On the Camino

This year has been declared as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy by the Pope (running from December 8th 2015 to November 20th 2016 - the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to the Feast of Christ the King) and is a period for universal pardon and the remission of sins focussing on God's mercy and forgiveness. It is Extraordinary as it was not predetermined being announced by the Pope on the 13th of March 2015 and it was stressed that this was not just to be celebrated in Rome but all around the World hence Santiago's Holy Door, and many other Holy Doors around the World, are open this year when they would not normally be. This is so that, 'The Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and instils hope.' – Pope Francis

We had answers on the Camino forum telling us not to walk the 40km diversion to Laxa as the signs suggested as the ‘normal’ Camino route was indeed open; one of the posts said that the other route was not very well marked and another suggested that it was the construction company who was trying to divert the Camino, as far as Galicia is concerned the route is still in use and the route is indeed still open just fine. We set off walking at about seven when the sun was up and the air still a little bit chill. The guidebook we were using only had very rough maps and only mentioned towns and villages that had albergues in them so we went through several villages today without knowing where we were or how much further we had to go.

In 2009 the 26th of April was my first day on the Camino - I was walking over the Pyrenees but was not going on the route napoleon - I was too scared of the climb, too scared of the distance I had decided to walk,  my tjoughts lingering on the fact that to get the Compostela I only needed to walk 100km and yet was setting out to walk 800. I set off with a girl of my age, her name and even her nationality  have faded from my mind and after this day I never saw her again but I remember how we were both worried that first day and how we kept each other going and how happy we were to reach Rocenvalles.

We had planned to get up at 8:30 this morning but there is a distinct possibility that we didn’t get up until 8:50 after the delay yesterday but the train that we planned to catch wasn’t until 12:10 so that still gave us plenty of time to get ready. We headed to the bus stop as last year the bus that we caught to the airport had stopped at the train station but this time we couldn’t find any bus that went to the station so caught a taxi for 6.50 euros (a single on the bus to the airport is 3 euros so the taxi was only slightly more expensive). I had screen shots of the train that we wanted to catch to show the person at the ticket office but the man knew English so I didn’t get to try my limited Spanish.

This morning was filled with all of the small details of setting off on any holiday – unplugging everything, delivering the cats to the cattery and checking on passport and tickets many, many times. On other occasions we have taken the coach down to the airport but seeing as four of us were heading down this time we drove and parked in one of the long stay car parks and then caught the bus to the airport. We had already sorted our toiletries into bags but going through security always takes time anyway and we were glad to be through and headed to get some food.

This morning was very cold – we saw a lot of frost as we set off and the sign on the pharmacist said -5 o C!   The first part of the day was walking on the roads but we saw no traffic – in fact the way was so quiet that we saw a deer in a field and it then ran across the road. A little bit after this we came to a split in the road and were uncertain which way the arrows were pointing but there was an elderly gentleman behind us who showed us the way to walk.  

Today we had set off by eight after eating the breakfast bars we had brought with us. The day started off with a climb up and we managed to go a whole 50 meters before the cyclist sped past us! As with yesterday’s walk we saw no-one at all during the day’s walk and so the two of us could sing quite loudly once or twice as we walked.

Happy Star Wars Day! http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnoticias.lainformacion.com%2Fpolitica%2Fdefensa%2Flos-soldados-imperiales-de-star-wars-invaden-santiago-en-el-30-aniversario-de-el-retorno-del-jedi_J0Hm4Wj4tcu5saV9LjxND%2F&ei=PPD-VLXpENKV7gbAkoDwBQ&psig=AFQjCNHkaN9NbqhTVQ0oUPPVJraQ9Es6UQ&ust=1426080124438505

The Via de la Plata (commonly translated as ‘Silver Way’ as the route was used by the Romans to carry the silver they mined although the word ‘plata’ may come from the Arabic al-balat which means cobbled paving showing that the road was built by the Romans) connects Seville to Astorga a distance of 1000km which takes about 7-8 weeks to walk passing through 4 regions and 7 provinces. Traditionally this route was taken by pilgrims from North Africa. The via de la Sanabres leaves the via de la Plata at Zamora and heads to Ourense and then Santiago. We started walking in a Guidina which is about 200km from Santiago and took us ten days to walk. h ttps://www.caminodesantiago.me/is-via-de-la-plata-really-not-walkable-in-july/

This is a simple craft which I've used for congratulations cards. You need copies of the Camino maps and of the sellos (as I'd already walked the Camino Portuguese I had several sellos already for the route but none for the Via de la Plata so I just have the Santiago sellos for that card but selos pictures could be easily found online).