Travels around Europe: July 2021

Today, 31st July, is mother-in-law's 91st birthday. Happy Birthday Frances. It is also the inaugural running of the Golspie 3-peaks challenge. Named after, and loosely based on, the famous national 3-peaks challenge in which participants climb the highest peaks in England (Sca Fell), Scotland (Ben Nevis) and Wales (Snowdon) within 24 hours. For more info on the national 3-peaks challenge click here.

The Golspie challenge is rather more modest and involves climbing three local peaks: Ben Horn (520m), Ben Bhraggie (397m) and Silver Rock (265m). My pal Alisdair very kindly (?) included me in his team, together with his daughter and son-in-law. I did a recce of each of the peaks during the week and decided to withdraw from the challenge. Only Ben Bhraggie had a recognizable path to the summit, the other two involved quite steep ascents through the heather. I would have been a mill stone around their collective neck. I look forward to hearing how they got on. Am I a wuss for withdrawing?

Instead, yesterday, I walked along the coast from Golspie to Brora (11km, 2 hours 18 minutes) and enjoyed a big boy's breakfast once I got there. There was a tiny burn (a Scottish word meaning a small stream) to traverse but the heavy rains from earlier in the week caused the level of water to rise and to submerge the stepping stones. I lost my balance and ended up with two wet feet but hey, it wasn't the end of the world.

Tomorrow -> England, Monday -> Spain. Vaccination certificate and Spanish health authority travel form both printed and ready for inspection at both LGW and BCN.

Enjoy this version of 'the lion sleeps tonight' that I came across on FB yesterday:

PXR, for those who weren't in the military, stands for Post Exercise Report. "A PXR is a report on what occurred during the planning, organization and conduct of an exercise. It provides information on what the exercise was supposed to accomplish, what was actually accomplished, as well as problems or successes that occurred. It includes recommendations for improvements to equipment, material......"

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela - what is it?

A series of walks, originally carried out by pilgrims in the 9^th century, starting from different places in France, Portugal and Spain and finishing at the Cathedral in Santiago where the bones of St. James (in Spanish Sant Iago) are reputed to be interred. Read more about it here. Are they really the bones of the apostle St. James the great? Is there a monster in Loch Ness? I don't suppose for one moment we'll ever know the answer to either of these questions.

But it is true that many people undertaking the walk find themselves closer to God. Nowadays a mix of genuine pilgrims seeking spiritual guidance and 'ordinary' hikers or cyclists out to enjoy nature and perhaps learn more about themselves. Where am I on that spectrum? Somewhere in the middle probably. Did I find myself closer to God? I think so. I certainly spoke to him more than usual. I can only assume he was listening. Usually there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people walking the different routes but with the pandemic I only saw a couple of dozen on the Camino Ingles.

Types of accommodation

Hotel, pensión (=Spanish B&B) or auberge (hostel). Many of the auberges were still closed, probably because of the pandemic. I asked my travel company to arrange hotels with en-suite accommodation. They came up with mostly hotels but one or two pensións. All had en-suite as requested. Many weren't doing an evening meal, again probably because of the lack of pilgrims/travellers due to the pandemic. My two favourites, over the eight days, were the Gran Hotel de Ferrol (for their professionalism) and Pensión Vilanova (for their friendliness)

How to get to Ferrol (one of the start points for Camino Ingles)?

There is an airport at A Coruna and another at Santiago de Compostela. To get to the start at Ferrol I took a slow train from Tarragona to Madrid and two faster ones the next day. I flew back from Vigo (an hour South on the train from Santiago) to Barcelona. If you're going to take any trains, and you're over 60, you might like to invest in a Tarjeta Dorada. It costs 6 Euros per year and there are significant discounts to be had. But it from any station on production of a passport.

How many different walks are there? (in brackets = approximate number of days)

Camino Frances	The French Way	800 km (30+)
Camino Portugues	The Portuguese Way	598 km (30+)
Camino Portugues Coastal	The Camino Surf & Turf!	178 km (7-12)
Camino del Norte	The Northern Way	466 km (23+)
Camino Primitivo	The Original Way	315 km (16)
Via de la Plata	The Silver Way	1000 km (40+)
Le Puy Camino	Via Podiensis	732 km (30+)
Camino Finisterre	Muxia Way	90 km (6)
Camino Ingles	The English Way a) Ferrol –> Santiago b) A Coruna -> Santiago	121 km (5) 96 km (5)

What do you get out of it?

Apart from an enormous feeling of satisfaction and achievement there is also the signed compostela, written in Latin and with your name (in Latin) added. Wow, if you like that kind of thing. You ´earn´the compostela by collecting stamps in your credencial issued to you at the start of the walk. In theory you are supposed to collect at least 2 stamps per day. For example one at your hotel and one wherever you stop for tea/coffee/lunch. You need to walk at least 100 km to get your compostela so if you particularly wanted one to hang on your achievements wall at home then don´t pick the A Coruna –> Santiago route.

What to wear/carry

Bear in mind that the weather in Galicia is not necessarily what you might think of as typical Spanish weather. Often it is a little milder. Depending on the time of year you go I suggest packing something for both rain and sun. I had very lightweight, packable, waterproofs and a hat. I used it all, at different times during the week. A service I can't recommend enough is the luggage in advance system run by the Spanish Post Office. Leave your luggage at your accommodation and you will find it waiting for your at your next stopover. Can be arranged by your travel company. I must confess to feeling a little smug when I saw some pilgrims struggling with large rucksacks carrying all their kit for the whole week. I had a very light backpack with waterproofs and water. Water is advisable as you don't always find what you want to eat & drink at the time that you want it.

Blisters and general health.

I didn't get any blisters. I put that down to three things: good walking boots, good walking socks and lots of practice walks beforehand so that the feet got used to what was expected of them. It was an enormous help to have a reasonable level of fitness – some of the hills seemed to go on forever. I also deliberately factored in a rest day in the middle of the week. I ended up walking for three days, taking a day off, and walking another three.

How to book?

There are 'several' companies dealing exclusively with the Camino de Santiago. They will arrange all your accommodation and issue you with a credencial to take along with you. I used pilgrim.es and they were more than satisfactory. (I gave them 4 days notice to start the walk and they still came up trumps). You might also like to consider: Camino de Santiago , Follow the Camino

Would I do it again?

At the end of the walk it felt a bit like you feel at the end of a marathon (I used to run them a zillion years ago) where you say to yourself “never again”. But now the tiredness has worn off and I start to wonder “why not”, “never say never”. Who knows?

ENJOY!