Enjoying the Scandinavian "high"

The High pressure weather system from Scandinavia has been firmly in place over the northern and western parts of Britain and Ireland for about 10 days now. It arrives every year, some times as early as March and sometimes well in to May. This "high" brings fine, dry weather with glorious blue skies and sunshine and if in the later months of April and May pretty good temperatures as well! Later on in the summer when the "highs" push up from Europe they seldom extend as far as the northern and westerly reaches and hence our temperatures never quite reach the dizzy heights attained in the sunny south east of Britain.

Gortnalughoge beach on the Rosguill peninsula

Granite cross and Mass Rock-Rosguill

It has been fabulous walking weather so once again I have been out training and enjoying the Wild Atlantic Way over Easter weekend trying to build up my endurance by adding some hills-small ones! and getting comfortable with the 5-7 mile walks. Meanwhile across the Irish sea my adult children based in England have also been out walking the paths and byways of Cheshire, although they do have the advantage of age and the fitness of youth on their sides.

Overlooking Tra na Rossan beach from the Atlantic Drive



Wild Atlantic Way signs

It would be lovely at some stage to walk to much more than from Sarria but many reasons make it impossible at this time. It was wonderful, last time, meeting up with pilgrims who were able to take more time and had the physical ability to walk greater distances. I have however been fortunate to visit the beautiful city of Leon and have driven some of the north coast region of Galicia and Asturias..... so perhaps some day?

For the next few days I will be back to some city walking and enjoying the Pan Celtic festival which is based in Derry for the next 6 days





Unusual bell tower on my way home beside the Church at Fanavolty in the Fanad peninsula

 

walking on the Wild Atlantic Way

The Wild Atlantic Way is a signposted long distance scenic route along the Atlantic coast of Ireland. The coastal scenery is absolutely stunning and the Northwest of Ireland has been bathed in sunshine for the past few days so I have been out walking around the Donegal coast in an attempt to make me a little fitter before I walk the Sarria to Santiago section of the Camino in May.

Rosapenna beach stretches for almost 3 miles around Sheephaven bay and is very picturesque but not too demanding to walk as it is flat, that said, the wind last sunday week did succeed in making my walk quite hard going.

Friday was a different story, blue skies, warm breezes and tranquillity as I first walked the shores of Mulroy bay then uphill through the small hamlet of Dundoan and continued across to the westward facing Atlantic beach of Tra na Rossan before my final uphill climb through the townland of Gortnaluhoge.

Horn Head viewed from Rosapenna beach

Muckish mountain rising behind the Ards peninsula

 

 

Along the shore of Mulroy Bay

 

Returning to the Camino!

I knew as soon as we returned from our camino in 2012 that I would go again sometime. My daughter and my friend who walked with me talked vaguely about us returning "in a few years" perhaps when my granddaughter would be old enough to join us on our next journey. The camino experience has never been far from my mind since the last time so I was absolutely thrilled when my two older sons announced that they would like to go with me in May 2014 and the printer ink was barely dry on the flight booking when my daughter, who had accompanied me the last time and my youngest son who joined us in Santiago in 2012 announced that they and their partners would like to go! and finally my friend announced that she too had itchy feet and would love to join us again!

Austins shop  in Derry-oldest department store in the world? great for coffee and snacks when out walking and great views of the city

 

So the 8 of us with be starting from Sarria in May and training has commenced.  In recent weeks I have been enjoying walks around my home city and at the coast in Donegal doing 5-7 miles at a time along the scenic river banks, through the centre of the city and along the beaches. Yesterday my son, my granddaughter and myself did 12 miles, mostly flat terrain, so we are feeling quite pleased with our efforts.
I do however keep reminding myself that in terms of the Camino Frances, the stretch from Sarria to Santiago is less physically demanding than some of the earlier stages but for me, as a 60 something with some health issues, I found it much more physically challenging than I had expected and indeed the second day from Portomarin to Palas de Rei pushed me to my very limits in 2012.
That said it was an amazing experience and I am very happy to be going again and to have all my grown up children going with me, I am very privileged.

onwards to Muxia (by car)

Tuesday again dawned bright sunny and warm. This was the the beginning of the end of our wonderful journey. Having the benefit of a car the youngest son drove his father up to Monte Gozo whilst 2 of us walked. The day the 3 amigas and the newbies had walked there as part of our Camino had been very rainy and overcast so we decided to go back and visit in the sunshine and also to give the husband a chance to go there as health issues prevented him from walking all but very short flat spells.

The views were indeed beautiful and we spent quite a while before departing for the city once again as the time had come for the first of us to go home. Grainne departed back to Ireland sharing her flight with many of those we had met on our Camino.

So the remaining 5 of us decided to make our journey to the "end of the earth" and although it is Finsterre that actually claims this title, our time was limited, so we decided to go to Muxia as we had fell in love with this place when we had seen it in the film "The Way". Muxia reminded us so much of the beauty of Donegal in Ireland.

This was another very special place which gave me a sense of completeness. We wandered over the rocks for ages, viewed the chapel, walked to the monument and deposited our pebbles from Ireland that I had carried all the way on our Camino for our close family and friends and their special intentions. Some very special memories were made at Muxia, I would love to go back there some day.

I love living so close to the ocean and I felt so at home in Muxia.

"Take 5 minutes and sit quietly and reflect on all the blessings in your life."
Catherine Pulsifer

after the walking!

We awoke on monday morning after a great sleep and a relatively late breakfast to brilliant sunshine and blue skies. We decided to venture a little further afield and visit Coruna on the north coast for the day. So off we went on the local bus into the city where we changed onto a direct bus to our destination.
Our host at the Xan Xordo gave us guidance about times, distances and the ultimo (last ) bus back to our hotel.
We had a minor confusion at the main bus station when we nearly got on to the indirect bus but with the help of the bus driver and a local gentleman who spoke perfect english with a south london accent (sounding like all my cousins! ) all was rapidly sorted and off we went.
It was a very pleasant journey and we arrived in Coruna just beside El corte ingles and also spotted a

Church  en route to the beach

the water was cold but great on the feet!

C & A - Happy days! We had promised ourselves the beach so after taking a photo of the street map near the bus station we wandered along until we found the main beach and ventured to dip our still tender feet into the Atlantic ocean.

After a lovely stroll along the water's edge we worked our way back to get a snack before finally wending our way back through the city by way of the opera house.

fab ice creams!

acting their shoe size instead of their age!

  

outside the opera house in Coruna



Waterfall beside the opera house

Our final port of call was a visit to the shops before getting our bus back to Santiago. I so miss having C&A in the UK and love getting a chance to shop in it when visiting Holland or Spain.
Laden with our purchases we went to get the bus for our return.

The bus journey back was something akin to a ride at Alton towers with the driver being just a little over enthusiastic on the speed and the brakes but we all arrived safely back in Santiago in time to venture back to the beautiful Cathedral which was now much less crowded.

It was lovely to be able to  take our time going round and visiting the crypt and where the portico is being restored. We had a browse around the shops in the ancient city centre and looked at the array of other lovely buildings nearby. We finished off our evening in a delightful little restaurant nearby before catching the bus again back to Xan Xordo.

lovely reataurant close to the Cathedral

back at xan xordo

Ralph Waldo Emerson: “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

Lavacolla to Santiago de Compostela - day 6

We woke up early on Sunday morning to grey skies and pouring rain. The plan was to try to make our final walk to the Cathedral to arrive at 11am. The youngest son and his lovely girlfriend were determined to keep us company and walk the final 10 K with us even though they were somewhat less well attired than us for the journey. My husband was also keen to witness our arrival and despite not having a single word of Spanish said he would get the local bus and be there waiting for us. I confess to having some doubts about this and felt a little sad at leaving him to his own devices.

Chapel at Pazo Xan Xordo

Our host at the Pazo Xan Xordo kindly gave us a small map showing how we could link back into the "Way" from where we had finished the previous day.It looked as if it was only about 200 yards to rejoin the path. So after slogging up the long hill we began to get a little worried that we had not seen any other walkers but eventually we were on track again and were walking with many others all of whom like us were hoping the reach the Catherdal for the midday Pilgrims Mass for the completion of the journey.

Monte Gozo

On reaching Monte Gozo we were now half way on our final stage, the heavy rain and mist meant that the view was some what obscured. We said a brief prayer in the little church here in thanks for our safe arrival to this point before heading off once more. From here it was only a very short walk to the edges of the city which was much larger than we had expected it to be.

arriving in Santiago-el Templario Peregrino

unusual door knocker in Santiago

Just 3k more to reach the Praza Obradoiro, we eventually reach the famous Gate of the Way- the Porta do Camino where you enter the ancient city. The square was packed with crowds of people and a Galician piper was playing a lament as we entered, the rain was still pouring.

Cathedral Spires in the sunshine a few days later

 

The Cathedral of St James is a magnificent site and our joy of arriving was completed for me at the sight of my husband standing on the steps. To be surrounded by my family and friends, having completed this amazing journey to this special place was one of my life's greatest moments. Thankyou  God for keeping us safe and giving us the mental and physical strength to make this journey, thankyou to all our family and friends who participated, helped and encouraged us when we had doubts, to those who shared our pre walk training, thanks to all the people we met along the way who were also making their own journey.

We now entered the Cathedral, it was 11:15, not a seat to be found. It was Pentecost Sunday and many people like ourselves were arriving in a steady flow. We removed our very wet outerwear and moved up the left aisle to try and get a standing place. We got a little space and soon realised that we were stood right beside the ropes the tiraboleiros use to swing the giant Botafumeiro (incense burner). Before the start of Mass announcements were made as to what countries  all the pilgrims had arrived from the previous day and everyone was welcomed in a range of languages.

view of the altar from the left  aisle

Next was the swinging of the Botafumeiro, this was an amazing spectacle requiring 6 men to pull the ropes. Following this the Mass began, mainly in Spanish but with the Gloria, Kyrie, Credo and Pater Noster sung in Latin. As a child I had grown up with the Latin Mass but as an adult I had only ever been at a Latin Mass once, back  in 1976. I found myself singing along and surprised myself that I remembered all the words.

Botafumeiro almost touching the roof!

Afterwards our final stop that day was to be the Pilgrim's office to obtain our Compostela which together with our completed Pilgrim's Passport would be a permanent reminder of our very special achievment. When we exited the Cathedral the rain had become torrential so we made a dash for the nearest cafe to grab a snack and some hot drinks in the hope it would eventually ease off.

We joined the queue at the office where we met some of the peple we had met in the earlier days who had also arrived on Sunday. We decided we would come back to the Cathedral on Monday evening when it was less crowded and   have a proper look at the beautiful interior.

After a brief tour of the ancient city we returned to the Pazo Xan Xordo to relax and remove our very wet clothes before going for a superb evening meal at the San Paio at Lavacolla followed by an early night.

A truly wonderful experience, tough at times but very worthwhile.
Day 1- full of anticipation
Day 2- beautiful scenery and Portomarin has a stunning location
Day 3- this was the hardest day of all
Day 4-definitely the longest day
Day 5-the least physically demanding day, almost all within my comfort zone!
Day 6-a very special day-great sense of achievment and joy

Would we do it again? I would love to think so.

Relaxing at Xan Xordo

Our next post will describe some of the other things we did and places we visited in our few remaining days in Santiago.


"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
Desmond Tutu


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Arzua to Lavacolla - day 5

Once we were ready to go this morning we were very glad that we had decided to do the extra bit of distance the previous day as we were starting from the western edge of the town. We're loving the traditional breakfasts of freshly squeezed orange juice and giant croissants and got the bag transport organised to our next stop which was prebooked. This was a very special day for me as my husband would be flying in to Santiago later in the day and my youngest son and his girlfriend had driven all the way from England so we could all meet up at Lavacolla prior to our final day of walking to Santiago.

lovely wildflowers at the roadside

towards Lavacolla

Shells on the walls of the road tunnel

It felt very strange not having the big backpacks ( felt a bit guilty!) as we had got so used to carrying our gear by this stage but when the rain started it was definitely good to be a little lighter. When I say rain I mean, torrential rain, it turned parts of the path into raging torrents! The plastic capes were totally suited for the rain and kept us mainly dry.

Strange way marker looks a bit like an inukshuk used by eskimos

Our plan was to stop at Salceda for a break but at that stage the rain was so heavy we decided to press on. Grainne met up with our fellow travelers from the previous evening and had a stop at Santa Irene and we stopped for some drinks at a little place called Brea. Unbeknown to us we actually missed one of the route markers just before the little cafe which caused a bit of confusion when we came out so it was quite fortuitous we stopped here for a short break.

We were enjoying a cool drink and as had previously happened the owner appeared with a small dish of food for us as it usual in Spain. I think I may have eaten Octopus! The lovely little mixed salad type of dished contained some things I did not recognise but after carefully checking that there were no heads ,tails, eyes, fins, scales  or suckers I ate  it and it was quite delicious but I am still unsure what it was.We managed to find our way back to the path after crossing over and back the main road  a few times.

Soon we were all together again and walked for a while as a big group with people we had met previously and continued together as far as Arco.






walking with friends at Arco

As we approached Amenal we saw plane from Ireland coming in to land, passing over the tree tops just a few kilometers away. At this time also I knew my youngest would be close by to collect his father at the airport. We were also very hungry at this stage, the lovely warm sunshine was back and we decided to stop at Amenal where we had queso bocadillos with the famous Arzua cheese before going again for the last bit to Lavacolla and Xan Xordo which would be our base for the next few nights.

Yummy Arzua cheese sandwiches at Amenal

From Amenal we circuited the airport and at one stage saw an Iberia jet directly above our heads. I was getting progressively more excited about seeing the rest of the family as I knew once they had checked in that they would come out to meet us. We reached the village of Lavacolla where traditionally pilgrims washed themselves prior to the final stage into Santiago. At this point we had to ask directions as we were unsure of the exact location of the Pazo Xan Xordo where we were staying. Eventually we found ourselves on the airport road with a Camino guide post directing us off road again to Villa maior-time for a phone call- within just a few minutes we were all together, what an amazing moment for us all ! I will never forget this very special meeting as we strolled together for the few minutes to Xan Xordo. What a fabulous place to stay.

We were all able to chat about our journeys to this point over an excellent meal and plan for the final stage- our arrival at the Catherdral of St James planned for the next morning-Sunday.

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present."
Babatunde Olatunji