Recent Camino

[Ted Kayes]

Having been a subscriber to the list serve for about three years, I have
been a little disappointed that more peregrinos did not comment or report
on their Camino experience.  My wife, Cheryl, and I completed the Camino on
26 July and I shall share a few experiences and observations.  She is 58
and I am 60 and we really did not do enough walking before we went to Spain.

Though I did not have a revelation (probably too much to ask) It was a
great experience and I believe I had a few insights.
My son asked, what problems did you encounter?  and answer was, nothing
significant.
Then he asked, what was the high point?  There were so many high points
that it is difficult to identify one.

Our boots were well broken in.  We wore sock liners and smart wool socks
and good boots.  Mine were Lowa.
We put Nivea cream between our toes, on the ball, heel and sole of the feet
every day before we put on the sock liners.  I had no blisters, my wife had
one.
I specifically looked for people putting alcohol or other drying agents on
their feet and never saw any.

It appeared that the largest percentage of the peregrinos wore Nike type
shoes, closely followed by those who wore boots.  Some wore sandals all of
the time, more switched between sandals and Nike type shoes or boots
depending on the terrain.  If I were to do it again I would wear boots
because they were always a good choice and I did not have switch.  Other
than on the meseta, the terrain frequently varied dramatically throughout
the day.

Our best decision was to start at Roncevalles, rather than SJPP.  Over the
course of a month I spoke with about a dozen people or couples who began at
SJPP and the consensus was that even as beautiful as it was, it was the
worst day on the Camino.  One couple said that it was beautiful and great.
Many of them encountered heavy fog (including one couple that took a brief
nap and woke up three hours later and described their descent as
horrible.)  The climb was difficult for those not in shape and most of them
were not.  They were almost uniformly surprised by how much worse the
descent was.  Most of those to whom I spoke estimated 10 to 13 hours
(without a long nap).  One couple reached Roncevalles after the door to the
albergue had been shut and they said that they had to sleep outside.

We started at about 20km per day and as we toughened up we walked a little
further.  In the end we averaged nearly 25km per day and we were on the
Camino for 31 days.  We had one complete rest day in Leon.

The worst travel day was our first one.  We left Roncevalles and the day
was a hilly one.  Lots of up and down.  By the time of the descent into
Zubiri, we seemed to have no resilience left in our joints.  The descent
into Zubiri was miserable.  As an aside, there appeared to be only one
restaurant in town, across from a gas station.  The meal there was very
poor and they charged 9 euros apiece and extra for wine.  We had many much
better meals for 6.50 to 8 euros.

The Spanish frequently go out of their way to help peregrinos.  At a point
where the Camino splits, there was some construction and we started down a
road that wasn't one of the alternatives.  We had not gone 150 feet before
a Spaniard in a pickup pulled up blowing his horn and saying "no Camino
that way, Camion that way or that way."  After thanking him, he reversed
and continued on, having gone out of his way to help us.

More later.

Ted Kayes