ALONE AND IN THE DARK AND IN THE WET!

If a man travels with two bears can he be said to be alone? Our view is no, but yours may be different. The other day our BBF was talking to us, as he sat on his bed, he asked if we had earned the right to a piece of chocolate! Christine a Swiss pilgrim, who was standing in the room at the time said, "Pardon, could you say that again?" Alan had to say, "don't mind me, I'm just an old man talking to his bears!" No idea what she thought since she made no reply!

We have been 14 days now on the Via de la Plata and have only walked in company on two occasions and shared a room with Hans-Peter three times. Hans-Peter, as you know was poorly and had to return home. So on all the other 12 days we have walked without any other human company. When in the various Albegues we were not always with the same people. New humans seem to have appeared out of the woodwork. One consistent has been, but is no longer, the fact that Chris (English), Brian (Canadian) and Alan (Canadian) have been the first to pass us on the road in that order. Sadly AB and C parted company a couple of days ago and C is now well ahead as he walked some 30 odd kilometres on one day, when we did not.

Alan has lamented that this Camino does not have the same religious and spiritual feeling about it that Hanna's Camino did. In the Albergue in Torremeja, a few days ago, we shared a room with Chris and our BBF and Chris had, for Alan, the first conversation about religion, on this Camino. The two humans shared their experiences on the Camino Franc`es and even mentioned passages from the Bible to each other. They each have a version as an App on their phone. The humans agreed that it was sad that it was so, but hoped it would change the closer they got to Santiago.

The next day, as we were enjoying a brief rest on a rock in the sun in a beautiful part of the countryside, Chris came by and stopped for a minute. He asked if Alan had ever replaced the cross that he had lost on the Camino Franc`es. This was one of the stories that Alan had confided to him the day before. Alan said no he hadn't. Well now, Chris gave  Alan a little wooden cross which his Munkey (the spelling is Chris's) had been wearing around his neck! Alan was almost speechless at the Christian generosity but was able to wish God's Blessing on Chris as he went on his way again. We have not seen him since sadly.

Alan now proudly wears the cross out side his shirt while he is on the Camino.

In the Albergue we stayed in Villafrance de los Barros were quite a number of pilgrims that we had come to know and see along the way. We shared a room with two South Korean couples. The other pilgrims decided to cook in the Albergue and share a meal. Sadly no one spoke to us about it, so Alan went off for a meal by himself yet again. When he came back, Peter (Canadian) invited him to join them for a glass of wine, which he did. This was briefly the first time he felt a part of a community.

 The next morning the Koreans had us up at 06:00 hrs so we were out the door earlier than usual. All was OK until we hit the end of town and the street lights ended. It was pitch dark and we could not see the road ahead, but had to follow a main road for a bit, until it crossed another highway and then went off across fields. We told our human to use his head lamp so that he would see the arrow way markers and be seen by on coming cars. His reply is worth printing. "It goes against all my training! I am trained to move silently and unobserved in the dark. Not go around with a search light on my head!!!" We said don't be daft, you are a civilian and an old man on a long walk. We want to be seen and to see the way markers. He relented, turned the lamp light from red, which he always has on in the Albergues not to ruin his night vision or to disturb others when he gets up to go to the loo in the night, to white and had to agree that it was quite a good idea, but low and behold at the hint of first light he turned it out. Now we whinged, but he said, "I can see the road ahead for at least 100 metres and it is winding more or less straight between vineyards. We will see any cars long before they see us and I can always turn the light on again if you want me to." We regret we will never turn him into a proper civilian, once a soldier always a soldier!

There were days when the track was pure mud and this mud stuck to the boots making Alan two inches taller and the boots heavier by at least two kilos, he said. 

At the first possible opportunity he cleaned the boots. The next day we were rewarded for this effort with an easy passage and sunshine.

 

The Roman Dam at Prosperina which we crossed.

In the Albergue in Aljucen Alan was invited to partake of a meal with Goichi (Japan), Christine (Swiss), Young Soon (SKorean now German), Frans (Dutch), Robert (Dutch) and for the second time felt he was part of a community.

Young Soon managed to get someone to come and open the church for us.

Alan sang the Pilgrims hymn here.

The next day the South Koreans, though in a next room to us were up at 05:00hrs, so most people were stirring soon there after. We were out the door by 06:30 hrs and off into the dark, but no headlamp as Alan said he could see the road. We passed the Koreans having a picnic on the way. In Alcuescar we stayed in the monastery but got there long before it was open. So Alan went off to find a cash machine to get money. The monastery though basic had plenty of toilets and showers for every one. All unisex. They did not have Wifi so we went off to a bar for that and of course Alan's isotonic drink. The monastery offered an evening meal after a tour and talk as well as Mass. The tour was all in Spanish and though Leonard (Dutch) made feeble attempts at translation, was mildly boring. It was given with great enthusiasm by a Tanzanian Monk though.  After the Mass we were to receive a Pilgrim's Blessing. Alan misunderstood the Spanish in the Service and thought we had been given it at the end. So when nearly every one left he stood up to sing the Pilgrim's Hymn only to realise as he got to the third verse that he was holding up the proceedings! The Hospitalero did thank him later for the good singing!

The little Windows right at the top are where we were housed.

The chapel where the Mass and Pigrim's Blessing were held.

We were all ready for the evening meal.

A sausage casserole followed a rice heavy paella type soup. No Vino Tinto to our humans dismay!!

Alan with the South Korean couples.

If these two Bulls had not been in opposite fields they would have gone head to head!

And then it rained and rained and rained.

Another fine Roman bridge.

In some places there were still the original Roman mile stones.

A boon on a rainy day. We stopped here and shared it with a young South Korean couple Kim and Song.

Then it rained some more.

It turns the track into a flowing stream and one could tell if one was going up or down by the direction of the flow.

We arrived sodden and weary in the tiny one horse town of Valdesalor with a very basic Albergue, but at least we had a bed.

A woman came and occupied the bunk above us and Alan was heard to remark to her, "since we will be sleeping together, I think I should know your name!" She was called Jullien (France).

There are days when moral is a little low and the going seems tough. In a pervese way our humans moral rises in adverse proportion to the weather. The worse the weather the more he gets on and copes with it without moaning. He has been known to shout out at the rain clouds, "you can't crack me, I'm a rubber duck!" 

on other occasion he motivates himself by singing a couple of marching songs he knows. The German one goes,

"Links, Links wenn der Hauptmann kommt dann stinks!" Or the English one,

"By the left, by the right, by the centre, may the cheeks of your a..e never fester!"

This would be quite a nice walk were it not for the rain in Spain. For there is much to see and admire in the countryside. The cuckoo has followed us as has the Hoopoe, though we have yet to catch sight of him again.

When it's wet and his boots fill up with water, Alan's arthritic toes do not like it. His knees don't either and they are the joints which dictate the pace. He try's to ignor the hurt from the blister which is slowly getting better.

We are now in Caceres which is a lovely Medieval town. 

There are so many storks in Spain we bears were wondering if that is because this is where all the babies come from! Our human said don't be daft storks don't bring babies, but what does he know. He has not figured out yet how we bears keep multiplying on him! Little does he know that bears only go to humans that treat them with love and kindness.

We are sadly alone again because we are in a hostel with our own room. Maybe tomorrow we will catch up with the some of those we know again.

Buen Camino.

WALK, EAT, SLEEP, REPEAT.

When our BBF told us we would be walking the Via de la Plata to Santiago, he also warned us that as fewer pilgrims walked this route we should not expect to meet any new BFs, like Pat and Dan, Millie and Simon, Lisa, John and Suzanne or Kim, that we had gained on Hanna's Camino. We call it Hanna's Camino because Alan walked for her soul and we bears of little brain can't spell Frances.

We began to understand when we set off on Monday 4 April in the wee hours of the morning and the pouring rain. Only fools and horses would be out in this.

We found the first real way marker once we had left the main city of Sevilla. A tall granit block with a small metal plaque which said we had 1000 kilometres to go!!! 

The way took us over the canal on a very dark road and bridge and then we had to follow the canal for a bit on a muddy track. The mud was glutinous and stuck to Alan's boots making him at least two inches taller, and the boots so much heavier.

Not until Santiponce did we stop and then entered a cafe dripping water all over the floor. For Alan at least a welcome cup of coffee and something to eat was needed.

We set off again and once out of the village had the impression we were following someone as there were fresh footprints in the mud and Alan thought he had seen a person at least a kilometre ahead. We never caught or saw this person ourselves until we reached  Guillena and we found and entered our first hostel or Albergue. Here was the man we had followed and we were the first pilgrims to arrive there.

The man's name was Hans-Peter and he came from Korchenbroich, which is only 21 kilometres from where we live! As he had not been feeling very well he had left Sevilla by bus and only started walking since Santiponce. We shared a room with him that night. Other pilgrims, wet and bedraggled than started arriving, but the hostel was never full.

The next morning our BBF was up and out the door fairly quickly. It was not raining and the sun shone. On the other side of town was a filling station where our BBF went to the loo and when he came out Hans-Peter was there, so they walked on together to Castilblanco de los Arroyos.

The way went up a steep muddy track and again the boots became heavy and slippery with the glutinous mud on the bottom.

Once over the top the views were nice and when the sun warmed up everything was hunky dory.

At one of our stops Uwe from Hannover caught us up and stayed for a bit. He started his Camino in Gibraltar and he is on his ninth Camino!!!

That too is one of the things we have discovered on this Camino those that are under way are all "repeat offenders"! That is to say they have walked at least three or more before this!

The view from the Albergue roof in Castelblanco de los Arroyos.

The hospitalero showing us where to eat

From the left, Uwe from Hannover, Robert from the Netherlands, Peter from Canada and Hans-Peter from Germany.

The next morning Uwe and Hans-Peter took a taxi as far as Almaden de la Plata, so we were on our own for the 30 kilometres walk. The first 16 were not nice as we followed a road with quite a bit of traffic, but then we entered a National Park and things changed. 

Some parts were quite steep, but was was rewarded by the views when we got to the top.

Just over the top of the hill and on the way down to Almaden we found a Cross on a rock off to the side so we went there for some selfies.

In Almaden Alan was intent on taking us to the the municipal Albergue, but something made him turn off into a doorway over which hung a yellow arrow.

Here he was shown into a room with just two beds and there were Hans-Peter's things! So needless to say we stopped. Eventually Hans-Peter turned up and Alan left us behind and went for a meal with him and others before turning in.

In the morning Hans-Peter was up first and they took off together to walk the 14 kilometres to El Real de la Jara.

It was a lovely day and we walked through Corkoak forests.

Where black pigs and cattle grazed freely.

Along the way Hans-Peter told us he thought he had seen a Hoopoe, something none of us had seen in the wild before. We could here the hoop hoop sound it made all the time we were walking.

It was a lovely day and as it was only a short walk we were soon in our Albergue and were the first there so had a free choice of beds and rooms.

The humans chose to sleep in the historic cells on the first floor and had a room to themselves, as it turned out.

They also decided to eat the main meal of the day early and only have a snack in the evening in the hostel. This turned out to be a good idea.

Peter (Canada) and Robert (NL) cooked for themselves and the hospitalero Eduardo. When Alarik in the yellow shirt came by they invited him to eat too. Alarik from Devon is the exception that proves the rule, for he is a first time offender and does not stay in Albergues but sleeps rough.

The next morning Hans-Peter was up first again and the humans were the first out of the Albegue. Sadly though Hans-Peter was feeling so poorly he felt he could not go on and so turned back. We were all sad for it now meant we were alone. Hans-Peter has returned home to Germany where we hope he will recover soon. It must be said that we admired the man as he had planned to walk the Via de la Plata with a good friend who had died and so he was walking it for him as well, as he had his friends Pilgrim Pass and was getting it stamped along the way.

Our human made the best of a bad job and walked on in perfect weather.  Along the way we were rewarded by actually seeing a Hoopoe. Alan stopped under a tree and he was just three metres above our heads, but as soon as he got his camera out it was off.

In this derelict chapel Alan snag the pilgrims him. Then when he came out Young Soon, a South Korean woman from Bremen caught us up. She too was sad that Hans-Peter had had to give up.

In Monesterio thanks to Uwe, who is well ahead of us telling us what he finds, we went to a hostel where we had a room with bathroom all to ourselves for 10€!

There Is still a fair way to go we found out in Monestario. Here out BBF bought himself another knee support for his left knee.

The next morning Alan put on both knee supports and set off as usual around 07:15 hrs. Once the sun came up it was another beautiful day and it was as if we were the only people in the world, as we saw no other pilgrims along the way. 

At a point where there was an alternative to the main path Alan took it and followed the grey stone markers with the blue and yellow markers. This took us into the wilderness.

The views were spectacular and we never regretted following this path.

Having seen the bull fighting we do have to say we were a little apprehensive about passing through this heard of cattle once we were out of the wilderness again.

We stayed in the Convent Albergue and had a single bed in a room for at least 12 pilgrims. 

That night Alan formed a Whatsapp group for the Phileas Fogg Club back in Monchengladbach as many of them are not on Facebook and would like to know how we are doing.

Alan is not impressed with his new JackWolfskin boots as they are coming apart at the seams after only some 300 kilometres. He said he will never buy another pair, as that is the second pair of boots he has from them that are not worth the money.

We set off early again on Sunday morning, but the weather had turned grey and miserable. Along the way we caught up with a Japanese Pilgrim on his sixth Camino who, would you believe it has a bear!

The bear has no name, but comes from Latvia and its BBF is called Goichi and is a much traveled chap. After we swapped stories Goichi walked on. When we came to the next small town, there he was in the main square having a break and he gave our BBF an Oreo biscuit. It being a Sunday no cafe seemed to be open yet. Alan was passed by a total of 7 fleet footed pilgrims today. He seems to be walking well but is complaining about having a couple of small, he said, blisters on his right heel.

Well when we got to Zafra things did not look good when he took his boots and socks off.

The Compeed plasters keep sticking to the socks and break the seal. 

After showering it looked decidedly worse.

Alan has put a gauze bandage soaked in iodine on it for the night and intends to try and put Compeed plasters on plus a gauze bandage to protect it from the socks and give it a bit more cushioning. Since we are not in a town that is worth staying in to let it heal.

We've told him to stop whinging as pilgrims are meant to suffer and he chose to do this when he could be sitting with his feet up at home.

Well after a week of walking we can say Alan was not wrong about the number of pilgrims on this route. There are far less than on Hanna's Camino, but more than he thought there would be. We have walked only twice with another pilgrim, Hans-Peter, and have been alone since. Even the few woman on this route are repeat offenders. Whether we do find some new BFs still leaves to be seen, since we have quite a way to go yet. Some say it is a moving village, the people are the same it is just the houses and the beds that are different. A lot like sailing round the world Alan has also remarked. Whatever, we are in a routine of walk, eat, sleep, repeat, where our only concern is to find a suitable Albergue for the night and a reasonable meal. Nothing else matters.