had my backpack to weigh me down! They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here's a few from today
I'm sorry this one is a day late but I was a bit busy yesterday! We were out of the albergue by about half 7 and walking in half dark. The day stayed windy but was really sunny - next to no clouds.
After three days of travel we have arrived at the starting point for this year's Camino! The weather is hot - about 20 degrees Celsius now and after the winds and hail back home it almost feels like we've gone through some magical portal to summertime!
After setting off on the bus at midnight yesterday and sending about 8 hours failing to sleep at the airport we are in Santiago and have our bus tickets to get to Astorga by half one tomorrow! We had a couple of hours in Santiago finding food and also saw the Maunday Thursday parade
In Spain the Easter processions are organised by 'Co-fradias' or 'The Brotherhoods' and the floats that they carry are called 'tronos'. The people who carry them are called 'Costaleros' (a 'costal' being the small cushion often used to stop the tronos causing sores when being carried - the tronos can weigh up to 6 tons!). The people who follow the tronos who wear the cone-shaped hats (these are worn in the belief that it will bring them closer to the heavens) are called 'Nazarenos'. For anyone lucky enough to be in Santiago from the 27th of March to the 12th of April here's a link to a site with information on what's going on during Holy Week http://www.semanasantasantiago.com/ Information on the processions is on http://www.semanasantasantiago.com/procesions The Confraternity of Saint James has a page listing a few processions at http://www.csj.org.uk/question/what-about-going-in-holy-week/ If anyone knows any details...