Not only Roncevalles pilgrims who do stupid things

[David]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

 

[Icacos]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

View attachment 29389

It took me forever to figure this out. Too early in the morning perhaps!!

 

[Michael Caleigh]

They might be in trouble but eventually get there too...lol

 

[SYates]

I have to confess - it took me several minutes - rofl ;-) SY

 

[Icacos]

It took me forever to figure this out. Too early in the morning perhaps!!

Or perhaps it's a good thing I'm not working with them.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

it was not a mistake
sorry, Boss, you're going to have to send Joe out for the rest of our assignments today.
Ok, I think there's a bar around here somewhere....

 

[trecile]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

View attachment 29389

I don't get it.
Maybe it's hard to see on my phone?

 

[Gareth Griffith]

I don't get it.
Maybe it's hard to see on my phone?

Try and figure out how they are going to get the van out of the space once they have fitted all the bollards..............

 

[trecile]

Try and figure out how they are going to get the van out of the space once they have fitted all the bollards..............

Thanks. I see it now.

 

[Desert Bruce]

Some of the bollards come up so that vehicles can access the area.

 

[Mark Lee]

 

[Icacos]

Some of the bollards come up so that vehicles can access the area.

Hey, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

 

[Mark Lee]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

View attachment 29389

I didn't know about those pilgrims lost for five days between SJPdP and Roncesvalles.
Damn, one would have to work really hard to get lost in the first place, let alone stay lost that long. It's hardly a wilderness.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I'm just happy they were found safe and sound. I would imagine after becoming dehydrated and hypoglycemic they decided rather than wander around it would be best to put up a rescue signal and wait for help.

 

[domigee]

Thanks for the laughs folks!

 

[clearskiescamino]

Ah this has been floating around "the net" for a good while

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

ok, then i want to share one of my old favorites (please don't tell me if it's photo-shopped)...i think of it often when we are discussing the Primitivo



edit: I also wonder about it as I drive down the highway from my house and see the bear crossing signs

 

[Kate fowles]

Perhaps it levitates

 

[bunnymac]

It took me forever to figure this out. Too early in the morning perhaps!!

Me too! I've already had three coffees.

 

[David]

ok, then i want to share one of my old favorites (please don't tell me if it's photo-shopped)...i think of it often when we are discussing the Primitivo
View attachment 29404


edit: I also wonder about it as I drive down the highway from my house and see the bear crossing signs

I think it is great that you have bear crossing places where you live, but who taught the bears to read?

This radio phone call is about deer crossings

 

[Ernesto.IT]

I didn't know about those pilgrims lost for five days between SJPdP and Roncesvalles.
Damn, one would have to work really hard to get lost in the first place, let alone stay lost that long. It's hardly a wilderness.

If you are surrounded by snow and for that reason in the middle of the Pyrenees and not knowing where you are, yes you would get lost, I remember in 2013, after peaple where warned by the authority not to go to Roncesvalle via the Napoleon route but to take the lower road, (there was a snow storm going on at the top), three pilgrims that didn't act on the warning, had a sad end; two died and one had his feet cut off course frost. Whe you get that sort of weather, you loose visibility and not knowing the territory you are lost, you stop and you could die. So those two peaple they where very lucky.
Be careful and buen camino

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

View attachment 29389

Briljant, keep them busy.

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

ok, then i want to share one of my old favorites (please don't tell me if it's photo-shopped)...i think of it often when we are discussing the Primitivo
View attachment 29404


edit: I also wonder about it as I drive down the highway from my house and see the bear crossing signs

So great. .
Thanks for sharing, Peter.

 

[Kanga]

We had a Darwinian moment on our recent trip outback. There we were on a remote unsealed bush track, in the middle of no-where. The car was a well equipped, so we though, four-wheel drive. We stopped (can't remember why) and decided to have a nice hot cuppa. That electric coil so beloved by some forum members got plugged in and a decent size jug of water boiled; enough for our four person excursion. All good. Time to go. Key turned in ignition. Silence. Nothing. Not even a cough.

Do Not Plug Electric Coil Into Car Battery Outlet when the engine is off. Because if you do, and you leave it on to boil a large jug of water, you may have no battery left.

Which was interesting as we were far from help, had no mobile phone reception, no emergency power pack, and not even jumper leads.

Luckily a car did eventually come along and gave one of us a lift into the nearest centre of population (ie 10 people) and a mechanic was found who drove out and got us going again.

I was starting to wonder who we would eat first.

 

[Kate fowles]

I think it is great that you have bear crossing places where you live, but who taught the bears to read?

This radio phone call is about deer crossings

I think she is having him on!!! Are you sure this lady isn't Sarah Palin??

 

[Kate fowles]

Perhaps the deer and bears know the bare necessities!!

 

[SYates]

I think it is great that you have bear crossing places where you live, but who taught the bears to read?

This radio phone call is about deer crossings

Please tell me it is a fake - PLEASE!!!! SY

 

[domigee]

ROLF

 

[domigee]

Of course it's a prank initiated by the radio station. Snopes is again your friend: http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/deercrossing.asp

Oh you spoilsport

 

[Kate fowles]

Must be or that lady smokes her socks

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

Of course it's a prank initiated by the radio station. Snopes is again your friend: http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/deercrossing.asp

why do I get the feeling @Kathar1na is the aunt that tells the little ones all about Santa Claus

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I was starting to wonder who we would eat first.

I've heard redheads have tender skin...you should be more careful

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I think it is great that you have bear crossing places where you live, but who taught the bears to read?

This radio phone call is about deer crossings

there's actually a deer crossing sign with the bear crossing sign...i keep waiting for deer to go running past followed by the bears, and having to explain to my insurance what happened to my poor tiny car

 

[Mark Lee]

ok, then i want to share one of my old favorites (please don't tell me if it's photo-shopped)...i think of it often when we are discussing the Primitivo
View attachment 29404


edit: I also wonder about it as I drive down the highway from my house and see the bear crossing signs

mama and her crew just cooling off on a hot day...
http://ktla.com/2016/09/01/3-bears-found-in-pasadena-backyard-break-rear-door-to-house/

 

[Mark Lee]

If you are surrounded by snow and for that reason in the middle of the Pyrenees and not knowing where you are, yes you would get lost, I remember in 2013, after peaple where warned by the authority not to go to Roncesvalle via the Napoleon route but to take the lower road, (there was a snow storm going on at the top), three pilgrims that didn't act on the warning, had a sad end; two died and one had his feet cut off course frost. Whe you get that sort of weather, you loose visibility and not knowing the territory you are lost, you stop and you could die. So those two peaple they where very lucky.
Be careful and buen camino

I know its been covered on a forum thread before, but my understanding is that the two lost pilgrims this past August deliberately left the path. Very foolish.
Also any pilgrim that continues to walk towards Roncesvalles despite there being so much snow both the path and the Camino markers are obscured is being both foolish and irresponsible. There is a point when an intelligent person turns around and saves the walk for another day.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

There is a point when an intelligent person turns around and saves the walk for another day.

I would agree, but perhaps add 'if it is safe to turn around'...if the road and markers are obscured in both directions, before possibly wandering even further from the path it may be best to set up shelter and wait for rescue.

 

[Kate fowles]

Perhaps they saw a deer crossing or a bear?

Don't you think it's their own problem that they got lost? At least they were rescued.

 

[whariwharangi]

I got lost leaving Granon. There I was ... outstanding ... in a field.

 

[Kate fowles]

In hindsight I think that the radio station was super clever. I bet lots of people now remember to look out for these warning signs - I bet they anticipate that deer could at any moment appear posing a road hazard. My cousins wife was killed by a cow that strayed onto a road near Port Elizabeth in South Africa - she was 7 months pregnant! It was very sad. Lots of people have been killed by kudu and here by kangaroos that just dart onto the road from nowhere. It's a very clever reminder to us as motorist that wildlife exist and have no clue of the dangers cars and busy highways pose for them - I mean look at how many times its been viewed. Here in Australia they have tried to build koala bridges to stop the road deaths. At any rate animals need to be protected and we need to remember to expect clashes with them. And no...of course they cannot read but we certainly can. As for maps. ..that's another question entirely!

 

[Kate fowles]

I

I got lost leaving Granon. There I was ... outstanding ... in a field.

have been lost in a shopping mall before

 

[Icacos]

This radio phone call is about deer crossings

Of course it's a prank initiated by the radio station. Snopes is again your friend: http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/deercrossing.asp

If this is a prank initiated by the radio station, is this a prank too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDRFCrJleggrI&v=1JWuFGMq3ZA

 

[JennyH94]

We had a Darwinian moment on our recent trip outback. There we were on a remote unsealed bush track, in the middle of no-where. The car was a well equipped, so we though, four-wheel drive. We stopped (can't remember why) and decided to have a nice hot cuppa. That electric coil so beloved by some forum members got plugged in and a decent size jug of water boiled; enough for our four person excursion. All good. Time to go. Key turned in ignition. Silence. Nothing. Not even a cough.

Do Not Plug Electric Coil Into Car Battery Outlet when the engine is off. Because if you do, and you leave it on to boil a large jug of water, you may have no battery left.

Which was interesting as we were far from help, had no mobile phone reception, no emergency power pack, and not even jumper leads.

Luckily a car did eventually come along and gave one of us a lift into the nearest centre of population (ie 10 people) and a mechanic was found who drove out and got us going again.

I was starting to wonder who we would eat first.

Hi Kanga -
I hope you had your emergency supply of Tim Tams to eat while you were waiting for a car to turn up!

 

[Mark Lee]

Perhaps they saw a deer crossing or a bear?

Don't you think it's their own problem that they got lost? At least they were rescued.

Not their own problem if they got lost and resources need to respond to rescue them. Their problem becomes other's problem. There is always some risk in rescuing someone, not to mention the cost (helicopters don't fly cheap).

 

[susanawee]

View attachment 29390

ok, then i want to share one of my old favorites (please don't tell me if it's photo-shopped)...i think of it often when we are discussing the Primitivo
View attachment 29404


edit: I also wonder about it as I drive down the highway from my house and see the bear crossing signs

LOL>>>LOL>>>LOL....love it.

 

[Kate fowles]

Not their own problem if they got lost and resources need to respond to rescue them. Their problem becomes other's problem. There is always some risk in rescuing someone, not to mention the cost (helicopters don't fly cheap).

No helicopters are not cheap but there is a reason they are available for those who make mistakes. People get lost everywhere and it's not nice to judge - people make mistakes. Don't mean to be personal.

 

[Kate fowles]

Hi Kanga -
I hope you had your emergency supply of Tim Tams to eat while you were waiting for a car to turn up!

Tim tams yummmmmm

 

[Kanga]

No tim tams. Coincidentally the person who gave my friend a lift into town was Spanish, a teacher who had been in Wilcannia for 8 years. She said she loved it, in spite of the isolation.

 

[Icacos]

......That's the trouble with fools - you sometimes just don't know for sure whether they are fools or fooling you ... .

Exactly, if it were the latter here, she was pretty darned near spectacular!!

 

[Mark Lee]

No helicopters are not cheap but there is a reason they are available for those who make mistakes. People get lost everywhere and it's not nice to judge - people make mistakes. Don't mean to be personal.

Ain't judging..... Besides, to judge someone means one reaches a conclusion about them. For instance, good or bad. Moral or immoral. Any criticism on someone for walking across the Pyrenees in bad weather is based on that specific action, not the person. Doesn't mean one thinks the person is bad, but instead it's an opinion on that specific action they did. The action does not necessarily define the person.
Just speaking from personal experience having been involved in responding where people foolishly put themselves in similar situations. Sometimes they come out of it vertically, and sometimes they come out of it horizontally, either way it's selfish and irresponsible to do after being advised not to and needlessly puts others at risk.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I agree with the statement that pilgrims should not ignore warnings and put others at risk as a result (I too have been on rescue missions, and while I think those who do this accept it as 'part of the job' we get testy when friends are lost saving someone from themselves).
That said, I've read conflicting accounts of the two cases we seem to be referencing. For the pilgrims lost in the summer, some accounts say pilgrims, others tourists on a day hike. There is no mention that they sought advice about leaving at 4 pm from the pilgrims office, for all we know they went there (if at all) in the morning, or the day before...when I went I was given advice on the routes and where to be careful, but no one mentioned a 'last call' time for departure. If they were pilgrims, perhaps they were planning an hour or two walk up the road on Valcarlos, I think do-able (if not advisable) in (?early) August. I have been lost before, and I will admit missing that last turn on Napoleon and taking a steep descent into RV. I was lost more than once on the Norte. Once you are lost, it is not always easy to find your way back.
The Brazilians, if my reading Spanish (big if) is correct were walking in March, and during a storm, but I don't know if they were on Valcarlos, or if the storm came unexpectedly after they started. I know from experience the weather report can say 'some periods of rain,' and it can instead become very snowy very quickly. The reason they needed rescue was not due to the snow (though that complicated their rescue). One pilgrim had problems related to his diabetes (again, I'm not really conversant in Spanish), and when his companion when ahead to get help she fell into a ravine, breaking her leg. Both of these things can happen, even with good planning and good weather. IF either pair of pilgrims was ignoring advice given, then they deserve criticism for that error, especially if they were on Napoleon when it was closed. But I do not think they should be criticized for becoming lost.
It's a well-known reaction among those who fly to blame the pilot in a fatal crash for doing something stupid--otherwise, it means admitting that we ourselves are in a risky business courting death. Luckily all four of the pilgrims I mentioned survived, and could even read our comments.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

It took my lunch hour of searching, but
https://www.thelocal.es/20160905/lost-british-couple-camino-santiago

They knew they weren't in great shape, especially the wife who had difficulty walking, so they left in the morning planning to walk the low road. They'd been warned to lighten their packs and admit they didn't, bc they were carrying a tent planning to stop on valcarlos when she couldn't go any further, in case she couldn't go all the way to the albergue --in other words it sound like they'd planned to take 3 or more days to cross. They admit a common pilgrim error--underestimating the climb. They took a wrong turn. They misunderstood directions when they found someone to ask. They thought per the misunderstood directions that they were close to valcarlos. When they realized their error they called for help and put up a signal. After a few days rest they continued on, eventually reaching SdC. Her head is shaved in the photos bc she donated her hair to a cancer drive just before leaving for the Camino.
They seem like people I'd like to meet

 

[Saint Mike II]

No tim tams. Coincidentally the person who gave my friend a lift into town was Spanish, a teacher who had been in Wilcannia for 8 years. She said she loved it, in spite of the isolation.

Hi Jill - now you know why the real 4x4 drivers have two batteries - one isolated from the other for situations such as yours!!

 

[naplesdon]

Hi Kanga -
I hope you had your emergency supply of Tim Tams to eat while you were waiting for a car to turn up!

My sister visited me once in Sydney and she still wants me to send her Tim Tams every Christmas long after I left there.

 

[Saint Mike II]

My sister visited me once in Sydney and she still wants me to send her Tim Tams every Christmas long after I left there.

Hola Don - if you are going to be on the Frances in May 2017 I could bring you a pack??

 

[BARBARA Souter]

Try and figure out how they are going to get the van out of the space once they have fitted all the bollards..............

Took me a while too.
But also i did see bollards in Spain Burgos actually by the cathedral which disappeared into the sidewalk when cars were needed to get in. Just a thought.

 

[David]

Took me a while too.
But also i did see bollards in Spain Burgos actually by the cathedral which disappeared into the sidewalk when cars were needed to get in. Just a thought.

Good thought but these are standard bollards. I don't think it important whether it is real or photoshopped - I put it up for the comedy value, not the reality value. Comedy is about the absurd, after all.

Anorak item about bollards. At the end of the Crimean war a lot of ordinance was being sold off. A bright spark in the square mile, the City of London, bought a few hundred cannon and cannon balls, had the cannon balls welded into the end of the barrels and had them set vertically into pavements (US cousins, pavement is English English for sidewalk) to stop carriages parking on them.
It was thought a brilliant idea and other towns copied and the designs today all over the world look like they are as they are based on the original Crimean war cannon.

 

[Saint Mike II]

A history lesson no less!! This forum never ceases to amaze me!! Thanks David.

 

[longwalker60]

Hi - I was just idly thinking about those two pilgrims who became lost trying to get to Roncesvalles and although there were roads and farm tracks all around them they stayed lost for five days ....
.. we had fun with posting about them .. but I was thinking how, as humans, we all do stupid/silly things every now and then ..
I mean .. take a look at these two workmen. Think they could get to Santiago??

View attachment 29389

this is soooo funny

 

[David]

Then there is always this perspective on it (not my idea!! )

 

[Black cab]

It took me forever to figure this out. Too early in the morning perhaps!!

I get it very good ☺

 

[Carlos Santiago]

...about the 2 pilgrims -

it was Petrus, definitely!