Going west - Camino Frances

It took me 4 years to complete the 790 kms of The French Way  

It did not follow a fluid start-to-finish course, but rather was broken into three distinct attempts. I initially began alone, on the eve of my 65th birthday in May 2010, at the walled town of Manzilla de las Mulas near Leon.  Frank joined me twelve days later at Sarria, which has become an increasingly popular launch pad for Santiago, being the required 100+km from the cathedral (120 km).  Five days later we proudly collected our certificates of completion - the compostelas - and added them to those gained after our Camino Ingles in May 2007 and Camino Portugues in September 2009.  I had walked about 340km and was grateful to receive wonderful sponsorship towards a Cork based African charity.  This walk in covered earlier in my blog  check here

Monument to pilgrims at Manzilla de las Mulas

 

At Leon Cathedral after rain - May 2010

Maker of sturdy pilgrim staffs  (bordon in Spanish)

Church at Vilar de Mazarife - with protection for storks' nests!

In September 2013 Frank and I tackled the very start of the Spanish Camino Frances from the French Pyrenean village of St Jean Pied de Port and made the demanding ascent to Orisson and Roncesvalles.  I never thought I would be able to manage such a sustained mountain climb, but we sensibly made our first day a short one of only 8 km and were thus more able to manage the continuing ascent next morning, covering a climb of 1280 m!  There was a huge sense of achievement when we finally reached the Col de Lepoeder and could coast down the remaining 5 km to Roncesvalles where the large Dutch-run albergue Orreaga, originally founded in 1127, provided spotless accommodation.  We were blessed with fine weather and the views were breathtaking, though altitude sickness made the going an extra bit tough.  Three days later we were in the famed city of Pamplona.

The evening before departing St Jean Pied de Port - Frank cut staves for us both

View from the hostel at Orisson

 

Day 2 begins and the climb rewards

Hostel at Roscesvalles: one has been in existence here since 1127

 

Gate in the city walls at Pamplona

In October 2014 I decided again to walk for charity, this time ironically for the Cork-based Breakthrough Cancer Research  (not knowing that our youngest daughter was to be diagnosed with Stage VI bowel cancer shortly after my return home).  The final 340km section of my Camino Frances awaited, from Pamplona to Manzilla.  Frank accompanied me for the initial 10 days until Burgos and nine days later I completed my camino at Manzilla and walked on the additional 18km to revisit Leon. Having already tackled the tough mountain stages this was a relatively easy and varied walk.  Occasional blisters and aching bodies are soon cured and one becomes hardened after a few days on the march.  The terrain was mixed and beautiful : huge undulating fields of dying sunflowers, acres of grazing for herds of sheep, vineyards and villages and magnificent cathedrals and sections of Roman roads.   Alone I made good friends along the way, and was heartened by the generosity and kindness extended by young and old alike.   In celebration at having finally completed my Camino Frances I spent the final night of luxury at Leon's beautiful  Hotel Real Colegiata 

An account of that walk is here

Cloister, Pamplona Cathedral 2014

One of Spain's few canals - Canal de Castilla

Sheep and Shepherd near Estella

XII century Templar church at Villacazar

Full circle: back at Leon Cathedral - this time in sunshine  Oct 2014

I came home to the reality of our youngest daughter's cancer:  how fitting that a charity based on cancer research had been the beneficiary of my final section of the Camino Frances.   I plan to walk again for Breakthrough Cancer Research, this time with more determination as Sarah's continuing path towards good health depends so much on quality research for newer and better ways to combat metastatic cancer.  Check out Sarah's uplifting blog here.

 And to answer my initial question - which camino is the best?  Each of the four I have sampled has its highs and lows, but I feel more and more drawn towards the path less traveled.  The last 120 km of the Camino Frances are in my view over busy with chartered groups, and as a solitary pilgrim I seek quieter routes to Santiago.  Now actively in training I look forward to walking in September,  and depending on fitness level will spend one or two weeks on the road - on which path I am not yet sure!   The glorious weather we are currently enjoying in Ireland is a big help in getting fit. 

Over the summer a donation site will be set up and notification given.  Thanks so much for your continuing interest and support!  

Go n-éirí an bóthar linn

North? South? East? West? Which camino is the best?

The many ways to Santiago  © John Brierley

Camino Fisterra

In our several camino ramblings between 2007 and 2014 (walking some 1500 kms) we have approached Santiago from all cardinal compass points.  The most beautiful approach to the ancient cathedral is undoubtedly from the west: the last few miles of the lesser trodden Camino Fisterra give wonderful views of old Santiago de Compostela with the cathedral spires standing tall and proud in the distance, urging one onwards and upwards. 

Most of the people who do this walk make it an add-on from Santiago, continuing westwards to the end of the known world, as Finis Terre was considered up the time of Columbus,  but it is perfectly acceptable to do it in the reverse order, and starting in Muxia one has the opportunity of a refreshing ocean dip before setting out to Fisterra (Finisterre), Cee and Negreira over a gentle five or six days.  It is about 110km long, through peaceful farmland and by pristine beaches,  and qualifies for the compostela or pilgrim certificate.  It is the shortest of all the caminos, and is a delightfully quiet and refreshingly peaceful alternative to the increasingly crowded and hectic final stages of the more famous Camino Frances from Sarria, about 120km east of Santiago.

Nosa Senora da Barca near Muxia

Path into Muxia

Broom along the way

Pria de Langosteira beside Fisterra

The goal: Santiago cathedral from the Camino Fisterra

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 Camino Ingles/Celtic Camino

Approaching Santiago from the north gives an opportunity to savour the countryside traversed by our forebears who together with English, Welsh and Scottish pilgrims would have traveled by sea to La Coruna or Ferrol and thence along the Camino Ingles. Most of us nowadays will arrive into Santiago by plane, and travel by bus to Ferrol, which is 120km from Santiago.

Again this is a peaceful and delightful Way, with kindly hostels and small hotels en route, and far less travelers so there are no difficulties in finding beds at the end of the walking day.  This route was our first ever Camino back in 2007 a few months after my brother's death, and I returned to it again in 2013 with his widow and a group of friends from Australia.  The Irish Camino Society have recently done great work in popularizing this route by enabling an Irish add-on walk of 25km to extend the route from A Coruna (which is 75km from Santiago and therefore of itself doesn't qualify one for the compostela), calling it the Celtic Camino

Being entirely through Galicia, one will usually experience a day or two of rain - but pilgrimage wouldn't be authentic without some little difficulty!

Frank sheltering from a shower, 2007

Typical albergue en route : this dorm we had all to ourselves

  

Beach at La Magdalena outside Puentedeume - May 2007

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Camino Portugues

Coming from the south is the Camino Portugues, growing in popularity as a good alternative to the French Way.  This has so many attractions and we very much enjoyed it back in 2009, our second ever camino.  We went in the bountiful month of September, and took twelve days to walk the 230 kms from outside Porto.  We were almost doubling our previous mileage, and the heat at that time of year made us seek shady siestas at midday. Passing from one country into the other at the River Minho which marks the boundary between Spain and Portugal adds an extra dimension, as one changes not only language and architectural styles, but even the hour!  Spain is more modern and more highly populated along the camino here, but the language is more approachable, though Gallego and Portuguese have a lot in common.  Much of the path is shared by the pilgrim route to Fatima favoured by the Portuguese who don't have as much interest in continuing north to Santiago.

Across the Minho and into Spain

Collecting the grapes

Bounties of the Camino Portugues , 2009

There are differences too in the food, though both countries offer the wayfarer excellent pilgrim menus at ridiculously cheap rates.  As a contrast to the many simple hostels along the way, we sampled some of the beautiful Quintas or country houses offering a higher standard of accommodation: this one is owned by an English couple who treated us royally and gave a generous pilgrim discount as well!

Quinta do Convento da Frangueira

Casa dos Assentos at Quintiaes near Barcelos

Another delightful accommodation was at the Casa dos Assentos , a lovely manor house where Senhora Julia provides wonderful home cooking to tired pilgrims and other guests.  We certainly lived it up at this stage of the Camino Portugues, but spent far more nights in simple albergues!

These are three caminos which we have sampled and enjoyed.  I will leave the final compass point, east, to the Camino Frances.   Check out my next post for that!

Another Camino!

The time is right!

I finished the Camino Frances back in October 2014, thrilled with the funds raised for Breakthrough Cancer Research.  In my final post I mentioned that our family had been struck down once more with this threatening disease, but didn't elaborate.  Shortly after my return our youngest daughter, a GP and mother of three young children aged eight months, three and six, was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer which had spread extensively to her liver.  Our world fell apart.

But Sarah is not a girl to let something like this slow her down.  She knew that one of the best colo-rectal cancer medical teams worked in some of the hospitals where she had trained in Cork, and together with them she developed a strategy to fight.  There followed two years of intensive chemotherapy, surgery and radio therapy, partaking in revolutionary medical trials, while maintaining her busy GP practice in Cork, and looking after her wonderful family.  In 2017 she underwent five sessions of state-of-the-art SABR radiotherapy in Dublin's Beacon Hospital, and she is currently attending there again.  All the while she has been writing an inspiring blog which is full of humour and courage, a must-read for medical professionals as well as cancer sufferers and their families and friends.  She is living proof of how modern medicine combined with determination and positive attitude, and the support of a strong family and group of friends, can prevail against even the deadliest cancers.  This makes our commitment to research even stronger than before.

So now that life is coming more or less back to normal, it's time for me to don those walking boots and shake my tin can once more.  I had in fact planned to go last Easter and attempt three weeks of the strenuous Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago.  I had psyched myself up and contacted Breakthrough Cancer Research to tell them of my plans, but fate intervened.  Shortly before I was due to head to Andalucia two of my husband's brothers died within four days of each other, one completely unexpectedly, the other at the end of a battle with Parkinson's.  It was a time of huge loss and sorrow, and my camino plans were shelved.  But now another year has passed, and the desire to head back on the Way is becoming stronger, particularly since seeing the inspirational film I'll Push You .  Two young American fathers, friends since childhood,  tackle the 780+km Camino Frances,  The French Way from St Jean Pied de Port  to Santiago.  Justin has a life threatening progressive congenital neuromuscular disease and is without the use of his limbs.  With a specially modified wheelchair and Patrick as pusher they achieve the impossible, and make it all the way, including the grueling climb over the Pyrenees.

With such example it is impossible to stay comfortably at home, and so I am getting fit and adjusting my sights to a second attempt at the Camino Portugues, which begins in Lisbon:  I will commence outside Porto, which is 240kms from Santiago.  It was the second camino I ever undertook, back in 2009, two years after my brother's untimely death from renal cancer.  However, nine years later knees and hips are giving a bit of trouble, so walking days will necessarily be shorter: hence the change of route from the more demanding Via de la Plata. There will be more opportunities for comfortable pit-stops in bars and cafes en route, and shorter distances between hostels.  I will carry my small backpack as before, and promise to give it my best shot over a relatively comfortable two weeks.  Once again I will be looking for your support, and will let you know when the donation site is set up, and when the walk begins - hopefully early in September.  Many thanks for following this blog.   En camino!