Viranando Bhikkhu
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- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2019
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You might try sending a PM to Nick (@jungleboy) or @Albertinho - both live in Portugal and might know off the top of their heads. Prople have done this - here's a screenshot I pulled off wikiloc:I just wrote this post in case someone has walked here before and has some suggestions that I can't see looking at my map.
Sorry, I don't know. But maybe if Viranando went to the ferry departure point and explained his situation, he would be allowed on without paying even though there is normally a charge? Good luck in any case!You might try sending a PM to Nick (@jungleboy) or @Albertinho - both live in Portugal and might know off the top of their heads.
He’s in Aveiro which is further south than Porto, so the border might be open by the time he gets to it (currently closed until April 16th IIRC).Please know that the border between Portugal and Spain is still closed and it would be illegal to cross it, even as a pilgrim. You might want to look for a good place to wait the current situation out.
BC SY
Excellent, thank you.I will post here every now and then about my progress for everyone that might be interested.
Is there not a bridge upstream?Namaste
I'm Viranando Bhikkhu, a Buddhist monk en route to Santiago de Compostela and onward.
I started walking from a small Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Ericeira on the 5th of April. This morning I passed through Figueira da Foz. I came across this Forum just now, because I was researching how to get over the river at Barra, west of Aveiro. Since I as a Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravada tradition don't use money (for 10 years now), I tried to find out if the ferry is maybe free of charge for pedestrians; well it isn't.
So I will have to walk directly through Aveiro and continue northeast; I dread the tangle of Autostrada. I had hoped to bypass all that by walking along the ocean.
I just wrote this post in case someone has walked here before and has some suggestions that I can't see looking at my map.
With Metta;
Viranando Bhikkhu
Buen Camino Viranando, I am sure they will look after you.Namaste
I'm Viranando Bhikkhu, a Buddhist monk en route to Santiago de Compostela and onward.
I started walking from a small Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Ericeira on the 5th of April. This morning I passed through Figueira da Foz. I came across this Forum just now, because I was researching how to get over the river at Barra, west of Aveiro. Since I as a Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravada tradition don't use money (for 10 years now), I tried to find out if the ferry is maybe free of charge for pedestrians; well it isn't.
So I will have to walk directly through Aveiro and continue northeast; I dread the tangle of Autostrada. I had hoped to bypass all that by walking along the ocean.
I just wrote this post in case someone has walked here before and has some suggestions that I can't see looking at my map.
With Metta;
Viranando Bhikkhu
The OP has been quite clear that he will follow the rules.Please the Corona Virus is lethal follow the rules.
I wouldn't and couldn't just cross the border illegally if I wanted to stay by the Buddhist principles that I have taken up some ten years ago.
Good luck, and please let us know how you go!I will see if I can convince the border police tomorrow that I am basically on transit
Reb lives in Spain, in Morotinos, on the Camino Frances a bit before Sahagun and Leon. So if you're headed to Biarritz on foot, (and go via the CF) you'll walk past her place. That said, there are several Forum members in France, and when the time comes if you put the word out there will probably be people in a position to know where assistance can be found.I would love to contact you again in the future because I don't know anyone in France and a shower (or a water hose will do as well) once a month would come as a real blessing.
If you're anywhere near the Camino Vezeley in SW France... I can certainly helpGood luck, and please let us know how you go!
Reb lives in Spain, in Morotinos, on the Camino Frances a bit before Sahagun and Leon. So if you're headed to Biarritz on foot, (and go via the CF) you'll walk past her place. That said, there are several Forum members in France, and when the time comes if you put the word out there will probably be people in a position to know where assistance can be found.
That's a milestone, to be sure. Congratulations!And so I leave the country that I have called home for the past 10 months full of kind, warm hearted and generous people ready to walk on as a mendicant monk.
You have a bunch of options.sometime after Leon I will have to traverse to the Camino Norte. Any suggestions where? I would like to get to the coast in the vicinity of Mundaka at the latest
For the SS, 15 - 31km.When you give those days (4 days, 9 days), what daily distance is this based on, roughly? I could make it 4 days without food but 9 days would be a stretch.
Glad to read that you are still managing .@mspath
Thank you for your kind offer. I think I am past those places already. I do carry duct tape and can McGuyver something together that will last until León (165 km) . My monastery has offered me to send me a used pair of sandals if I provide them with an address. There is also Rebekah Scott's place (220 km) and I wrote her a orivate messsge this morning already, just waiting for a reply.
So Awesome, will definitly follow your progressThank you all very much for all the good advice. I think I made my peace walking via Mira - Loure - Estarreja and then get back to the ocean after Ovar. It's going to add two days because I am giving Aveiro a wide berth but I do have the time.
In regard to the border, yes I'm hoping for good news on the 16th of April but even if the border is still closed for tourists, I might have a shot by saying that I am heading home (I'm German) and won't come back, since the closure of the border is enforced by the Portuguese and not so much the Spanish side.
If I can't cross, I will be heading East and try my luck at every border crossing on my way.
I will post here every now and then about my progress for everyone that might be interested.
View attachment 97637
Greetings;
Tan V
PS: If you see a Buddhist monk with an alms bowl next to a supermarket, he is probably hungry.
Gronze says that O Mirallos is closed.Good morning to you,
Since you have just left Sarria here are two of my favorite places west of Sarria with very kind people who might be able to help you. They may have Gaffa tape in their workrooms to repair your sandales.
Down the hill from Ferreios and next to the church/cemetery O Mirallos is a favorite stop. They are open every day, serve breakfast from 07:00 and offer a small free dorm if you wish.
Years back in 2010 I stopped in the private Casa Garcia in Gonzar. They also offered many possibilties.
Good luck and Buen camino.
Thanks for your update. I hope that is a temporary closure.Gronze says that O Mirallos is closed.
There is one comment on the Gronze site for this facility that says that they no longer offer accommodation. This is not part of the official Gronze information, just one of the comments so it may pay to check directly with them.Thanks for your update. I hope that is a temporary closure.
Their own web page describes only the restaurant/bar.There is one comment on the Gronze site for this facility that says that they no longer offer accommodation. This is not part of the official Gronze information, just one of the comments so it may pay to check directly with them.
My favourite resource is the Blog of Luis Freixo who has Maps of all the Portuguese routes including the coastal routes see http://www.caminador.es/Namaste
I'm Viranando Bhikkhu, a Buddhist monk en route to Santiago de Compostela and onward.
I started walking from a small Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Ericeira on the 5th of April. This morning I passed through Figueira da Foz. I came across this Forum just now, because I was researching how to get over the river at Barra, west of Aveiro. Since I as a Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravada tradition don't use money (for 10 years now), I tried to find out if the ferry is maybe free of charge for pedestrians; well it isn't.
So I will have to walk directly through Aveiro and continue northeast; I dread the tangle of Autostrada. I had hoped to bypass all that by walking along the ocean.
I just wrote this post in case someone has walked here before and has some suggestions that I can't see looking at my map.
With Metta;
Viranando Bhikkhu
Sad. But not surprising.There are 'se vende' signs on sooo many buildings and properties.
For some people, especially on the Francés, yes. But you're walking backwards, and since all the traffic is going in the other direction, that's not going to happen.So what do you think, is teaming up normal?
Totally speculative, and I don't know much about the local politics/sensibilities in Spain, but can only hope to try to speak to your Portuguese experience. Many of the rural Portuguese are only one or two generations away from being very food-deprived. Conditions there, till the change in government in the 70s, were pretty rough for typical citizens. So giving someone food, and going out of one's way to do so, does not surprise me in the least. (I hope I kept this comment as nonpolitical as possible.)Good morning!
Today is going to be an easy day, only 28 kilometers downhill, no alms round and it's supposed to be sunny, so I can splurge a bit on my phone battery and recharge it later.
So I thought I would go ahead and give you some idea of what is happening on the camino more generally since I left Santiago.
For the first three days up to Sarriah, I met quite a lot of pilgrims, I would say at least 10 to 15 people each day. Usually at least two of them walking together but also groups of up to 5 or 6 people. Most of them didn't carry more than a day pack so they could have been just out for the day but about a handful carried something more hefty and I think were bound for Santiago. Sadly though, there was rarely more of an exchange than 'Hola!', 'Hola!', 'Bon Camino!' and 'Gracias!', so I couldn't really tell where they were from. Since I don't speak Spanish myself, I reverted to saying 'Hello!' 'Good Morning!' and 'Enjoy your walk!' In this way I managed to stop and talk for a minute to a Spanish couple who had started the their journey in Burgos and a Swiss woman who had just left from Sarriah that very morning.
After I had moved through that city the numbers of pilgrims dropped substantially and it seems to me, that this place is a bit of a starting point to Santiago if one only has a week or so and wants to stay a couple days at the final destination as well.
So in the last 3 days I met four to five walkers on average. The ones that I talked to were a German who had started in Pamplona, one from Slovakia who walked from St. Jean. I also talked to two Spanish guys yesterday but forgot to ask where they had left from.
It comes to me as a bit of a surprise, that even though most of the pilgrims who walk this year are Spanish, there seem to be more foreigners walking than I had expected. Although, I don't know what kind of 'traffic' there is in normal years, I guess it must be quite a lot more.
Walking through the villages and towns, I get the feeling, that they must really hurt, being in their second year without income from the stream of pilgrims injecting money into the local communities. There are 'se vende' signs on sooo many buildings and properties.
I sometimes think about what aspects of me walking especially in this year and in 'the wrong direction' of the Camino Frances' would have been harder and which are the ones that would be easier compared to a 'normal' year.
One thing that would have defenitely been harder I think is to stealth camp. For example, since I am in this mountainous region with rarely a flat space, I pitched my tent less then two meters from the trail last night around 8 pm. It's now 12 hours later and no one has gone by my tent. I never climb over a fence to pitch my tent but I'm sure quite a few places I have slept on were meadows, forests or tree plantations that are privately owned. And if a farmer or owner has ever spotted me that I am not aware of, no one has has come to my tent so far to ask me what I am thinking of doing here or to kick me out. Knock on wood.
What seems to be easier and doesn't seem to be possible at all for me this year, is to team up with some other pilgrim that one meets along the way. This year, there are rarely any and they all walk towards Santiago. Having said that, there seems to be a tendency to team up as I have experienced that with my Portuguese pilgrim friend Fernando, who I met and walked with for a couple days before we reached the Spanish border. And also the German and the Slovakian had just met a day prior and it looked likely that they would end the walk in Santiago together. So what do you think, is teaming up normal?
The last big item is about alms round. Since Sarriah, I didn't bother to stand for alms food twice (the day after Sarriah and today) because the little hamlets I could be standing in are basically deserted and the one or two shops there are either closed or have so few patrons that the likelihood of me receiving food would almost solely depend on the shop owner taking a pity in me.
In the bigger towns and cities I do stand, it takes really long to get my bowl filled with food for the day. Some two hours or more I will have to stand on average which is substantially longer than in Portugal. This might be for a few reasons. One, is the size of the supermarkets. While in Portugal they have a lot of the medium sized chains (Continente, Lidl, etc.) and people are much more willing to go back inside after they hear that I can't take their money. In Spain, you have either the super stores like Carrefour (no one in their right mind is going in there twice in a row) or many small shops in one city (Coviran, etc.) so the stream of customers is rather low because they are so widely distributed.
Also, the Spanish people seem to be more in a rush and while they average the Portuguese in the numbers who want to give money, only about 10 to 15 percent of the Spanish are going to get some food after I decline compared to the Portuguese where about 80 percent of the ones after hearing that I only take food will go and buy some. As you can see, there is a lot of time working out theories when one stands for two hours in front of a supermarket each day...
Well, it's eight thirty in the morning now, my latest start ever in the last 32 days. I usually start walking around 7 am. Still, no one has passed my tent but it's time to get packing.
Tan Viranando
Oh? Very interesting. Where?blessed a newly build meditation centre
Oh? Very interesting. Where?
I do hope that achilles calms down ASAP!
The original plan was to head for the coast - so the Vasco? It's a glorious walk.
Sorry to bug you...but where?new meditation place
You can say that again.it is so easy to get carried away by external factors and our deluded mind that latches onto them.
There's a slighy shorter option from Pamplona than going to St Jean Pied de Port, which requires walking down the Voie de la Nive to get to the coast. The Baztan takes 5 days, going directly towards Bayonne, as opposed to what looks like 6 via St Jean.So the new plan () is to now continue walking towards St. Jean, however long it will take, and from there head to Biarritz after all, since it is the closest destination in France that is serviced by Flixbus.
You have blessed many of us with your posts. Sending many blessings to you.So,
this is probably my last entry here for this year.
I reached St. Jean yesterday morning. But before that, I stayed for a night in the well tended garden of Neil at the abbey of Eskirotz and Ilaaratz. I had stopped there to ask for some rubbing alcohol (one of the two allowances the Buddha made (medicine), the other is for water) because the wounds on the back of my hands wouldn't stop oozing pus for the past 7 days or so and looked pretty grim by then.
Neil took me in and we had a nice tea in the evening together with another pilgrim and his beautiful husky.
Porridge in the morning and two big plates of lentils a couple hours later all offered by Neil provided energy to tackle the following climb. The trip up to Roncesvalles was defenitely one of the most beautiful stretches of the tour. I had clear skies, and continued walking trough the night with the full moon lighting my way.
By that time I had come to the decision to end my tour this year in St. Jean to get to my parents house and to see a doctor there about my hands as quickly as possible.
I figured out a way with my brother to book a train ticket to Bayonne from where I can continue on the Flixbus network.
The staff at the tourist info in St. Jean was really helpful and printed the train ticket for me. Apparently it is supposed to be possible to scan the QR-code on the ticket into the SNCF app and I tried that first from a screen and later from the printed ticket without success. The inbuild QR-code scanner inside the app would open but not register the QR-code; I really tried. Has any of you been successful in this endeavor?
This might be the end of this years walk but the camino will continue to integrate inside of me. I received a tremendous amount of generosity and goodwill, the entire walk, 52 days would not have been possible without all the good hearted people that I had met on the way and here in this forum. Thank you! Anumodana.
Viranando Bhikkhu
Indeed. It is what keeps people coming back to the camino and to this forum. It's quite remarkable, these oasis of kindness.I received a tremendous amount of generosity and goodwill
Beautiful. I've walked at night in elsewhere on the camino, but never over the mountains.The trip up to Roncesvalles was defenitely one of the most beautiful stretches of the tour. I had clear skies, and continued walking trough the night with the full moon lighting my way.
Ah, ok, I get it now.espacio interior
C real de Oriente, 64
Castrojeriz
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