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LIVE from the Camino Sea to Sea - Part 1 - Camino Catalan

Time of past OR future Camino
Us:Camino Frances, 2015 Me:Catalan/Aragonese, 2019
I came up with a positively weird camino. Tomorrow, Saturday, October 19, I'm going to start to walk my second camino. It is from the Mediterranean Sea at Barcelona to the Bay of Biscay at San Sebastian.

The plan as it is now is to take three days to get from Barcelona to the monestery at Monserrat where I pick up the Camino Catalan, the version that goes though Huesca and San Juan de la Pena. That brings me to the Camino Aragonese. If the weather is good, once at there I intend to transport myself to Somport so I can walk the full Aragonese. Either way, I connect to the Camino Frances at Puente de Reina where I go in reverse a day to arrive in Pamplona. There I re-evaluate my plans as going forward, once again, brings up the Pyrenees in a cold time of year. The plan though is to walk two days in reverse on the Camino Baztan to Elizondo where I pick up the GR11 going west. Two days should get me to Irun and one day more on the Camino Norte gets me to San Sebastian.

How this crazy trail came about may appear in a later post.

I don't expect to see many pilgrims and I'm a bit anxious about open (cheap) accommodations. The weather may not be the best either. It will be a long time away from Peg and I may be crazy (and driven more so) but, dang it, I'm going to give it a shot.

This post (#1 in this thread) is going to be different too. I intend to edit it from time to time to turn it into an evolving table of contents with links. We'll see how that goes too.

Day 1, Barcelona to Sant Cugat (post #31)
Day 2, Sant Cugat to Terrassa (post #34)
Day 3, Terrassa to Monserrat (post #37)
 
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A selection of Camino Jewellery
Not too much in the plan is weird.

The Baztan in reverse sounds the most challenging - as far as markers go.

You could also head west from Pamplona -there's an old trail that heads to Vitoria - and find a connector heading north from along there. That might keep you out of the higher mountains.

We'll be watching! Buen camino.
 
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I think that JabbaPappa has walked some of early part of your route earlier this year and will be returning to the Camino in the next few weeks per his last post? Sounds wonderful. Phil and I had hoped to do a winter camino in December/January, but he is pending shoulder surgery so I don't think it will happen until the next year. I will follow your Camino with great interest.
 
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I just saw this post now. Peg is in the basement while you are gallivanting? The meet-up with Chrissy will surely cheer you on to set you on your way. I look forward to more...
You have given me an idea, tackling el Perdón in reverse. Pamplona to Trinidad de Arre is also lovely, following the river through the woods. I have not gone further on that path, as you will go left where the path to Zabaldika goes right. The Baztan threads, read with a mirror, should keep you right!
i wish you a safe and buen camino.
 
I just saw this post now. Peg is in the basement while you are gallivanting? The meet-up with Chrissy will surely cheer you on to set you on your way. I look forward to more...
You have given me an idea, tackling el Perdón in reverse. Pamplona to Trinidad de Arre is also lovely, following the river through the woods. I have not gone further on that path, as you will go left where the path to Zabaldika goes right. The Baztan threads, read with a mirror, should keep you right!
i wish you a safe and buen camino.

Kirkie,

I just asked Chrissy if Peg exists.

As yet, no reply.
 
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The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
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Planning to walk to Montserrat early Nov. Was to start in B but been persuaded to begin at El Port del Selva. Hoping weather clement and 'albergues' available. Good luck on your coast to coast!
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Planning to walk to Montserrat early Nov. Was to start in B but been persuaded to begin at El Port del Selva.
With the troubles in Barcelona that is good. Good anyway. I wouldn't mind doing it but if I did do that in addition to mine when I get home I might find my clothes on the lawn.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Day 1
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Barcelona to Sant Cugat

Well, day 1 started off absolutely wonderful but by halfway it turned down to wonderfully good. Because was exhausted. I started walking at 6 and finished at 5:30. (That's stretching the truth a bit, I walked half an hour and had a hour and a half break). I'm guessing that it was a 36 km day, maybe a bit more, And over an hour of it was up a very steep hill (but down was long and gentle).

I started at 6 AM to meet @Camino Chrissy at a cafe under where she is staying (we met for a short time two days previously when I saw a 46 minute old PM from her about checking into her hotel when I was only a block away). Chris's place was only a couple of blocks away from my intended start of the camino. We met early so she could run off and do her tourist things with her family. Pleasant visit but too short for me (1.5 hours). We need to walk together a bit.

On the way to meet Chris I passed the romaneque church of Sant Pau del Campo. I had visited it two times earlier on my touristing portion of my trip and got a credential and sello from there. I've fallen in love with the romaneque. I also stopped to touch the "Columbus on a stick" monument at the end of Las Ramblas. After breakfast and chat it was to the beach at Barceloneta to wet my hands and some pebbles I'm taking with me. Then through the maze of streets to touch the churches of Santa Maria fe la Mer, Sant Jaume and the cathedral. I had visited these and others a week earlier with @Steven Dwyer and got sellos then.

Up the Passeig de Gracia where the night before there were demonstrations. The TV stations loved to show flames but I saw no obvous evidence of fires. Not much litter either but lots of new graffiti and a damaged glass door to a big bank. The graffiti was already being removed. Along here I also touched the two famous Gaudi designed buildings on the avenue.

As I moved up the avenue on my way to the Mundet metro station the big stores started getting smaller as the environment turned into neighborhoods. Then they disappeared as area turned to modern residences and commercial and then big commercial. At the Mundet station there was a futbol field that had a snack bar and since it was approaching noon and much of the rest of the way was though the hills I took a lunch break. The yellow arrows start to appear near here but only after passing the velodrome. On the map, that I hope to remember to attach, at top of it. You have to use the map until you get there.

Not a lot of arrows on this stretch but easy to follow and they start you pretty fast to head uphill steeply. Sparsely wooded you are open to the sun and heat. No water along the way. I made it the height of land in about an hour and a quarter. Then a too short part though cool thick woods on a trail to it comes to dirt roads. It was a weekend and there were lots of hikers about but no pilgrims.

One confusing spot on the way. At an ermita a clear arrow points the way and just past it is a post with placards pointing out trails. There is a camino placard pointing the other way. Ignore that and follow the GR6 in the direction that the earlier painted yellow arrow shows. You will see some indistinct faint blobs of yellow paint shortly after the post. That's the way. At the next intersection the arrows become clear again.

The edge of Sant Cugat is very distinct. Here I didn't even bother looking for arrows and I used my phone's GPS to get to the old monestery with a half hour clara break first. Only the cloister was open but I like gardens and romaneque carved capitals so I didn't mind. Outside to the west is where the food and drink are. There are no albergues in town. I arranged a two night stay at an Airbnb and so walked about another hour there; as I wrote earlier I arrived at 5:30. I had given the host an estimate of an arrival at 5 so I feel pretty good about that.

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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Day 2
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Sant Cugat to Terrassa (and back again)

This day's walk was only half as long as yesterday's. I was feeling good about it but was disappointed.

I awoke at 5 with the sound of heavy rain. It stopped about 8. Since this was a commute day (walk there, train back due to a lack of reasonable to me accommodation in Terrassa) I decided not to take the pack and go with my bum bag only (using ANZUK term for politeness). Left Airbnb a little before 9.

I ran two GPS apps; wikiloc to show the track that the Friends of the Camino generated and OSMand to get me a track from the Airbnb to the nearest point on the wikiloc track. There were yellow arrows once I got to the camino but really only directional ones, not many reassurance ones. During the day there was varying amounts of clouds and ranging from dark to bright white but mostly in the gray range. For the first hour the skies were bright and there was a giant arc of a rainbow. During this time there were two sun showers but not enough rain for me to pull out my jacket.

That hour was enough to get me out the modern built up area of Sant Cugat to the country road. On this side of town too there was a very definite line between the pueblo and the campo.

While the walk through the woods was pleasant there wasn't anything really special to say about the walk here. Just be careful at all intersections to look for an arrow or a white horizontal bar above a yellow one usually with an additional white over red indicating a matching GR route. Some Xs mark ways NOT to go. One spot with 7 ways to go had me stumped for awhile.

A fairly distinct end to the woods at Terrassa's town line too. I saw work being done on a castle here and the camino goes right by it. I was then that I realized that it was the large house that was being transformed by a apparently wealthy owner. @Steven Dwyer had told me about it. Immediately followed by a bridge immediately followed by a fork in the camino with town names painted for each fork. I took Terrassa of course.

The way was on a dirt road following the river upstream. It was more of a glorified ditch. Lots of litter along the way. The wikiloc track had the camino on the other side of the river but the yellow arrows were here. The other side was paved industrial/commercial so pick your poison. They did eventually end up at a lovely park where the yellow arrows were replaced by an occasional post with a scallop shell medallion to point the way. I took a short break at the start of the park and then 5 minutes later another when I found a place where I could have a clara. Near the far end of the park was a plaza that was the end point of the wikiloc track and that was near the metro station where I could get the train back to Sant Cugat. I had a late lunch nearby (not very good) and I decided to go back. The sky was gray and my mood was also. The bum bag had hurt my back more than my pack had and was now slung over my shoulder. It was Sunday and things were closed. Terrassa just came to be an end to a walk.

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Day 2
Sant Cugat to Terrassa (and back again)

This day's walk was only half as long as yesterday's. I was feeling good about it but was disappointed.

I awoke at 5 with the sound of heavy rain. It stopped about 8. Since this was a commute day (walk there, train back due to a lack of reasonable to me accommodation in Terrassa) I decided not to take the pack and go with my bum bag only (using ANZUK term for politeness). Left Airbnb a little before 9.

I ran two GPS apps; wikiloc to show the track that the Friends of the Camino generated and OSMand to get me a track from the Airbnb to the nearest point on the wikiloc track. There were yellow arrows once I got to the camino but really only directional ones, not many reassurance ones. During the day there was varying amounts of clouds and ranging from dark to bright white but mostly in the gray range. For the first hour the skies were bright and there was a giant arc of a rainbow. During this time there were two sun showers but not enough rain for me to pull out my jacket.

That hour was enough to get me out the modern built up area of Sant Cugat to the country road. On this side of town too there was a very definite line between the pueblo and the campo.

While the walk through the woods was pleasant there wasn't anything really special to say about the walk here. Just be careful at all intersections to look for an arrow or a white horizontal bar above a yellow one usually with an additional white over red indicating a matching GR route. Some Xs mark ways NOT to go. One spot with 7 ways to go had me stumped for awhile.

A fairly distinct end to the woods at Terrassa's town line too. I saw work being done on a castle here and the camino goes right by it. I was then that I realized that it was the large house that was being transformed by a apparently wealthy owner. @Steven Dwyer had told me about it. Immediately followed by a bridge immediately followed by a fork in the camino with town names painted for each fork. I took Terrassa of course.

The way was on a dirt road following the river upstream. It was more of a glorified ditch. Lots of litter along the way. The wikiloc track had the camino on the other side of the river but the yellow arrows were here. The other side was paved industrial/commercial so pick your poison. They did eventually end up at a lovely park where the yellow arrows were replaced by an occasional post with a scallop shell medallion to point the way. I took a short break at the start of the park and then 5 minutes later another when I found a place where I could have a clara. Near the far end of the park was a plaza that was the end point of the wikiloc track and that was near the metro station where I could get the train back to Sant Cugat. I had a late lunch nearby (not very good) and I decided to go back. The sky was gray and my mood was also. The bum bag had hurt my back more than my pack had and was now slung over my shoulder. It was Sunday and things were closed. Terrassa just came to be an end to a walk.

View attachment 66013View attachment 66014View attachment 66015View attachment 66017
For future reference, or to others who may be interested, there is in fact an excellent Airbnb option in Tarrega where I have stayed twice while walking this route. Keep enjoying yourself!
 
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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Day 3
Monday, October 21, 2019
Terrassa to Monserrat

A very good and interesting day. This post may leave out some stuff because it is a day or two late.

Took the train back to Terrassa from Sant Cugat and picked up some ham, cheese, nuts and dried fruit to snack or lunch on. I started walking at 9. The sky was gray all day except for a bright sun for a half hour in the afternoon.

At one point I was walking up a narrow trail and heard dogs barking. Though likely fenced I picked up a bamboo stick in case it was needed (I was walking without poles). Not too far along among the litter was a large thin plastic bag good for a poncho or rain skirt so I picked that up to. Rolled it up and stuffed it under the pack belt.

Further on, after wandering through a small herd of miniture goats I had to walk along the edge of a very busy highway. I was facing traffic but along a curve so visibility was really bad. Well, there was a bright orange light nylon shopping bag that along with the pole made an excellent flag to stick out over the highway to give drivers a little more time to see me. Once off the road the sack got tied to the back of my pack with the plastic bag.

Shortly after getting a great view of Monserrat I stopped for a lunch with a view. As I was finishing I heard noises behind me. There were 3 boars, javelinas. One was curious enough to advance towards me a bit. That made me want to grab for the stick but by standing still everything worked out well and they left. As I was putting on my pack they came for another look.

The trail was marked everyplace where it needed to be but often not well. Meaning you would have to look for the arrow more than you should have too. My wikiloc track shows a few branches where I had to return to find the right way. Thank goodness for wikiloc's "You've left the trail feature".

To be continued (I hope, I want to write more than my finger does).

IMG_20191021_105431.jpgIMG_20191021_112617.jpgIMG_20191021_114316.jpg
 
I came up with a positively weird camino. Tomorrow, Saturday, October 19, I'm going to start to walk my second camino. It is from the Mediterranean Sea at Barcelona to the Bay of Biscay at San Sebastian.

The plan as it is now is to take three days to get from Barcelona to the monestery at Monserrat where I pick up the Camino Catalan, the version that goes though Huesca and San Juan de la Pena. That brings me to the Camino Aragonese. If the weather is good, once at there I intend to transport myself to Somport so I can walk the full Aragonese. Either way, I connect to the Camino Frances at Puente de Reina where I go in reverse a day to arrive in Pamplona. There I re-evaluate my plans as going forward, once again, brings up the Pyrenees in a cold time of year. The plan though is to walk two days in reverse on the Camino Baztan to Elizondo where I pick up the GR11 going west. Two days should get me to Irun and one day more on the Camino Norte gets me to San Sebastian.

How this crazy trail came about may appear in a later post.

I don't expect to see many pilgrims and I'm a bit anxious about open (cheap) accommodations. The weather may not be the best either. It will be a long time away from Peg and I may be crazy (and driven more so) but, dang it, I'm going to give it a shot.

This post (#1 in this thread) is going to be different too. I intend to edit it from time to time to turn it into an evolving table of contents with links. We'll see how that goes too.

Day 1, Barcelona to Sant Cugat (post #31)
Day 2, Sant Cugat to Terrassa (post #34)
Day 3, Terrassa to Monserrat (post #37)
Saw this thread only this morning
Just reading post No 1 made me feel dizzy!!.....and a bit jealous....sorry!
Have a wonderful trip and looking forward to your posts
Best wishes
Annette
 
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I'm having a difficult time keeping up with stories. Writing is not my forté. I got inspired with some excellent "Live from the Camino" threads earlier. I'll see if I can come up with some way to salvage this thread.

I'm pretty much tired at the end of each day.

La Pandella to Tarrega was wonderful, even with a chill and a fog (it was downhill, that helped).

Currently staying at Josep Caba's place in Linyola. Words are failing me now. I am reminded of Tomas's place on Camino Frances though.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
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Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

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Day 8
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Linyola to Algerri
21 km (198 km cumlative)

A cloister in Balaguer. Attached to what looks like an early gothic church.:
IMG_20191026_125046.jpg

A view of part of Balaguer from a bridge near the church:
IMG_20191026_125739.jpg

Also Balaguer; there was a weekend market occupying the plaza in front of the town hall:
Screenshot_20191027-101025.png

In Castello de Farfanya:
IMG_20191026_162555.jpg
 
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Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
I could find the latitude and longtitude coordinates for the Monasterio viejo San Juan de la Peña in seconds if I were home. With my smartphone I'm getting extremely frustrated. Please, someone give me its location in decimal degrees.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I could find the latitude and longtitude coordinates for the Monasterio viejo San Juan de la Peña in seconds if I were home. With my smartphone I'm getting extremely frustrated. Please, someone give me its location in decimal degrees.
I have no idea if this is what you want, but I googled the phrase and got these numbers

42.5078° N, 0.6668° W
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Well, the postings in the live from the camino thread haven't been very lively but I am still alive. I arrived in Pamplona yesterday after 22 days of walking (about 520 km). I'm taking a rest day today and trying to decide what to do next.

It has been showering or raining the last 6 days with cool to cold temperatures. It was snowing on top of Alto de Perdon and approaching Pamplona I was seeing signs reporting temperatures of 2 to 4 degrees C. In lieu of rain pants I've been wearing shorts. Streams are swollen and in places the camino is a stream. The long term weather forecast has temperatures warming to the 5 to 10 range but still high probability of showers and rain each day.

My original plan of using the GR11 to get from the Camino Baztan to the coast has been discarded. However I did find that there is a nearby trail that is a converted rail line that does much the same thing. I'm going to ask about it at the tourist office.

Walking from Puente to Pamplona yesterday I saw maybe 30 pilgrims. At least 9 were Koreans (I took pictures for 3 groups of 2, 3 and 4 at Perdon). The previous night I stopped in at mass at the Santiago church in Puente (really just to see the inside). Again the magic number of 30, but not pilgrims, parishioners. At the end I got pushed up for the pilgrim blessing and there waste only me and two Korean pilgrims.

On the Aragonese I broke the longish stretch of Monreal to Puente into two stages (because of rain) and stayed in Tiebas. I was out and about when a funeral party was leaving. On my way back the church was being closed but the lights were turned back on for me for a bit. Wonderful. The architecture looked to me to be on the border of romaneque and early gothic. Then I had the luck of timing again the next day passing Eunate. I see the church then I see a parking lot full of cars and a bus. Was the church a tourist site now? No. It was the site of a wedding and people were coming out. After most left, and while photographers were taking shots of the bride and groom, I was able to enter the church. Man, I like romaneque churches. When I left they locked up the outer gate so even the church's surrounding cloister was off limits.
 
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Rick, all I know is I will never plan a camino for late fall...you probably think you are hiking in the White mountains back home this same time of year...only you would have probably not ventured out, preferring to stay at home and light a fire.
 
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I walked from sea to see Pamplona. The camino is over. Tomorrow I'll be back in Barcelona and the next night Boston. I'm heading home about a week early. There's someone there I want to see more than bombederos in the mountains.

I guess that can be said to be a happy ending: When you feel that your Camino is over and you are ready to go home.

Safe journey.....
 
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Rick, it will feel good to be home! You've been gone a long time with your pre-walk sightseeing trip. You've done well persevering through adverse weather conditions...if I was wearing a hat I would say "my hat's off to you". Well done!
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-

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