Bike and Barge and Belgium Frietes (Fries)

With complete disregard for any athletic principle of the 'specificity of training', Dayton and I have spent the past week preparing for our three week walking trek across the reportedly hilly and rugged terrain in the south-west of France by biking the flat, even terrain of the cycle paths bordering the canals of the Netherlands. Not exactly the most appropriate training program but definitely a pleasant one.

More leisurely than physically challenging, our bike trip took us from Ghent in Belgium to Amsterdam. We were blessed with ergonomically comfortably upright sturdy seven-gear bikes and so we were never back-breakingly hunched over the curved handlebars of an 18 or 21 speed racing bike. Our daily schedule was as punctual as it was leisurely. Tea and coffee were laid out in the barge's lounge/dining room every morning promptly at 7am; the ship's bell rang out for breakfast precisely at 8am and we were packed up and on the bikes by 9am. All our gear (extra clothing, drinks and lunches) were stowed in a heavy duty pannier that clipped onto the back rack of our bike. Each days ride took us along the canals and the idyllic country roads, and through many wonderfully picturesque medieval towns and cities. The Netherlands is a very bike friendly country. Bike paths are everywhere. In fact, some roads have a substantial bike path on either side of a single lane road and it is the cars which meet head on and have to respectfully squeeze over and give way to one another.

It is great to have an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide to navigate the route and to let us know why the 'forward leading house' in Gouda is 'forward leaning', why the statue in square in front of the ancient Guild houses in Antwerp is holding a severed hand and where to find the best cheese shop or silver shop. Loek, our guide, sets a very easy pace, so easy in fact that there is no chance that we would ever intimidate the 75 and 85 year olds who routinely and confidently breeze past us, pedalling effortless as if they'd done this all their lives. Doh! And if it isn't a senior blasting past us, it's a young mother with one child set in front between her and her handlebars and one or two children set behind her or a cyclist texting or talking on their cell phone. Meanwhile we are gripping the handlebars with clenched gloved hands and heads protected by gigantic aerodynamic bike helmets. Despite the very reasonable pace of our daily bike ride being on a bike seat for five to six hours and cycling 50 kms a day still results, at the end of the day, in a very tender tush or, as I like to think of it, numb in the Netherlands.

The neighbourhoods and homes we've passed on our bike rides have appeared to be very affluent and I've particularly noted that everyone must have the same interior designer, subscribe to the same decorating magazine or have a passion for symmetry as almost every inside window ledge has a matching pair of something in the window; two identical vases, two candlesticks, two bowls or two urns. A very clean and neat sense of feng shui.

The ride into the busy streets of Amsterdam proved not as frightening as we expected. It was not the cars which were intimidating as much as the cyclists zipping in and out and across our paths. While we were trying to stay up with Loek and were still figuring out which green light was for bicycles, half of our group had missed the light. The sheer multitude of cyclists in Amsterdam is unfathomable; thousands and thousands and thousands of bikes.

And now, as we're mentally gearing down from this week's tour, we have to change gears, re-organize and re-pack and gear up for the next three weeks. Tomorrow, a flight to Leon in France, Sunday a train ride to Le Puy and then it's off our butts and on to our Camino.

Our Düsseldorf Alberque

Dayton and I always say, "Be very sure if you ever tell us to drop in..........because we do."
So much of a 'camino experience' or pilgrimmage is not just where you have journeyed but it is the people you meet along the journey. So here we are in Düsseldorf, the pampered guests of Liane and Jürgen, a wonderful couple with whom we shared many good times and good meals on our Camino Frances. Our first encounter with Liane and Jürgen was in Navarette, then again in Villafranca - Montes de Oca, and again and again along the way. We especially enjoyed spending time with them in Finisterre when we were all relaxing, recapping and desperately recuperating after finishing our Camino. One particularly memorable night was when we had a fire on the beach, shared some wine and cheese (actually sharing wine and cheese is part of almost every experience, at least in our book), and watched Liane and Jürgen finish their Camino with the ritual burning of one's clothes. They may have burned only a few small items but it, nonetheless, marked the end of their journey.

Liane and Jürgen's parting words to us included an invitation, "If you ever come to Germany, the door to our alberque is always open." So for the past three days we have enjoyed their hospitality. We have toured the AltStadt, the old city, shopped (Dayton now has a new full length rain poncho), met their children and grandchildren and, of course, enjoyed some wonderful food and drink. Needless to say, the German biere, (Alt Biere is the specialty of Düsseldorf) is very, very good. Another traditional culinary treat in Düsseldorf is Eisbein. Eisbein is the thigh of a pig which is roasted on a spit until the skin is crisp and crackling and is served whole on a platter with perfectly round mounds of potato dumplings and rotkohl (red cabbage). Thankfully, Dayton opted for the Sauerbräten, braised beef.

Tomorrow we leave for Amsterdam on our way to Ghent in Belgium where we will begin our 'training program' for our Camino Le Chemin Le Puy. In truth, this training is actually a Bike and Barge trip from Ghent to Amsterdam. It may be a somewhat unorthodox method of training for a walking pilgrimage but it's all we've got so it will have to do. The one thing we are sure of is that it will involve 'food and drink'.

Going to need a bigger backpack!

How can this keep happening? It's the height of idiocy to keep repeating things in the same manner but expect different results. We have too much stuff! Our promise to be ruthless in packing has been buried beneath all our stuff.

The zen of walking a pilgrimage is its simplicity; it is an opportunity to live an uncluttered life. Our everyday life is anything but uncluttered. We have embraced the societal norm which dictates that we acquire 'stuff'. We want our life to be easy, fast, comfortable and convenient and so we spend years accumulating stuff to achieve this.

The ridiculous result of amassing all this stuff is that then we have to spend an the inordinate amount of time trying to organize the stuff and then, when it's too much for the space we have available, we have to find a way to store the stuff. So we buy more stuff; shelving, baskets, plastic tubs, garage cabinets, portable storage units. If that isn't enough, there's an entire industry out there which, for a monthly rental fee, will store our stuff or we can resort to the tacky cottage industry of the 'garage sale'. You lay out all of your stuff on the driveway very, very early on a Saturday morning so that others can drive by, look it over and offer you one tenth of what you had priced it at and one hundredth what you paid for it originally. If you are ever lucky enough to get a handle on your own stuff (which I never have accomplished yet), then your children move back home from university with their stuff.

A camino is a perfect antidote for all this stuff. You take only what you can carry on your back. No more and certainly, in my experience, no less. And therein lies the proverbial rub. The ultimate problem is overestimating what you (and your husband) can carry 30 kms a day for weeks on end and underestimating what you can do without. Time to get back at the packing and do some realistic 're-estimating'..

"Things, which don't actually kill you outright...."

"Things, which don't actually kill you outright, tend to make you stronger." Oh, would that that were so! Walking the Camino Frances de Santiago last year may not have killed us outright as we did survive and arrive alive but we were more than a little beat up by the end. Now does that make us stronger for our next one? You know........ I'm just going to go with it because we are now about to go on our second pilgrimage and I'd like to take some comfort from that premise.

We have been more than a little less obsessive about the planning and training for this second camino. I'm not sure we even 'planned' for it. It just happened. We booked into a one week Hfholiday Bike and Barge trip, biking from Ghent in Belgium to Amsterdam and then had to come up with something else to do for a couple of weeks. It just doesn't make sense to fly over to Europe for only one week. It was never our intention to hit the Camino trails in 2010, a Jubilee Year, because the number of pilgrims is overwhelming. However, throwing good sense to the wind, we decided that by heading out in late September and choosing, what we think is a less travelled route, we'd avoid the crowds. Let's hope this proves to be true. So we're going to walk three weeks in France along the Chemin Le Puy, starting in Le Puy en Velay and heading southwest towards St. Jean Pied de Port, where we started our Camino Frances last year. We will not be able to complete this entire section in just three weeks so we'll just see how far we get in the time available.

In preparation for the Camino Frances I took 18 months of Spanish lessons. For the Camino Le Puy - six French lessons total. For the Camino Frances, I walked at least 20 kms a day for months; for the Camino Le Puy - 8 kms around Springbank Park once in a while. For the Camino Frances, we went to meeting after meeting, read every book we could find from Shirley MacLaine's other-worldly mystic ramblings to Jane Christmas' witty and whiney book, 'What the Psychic told the Pilgrim'. For the Camino Le Puy, we have 'Miam, Miam, Dodo' a guide book published in France that we can't read - it's in French! I guess we will definitely embrace the concept of 'letting the camino unfold' as I sure don't feel like I have a handle on what's in store for us this time. One thing won't be any different: gites or alberques, it's still communal living, shared bathroom facilities and snorers. For the Camino Frances, I was packed months in advance, for Le Puy......well, it's now Friday, we leave on Monday....time to pack.

Post Camino R & R

R & R, rest and relaxation, may be too mild a term for what is needed after walking almost 900kms. A more expansive expression is necessary; rest and relaxation plus rehabilitation, rehydration, relief, respite, recovery and then repatriation home. Fortunately we had allowed ourselves lots of extra time to indulge in as much R & R & R & R as we wanted. Having finished our Camino to Santiago in 31 days and, after one wonderful day of rest and visiting with Camino friends in Santiago and then completing the added 3 days Camino to Fisterre, we still had 10 days left over before our flight back to Canada. What to do, what to do?

Spending the first three days of our overtime in Fisterre was a quick, no-brainer decision. Fisterre won us over with its charming harbour, beaches and numerous cafes and restaurants.
It was a perfect spot to dump the backpacks in the hotel, hobble around the small village, sit on the cafe patios and share stories with other camino grads, hobble to the beach and soak sore feet in the cooling (cold) Atlantic water. Nothing to do and all day and night to do it. Perfect.

We had considered several other small villages or cities to visit, Muros or Ponteverde but at the last minute we decided the quick and easy two hour bus ride north to O Coruna was the way to go. As promised, getting to O Coruna was quick and easy and cheap, only 14 Euros. Unfortunately, once there we had to don those *&$%#@ backpacks again and plod through the busy streets to an information centre. We had no idea what O Coruna had to offer. First impressions were that it was a bigger city than expected, hectic, lots of construction and not so obviously charming. We learned that it did have a few beaches and, by accident or design, as we searched haphazardly (hobbled - there is a recurring theme here) through the busy streets I recognized a sign from one of the tourist books: Hotel Riazor. Turns out they had a room, 53 Euros without a view, 65 Euros plus tax with an oceanview. Throwing financial caution to the wind we took the oceanview. Good choice. Our lovely big room looked out over Riazor Beach - a topless beach. Because we were more comfortable with watching than participating in the 'topless' concept, we first headed out to shop for bathing suits. In the end, I just used a sports bra and my sleep boxer shorts rather than spend 40 to 80 Euros on a bathing suit, an ugly, poor fitting bathing suit.

Walking in the sand on the beach was brutal on my ankle and, while the cold Atlantic water felt great, by evening it was obvious it needed treatment. Off we went to a private hospital where, after consultation with a doctor, Xrays, ultrasound and 250Euros, we got a diagnosis of tendinitis and the usual presciption: rest, elevation, ice and anti-inflammatories. Nothing we hadn't already self-diagnosed but now it was official. The real rest wouldn't come until home though. I can't say we did much in O Coruna. Even the little bit of walking the sight seeing entailed was too much but flopping down on a beach towel or the hotel bed was enough to satisfy us. I revelled in hot water and a real shower and shaving my legs ( TMI - too much information?) Dayton revelled in not carry a 16kg backpack everywhere.

In O Coruna, we availed ourselves of a very helpful travel agent who helped us book bus tickets for a 7 hour bus ride to Salamanca, a reservation at the Hotel Monterrey near the Playa Mayor in Salamanca and then train tickets for later to Madrid.

The seven hour bus ride to Salamanca was not as bad as expected. We had a huge tour bus and only 7 passengers. However, this did not mean you could sit anywhere. Seats were assigned when we purchased the tickets and that's where we were to sit, even if the front row seats where empty or there were empty seats to sprawl out in right across from us.
The Hotel Monterrey was a very old hotel, again ideally located but no more carting backpacks, we were now into taxis. We enjoyed sitting at the cafe tables that edged the Playa Mayor, sipping wine and watching the tourists go by. The Playa Mayor was a happening place and there was a late night concert featuring a couple of 'boy bands'. We managed to stick around for only the first song of the first set. A super late night on the Camino might have been 10pm max. and we were still happy with that schedule. Our hotel was hosting a seniors' tour group and as the seniors left the hotel and filed ever so slowly onto their tour bus, obliviously blocking the hotel exit and the sidewalk, all I could think of was "next year that's us"?

Salamanca is a lovely university town and, surprisingly we ran into some James Madison University students who were starting a 6 week intensive course studying Spanish and partying - for 9 college credits. JMU is in Harrisonburg in Virginia just north of Dayton's home town.

We left Salamanca on Saturday, June 6th and took the train to Madrid. The train was easy and comfortable and the Metro was easy to navigate. Since I had booked us a room at an airport hotel, we took the Metro to the airport and then got our hotel shuttle to take us to the Hotel Clemente Baranjas which turned out to be another pleasant bonus; a very new and modern hotel. The Metro took us back into the centre of Madrid, an easy 50 minute trip and we immediately got tickets for the Madrid Vision double-decker sightseeing buses. I was disappointed that now they just hand out ear phones and you plug them into the language of your choice outlet. I had expected a real live tour guide. I think a tour guide would have given more information and extra tidbits about the places we were seeing. When we went back into Madrid again on Sunday we discovered a big 'tapas' market just outside and to the west of the Plaza Mayor. The market had many different tapas counters, wine and vermouth bars, an oyster bar, panadarias and it was definitely 'the place to be'. This is our style of touristing, food and wine.

Final Thoughts on the Camino

The Camino Frances de Santiago de Compostela

It´s definitely a misnomer to title this final thoughts as I know I will be thinking about this Camino journey for a long time to come and I´m sure my impressions and memories will be enhanced when I have more time to reflect on this experience. However, here are some initial final thoughts. Ha!


It is what it is and it is what you make of it.

Wanderlust or pilgrims´quest, it is what you make of it. It can be as spiritual, as solitary, as communal, as cultural or as physical as you choose it to be. For me, it became an exceptional physical challenge as early on I developed tendinitis in my left ankle (probably because of the weight of carrying a backpack and overstriding to keep up with the others). We chose to walk every day, to push ourselves (although at the time I did not think of it as pushing myself as much as just keeping at it), to not take rest days, to walk more than 25kms most days and so the physicality of it all seemed to dominate. Actually, it wasn't so much that we chose to push ourselves but that one just gets caught up in the momentum and then you just get up and go each day.

While dealing with tendinitis emphasized the physical toll the camino took on me, the most impressive aspect of the camino was the people we met and the friendships we made. I know we will meet up with so many of these people again sometime in our life.


Arthur Boer noted several affirmations to think about on the Camino and I amended them for myself:

I am where I want to be.
I am doing what I want to do.
I am enjoying who I am with.
I will remember this.


Arthur Boer also started his book with "I once walked 500 miles to go to church".
I´m starting my book with "I once walked 500 miles to lose .3kg". Unfortunately that weight loss was short lived as I quickly regained that .3kg three days after that I quit walking.

Was it what I expected?

It took more of a physical toll than I expected. I never anticipated an insidiuous injury I couldn´t just tough out.

I don´t know at what point you can define something as spiritual so I can´t say if it was as spiritual as I expected. I certainly had many moments of zen when I was at peace with and in awe of my surroundings. The first three days walking the Meseta were particularly zen-like, so vast, green, serene, still and endless.

The community of pilgrims met my expectations. Wonderful, enjoyable and fun.

The scenery, the culture, the people of Spain and the pilgrims we met, were all as wonderful as I had expected and hoped.

It was more expensive than I thought it would be but that´s our economic style anyway. We always spend more than we planned but at the same time we didn´t spend on anything but food and wine. Well, there was one little 18carat gold shell pendant but that was planned before we left Canada.

Communal Living

I enjoyed the Camino community of pilgrims. I enjoyed the comaraderie and fellowship of meeting and sharing stories and life experiences, of eating together and walking together. I never got to the point of enjoying the communal living in terms of sharing dormitories or communal washrooms or showers.

I toughed out a lot of walks, toughed out carrying probably too much weight, toughed out being a vegetarian in a meatarian society but couldn´t get around toughing out cold showers or lack of toilet paper. Come on!


Things I´m Grateful For

That I did this with Dayton. He´s a great map reader and path finder. He was patient with my slower walking pace ( he didn't adjust his pace to it but he did wait patiently for me to catch up) and with carrying some of my stuff; sleeping and shower gear and my Keens.

I'm grateful for the alternative routes and the detours which he suggested and which we took: Bercianos, Samos, the high route out of Villafranca del Bierzo. Each one turned out to be a delightful surprise.

Would I Do it Again

I would definitely like to do a Camino again but would most likely try some of the other Caminos such as Le Puy on Velay through France and, maybe later, the Camino Via Plata from Seville, or the Camino Portuguese or Camino Arles. I would probably try to be less of a purist (if that´s the correct word I´m searching for) about it, taking some time off instead of making it a marathon, treating and resting the injuries instead of pushing through them and making them worse. Well that would be my intent anyway, whether it would evolve that way is another question. And I might investigate more private alberques or pensionnes. And like all pilgrims, I would pledge to be more ruthless about the weight in my pack and carry less. Ha!

Admiration and Respect

I admire and respect and am in awe of those who undertake this Camino on their own, especially the women. I know I would worry or second guess myself all the time wondering if I was following the right path, especially early in the morning.

Personal Goals

Did I live up to my personal goals? I think so.

Did I whine? I had set a goal to not whine and I don´t think I did although Dayton will note that I did mention my bad left ankle more than a couple of times. Even on the days when we had to add a few extra or even 15kms to our walk I didn´t voice my inner whines.

Did I live in the moment? Maybe. I enjoyed the moment but confess I was often thinking ahead to the next village, the next alberque, the next café stop or the next pilgrims´meal.
Did I pay attention? Definitely. I learned on the Wainwright Coast to Coast that all I was seeing were my boots so this time I was determined to pay attention and remember where I was, what I saw and, with the help of my journals and blogs, I think I will remember so much more about the Camino.
Did I let things irritate me? Nope, I was pretty good about accepting things. A couple of times the snorers and the pushy people kind of put me off my camino feelings of zen. The most irritating things on the camino were the cold showers and the lack of toilet paper.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda?

What do I wish we had done differently? Taken less (like everyone else). Stayed one more day in Santiago. Planned four days to get to Fisterre and then maybe added Muxia.

Camino Stats

1. Number of days walking Karen: 33 Dayton: 34
2. Total kms walked Karen: 856.5 Dayton: 892
3. Average kms per day 26.2
4. Kms walked with tendinitis Karen: 531.5
5. Number of alberques: 32
6. Average cost of alberques: €7
7. Number of sellos (stamps): 52
8. Average € per day: €50 for two people. Obviously too many bocadillos and cafe con leches
9. Countries represented by Pilgrims we met: 27
10. Longest Walk: Villafranca Montes de Oca to Burgos: 40.5+ kms
11. Shortest Walk: St. Jean Pied de Port to Orisson: 7.5kms
12. Toughest Walk: Dayton - Villafranca del Bierzo to O Cebreiro + Olveiroa to Fisterre
13. Toughest Walk: Karen - Orisson to Roncesvalles + Arca to Santiago
14. Meanest Weather: Orisson to Roncesvalles (blizzard) + Arca to Santiago (rainstorm)
15. Most beautiful walk: Foncebadón to Molineseca
16. Most spectacular walk: Villafranca del Bierzo to O Cebreiro
17. Most serene walk: Castrojeriz to Fromista - magnificent
18. Best meal/alberque experience: Bercianos Real Camino
19. Best vegetarian meal: Manzarife and Bercianos Real Camino (made vegetarian for Karen)
20. Worst meal experience: Redicilla del Camino (mean restauranteurs)
21. Glasses of wine: 112 each - at least
22. Number of beer: Dayton- 56 at least, Karen - 12 at least
23. Amount of Mefix used: 4 metres of 5" Mefix
24. Mgs of painkillers used: 37,050mgs at least and counting
25. Number of marital spats: ZERO
26. Easiest walk: NONE
27. Number of pictures taken: 1838 and counting
28. Best Village/Town: Fisterre + Villafranca del Bierzo
29. Best City: Astorga
30. Number of nights ruined by snorers (roncquistadors): 3
31. Best Dining Experience: Beachside restaurant in Fisterre
32. Amount of gas charged to Shell while we´ve been WALKING the Camino: $335.33 -Hmm?
33. Number of Masses attended - Roncesvalles, Carrion de Condes, Santiago, Samos, and Bercianos del Real: 5
34. Amount of weight lost: 31.6 lbs. - Dayton at least 20, John 11, Me .6 lbs. Yes that´s not even one full pound actually by the scale it was .3kg. Aaaaaaargh.
35. Cost of having 10 days left over: the same as the first 35 Camino and Fisterre days = a lot!