It's been a while and I'm on day four of my camino. The last three days have been very different indeed, ranging from the weather to the emotions to the landscape. Still no photos uploaded though, because these silly computers don't have usb ports, and it's sunday so I can't find a library wherever I am. I don't think I'd know how to ask to use it, either.

The second day's walking was very short, because the next albergue (after the one we stayed in) was a long time away and Ariel's ankles were aching from all the downhill the day before. My feet were still doing ok but I'm glad we stopped. We stayed at the albergue Trinidad de Arre, just before Pamplona, which is beautiful and lovingly maintained. Mum and Ishi asked what they look like, so I'll describe them a bit. This one had a small hallways with bathrooms on either side (hot showers are great), then a long hallway perpendicular to it. To one end was a large room with about 15 bunk beds, all with blankets on them (it was so cute) and another room with another 10 bunks. At the other end there was a kitchen and dining table, a lounge room and a laundry, all very lovely, but cold until the heating turned on (and we were able to dry the clothes that had been wet since the night before). And we had it all to ourselves until another pilgrim ( a spanish woman) came in at 8pm. The kitchen was great, but even better was that we found a supermarket by following people with shopping bags in reverse, and were able to buy lots of bread and gouda for me (ari is so strange for not liking cheese) and vegetables and pasta and everything else. We totally pigged out that night, because we'd hardly had a proper meal the day before. It's hard when you don't know enough spanish and want to save money by not going to restaurants, and the villages so far had been tiny, no shops at all. We also had plenty left for the next day. Overall, a very happy day.

The next day was another long one, about 29km and with a massive mountain in the middle, which was well worth the climb because of the silhouettes of all the medieval pilgrims and their flags and donkeys and everything up the top... these ones: http://diegoapereda.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/100_2439.jpg
For some reason that felt really good - somehow connecting back to the long tradition which pilgrimage to Santiago is in a concrete way. I don't know. But that day was very long, though not as hard as the first day even though we were achy and had sore feet. (And yes, we did come from all the way down in that valley and beyond.) We walked all the way through city Pamplona, through Cizur Menor, over the mountain, through the villages and to Puente la Reina, named such because of the queen of Sancho III who commissioned the bridge for pilgrims to use, an a beautiful one it is too! (The name means 'the queen's bridge.') The albergue we stayed in was a bit smaller than the last one, but there were more pilgrims, about 10 in our dormitory. Again, 6 or seven bunks in a room with an adjoining bathroom and laundry, a small kitchen and an eating room. Pretty much like a YHA. There was also an Australian pilgrim from Bellingen of all places, her name's Rachel and she's only two years older than me, has been travelling ever since leaving school. We walked together today - it's great to be actually able to speak to someone in English. It feels lonely just by yourself in Spain. I don't know, maybe I'm just not as much a traveller as I thought I might be. I miss being able to shower without getting all my clothes wet in the process, and being able to eat proper meals, what I like and when I like, and do things other than walking all day. Although the walking is the least annoying of all things here.

Today we walked another 22km to Estella, which is a town about the size of Lismore. There was some big market festival thing going on, so there were lots of people in the town - strange to me because everywhere we've passed through (even Pamplona) seems like a ghost town. Maybe I'm not doing it right. But it's also Sunday, so when I go out in a while (hobbling due to my five blisters where the seams of my socks are and on my little toe) I hope I can find some sort of food-buying place open. Been living off bread mainly today, in the vans that come through the villages. It was raining again today, and we got soaked through.... For four hours even my rain jacket can't keep the rain out. But such is life. The ablgergue here is really nice - there's new age music and incense burning in the foyer, and a little garden and a kitchen, and a very cold dorm room with (thankfully!) a couple of decent mattrasses on the bunks. Not that I really mind all that stuff, the simplicity.

Today is a bit more of a miserable day... I'm hobbling around with blisters and feeling depressed. It would be so easy to just catch a bus and plane to germany where I know how to talk and how to eat and have a permanent bed and everything else. So easy. But I don't suppose I will. Not yet, anyway.

Got to go - one minute left!!!

So today was the first day of walking this thing they call the camino.

I'm sitting in front of the computer in the Albergue in Larrasoana and don't really know what to write. We started out in Roncesvalles, where we arrived by bus in the evening around 7pm. There were two other pilgrims on the bus, two guys (about mid to late twenties?) from Madrid and somewhere around here, and two more in the dormitory who had walked from St Jean over the Route Napoleon (also guys) from Rome and Prague. Slept ok, woke up in the morning and started walking (in the dark at 8am. Wasn't dark for long though). It was raining, naturally, so it was waterproof pants, jackets and hoods for us both. Still got a bit damp. But it cleared up again in between and walking through Zubiri it even was sunny for a while. About 10 degrees, maybe a little more. And it went down and up, and up and down, and up and up and up and through a strange industrial place where they have warning signs telling you to stay on the path. But it was beautiful too - lots of mist, hills, forests green with moss and evergreens and deep purple where the red leaves and grey branches mix. I would upload photos (of which I have a lot), but the USB port on this computer is locked off, annoying, eh? Tomorrow I might have better internet.

And overall, the walking was really nice for the first 15km. For the next 12, it was worse, I guess. The albergue in Zubiri was closed, so we walked on to Larrasoana, another 6km up and down. Needless to say, I am aching all over. My feet have no blisters (but I do have a bad rash - all red and lumpy - from my new socks on my ankles, I didn't wash them before going...) but hurt. My back is sore (but actually ok), my shoulders are sore, my ankles hurt from all the steep downhill, and my leg muscles hurt from all the steep uphill.

Despite that, it was a great day. Very scenic, although the hills were killers. And I think I can do it again tomorrow (if slightly less of a distance). But for a month? What a crazy idea. I suppose I'll get used to the rhythm of things though. Not being able to speak spanish is bad, but we manage. I was very proud that we got two big boxes of clothes sent to Santiago with no Spanish knowledge -  and for only twenty euros! And that for 26kg... Really cheap.

Not much else to say really. Got to the albergue, had a shower, bought a bit of food (oh yeah, food is strange. Not in the sense of the food itself, but the stuff we scrape together for meals in little shops and places. Did you know a boccadillo is about a foot (or more) long? It lasts about three meals.) and will go to bed soon.

Planning to go to Pamplona tomorrow, only 15km or so... but we'll have to see what's open. Apparently one in Pamplona and Cizur Menor is closed (the next village), I don't know what we'll do if the second albergue in P is closed too.

This travel stuff is weird and complicated and slightly overwhelming.

I'm finally in Spain! We arrived at a youth hostel in Bilbao about half an hour ago; we were picked up from the airport by a Spanish guy who couldn't speak any English at all (except for airport and mountain), so mixed with our next-to-nothing Spanish (which consists at the moment of hi, how are you, where is the tourist office and my name is) we had a great time! Actually, he was really nice and cute (puppy cute, not attractive cute). Landing in Bilbao was quite beautiful, everything along the coast is lit up, but annoyingly I can't hear out my left ear. It's getting better though. Hopefully I will be able to hear again when I wake up tomorrow. It's already 9:30pm here, so, 12 hours difference to Australia, Skype people!

Yesterday we spent the day in London - caught the train for an hour into the city, bought a day card for the tube (and definitely got our money's worth!) and visited the Tower of London, the Tate Modern (art gallery), Shakespeare's Globe theatre (or the recreation), and went past Buckingham Palace in the evening. The Tower was awesome, we saw the crown jewels and everything. And where the two princes were murdered in the Bloody Tower. Pretty awesome. And there was a model trebuchet. Doubly awesome.

 

We also crossed the millennium bridge (the new footbridge that they blew up in the last Harry Potter movie) while it was really windy, and almost got blown off! (Joking, mum.) Very nice. And the tube is just like the U-Bahn in Hannover, so I felt right at home! Mhm. Can't wait to go back to Germany now and do it again.

The photos are taking a really long time to upload. Probably because there's some 39 of them. Mostly of the Tower. But also some other things, so I'll have to wait a bit more...

(15 minutes later)

Ok, photos are up! Make sure to check them out. May not update for another few days after this, we're taking a bus to Pamplona tomorrow and then from there to Roncesvalles. Mum, I forgot my towel! Did you see it when I was packing? For some reason I can't find it and I'm annoyed. Grr. I'll have to get one tomorrow in Pamplona. And by the way, it's really warm here - 18 degrees at the moment. But I still hope it snows sometime while we're walking.

Off to bed for me now. Adios!

So, we did some great things today. Here's a little list:

• Visited a castle that actually still has the queen living in it (and she was actually there because the flag was up, which I didn't notice until Ari just told me).
• Saw the actual original painting of RIII (English advanced people, you know, the one that's on the front of the booklet, the famous one?) as well as his coat of arms on the ceiling of one of the reception halls. Amongst a hundred others. Make that a thousand. Believe me, if you've studied RIII for your HSC and still like it, that's pretty awesome.
  
• Stood on the spot where Henry VIII and his (3rd and favourite) wife Jane Seymour were buried in the chapel. Which was more like a massive cathedral. (I lit a candle for you, mum.)
• Went on a walk through the woods, which were all yellow and brown and red and pretty.
  
• Saw a million swords and suits of armour and things like that which I proceeded to get very excited about.

The castle is amazing, really really extravagant and ornate and very, very beautiful. And tacky in parts as well. But it's absolutely awesome, in the actual sense of the word. (As in, awe-inspiring.) People actually lived in those rooms and ate off that china (I'd be far too terrified to eat off it!) and jousted in that armour and slept in those beds and danced in those halls! And shot arrows out of those slits in the walls. I forget what they're called. I wasn't able to take photos in the rooms of the castle, but I have lots of photos from outside. So does Ariel. She actually has some with me in them as well. Like this one:

See? Prettiness. But honestly, there is so much history everywhere that it amazes you. Like all the kings and queens buried in the chapel, and the tapestries and the paintings and the furniture and the walls and the towers and everything else. It's so wonderful, absolutely fascinating. History history history!

Tomorrow we're heading into London city to explore there and probably Monday as well. I found a flight last night and booked it for Tuesday evening (to Bilbao in Spain) where we'll stay the night in a hostel, then take a bus to Pamplona and Roncesvalles the next day and walk the day after that. Stretches everything out a bit, but they were the cheapest could find. So we'll start walking on the 26th and finish up sometime in early January. Hopefully!

Be sure to check out the photos in the album, link is at the side of the page!

So now I'm in England, at the moment, I'm in the library in Cheltenham. Margaret, who we're staying with (she's Julian's sister) here in England (in Wokingham) until we can find a flight down to Spain, had a meeting here at her daughter's school (a boarding school in this amazing, fancy building in the middle of the town) so she dropped us off in town. We've been exploring most of the morning, ate some crepes, went to the museum and learned some of the local history (from prehistory through the bronze/iron/roman age to everything regency and victorian and the present day). Pretty amazing. I think her daughter (who's a year younger than me) is going to take us to Windsor castle tomorrow or something like that, so we get to see some of the sight in this area as well. And we're going to go explore London as well tomorrow or the day after, and then we'll be heading off for Spain, landing in Bilbao, probably.

The flight from Korea to London was long and sore and quite boring, though we did watch a lot of movies this tmie because we had our own televisions. We arrived a bit late, and then had to split up going through immigration because Ari had an Australian passport and I had an EU one. My line went really quickly, so I went to get all the luggage we had checked in from the carousels and waited for her. And waited. And waited. By the time she turned up, I was freaking out completely. Apparently the line must have been huge, and she got asked all sorts of questions as if they were trying to pin something on her. I got into a bit of trouble too (well, they asked a lot of questions) because I'm a minor, and apparently, in England it's not ok if you're a minor travelling alone. Which I'm not, because I'm with Ari, but she wasn't there of course.

So then we met Margaret, drove home (she lives in a massive Georgian house that's very, very beautiful) ate some dinner (in my case - Ari went straight to bed at around 7:30pm) and then slept. And that's all really! I was surprised at how warm it was (about 15 degrees today, and sunny); compared to Korea, where it started to snow in the morning, it's very warm indeed!

Still no photos because I haven't got my card reader with me at the moment. But maybe tonight I can upload some back at the house. Also need to book some tickets with ryanair. I wonder if we'll get anything... Hope so! That's all for now.

Hi everyone,

an update from Korea! We actually managed to catch out plane - believe it or not, we almost missed it and were running to the gate. Customs picked up a mesage thing on my passport from years back with the whole divorce thing, which then told them to contact the federal police. So there we were, waiting, and no-one was telling us what was going on. Felt like we were terrorist suspects or something! But everything managed to work out ok, we ran, and we just made it.

Haven't seen much of Korea, and probbly won't see much tomorrow. It's three degrees celcius outside and I love it! Just wish I had a coat so I could go for a walk tomorrow morning. May do so anyway. We did drive across the 4th longest bridge in the worldthough. And there's some strange sculptures and ac\rchitecture here.

So anyway, we're in this fancy hotel and are going to eat dinner now. Tomorrow it goes onward to London, another 12 hours of flying. Yay.

That's all for now!
~jo

Just a quick note to say that I'm about to head off to Brisbane, staying overnight there and then flying out in the morning. Will see if there is internet in Korea in order to update!

And that's all, seeing as I have to finalise my packing now and am going to be picked up any minute.

Adios!

I've been wanting to walk the Camino de Santiago, or the route that is knows as the Camino Frances, for over two years. It started at the Byron Writer's Festival in July 2007 - I attended a session by two Australian authors who had recently written and published a book on their experiences doing this pilgrimage. At the time I didn't think much of the whole idea, other than that I did not want the experience of taking off my shoe and tearing half my heel off in the process. At least it was more interesting than the previous session, where some Everest-conqueror had gone on and on about how many times he had died and come back to life on the mountain. But on the whole, I thought they were pretty crazy. Entertaining, but crazy.

Well, a couple of months later I was hooked on the idea of doing it myself - walking the approximately 800km from the Pyrenees in the east of Spain to Santiago de Compostela in the west, and the additional 100km to the coast and Finisterre, the end of the medieval world, following in the footsteps of thousands of pilgrims from the dark ages to the present. I honestly can't remember why. But I started to research, joined an online forum, and started planning. I found a job and began to save money, pretty slowly at first. In April 2008, Ariel decided spontaneously to join me (and I have to admit, I thought she was insane for wanting to - I though I was insane for wanting to) after I had been babbling about my plans all day. We researched more, compiled packing lists, bought plane tickets to Europe, went on endless shopping trips to find the most high-tech, lightweight, quick-drying clothes and equipment possible.

And now I've finished school, bar the last two HSC exams, and am leaving in two weeks exactly. It's a pretty exhilarating feeling - all warm and giggly and adrenalin-rushy as well as slightly terrifying. I remember posting my introduction on the Camino forum, reading others' excited, last-minute posts and regretting that I still had eighteen months until I could start walking. But in the morning of Wednesday, the 18th November, I'm flying out of Australia with a backpack containing not much more than a sleeping bag, a change of clothes and some assorted odds and ends. (Actually, there will also be a a suitcase of more clothes for living in Germany after the Camino, which I'm going to send ahead to Santiago.) For a bit over a month, I'll be carrying everything I have on my back, and it's not much if you don't count the many layers of warm things I'll be wearing while I'm walking. And the next 14 days are going to by so quickly that before I know, I'll be staring out the window at the Pacific Ocean several kilometers below.

I'm using this blog to keep in touch with everyone back home, to let anyone who's interested know where I am, what I'm doing (other than walking), how many blisters I have. (A warning to anyone squeamish: this blog may contain graphic content. As in mangled feet covered in blisters. Though I am hoping to avoid that... I'll see how I go.) Apparently there are lots of internet cafes along the Camino, and even computers in some of the albergues by now, so I'll be updating quite frequently. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question, I'll do my very best to reply as well! I'm usually pretty good at that.

Next post will include some background on the Camino and a list of all the things I am carrying with me. Did I mention that I'll be walking at the beginning of winter? Which means warm clothes and sleeping bags! And hopefully, somewhere along the track (quite literally), snow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!