The Camino Part 1

The Camino de Santiago is different for everyone.  We each go our own Way.  Roughly 450 people finish the Camino each day!  We were 4 of those pilgrims on October 21st!  If you had told me in April or even in June that I would be able to walk every one of the 110 kilometers on our Camino, I would never have believed it possible.  It was with incredible pride, awe and exhaustion that we trudged the final kilometers, in pouring rain, to the ultimate finish line at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. If you asked me today, "Would you do it again?", in a heartbeat...yes!  Here is why.

We started, as so many do, full of energy, anticipation and curiosity.  There may have also been a bit of trepidation wondering "can we do this?"  Mind you, we chose to walk the last 100 km from Vigo, Spain to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  The required distance you need to walk to get your Compostella.  Let's just say we chose to do "Camino Light".  We stayed in very nice accommodations, had a service move our bags from place to place and "only" did 100 km.  Like I said, we each go our own Way.  For the 4 of us, this was our Way and among our group there were still 4 different "ways".   We did walk every step of the Way though.

We are ready to walk!

Only 96.4 more kilometers!  Follow the yellow arrows!

We headed out, dark and early (sunrise was at 8:45!), on day 1 to find the Camino.  1.2km, which felt at least like 2 km, up a long hill in Vigo we finally found our first yellow marker and the actual Camino.  We also experience our first act of kindness on the Camino when a woman, who noticed we had passed the Camino, guided us back to the correct street!  Thank you for saving us the extra steps!  We happily marched along enjoying the path.  The views were very nice, we watched Vigo move away from our view and it seemed we did circles around the unique bridge in the distance as it moved from in front of us to next to us to behind us.  We would eventually drive over that same bridge on our way back after our Camino!

The bridge to and from Vigo!
I personally prefer this view to the one driving over the bridge!

Day 1 was full of everything new. Walking through Spanish neighborhoods, observing the landscapes and all the gardens and seeing my first Horreos (the rectangular little grain houses with crosses above the door pictured above).  We walked through the forest, we saw a waterfall, and we walked through countless small villages.  It didn't seem like we saw all that many other pilgrims on our first day.  I was really hoping for the communal feeling I had heard existed on the Camino.  I wondered if being in a close group of 4 would isolate us from others.  Initially, I felt like maybe it had but in hindsight I think we just hadn't gotten into the Camino yet.  We were still wide eyed and new.

Our first day was a long one...16 miles, roughly 25km!  There were a lot of hills!  Nothing like breaking in the feet and legs with a solid first day!  We ended our day in Arcade, called a cab, per our instructions, which came and promptly drove us backwards about 3 miles to our accommodations for the night.  The horror each of us experienced thinking of our trek back to that point was soon soothed when we found out they delivered us to our stopping point the next morning, whew!

The accommodation package I chose was labeled, Country Cottages.  If this was a country cottage, I can't imagine what a country castle looks like!  We drove through a very rough area, up some barely paved roads, up a hill and when we entered the grounds my jaw dropped!  Firstly, the grounds were vast and meticulously manicured, and the house/castle was huge!  When we entered it reminded me of an old castle you would go to for one of those "who done it" mystery nights.  Mr. Green, in the conservatory with the knife.  So old and yet well kept.  Definitely a wedding venue too!

We felt like we had won the lottery.  That night at dinner, we met a group of Pilipino nurses, all from the US, who had gone to school together, many years ago.  They were walking the Camino as well.  Following an even lighter Camino way than we were!  

A lovely view of the grounds from our room!

The entrance!

Wedding reception area

We woke up the next morning with just as much motivation as the first morning.  Plus, we knew this was a shorter day of walking.  Surely it would be easier, right?! Nope!  At least not for me.  It was more fun, if one can possibly have fun while wearing a raincoat, perspiring underneath and starting to feel a few hot spots on my toes from the constant walking.  I stayed positive, what else could I do?  But every hill got harder and longer.  There were a few bright spots along the Way.  The bagpiper was the first!  I could hear him around the corner and was thrilled when I saw him!  Thank you, bagpiper!  I bought my first Camino scallop shell from him.  A little farther up the trail we came upon a fellow selling his wares, he also had water, which was much needed that warm, damp day.  We counted two blessings before we got very far already.  I think our biggest blessing that day was near the end of a bonus route we decided to take through the woods along a stream.  The downside was that it added a few kilometers to our day, the good side was that near the end we found a great spot to sit, take off our shoes and soak our aching feet in some fresh cold water!  It was heaven!

We finally made it to Pontevedra not a moment before it began to rain!  Once again, our accommodations were ancient and castle-like.  The place hosted a mix of bedraggled pilgrims, sharply dressed business people and a smattering of tourists.  This is where we started to see some of the same faces and began finding our Camino friends.  It was my first encounter with Maria and Juan who were fresh off 37 days walking the Camino Frances and decided to do a week on the Portuguese Camino!  She exclaimed in the elevator, "I love the Camino!".  That is a lot of walking!

We did make the mistake that day of skipping lunch on the trail and waiting until we reached our stopping point for the day.  This meant lunch at 2:30 pm and some serious over ordering due to our level of hunger upon arrival.  It also meant that we were not hungry at dinner, but we still needed to eat.  We went to a tapas place, ordered a few tapas expecting tiny portions only to be shocked at the amount of food that landed on our table!  We could not rise to the occasion.  It was also the first place we got drenched in a rainstorm, which became the theme of the rest of our Camino.  

I would follow this arrow anywhere!

Early morning full of hope and beauty!

Adding his eucalyptus bark cross to the fence.

The road was sometimes rocky...and uphill.

This felt sooo great!

Another "country cottage" in the middle of town!

Finding a table under the awning!  
Evening happy hour ritual!

I am pretty sure this was also the day at least 3 of us began to question whether our bodies were really ready for this commitment.  Our toes were beaten and bruised.  We were more than a little concerned about the weather forecast which showed nothing but rain on our horizon.  Two days in and I was wondering where that great Camino experience was?  I passed out moleskin and ibuprophen to everyone and we continued!