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Was there Any 1 Thing or Event Along Your Camino that was the MOST Memorable to You?

Dan the Man

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances, 2015, 2017, 2019
I have really used much of the information here to prepare for me Camino. I am now training, and ready for what comes my way.
I loved reading about people's favourite places to stay. I am wondering from the experienced walkers what was that 1 event/moment/or experience along your Camino that was the MOST memorable to you?
 
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.
Last year my son and I cycled the Camino de Madrid. This was my second camino, and I had of course impressed on Tom the joys of the camino experience, so he was full of enthusiasm. Our first day ended at Manzanarez, and from my research (on this forum) I knew there was a particularly beautiful parish albergue in a converted ermita high above the town. We made our way to the church, because the instructions I’d read were that you needed to get a key from the parish priest. Of course, the church was locked up, and there was no sign of a presbytery nearby. Across the road from the church was a bar, (of course), and a man who appeared to be a local was sitting alone outside drinking a beer. He told us how to find the priest’s house, in passable English, (my Spanish being a little primitive). We eventually located it, but there was nobody home. We returned to the bar and the same guy suggested we go up to the albergue anyway, because there may have been a pilgrim arrive before us who already had the key. It took us a good 45 minutes to get there, pushing our bikes up the very steep hill. It was a beautiful old building but deserted and locked, with no instructions as to how to gain entry. Back we went to town, hoping we would find an hostal or similar; we didn’t. This was all very depressing for me, having given Tom such a build up.
Then who should we meet but the guy from the bar, making his way somewhat unsteadily home. He told us that after we had left, the barman had told him the albergue had shut down a few weeks before, because of vandalism, (it was in a very isolated spot). He insisted on taking us to his home, offered us beds, food, wine, and use of the internet on his computer, and told us he’d love to stay and talk, but unfortunately he had a date, probably wouldn’t be back tonight (quote; if I get lucky!), and here were the keys; please leave them under the mat in the morning when you leave.
Spanish hospitality. Tom was impressed.
 
:) Interesting, my most memorable event from last year's Camino is also from Camino de Madrid, from Grajal de Campos. Here is excerpt from my journal. You can see photos in posts #130 & #131 here:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/finally-my-camino-de-madrid-june-2014.25354/page-2

"When I came to Grajal's Main Plaza it was kind of deserted but the guy washing his car in the next street show me the way to the second (first is the Meson near the Plaza with exquisite food) bar up the street towards the RENFE station where alcade (mayor) has gone few minutes ago. When I came there with all my gear bar owner didn't seems really happy, but one lady customer understand what I want and called for the alcalde through the window (he just left the bar). When he returned back to the bar's first floor I ordered drinks for both of us and later he took me back down to the Plaza Mayor and the Palacio.

Before entering the Palacio he showed me where tienda was (on the entering, lefthand – probably there will be commercial for ice-cream on the street – if closed ring a bell!) and the second bar (which is already mentioned Meson).

The thing is that they've started with fitting the albergue in Palacio but I guess the economical crisis stopped it. They have already posted that there are 32 beds available in albergue (I have this leaflet if anyone interested) which is not true. Yet… Yes, you can sleep there, but only on the floor for now and if you have the sleeping mat that's OK for him ;)To this point he was just telling me all this. And then we entered Palacio and I was……………., no words to express my feeling and what I've had in my »possesion« for one night. He took me through the main gate for visitors (photo603) and gave me a short tour through Palacio (photos578,580,581,583,585,586&588). At this point I still couldn't believed that he was giving me the key to the entire Palacio to sleep in… But it was true. I was left there to decide where and how I'll manage my sleeping. And he simply said that in the morning I left the key in the mailbox at his house which is on the Camino leaving the town…

Unbelievable. I mean, I was just a very very smelly guy asking for accommodation and here you have – whole Palacio. I've made up my sleeping place behind the reception desk because there was less draft (photo595). And after a while I went discovering… There was nice view over Castelo (photo590), the one all the way to Sahagun (photo591 – in next post), some recognitions (photo593 – in next post) and especially unfinished albergue (photos598-602&606 – in next post).

Unforgettable!!! At almost last stage of Camino de Madrid! Unforgettable and unbelievable! WOW, what an experience!!!"
 
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Unforgettable!!! At almost last stage of Camino de Madrid! Unforgettable and unbelievable! WOW, what an experience!!!"[/QUOTE]
Wow is the word, Kinkyone. You can't imagine how much I now regret that we detoured from the CDM to join the Frances at Fromista! The pictures are so atmospheric. You'll be telling that story for the rest of your life.
 
Unforgettable!!! At almost last stage of Camino de Madrid! Unforgettable and unbelievable! WOW, what an experience!!!"
Wow is the word, Kinkyone. You can't imagine how much I now regret that we detoured from the CDM to join the Frances at Fromista! The pictures are so atmospheric. You'll be telling that story for the rest of your life.[/QUOTE]

Did you cycled to Fromista alongside of Canal de Castilla? That was also nice I'm sure. And from Fromista onwards more of that Camino spirit for your son :)
 
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.
While walking the Norte in 2013, I stayed at the monastery in Sobrado and attended the evening service which had beautiful Gregorian songs sung by the monks. There is a huge disused church there, the size of a cathedral and it is completely empty and open to the elements. Early in the morning I walked around inside, and my walking stick made a noise on the floor which echoed through the central dome, reverberating around and around. I tried it again, amazed at the acoustics. I am completely tone deaf and have no musical ability whatsoever, but in order to try the acoustics I raised my voice and sang a note. It too echoed and reverberated all through the dome, so completely entranced, I sang more. I cannot describe what happened next other to say that it was a completely unique experience which I have never had before, but for a moment I could sense the spiritual memories of the building, hearing mass being sung by the choir, smell the incense, see the light of the candles and feel the deep atmosphere of the monastery in its past. It was deeply moving and I stood there weeping, totally overcome. It was by far the most powerful spiritual experience I have ever had.

In contrast, when I arrived in the cathedral in Santiago, I was told not to let my walking stick, which had accompanied my foot fall for 800 kms make a noise when it touched the floor!
 
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I fell in love with Spain and the people from everywhere. It is very hard for me to pick one thing. If I had to pick then I would have to say arriving in SJPDP and walking over the Pyrenees. There are also many other unforgettable things, but how do you describe the journey of a lifetime?
 
I have really used much of the information here to prepare for me Camino. I am now training, and ready for what comes my way.
I loved reading about people's favourite places to stay. I am wondering from the experienced walkers what was that 1 event/moment/or experience along your Camino that was the MOST memorable to you?

May 2013. My husband & I straggled into Triacastela. it was drizzly, overcast and I was just plain spent but we attended the pilgrims mass in the parish church devoted to St.James. the Padrecito was very sweet to all , very welcoming. I was chosen to do one of the bible readings in English and sat in the sanctuary with other fellow pilgrim readers. I was so overcome with emotion. This was just what I needed to give me strength to go forward. Always remember, carry tissue or else you'll end up using your jacket sleeve for one as I did! Buen Camino and may you have very happy memories to look back on.
 
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Between both Caminos combined, I think I fell in love five or six times. How could you not?
:cool:
Oh, did you? Ahm, well, ... good for you :D

For me it just happened for & on Camino. Very simple. Otherwise I like myself most in between :p Caminos...
 
Al, did you fall in love for real, please tell the story. I need a good lovestory.
It all started at Paloma y Lena albergue just after Samos at San Mamed. As I was leaving in the morning a conversation started with another pilgrim with whom I has shared no more than half a dozen words before. Well we ended up walking together and did so all day to Gonzar. We spent the afternoon chilling in the bar and had dinner together sharing a table with a Brazilian lady and her daughter. The next morning I set out alone but took a wrong turn. After retracing my steps I met Maria again at the turn off I had missed. Kismet? Well anyway we walked together again and did so all the way to SDC. where our relationship became something more. She returned to where she lived near Madrid and I continued to Murcia. By now we were wearing our phones out with Whatsapp. That weekend she was at a wedding in Vallalodid after which she drove and I bussed to meet halfway in Ponferrada. After that I found myself flying to Madrid every month to visit her in nearby Navacerrada. Sadly living in separate countries eventually took it's toll. It wasn't helped by her having almost permanent jet lag from her long distance flights as cabin crew for Iberia or by my need to look after my elderly Mother. She sent me a photo of the albergue as she past it on her Camino last summer and we met as just friends in Madrid after my first Camino last year. But it was nice while it lasted. So the Camino has given me love and a friend and I have no complaints about either. :)
 
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Like all of you, when I saw this thread I immediately thought of my "good moment story" which I posted above. Thought I might tell you my worst. (I seriously thought of posting this under a new thread titled "Poetic justice", or, " A cyclist gets his just desserts").
When my son and I finally got up that climb to O Cebreiro, we stopped to take a photo at the monument which has a world map on it, then blithely rode on down the wrong road.......downhill of course. We whizzed along, (the reward for all that pushing), for miles, totally unaware that we were going south. I started getting worried because we weren't seeing any pilgrims on foot anywhere, and I was yelling to my son, who was way ahead, to stop. That didn't happen until we got to the bottom. Three hours later, O O Oh Cebreiro.
Just thought you walkers might like this one.
 
I was tired and footsore in the middle of day 3 out of SJPP when I came to the fork in the road--one way going down to the river, the other going up to the church at Zabaldika. It had been a day of foot and ankle pain from tendonitis, assorted blisters, an injured great toe joint, and 4 black toenails courtesy of the Zubiri hill. And I was hungry--it was early in the season and all the villages along the way had no food on offer at all. So I stood there wanting to go down, but the church spire made me eventually decide to go up.

And I'm so glad I did. It was a bit of a climb, but the church garden was magical, with the 1st daffodils in full bloom. And one of the sisters was there, seeing a group of bicigrinos off. She greeted me in perfect English and we after chatted for a little while she took me into the church and left me there to meditate for a while. I can only describe the atmosphere of that little very simple church as sublime...and very still. After the painful morning it felt like being held.

When I came out, the sisters stopped to offer a simple but beautiful meal to me in spite of working very hard to get the albergue ready (it was to open for the season in a few days)...I had said nothing about not having eaten, but they know pilgrims, I guess. There were apologies that the soup and bread were from the day before (it was vegetarian and totally delicious), and so much gracious care and kindness. We spoke together for some time and eventually I went on my way--and though the body still hurt, but the heart was full of love and gratitude.
Beautiful. Unforgettable.
 
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It all started at Paloma y Lena albergue just after Samos at San Mamed. As I was leaving in the morning a conversation started with another pilgrim with whom I has shared no more than half a dozen words before. Well we ended up walking together and did so all day to Gonzar. We spent the afternoon chilling in the bar and had dinner together sharing a table with a Brazilian lady and her daughter. The next morning I set out alone but took a wrong turn. After retracing my steps I met Maria again at the turn off I had missed. Kismet? Well anyway we walked together again and did so all the way to SDC. where our relationship became something more. She returned to where she lived near Madrid and I continued to Murcia. By now we were wearing our phones out with Whatsapp. That weekend she was at a wedding in Vallalodid after which she drove and I bussed to meet halfway in Ponferrada. After that I found myself flying to Madrid every month to visit her in nearby Navacerrada. Sadly living in separate countries eventually took it's toll. It wasn't helped by her having almost permanent jet lag from her long distance flights as cabin crew for Iberia or by my need to look after my elderly Mother. She sent me a photo of the albergue as she past it on her Camino last summer and we met as just friends in Madrid after my first Camino last year. But it was nice while it lasted. So the Camino has given me love and a friend and I have no complaints about either. :)
Although I already know your story (you've told it here before) it's always nice to read stuff with such tenderness and lovingness included. I've met my "love" in Boadilla del Camino cafe garden by the back wall of albergue. She was (is) Maria also. Una chica Catalana. And when reading the most beautiful blog I've ever read (by @DSouthard) I even thought we've met the same Maria. No jealousy whatsoever, just very warm feeling in my chest. And your love is/was also Maria. Three Marias... I know it's very common name in Catholic countries, but nevertheless... :)

We have been together all the way to Cabo Finisterre and had never seen each other since then. Distance took it's toll also here. But everything is good. Life is good!

B.
 
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So many wonderful experiences and in general I would say that the people we met helped to create the best memories but if I had to pick the MOST memorable...hmmmm, losing my husband. Really just misplaced for a few hours I guess but it did result in some stress, particularly due to "Helga" the nasty albuergue hospitalero in Ventosa. In the end he walked an extra 10 kilometres that day but it all made for a good story. We haven't learned a damn thing from it and will be back in August to complete the Camino Frances and see if I can lose him again. Dan, I see that you are a fellow Canadian (we didn't meet many last time) also walking in August. We are starting from Burgos on August 6th.
 
This was primarily a calling, just an incredible pull to go. Once on the Camino after seeing the grave markers, Hospital ruins of generations past created for the pilgrims I simply lost a hardened heart. I could simply write a book, yet most would think me crazy. The Camino for me was a trail of souls. If you soften your heart & become humble you will be rewarded. Certainly it has made my life much more intune to the important things such as my family. Yet it seems each person finds personal "gifts" along the way. Mine ended up throughout the entire walk the most powerful when 15 klicks from Finesterre. Seems we are ment to meet others at the right time. Just at the right time.
 
Rome to Santiago 2012, South of France. Lying by the side of the road in a pool of my own blood and hearing a man calling an ambulance on his mobile saying:"he has a hole in his head".
 
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Lying by the side of the road in a pool of my own blood and hearing a man calling an ambulance on his mobile saying:"he has a hole in his head"
Eeek!:eek:
Obviously you're still alive to tell the tale, but it must have been quite an experience.
(I fell hard on my face outside of Logrono and am very lucky just to have gotten a big lump and a black eye. It could have very easily been a similar story...)
 
In 2006 I stayed in the decrepit albergue in San Juan de Ortega and I learned language humility. I heard, and later read in my CSJ guide, that the parish priest there (D. Jose Maria Alonso Narroquin) was "one of the pioneers of the rebirth of the camino, providing accommodation since the 1980's". I am not Catholic. I don't know a lot of Spanish, but I always went to mass.

After the mass, pilgrims were invited to stay for a talk and later for a simple meal of soup. As he began to speak (in Spanish of course) this elderly, now deceased priest, asked if anyone would be able to translate. Someone said, yes, if he spoke slowly enough. This was so fortunate for me because I could already hear that he was speaking with great passion about the Camino. I very much wanted to hear what was so important to him to share with us.

He continued to speak. She translated. Into French. I was so stunned by my own egocentric assumption that "translate" would mean "translate into English" that all I could do was sit there and know that I was missing an enthusiastic, first person account of dedication and vision. To this day, I yearn to know what this he chose to say to us. As we ate soup together I learned that the woman who translated for her group could have added English. I was so uncomfortable and so embarrassed by my own ignorant assumption that I could not have asked at the time. I didn't learn the priest's story but I learned other deep wisdom.
 
Eeek!:eek:
Obviously you're still alive to tell the tale, but it must have been quite an experience.
(I fell hard on my face outside of Logrono and am very lucky just to have gotten a big lump and a black eye. It could have very easily been a similar story...)

Within half an hour I was in hospital in Nice being sewn up by an angel. A lot of good things flowed from my accident and surprisingly it wasn't very painful.
 
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Although I already know your story (you've told it here before) it's always nice to read stuff with such tenderness and lovingness included. I've met my "love" in Boadilla del Camino cafe garden by the back wall of albergue. She was (is) Maria also. Una chica Catalana. And when reading the most beautiful blog I've ever read (by @DSouthard) I even thought we've met the same Maria. No jealousy whatsoever, just very warm feeling in my chest. And your love is/was also Maria. Three Marias... I know it's very common name in Catholic countries, but nevertheless... :)

We have been together all the way to Cabo Finisterre and had never seen each other since then. Distance took it's toll also here. But everything is good. Life is good!

B.
I haven't been very good at keeping up with this site. My apologies for this delayed response. If you had the good fortune to meet the same Maria I spent a few weeks with, you are a truly blessed person. However, if she was a different Maria, there's no doubt that you met another special person. I really fell in love with Maria, but there were so many other people I met who are still, after too many years, extra special memories. A few I am still in touch with. The camino is like that.
 

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