K_Lynn
Buen Camino!
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Frances 2021, Ingles 2023
My sister and I finished Camino Ingles on October 31, just in time to see the Botafumeiro swing on November 1! Huzzah! I had deliberately scheduled our Camino to be guaranteed that particular joy. I had also scheduled our trip to be able to see the Trashumancia festival in Madrid as I had missed it when there 2 years ago.
We started walking in Ferrol after 2 nights in A Coruna. A Coruna was lovely and we had the last full days of sunshine there. lol It rained every single day for Camino. Not constantly, and generally not a heavy rain, but it rained, it drizzled, it poured, and now and then it would stop for a few hours. I had been very worried about the rain when I was looking ahead at weather forecasts prior to flying in, but it honestly wasn't a horrible experience. We missed the flooding of Santiago by a week or so!
Pontedeume to Betanzos was a brutal day. A very steep hill to get out of town. I was very grateful that it wasn't raining as I was very hot by the time we got to the top. And then of course it did start raining! Most of the day is blur, but I do remember the cruelty of having another very steep hill to climb to get to our hotel in Betanzos. Our walk into Santiago was actually mostly clear so we lucked out there.
I am very proud of my sister for completing the Camino and it was not easy for her. My Camino pace is usually about 4-5kmph (which is slower than my usual walking pace) and we were walking at 3kmph. My phone and watch would buzz every now and then to let me know that I had left my luggage behind (I had given her an AirTag for her backpack for our flights) and I would stop and wait for her to catch up. Sometimes wondering where she had gone if I had rounded a bend, and often wondering how she could be so far behind me all the time. On the brutal hills I would stop every few minutes to let her catch up, give her some water and let her catch her breath before heading off again. It's a good thing she's more stubborn than I am, I think it's the only thing that kept her going. She did enjoy it (mostly lol) and she is very proud of herself as well!
This was my second Camino, having done Frances from SJPdP 2 years ago and it ticked the boxes for me to consider it a Camino, but there were things that I sorely missed along the way, at least one of which I didn't quite realize until after we were done. I missed the frequent Buen Camino! greetings from fellow peregrinos and residents of the areas we walked through. We did not see a lot of other walkers, although we did run into a school group of about 15 students on 2 separate days. On an average day we'd see 2-5 others. I know there were more walking, but we didn't see them. I missed walking and talking to other people. I am a social anti-social person (lol) so I prefer to socialize while walking and then be alone in the evenings ( I prefer not to stay at albergues - unless I can get a private room) and there wasn't any opportunity for daytime socializing. After we had finished there wasn't the joy of running into someone we had walked with in the Plaza or at Mass the next day, and I really missed that as well. Neither of those things are detriments, just observations, and more of a "what did I learn about myself" thing.
We got home Sunday evening, my gear is unpacked and laundered, and I am once again looking at route maps LOL
Buen Camino!
**if you go to A Coruna, I highly recommend Mama Chico for dinner!
We started walking in Ferrol after 2 nights in A Coruna. A Coruna was lovely and we had the last full days of sunshine there. lol It rained every single day for Camino. Not constantly, and generally not a heavy rain, but it rained, it drizzled, it poured, and now and then it would stop for a few hours. I had been very worried about the rain when I was looking ahead at weather forecasts prior to flying in, but it honestly wasn't a horrible experience. We missed the flooding of Santiago by a week or so!
Pontedeume to Betanzos was a brutal day. A very steep hill to get out of town. I was very grateful that it wasn't raining as I was very hot by the time we got to the top. And then of course it did start raining! Most of the day is blur, but I do remember the cruelty of having another very steep hill to climb to get to our hotel in Betanzos. Our walk into Santiago was actually mostly clear so we lucked out there.
I am very proud of my sister for completing the Camino and it was not easy for her. My Camino pace is usually about 4-5kmph (which is slower than my usual walking pace) and we were walking at 3kmph. My phone and watch would buzz every now and then to let me know that I had left my luggage behind (I had given her an AirTag for her backpack for our flights) and I would stop and wait for her to catch up. Sometimes wondering where she had gone if I had rounded a bend, and often wondering how she could be so far behind me all the time. On the brutal hills I would stop every few minutes to let her catch up, give her some water and let her catch her breath before heading off again. It's a good thing she's more stubborn than I am, I think it's the only thing that kept her going. She did enjoy it (mostly lol) and she is very proud of herself as well!
This was my second Camino, having done Frances from SJPdP 2 years ago and it ticked the boxes for me to consider it a Camino, but there were things that I sorely missed along the way, at least one of which I didn't quite realize until after we were done. I missed the frequent Buen Camino! greetings from fellow peregrinos and residents of the areas we walked through. We did not see a lot of other walkers, although we did run into a school group of about 15 students on 2 separate days. On an average day we'd see 2-5 others. I know there were more walking, but we didn't see them. I missed walking and talking to other people. I am a social anti-social person (lol) so I prefer to socialize while walking and then be alone in the evenings ( I prefer not to stay at albergues - unless I can get a private room) and there wasn't any opportunity for daytime socializing. After we had finished there wasn't the joy of running into someone we had walked with in the Plaza or at Mass the next day, and I really missed that as well. Neither of those things are detriments, just observations, and more of a "what did I learn about myself" thing.
We got home Sunday evening, my gear is unpacked and laundered, and I am once again looking at route maps LOL
Buen Camino!
**if you go to A Coruna, I highly recommend Mama Chico for dinner!
