<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">I have bicycled the Camino twice, once from Roncesvalles and another time from Jaca. I have done so alone and without knowledge of Spanish except for the most rudimentary phrases.<BR>
I have never, not once, witnessed any incident of "grannies" (whatever such term may mean to convey) acting in a manner remotely similar to that related in the message. Quite the contrary, during the long pilgrimages I have really been surrounded by the friendliness and warmth of strangers, particularly that of so many middle-aged Spanish pilgrims who proffered their help, in a language that I do not speak, and their food and wine when I stopped to rest here and there. <BR>
The only acts of boorish behavior that I witnessed came, sad to say, from fellow foreign pilgrims.<BR>
I am getting ready to go on my third pilgrimage, eagerly anticipating the kindness of such strangers as those Spanish ladies in the Camino with their food and wine, and the middle-age Galician shepherd women offering me cups of fresh milk.<BR>
Liz</FONT></HTML>