- The Wife and I started our Camino shopping this week. I recommended some Salomon hiking shoes that I like. She's been wearing them for a few days and she likes them so far. We ordered some toe socks as well. A short test proved that the Wife is still allergic to wool. She tried on a pair of my merino wool blend socks but started itching in only a few minutes. We will have to find a non-wool (probably polyester) option for her hiking socks. We will be going sock and backpack shopping on Monday.
I did something that I thought I would never do. I ordered the Brierley Camino Guidebook. Brierley has lots of good information including history about what you are passing along the Camino de Santiago but, since it also includes suggested stages and a lot of pilgrims treat Brierley's guide as the bible, you end up with traffic jams at the suggested Brierley stops. We cursed Brierley during my first two Caminos but here I am buying his guide. We will not be following the stops suggested by the book but will use the information about the places along the way. - I walked three times this week and managed to do a decent distance. I walked a total of 31.8 miles (51.2 km). Two of the walks were over eleven miles and they both wore me out but I felt better than I expected so that is a good thing. I also, somehow, knocked 4 lbs (1.8 kg) off my weight this week which makes me happy. I'm not overweight by any measure but I am much closer to what I think is a healthy weight for someone my height and age. I've been this weight before and my cholesterol numbers are always better.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query brierley. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query brierley. Sort by date Show all posts
Sunday, March 05, 2023
Weekly Ephemera #46
It was a slow week. Not much happened worth noting except for a couple things like:
Friday, January 31, 2014
Camino 2013 - Day 38: Boente To O Pedrouzo
I was tired when I woke up on Day 38. It was not a good start for the day. Fortunately this would turn out to be a good day anyway.
We left Boente and stopped in Arzúa where I'd stopped last time. We found a grocery store and stocked up on food and then stopped in a bar/restaurant and had breakfast.
While I started out tired I felt better as the day went on. We passed the automated advertising that nearly scared the poop out of me last time. It was a recording about an albergue activated by a motion detector hidden behind a sign. This time there was a television in a glass box showing a video advertisement and more signage and music playing ... much less surprising.
We were talking to a pilgrim we knew. He had met Brierley and had his guide book signed. Brierley writes the most popular Camino guide on the Camino: "A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: The Way of St. James
". He was walking the Camino again to update his guide. I have to admit I cursed his name at times. So many pilgrim's follow his book religiously which results in huge waves of people stopping in the same towns and sometimes even the same albergues. We tried to bypass most of the Brierley stages this Camino aiming for the smaller places in between stops recommended by the guide. That, unfortunately didn't help too much as many of the savvy pilgrims also tried to avoid the Brierley stages and these smaller places filled up too. I was hoping to run into him and make some suggestions but I never saw him.
Our goal for the day was Santa Irene. We reached there and examined the two albergues. One looked a bit run down. The other looked nice and had a nice kitchen but, when we asked how far it was to the nearest food store we were told it was two kilometers away. This seemed ridiculous since the next town was three kilometers away. It took only a little thought and discussion before we set out for the next town.
The three kilometers were mostly down and fairly easy and I am grateful for that. This would be our second long day in a row and I was a bit tired. Having said this, I felt a lot better than I expected I would this day. It helped that my blisters were practically gone and my feet were feeling pretty good.
As we entered the town of O Pedrouzo we started running into pilgrims we knew. It seemed most of the people we'd met along the Camino were all converging on this town. It was nice saying hi and exchanging stories. Everyone was excited about tomorrow and the walk into Santiago de Compostela.
The rest of the afternoon was occupied with chores, naps, eating lunch and dinner, and chatting with people. Most of the people we knew were divided between two albergues but there was a bar about halfway in between where everyone seemed to congregate. The weather turned ominous and rain came and went most of the afternoon.
The rain would be a foreshadowing of the next three or four days. Our weather luck that we had early on and after the meseta was starting to turn once again. I went to sleep, once again, to the sound of hard rain outside the albergue.
Pictures can be found in my 2013 Camino de Santiago Google Photos album.
*Note: The camera GPS did not work very well this day either. A large section between Boente and Arzúa and beyond did not track properly.
 |
| Sunrise fighting the clouds over a corn field. |
While I started out tired I felt better as the day went on. We passed the automated advertising that nearly scared the poop out of me last time. It was a recording about an albergue activated by a motion detector hidden behind a sign. This time there was a television in a glass box showing a video advertisement and more signage and music playing ... much less surprising.
We were talking to a pilgrim we knew. He had met Brierley and had his guide book signed. Brierley writes the most popular Camino guide on the Camino: "A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: The Way of St. James
". He was walking the Camino again to update his guide. I have to admit I cursed his name at times. So many pilgrim's follow his book religiously which results in huge waves of people stopping in the same towns and sometimes even the same albergues. We tried to bypass most of the Brierley stages this Camino aiming for the smaller places in between stops recommended by the guide. That, unfortunately didn't help too much as many of the savvy pilgrims also tried to avoid the Brierley stages and these smaller places filled up too. I was hoping to run into him and make some suggestions but I never saw him. |
| Ahhhhhh! |
The three kilometers were mostly down and fairly easy and I am grateful for that. This would be our second long day in a row and I was a bit tired. Having said this, I felt a lot better than I expected I would this day. It helped that my blisters were practically gone and my feet were feeling pretty good.
As we entered the town of O Pedrouzo we started running into pilgrims we knew. It seemed most of the people we'd met along the Camino were all converging on this town. It was nice saying hi and exchanging stories. Everyone was excited about tomorrow and the walk into Santiago de Compostela.
The rest of the afternoon was occupied with chores, naps, eating lunch and dinner, and chatting with people. Most of the people we knew were divided between two albergues but there was a bar about halfway in between where everyone seemed to congregate. The weather turned ominous and rain came and went most of the afternoon.
The rain would be a foreshadowing of the next three or four days. Our weather luck that we had early on and after the meseta was starting to turn once again. I went to sleep, once again, to the sound of hard rain outside the albergue.
Pictures can be found in my 2013 Camino de Santiago Google Photos album.
| Total Distance on Day 38: 28 km ( 17.40 Miles) Total Distance Walked: 881 km (547.43 Miles) |
 |
Approximate Track of the day's hike*.
[Click on map for a larger version]
|
Monday, March 03, 2014
Camino 2013: Epilogue
I ended my Camino posts back in 2011 with a review of the numbers. I'm going to do that again but there are fewer numbers this time. Not carrying a real GPS limits my data collection fetish ability. Here we go:
The Camino had changed a lot since my first time. It felt more crowded. Parts of the Frances felt like a race to get to beds ... though Gv and I always got to our destinations earlier than the crowds. Staying in smaller towns and smaller albergues often countered this racing feeling as most of the crowd went to the larger, Brierley stops. Last time you could always see pilgrims in front or behind you as you walked but they were always at a distance. This time around they were closer. I guess you could say the pilgrim density or pilgrims per mile was higher. The number of pilgrims doing the Camino has been increasing but the number has jumped since the movie "The Way" came out in late 2011. I think the movie brought a lot more English speaking people to the Camino this time - mostly Canadian, Aussie, Kiwi, and American. In 2011, when I walked my first time, 183,504 pilgrims received Compostela certificates of completion. In 2013 the number increased to 215,929. There was a rumor going around on the Camino ... I helped pass it along ... that Oprah Winfrey was thinking about walking the Camino. If this is real, the Camino, as a pilgrimage of solitary contemplation and introspection, will come to an end.
The increasing numbers are also changing the attitudes of people. There seemed to be more people unhappy with what they were doing. Their attitude was one of "I can't wait til this is over." I never thought this my first time. I had tough days, no doubt, but I never wanted it to 'just be over'. In 2011 when I met someone doing the Camino for a second ... or third ... time I always asked them what they could tell me to help with my Camino. I looked at them with respect and a little reverence. This time around I was the Pilgrim doing it for a second time. When people found out they would look at me like I was nuts and ask with an incredulous tone "Why?!?" As Nr said (she was a second time pilgrim as well) she felt she was often defending her decision to walk a second time. This was a reflection of the attitudes of many pilgrims - they were not having a good time and couldn't understand why you would do it again. I think a lot of people, especially the English speakers who had seen "The Way", had underestimated the difficulty of the Camino. I think they thought it looked fun, easy, and thought it would be a cheap vacation - a walk in the park. Combine the unexpected difficulty and the uncooperative weather and I think I know the source of the general bad attitudes I encountered this time on the Camino.
With the increasing number you would think there would be a lot of Camino Families forming but that isn't what I experienced. Most groups walking together were groups of two to four people. In 2011 my group was over a dozen strong at its peak. We didn't walk together but we often coordinated where we would end the day. This time around it seemed that people were walking at such disparate rates and distances that groups would merge and then separate continuously along the Camino making it hard for larger groups to form. I lost track of all the time I would meet someone and then not see them at all for a week at a time before we came together once again. Was my 2011 Camino Family an aberration or has the dynamic changed on the Camino? Hard to say.
My attitude towards the Camino changed as well and it was to be expected. It felt very "been there done that". I really enjoyed the new parts along the Aragones and the alternate routes we took along the Frances. The crowds took away somewhat from the experience adding a little bit of stress. The attitudes of the pilgrims was draining and a bit demoralizing at times. The weather - be it rain or dreary overcast - really affected my mood. Most of all the fear of the unknown that was there last time ... the fear that turned my pilgrimage into an adventure ... was not there. Despite stopping in different places, staying in different albergues, and meeting new people, the sense of adventure was greatly diminished.
Despite all of this, I still enjoyed my Camino. Once I overcame the blister issues and my surprising lack of stamina early on, the Camino was quite enjoyable. Walking with Gv meant I was never lonely - something that wore on me last time after I got separated from my Camino Family. I saw new things and met new people. While there were a lot of people who seemed not to 'get it' I met several who did. These people were the ones I would say hi to when I saw them and who would share stories. They were the ones who really appreciated what they were doing. They were the ones who made my Camino worth while.
I was proud to complete the Camino without skipping ahead on a bus like last time. This changed how I felt at the end of my Camino. When I returned from the Camino last time I felt like I'd taken a test and had come up incomplete. This time the feeling was quite different. When I sat on the rocky cape overlooking the Atlantic ocean and watched the sun set over the waters I felt a wave of completion. This was what I missed the last time. It took a second Camino to walk the whole thing and to enjoy the sunset and the end in Fisterra.
My Camino experience lasted a little it past Fisterra. There was the issue of the shells. As I've mentioned before, I lost or destroyed three shells along the Camino. The last one I'd left by accident at Hotel Larry in Cee. On my last day in Spain I'd sent an email to the hotel asking if they'd found it. A few days after I got home I got a reply. I am happy to say that the necklace, with the shell from J-M and the yellow Bhutanese cord with its traveler's blessing, is now hanging from my desk lamp in my den.
One last thing. When I left for France to start this Camino I knew this would be my last Camino. When I saw the sun setting in Fisterra, I was absolutely sure that it would be the last time. Then I sat in the bar listening to Nr talk about the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo. The absoluteness began to waver a bit. In hindsight Gv and I should have followed Nr to the Camino del Norte. It would have changed our whole experience to the better I think. And now I have a tiny hankering to do the Camino del Norte or the Primitivo. It won't be any time soon though. RAGBRAI and the Appalachian Trail will come first. After that, after 2017, who knows. I may return to the Camino.
You may leave the Camino but the Camino never leaves you ...
- Total distance was 991 kilometers (615.78 miles) walked in 42 days. This does not include any miles walked in the cities and towns.
- My average daily walking distance was 23.59 kilometers (14.66 miles). This is slightly more than what I did in 2011.
- The longest stage was 33 kilometers (20.51 miles) from Negreira to Olveiroa.
- The shortest stage was 8.7 kilometers (14 miles) from Borce to Canfranc Estación. This was a short stage since we bypassed a portion of the Arles Way due to landslides.
- I have no real elevation data for the trip but it was generally the same as the Frances.
- I stopped in 29 places that I hadn't stopped at last time including San Bol, La Faba, and Samos.
- The food this time was awesome. Last time I could count the good meals on one hand. This time I could count the bad meals on one hand. A complete reversal. I credit the smaller towns and albergues for this.
- We took a one day break along the Camino in León.
- We took the bus or alternate transportation twice. Once to skip the landslide area after Borce and once from Jaca to the San Juan de la Peña Monastery.
- I ate four tubes of Principes and one tube of double stuff Principes - a significant drop from last time.
- I ate an ice cream nearly everyday starting in Borce. There were a few days where none was available but I still think I easily ate 42 ice cream servings this Camino.
- I bought two rosaries and an earring/bracelet/necklace set for the Wife. I bought a small statuette of a Santiago Pilgrim for myself. I bought fifteen magnets to commemorate my trip.
 |
My 2013 Camino route.
[Click on map for a larger version.]
|
The increasing numbers are also changing the attitudes of people. There seemed to be more people unhappy with what they were doing. Their attitude was one of "I can't wait til this is over." I never thought this my first time. I had tough days, no doubt, but I never wanted it to 'just be over'. In 2011 when I met someone doing the Camino for a second ... or third ... time I always asked them what they could tell me to help with my Camino. I looked at them with respect and a little reverence. This time around I was the Pilgrim doing it for a second time. When people found out they would look at me like I was nuts and ask with an incredulous tone "Why?!?" As Nr said (she was a second time pilgrim as well) she felt she was often defending her decision to walk a second time. This was a reflection of the attitudes of many pilgrims - they were not having a good time and couldn't understand why you would do it again. I think a lot of people, especially the English speakers who had seen "The Way", had underestimated the difficulty of the Camino. I think they thought it looked fun, easy, and thought it would be a cheap vacation - a walk in the park. Combine the unexpected difficulty and the uncooperative weather and I think I know the source of the general bad attitudes I encountered this time on the Camino.
With the increasing number you would think there would be a lot of Camino Families forming but that isn't what I experienced. Most groups walking together were groups of two to four people. In 2011 my group was over a dozen strong at its peak. We didn't walk together but we often coordinated where we would end the day. This time around it seemed that people were walking at such disparate rates and distances that groups would merge and then separate continuously along the Camino making it hard for larger groups to form. I lost track of all the time I would meet someone and then not see them at all for a week at a time before we came together once again. Was my 2011 Camino Family an aberration or has the dynamic changed on the Camino? Hard to say.
My attitude towards the Camino changed as well and it was to be expected. It felt very "been there done that". I really enjoyed the new parts along the Aragones and the alternate routes we took along the Frances. The crowds took away somewhat from the experience adding a little bit of stress. The attitudes of the pilgrims was draining and a bit demoralizing at times. The weather - be it rain or dreary overcast - really affected my mood. Most of all the fear of the unknown that was there last time ... the fear that turned my pilgrimage into an adventure ... was not there. Despite stopping in different places, staying in different albergues, and meeting new people, the sense of adventure was greatly diminished.
Despite all of this, I still enjoyed my Camino. Once I overcame the blister issues and my surprising lack of stamina early on, the Camino was quite enjoyable. Walking with Gv meant I was never lonely - something that wore on me last time after I got separated from my Camino Family. I saw new things and met new people. While there were a lot of people who seemed not to 'get it' I met several who did. These people were the ones I would say hi to when I saw them and who would share stories. They were the ones who really appreciated what they were doing. They were the ones who made my Camino worth while.
I was proud to complete the Camino without skipping ahead on a bus like last time. This changed how I felt at the end of my Camino. When I returned from the Camino last time I felt like I'd taken a test and had come up incomplete. This time the feeling was quite different. When I sat on the rocky cape overlooking the Atlantic ocean and watched the sun set over the waters I felt a wave of completion. This was what I missed the last time. It took a second Camino to walk the whole thing and to enjoy the sunset and the end in Fisterra.
My Camino experience lasted a little it past Fisterra. There was the issue of the shells. As I've mentioned before, I lost or destroyed three shells along the Camino. The last one I'd left by accident at Hotel Larry in Cee. On my last day in Spain I'd sent an email to the hotel asking if they'd found it. A few days after I got home I got a reply. I am happy to say that the necklace, with the shell from J-M and the yellow Bhutanese cord with its traveler's blessing, is now hanging from my desk lamp in my den.
One last thing. When I left for France to start this Camino I knew this would be my last Camino. When I saw the sun setting in Fisterra, I was absolutely sure that it would be the last time. Then I sat in the bar listening to Nr talk about the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo. The absoluteness began to waver a bit. In hindsight Gv and I should have followed Nr to the Camino del Norte. It would have changed our whole experience to the better I think. And now I have a tiny hankering to do the Camino del Norte or the Primitivo. It won't be any time soon though. RAGBRAI and the Appalachian Trail will come first. After that, after 2017, who knows. I may return to the Camino.
You may leave the Camino but the Camino never leaves you ...
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