Friday 20 May 2011

Camino Frances- Epilogue

I thought that Epilogue would be better than Postscript to finish my Camino. They always had an epilogue at the end of The Fugitive, the TV series in the 1960s. In case you didn't get what went on in the previous hour, the spelled it out for you in the epilogue.
Firstly I can state that I will be one of a handful of pilgrims that finished the Camino and will not write a book on it. The coffee tables of the world are cluttered enough with My Camino, my journey to self-discovery etc. Thanks Paulo.
The Camino  was much as I expected. I walked for 34 days with 1 day off in Burgos taking exactly 5 weeks. It was a physical challenge but within my limits. Thankfully, no injuries, blisters or bruises. The Albergues were better than expected; a lot of them have been renovated in the last year or two. The prize goes to Roncessvalles which just opened in April. Its old Albergue which is still there had a bit of a bad reputation. The showers were better than I was expecting. The snoring was as anticipated but my tolerance to the racket improved in that I used the ear plugs only 2-3 times. On the other hand, they were not very efficient so maybe I gave up on them. The coffee was much better than expected, similarly the food. We ate mainly pilgrim meals for 9 Euros each evening. The freshly-squeesed orange juice was a triumph to the point that we passed up the second cup of coffee of the day to have one. Everything was cheaper than expected outside of Santiago (outside of the tourist drag in Santiago). We were also glad that we contributed in some way to tourism in regional Spain, especially in those small villages. 
The highlights included the walk through the mountains down into Molineseca, the days walking through the Pyrenees, the stained-glass windows in the Cathedral in Leon, the town of Astorga and of course the weather. Am off now to start the rest of my holiday which will include a few quiet pints in Coffey's in Clogh and in Freeny's in Galway. I have been walking now for a day without my 8kg rucksack which is a bit strange. I am walking with a bit of a 'here's me head and me arse is coming' type of gait. No doubt my equilibrium will be restored in a few days.
This has been a Quinn-Martin production.

1 comment:

  1. Well done Bear! Particularly on the No Book Policy.
    Mind you there is this blog....

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