Camino Santiago: Trés Grande Vitesse

While sitting in the TGV I took some shots out the window, at 320 km/h the green meadows obviously fly by, at 3 km/h different story.


After 11 days of hiking, I finally got some ideas about the purpose of the Camino...

Can you walk the Camino with 1 Euro in your pocket?
Can you walk it being sick, exhausted, drained?
Can you walk it?
Can you?

Camino Santiago: Day 9, Ventosa to Cirueña

Still walking...
Tendinitis has teamed up with the blisters...
Finding my own pace? Maybe, I started to day with the idea to walk 10km, then get a hotel room for 2 days and rest up. Well that plan went out the window, the 10km turned into 27km and it looks like i am going at it again tomorrow. I have been getting up before sunrise for the last 10 days, and usually been walking by 6:30 or earlier. In the morning it´s cool and quiet. After 3 hours the pastry shops open, just in time for a croissant or two. Then some more walking until the sun kicks in and it´s time for a siesta. During this time of the year some hostels fill up between 2 or 3, which turns the afternoon in a kind of rat race, which is not so much fun. I quit the race and stop now at smaller auberges inbetween, that are not in the designated endpoints of the recommended stages, much more fun. The last couple of days it was wine country, it´s time for a change...
90 km to Burgos, that could be my final destination this time around, back with a bike or two (aka tandem).
Hasta.

Camino Santiago: Day 7, Sansol to Logroño

One week on the trail, the blisters are drying, now the feet get tired, the heat has kicked in. We can see the grain ripen, while walking. the color changes from lush green to a touch of yellow. the vieyards have started, we see green cherries and grapes.
I found a perfect walking stick, made new friends from Italy, Germany, Argentine. It´s now a handful of people that recognize each other, walk and talk for a bit, separate, to meet again in the evening.
Vamonos!

Camino Santiago: Day 5, Puente la Reina to Estella

ach die blasen, werden einfach groesser und and stellen...
although today the first miracle happened. somewhere near a fountain another Thomas from Northern Ireland saw my feet and asked me if i wanted a pair of his socks... I looked at him, what was there to loose? Soft wool socks, ahhh the cushioning, they were almost self-walking, well not quite, but it was a lot easier. Tonight i am just outside Estella, where the only palace of the navarre kings is located, a quaint town with narrow streets, lots of poppies again, blue sky, hot in the afternoon. tomorrow a big hill then a downhill racetrack - more blister country. I need a rest. even SHE rested on day 7.

Camino Santiago: Day 4, Cizur menor to Puente la Reina

Just 21 km, but with blisters limited fun. The menacing skies have give way to sheepish clouds. The corn fields are colored with red poppies and other flowers showing lack of herbicides, maybe that´s what makes white bread so addictive? The trails have now joined and it is becoming a bit more crowded, more bikes, hoping the blisters don´t get worse, everything else works great. The backpack should be 4 kg lighter, why did I bring a second pair of pants? You only can wear one at a time. It´s Sunday today, all stores are closed, even the pharmacies, tomorrow I´ll get a 500 m roll of leukoplast and compeed. I´ll wrap my feet with that. The sign said today 747 km to Santiago, that´s a bit sadistic, no?

Camino Santiago: Day 3, Larrasoaña to Puenta la Reina

First day of Spanish blue sky, at least in the morning. Yeah! But also some blisters are developing, don´t like that. Another 25km, the endurance aspect of this pilgrimage stays with us. Met 3 pilgrims from Germany and Switzerland, who started in Munich, Geneva and Fribourg, i am such a wheenie. No sign for Santiago today, but it must be in the 750km range...
Pamplona was nice, with its narrow, tall roads, where the bulls run in the summer, toady only tourists, pilgrims and locals, shopped, watched and rested. Took a couple of detours to get some stamps... What? Me?
I hope my feet and I are getting in tune and sync after day 3...

Jakobsweg day2:Roncevalles - Loussano

Another 27km jaunt in bad weather. This is no pilgrimage, this is endurance sport without the starting number or sponsors, but the same pain. Half a marathon every day. The weather still sucks, the landscape is lush and green, when you can see it.
Tomorrow Pamplona? No running with the bulls...

Jakobsweg - 14.5.2009, Day 1: St. Jean Pied de Port - Roncevalles

Das war kein Zuckerschlecken, 27km bergauf, bergab, im Regen, Wind und Matsch. Nach 20 km taten mir die Fuesse weh und ich haette gerne auf den Rest der Reise verszichtet, aber mittendrin kann man halt nicht aufhoeren. Also bis zum bitteren Ende: Roncevalles. Eine Kirche, ein Schlafraum fuer alle, mitten in den Pyreneen.
Angeblich sind so 200 Pilger am Tag unterwegs, hmmm. Wieso sind die denn alle so fit?

That first day was hard. It rained all day, I was wondering several times, what I was doing on this trail. 790km to Santiago, that seems very, very far at this point. So far, I have met only one Columbian, besides the droves of Germans, French and Italians. Yesterday I moved with tres grande vitesse, today the snails were out and I barely passed them. The meadows are green, feeding horses, cows and sheep. There is one violet orchid in bloom, that they do not like. It was a challenge to take pictures and keep the camera dry, but there will be some cool snail and pilgrim shots.

Bueno, I am looking forward to a HOT shower and a BIG pilgrims meal tonight. Where is my massage therapist, when you need her?

Lycian Light

Looking into the setting sun at the Lycian Way in Southern Turkey...

A quiet moment during a brief journey through Turkey on foot, by bus, boat, train, bike, tractor trailer, and horse carriage. Next time, we'll bring a rope and the expedition kajak...