On the Camino de Santiago - With our friend, the Semi(s)

Back in Madrid

Jen and I just arrived back in Madrid. Our Camino de Santiago experience has finally come to an end. It´s really kind of sad and I think we both feel a bit melancholy. We´ve been focused for days on getting to Santiago. I never really considered what it would feel like to actually get to Santiago and/or how we would feel after. Plus, it actually feels kind of strange not having to get up and ride a bike all day.

This morning we went to the pilgram´s mass. I´m not even religious and I thought it was a pretty moving experience. 3/4 of the church attendees were pilgrims all dirty and ragged and limping. The cathedral itself is really quite impressive. The mass itself of course I couldn´t understand because it was all in Spanish. Oh well. We saw our Equadorian friends and heard one of them sing Ava Maria (spelling?) which was absolutely beautiful. After mass we went off as good pilgrims do and bought magnets, mugs and a t-shirt for Baby Bob. Ha ha.

Just flew Ryan air into Madrid which was effortless and only 50 minutes long (love it). Tomorrow morning Jen and I are going to conquer the metro and find our way back to the aeropuerto to pick up Le Dora (who by the way, has never flown by herself this distance. I´m already proud even before we go get her). Saturday we say goodbye to Jenny Grace and Dora and I fly off to Roma. I can´t wait to park myself on a beach for a few days. Yahoo!

J

Day 11: Santiago

Ok, Jen and I just realized that we don't have ANY night photos...oh, that's because we're sleeping before it gets dark. She just took some nice photos of the sunset from the rooftop window of our absolutely darling hotel. The hotel staff was the nicest (maybe ever). There was a beautiful outside garden where we could take the laptop and internet and drink wine until our hearts were content...LOVED it.

Tonight is the Manchester vs. Barcelona soccer game. I can hear the chanting & singing over the BBC AND they're setting off fireworks. So much for my awesome sleep. They're going to be up all night!!

Tomorrow is the pilgrim's mass featuring our tenor friend from Equador. He'll be singing Ava Maria. Then off to Madrid on Ryan Air tomorrow afternoon. Btw - Le Dora is getting ready to get on the big bird for our Italian extravaganza! Woot woot

Wooo hooo - just rolled into Santiago!!! Sitting in the sun and drinking beer! 11 days of biking under our belts and we're completo.

Sculpture at Monte do Gozo . . . 4 km to go

Santiago . . . On our way

One last crappy detail about our day. I did a Skooby Doo fall on the slate/rock/dirt road and now have a base ball sized bruise on my butt, giant bruise on my quad and took skin off the other side of my thigh. Definitely a Kodsk moment with me on the ground with the bike in a stream of water crying. Awesome! At one
Point I thought, people get paid to do this on "reality" tv, and I'm calling this a vacation? I need my head examined!

Jen no longer had any breaks so once we finally found the carreterta (road) we couldn't ride anyway. Walked forever & pushed our bikes to a town (which is a joke. It's like calling the McClelland Dairy a town just because it has a tractor, 2 people and a house). Anyway, walked into this cafe absolutely freezing (because yes, it's still raining) and we found some awesome Spanish guys who were walking the camino. They said we looked the way they felt an hour ago. CAlled another taxi. 2 showed up. 1 for us plus Spanish guy with blistered feet and 1 for the bikes. The taxi took us to a bike shop where we dropped off Jen's bike and my shoes. After stopping at approximately 6 refugios, we ended up at a 3 star hotel which was also completo. Making a long, miserable, almost muerto story short...after waiting around for 2 hours (waiting for the bike repairs) there was a cancellation and they gave us a room. I'll fix this posting later because there are so many details I'm leaving out that made this day truly awful, it needs to be documented. I'm not tucked into bed and
calling this a day!!!

Day 9: Sarria -

We're sorry-ia is was so hard to get to Sarria! To summarize, no brakes on the bike this am. Didn't get started until 9:40. 8km in, almost got tan over (no, I'm not kidding) by a semi. Apparently the freeway was closed & traffic was rerouted onto our tiny road. After I almost muerte, I burst into tears and we took a taxi up the hill. Oh, almost forgot about the POURING rain. Into the fog we went. Got dropped off, decided to take a "short cut" which took us down a 6" ft wide (no kidding) "road", which was dirt/mud with a stream running down the middle. 6km on foot later, I had no cleat (spelling) & could no longer clip in/ride with both feet...

Bikes loaded on a taxi!

We decided to load our bikes and ourselves in a taxi due to the main
autoroute being closed and all of the traffic being routed on to our
little two lane road. After one too many large trucks came within
inches of us, we stopped at the next town and the nice lady who spoke
French called us a cab. We are now riding in the cab, in the fog, in
the rain and we are having the taxi cab driver drop us off about 20 or
so km ahead. We are hoping at least out of the fog. We decided
maintaining our sanity, reducing the amount of tears and maintaining
our lives . . . This will be the best 70 euro we have ever spent!

Wow - what a crap-ass day (excuse my French). It started raining somewhere on the
Other side of the mountain and didn't stop all day. We were Both soaked to thebone. Only did 50ish kilometers and now have another GIANT hill ahead of us again tomorrow. Looks like Santiago Is only 220km away. 3 more days and we're home free or I suppose I should say homeward bound!

Medival Albergue

We stopped here to get a stamp. It was cool. They had a fire going to
warm your hands which we took part in. It was really cold! These
signs were in front of the albergue.

We stopped at the iron cross.

Everyone stops here to leave a rock as a tolken of your passing by
there and of your journey.

We went from fog to a little ice to rain and then we were off again!

Leaving Rabanal heading into the fog

Day 8: I'm going to toot my own horn...just climbed a 6km hill to the deserted town of Foncebadon. I didn't stop once as this thing winded and switch backed into the fog! I rolled in with no feeling in either hand and pins and needles on both feet from the ankles down. I think I was white knuckling (spelling?) it all the way up. Passed a couple French guys and I have no idea where Jemny Grace is. I've parked myself inside a vacant porch where there's nobody inside (it's dark) but I hear what slings like French music coming from somewhere...creepy!

Day 7: Rabanal

Made it 70km today into the foothills (or really a little past the foothills) into the mountains. Tomorrow we have quite a bit of climb...because I´m crazy, I´m kind of looking forward to it. The last couple or even few days have been flat and HOT. Because we´re in the mountains, it´s cool (rained again this afternoon) which I don´t really mind. The only disappointment is that I can´t further my AWESOME farmer´s tan. It´s OK though, I have another full 4 days to work it out.

We´re staying at a really cute albergue. As usual, we have bunk beds although to my surprise, we´re BOTH on the bottom bunk tonight (yahoo). No ro sham bo (spelling?) for who gets the bottom bunk. Unfortunately we haven´t seen any of our friends tonight. We seem to have lost Polish Dude and his mom as well as Chubby Smokers and the Dutch. Although, we DID ride into Astorga with Chubby Smokers but then lost them at lunch. There are 3 albergues in this town so perhaps some of our ¨friends¨are elsewhere.

I almost forgot...we have somehow ¨righted¨ourselves and we´re back on schedule...I repeat, we´re BACK on schedule. My crazy itinerary had us staying in Rabanal tonight and lookie, here we are!!! Tomorrow we have to stop somewhere before O´ceribal (I call it cerebral, probably almost a hemerage) before we´re allowed to quit. I apologize is my spelling is crap - the keyboard is Spanish AND I can´t find spell check. Oh well!

I miss my boyfriend. :(

J

Day 6 - Leon

I had a realization or perhaps it was more of an epiphany last night about the Chubby Smokers. As I lay in my bunk bed (bottom bunk) approximately 12¨ from the other bunk bed pushed up against mine, I noticed that one of the Chubby Smokers lay beside me. My big realization is that he´s NOT chubby! In fact, he´s quite skinny. I had to apologize mentally for mislabeling him.

We ran into the Chubby (or not so) Smokers again this morning as we rolled into Astorga. I have a feeling we´ll see them again in Rabanal.

Adios!

Just arrived in Santa Catalina de Somoza

It is the cutest town and the surrounding country side is beautiful!

Leon to Astorga

A little rain to start our morning . . . All geared up and ready to go.

Leon: Wow! Jen and I wrapped up somewhere around 110km (about 66 miles). We pushed through the heat and made it all the way to Leon. Just completed our rusual...roll in, do laundey, shower, have dinner then sleep. Oh, forgot to mention that yesterday I got a bee in my bonnet (or really my bra) and today I got stung on the tongue (bee on lip, tongue tried to get it off, bee on tongue=sting). No bueno. Tomorrow we're off to Astorga and beyond with a fair bit of climb in the late afternoon. Oh and our day is complete after finding (and actually beating) our favorite Dutch friends into town. They're my favorite peeps on the Camino.

Sahagun: 40km into our day (out of 80ish). Running into the usual suspects. Chubby smokers just rolled on by and rode along with Polish dude and his mom (we see them every other day although I think maybe this is the 2nd or 3rd day in a row). My allergies are raising hell and making my head swirly. We're having a coke and a smile and plowing onward just as the day starts to really heat up!

Carrion de los Condes

Jen and I made it to Carrion de los Condes yesterday afternoon. We stayed in a ¨religious refugio¨ and what do you know, Jesus didn´t send a lightening bolt after me. They actually had a really funny nun who was cracking jokes (in spanish of course) but she had people rolling around in laughter. At one point she told me I was too bonita to be on the Camino (as I was blowdrying my hair). Come on, some things don´t change!

I slept for 9 hours last night and it was AWESOME. Definitely the best sleep I´ve had since arriving in Spain. This morning I´m a little slow to get going...nothing 3 or 4 espressos won´t take care of. Jen and I have an 82(ish)km day today. We need to push as close to Leon as we can so that tomorrow we can get through that big city (large cities are a big time suck) and off to the other side.

Have I talked about the ¨chubby smokers¨ yet? They´re a pair of guys who are also biking the Camino (on the roads like us) except we keep passing them because they´re smoking on the side of the road. As Jen and I are laboring with all our crap, these two must be eating and smoking up a storm. Anywho, apparently we´re keeping the same pase.

Buen Camino!

5/21 - Carrion de los Condes

After last night, our accomodations feel like the Ritz! Espiritu
Santo is muey bueno!

Tarajos

Finished 61km today in 86 degree heat. My farmer´s tan is at it´s best! Jen laid the bike down twice today. I looked over and she´s on the ground with her foot stuck in the clips. It was awesome. Just did planning through Saturday. By the endo fo tomorrow we should hit our half way point - but it´s a BIG day at 76km with more hot weather. Staying in the smallest refugio yet - sleeping on a pad on the floor. This isn´t even a one horse town, I´m thinking more like half a horse.

Jenn M working on her biker's tan - No, she her hands are not just dirty. . .

Albergue in Tardajos - Camino Happy

Have a Coke and a smile (in Burgos). 51km so far another 10ish and we're complete
For the day.

Villafranca Montes de Oca: Just climbed a GIANT hill. Of course there was road construction which brought road down to one lane...that plus 10,000 semi's equals a good time. Performed bike surgery on Jen's rear brake - almost had to ride back to town to have them looked at but alas, I performed sort of miracle and we're back in business. I think we have about 36km until Burgos where we'll find a bike shop and will get some professional help. OK, as I write this 3 trucks honked at me and waves as they drove by! They love supporting cyclists and pilgrims on the Camino. It took me until yesterday to realize that they aren't mad but rooting us on! Buen Camino!

Navarrette to Belgato: today wasn't nearly as difficult as the book said. The climb was fairly easy and overall I feel great! The road was quite busy with traffic which wears on the nerves. Sometimes construction allows no shoulder which is no bueno I think we have more busy roads ahead as we near Burgos, which is a large city. Ran into a group of Americans on a bike tour. They looked clean and had fancy fingernails bit um, no luggage -cheaters!

Day 2: Estella to Navarrete

Today was much smoother than yesterday as we finished about 58.3km. Ride time: 8hours. I have an awesome farmer tan and am a little worried as how I can keep my arms out of the heat. The sun is boiling hot in the afternoon and more so as we climb a large hill. We had a bit of a challenge getting to Navarrete tonight as the small road turned into a freeway which really (really) stressed us out. All good now though. Sat down for a canned bean dinner (thought it was soup) and turning in for the evening. Tomorrow we have a "difficult" road ahead. Buen camino.

After a long day of riding. . .

We thought we were buying bean soup but really it was just beans, a
bowl of beans.

Albergue at Estella

Esteeellllaaaa

Can´t you hear Sly calling her name? OK, stick a fork in me, I´m done. Jenny Grace and I did somewhere in the 30 mile range (we were supposed to do almost 60) and we are fried. There were some learnings from today...our touring bikes can´t stay on the camino. We need to stick to the roads!

We spent our legs and our backs (and just about any other juice we had) getting our bikes up a fairly large mountain...this all took place by noon today. We still then had another 20plus miles to cycle which was almost miserable in the heat and with the extreme weight of our bikes.

BTW, in case I haven´t complained yet, our bikes are HEAVY. I´m used to riding on a 17lb all carbon Bianchi. Um, these bikes definitely aren´t carbon. Plus, pack them full of our ¨stuff¨and Houston, we have serious weight issues.

Tomorrow, we´re going to the Post to ship some goodies home. We need to (especially Jenny G) to trim down on what we´re carrying around. Plus, we now need to make up for the time we lost today.

Tonight (after a 9 hour day of cycling) we checked in to an Alburge (spelling) for 6 Euro (awesome!!!). I´m sleeping in a dorm in a twin with mostly hikers. I have a feeling there will be lots and lots of snoring. Met a German who thought Jen and I were exotic because we are female cyclists. Yeah, that´s right. Not a lot of women on the Camino and definitely no other females riding bikes. Almost forgot one thing. ALMOST passed out coming up a hill today. I couldn´t get unclipped because it was too steep and I could no longer breathe (asthma). Everything got dark and very fuzzy. BUT...I made it and still had fun (sort of).

That´s my update for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better (although I hear we have some challenging terrain coming up).

Today may the hardest riding I've done. Our bikes are much heavier than I thought and the road is really steep and rough. It took us 4 hours to go 18.3km. On a lighter note, I've never met so many nice people! Trying to find a bite to eat in a one pony town and on a Sunday no less.

Yesterday we visited all 3 cathedrals trying to get our passaporte stamped (in Pamplona). We walked in circles for hours, busted up our feet, ate tapas and ice cream and finally got our stamp when we stopped at the office of tourism - disco! We wrapped our 24+ hour journey at 7:30pm (as the outside party commenced).

Day 1 on the Camino: my quote of the day is - "Jen, I think we need to be a little less anal" - this is in response to Grace being concerned that the camino isn't well-marked.

We're in Pamplona where there was some sort of demonstration (of course we couldn't understand what they were saying) however there has been an all-night party outside our hotel. It's 4:24am and they're yelling, singing, and I assume dancing!

Getting ready for the Camino

Working out the kinks in the technology...

Wow! I love technology. I can now text directly to my blog...

The training (and the beat) goes on...

Ok, this is about a week too late however, it should be duly noted. Jenny G and I blazed the Paradise Loop trail (yet again) last week. Well, actually we did 2 training rides in one week (sort of a big deal for the two of us...weekdays (much like math for me) are hard!).

Last Tuesday (I think) we rode from the Roost in Sausalito, up over Camino Alto (good-sized hill) and back again. Not a bad warm up for a Tuesday. We followed this up with a 20-ish miler on Thursday. We covered half of Paradise Loop and back to Sausalito again. The wind was absolutely miserable but I was glad we pulled through with some sort of ride.

Check out the photo shoot...

Sports Basement Sunday

This may not be nearly as exciting to any of you as it was to Jenny G and I. We took a trip down to the Sports Basement in search of some items for our trip. Who knew that finding an appropriate "stuff" bag could be so difficult. There were multiple sizes, weights/materials, closures (draw string, snap, etc). Then we had to determine how many of these "stuff" sacks we needed. After this (which was seriously 20 minutes long) (imagine the two of us hounding the sales person at the Basement), we moved on to the mirco fibre towels. Which sizes to get, which fabric, etc. We started the selection process (much like the stuff bag) all over again. After roughly 1 hour at the Basement, we came home with a new sleeping bag (for Jen M.), a few stuff bags, micro fibre towels, and mini bungee cords. The shoe selection was "no bueno" so we moved on. All-in-all, it was a good trip.

Saturday - Training Day #1

Well, Jenny G. and I hit the road for our first official day of training. I coaxed Ms. Grace into riding the Sausalito Hill and...success! While the ride wasn't terribly difficult, it was still 27 miles (according to Jen's bike). We got Sausalito Hill in there AND it was the first time in months either of us have been on the road for any kind of distance. It was a good afternoon!

Looking forward to more training and getting ready for our trip!