Chapter 18
Hola Peregrinos,
Welcome to more ‘Tales from my Trail.”
A daily update on the 600 mile trek (‘oop Portugal’) that Camino Steve and I started 15 days ago.
It is 12.30 in the afternoon and I’m taking a well deserved break after completing the first 12 miles of today’s 20 miler.
Well deserved also means well rewarded in liquid form!
Please note: it’s a zero.
I can’t have a ‘full fat’ beer whilst out on the route.
No matter how attractive it might seem.
I’m now waiting for my ‘C’Amigo Bubble’ to catch up after we all took our own, more personal paths, this morning.
Everyone has their own way:
Of walking ‘The Way’.
Sometimes this choice is influenced by chance, or getting lost, or by only following the guide book, or by group consensus.
Or perhaps it may be because your feet hurt so much and any shortcut is going to give you a mental boost.
My shortcut was great.
It shaved 4.5km off the trail route taken by all of my C’Amigo’s.
It may not have been quite as pretty as their’s and my route still went on for 7 kilometres along a minor road.
But I still got a whole host of uplifting experiences.
And it meant I walked a total of 17 miles or 28.5 Km.
The route guide said 31.5Km.
I walked at least 3km less! 🎉
Some of the other Peregrinos found themselves walking off the trail, meaning they had additional distances.
Extras suck!
Far too long and too warm a day for that nonsense.
Flying solo can be so lovely.
Walking as ‘Brothers in Arms’ 🎵 (and sisters) can be so lovely too.
I love both.
A balanced walk, just like a balanced diet, is very good for you.
A balanced life too!
My on-trail diet was also excellent, as I shot my shortcut.
Tomato, satsuma, nuts. 👌
Nuts for a Nutter! 🤣
Unfortunately I missed out on the boiled eggs (and avocado).
Those pesky Aussies Girls pipped me to them at the cafe, where we all met for ‘second breakfast’.
I granted Donna from Cairns, her Level 2 Camino Status, for tactical egg ordering before I had time to even notice them!
Not right!
Not fair!
No yoke! 🍳 😜
More on today’s walk (and the members of my international ’C’Amigo Bubble’ in tomorrow’s blog.
Back to yesterday’s walk then.
Another 21 miler – a 32 km day.
Definitely one of the hardest for me: so far.
Foot pain was the reason:
And managing it in a way that prevented it worsening.
That was my sole objective.
So, the principle of ‘Short Cutting’ was born.
Don’t judge me!
It’s my Camino anyway.
And besides, I’m still walking to Santiago.
I’m just shaving where I can.
It’s not like I caught a bus, train or Uber is it?
Tempting though it was: especially with that train track leading us straight to our home for the night!
Often, when we do something cheeky, we feel a bit more comfortable doing it, if we can share the experience with fellow conspirators.
I was able to attract a fellow devotee.
He doesn’t always show total unreserved trust in my predicted short cuts.
Yet!
He questions and doubts, but he is proving to be ‘a follower!’
Meet Mike from California.
I love that guy.
Big hearted, funny and a brilliant C’Amigo.
Mike rocks!
‘The Yank with the Tank’ is the man.
Mike is now better known by that 4 day old nickname:
‘The Yank with the Tank!’
That rucsack is a serious size and a serious weight!
20kg I would wager.
Mike is a big fella: a similar height to me I would guess.
Maybe he is 6 feet 4 inches?
I think I just about ‘tower’ (😜) above him at 6:5.
Crikey!
That rucsack totally dwarfs him!
Mine weighs 6.5 kg: still too much.
In fairness mine is probably nearer to 5.5 kg now as I’ve already shed some stuff, tactically!
Which all beggars the question: what the heck does Mike carry in it? 🫣.
We stayed together all day.
He’s a ‘Camino Crawler’ anyway.
And I reasoned the only way I would get myself 32 km up the trail, would be by going slow too.
So we complimented each other.
When you are suffering, it’s best to suffer with a fellow sufferer,
At least in my humble opinion.
This guy is a fun, fellow sufferer.
We pulled each other along.
We talked and talked.
Mike used to work for Google in Silicon Valley, California.
Eye watering salary, but a ‘plastic’ lifestyle.
My words not his!
He quit last year and is currently taking a year out, to reset.
He had suffered a double bereavement last year and it hit him hard.
Sounds familiar?
Bereavement sucks!
We talked about everything.
We talked about, and compared our respective working practices: in his private and my public sectors.
He spent 2 hours talking me through a Google interview process.
I was given scenarios, tasks, exercises which if negotiated well, would make me a ‘Googley’.
To do so, you had to score well in 3 out of 4 exercises.
Tragically, I failed to make the cut.
My stumbling block?
Predicting and sounding out my reasoning when answering some pretty obscure questions.
I did well on the question below:
How many piano tuners are there in London?🙄
I based my answer on my experience of Halifax.
At my old school, we had a piano and it needed tuning every year.
Bizarrely I could remember that we had 3 piano tuners in the town of 100,000 inhabitants.
So as London is 1000 times bigger at 10 million, it was a simple calculation to say up to 3000 tuners ie 3 x 1000 piano tuners are based there.
I was on track for a ‘Googley’ appointment at that stage.
It all went horribly wrong,
Sadly. My performance was not so good in some other exercises.
I didn’t want to work for Google anyway.
The walking was good, if painful.
We were starting to leave the flat lands behind.
Rolling countryside started to become the norm.
Simple things, like the colours on a rusting metal bench, caught my attention.
Beautiful!
We walked through an empty commune.
Beautiful buildings in serious need of renovation were everywhere.
What was it?
The faded pink colour wash looked stunning, especially in the early morning light.
It was a photographer’s dream!
The biggest building at the end of the community was being renovated.
A hotel probably.P
Posh for sure!
I’d go!
Yet again, I lamented that the buildings could not tell me their story.
We grabbed a coffee with Camino Steve and then continued our mutually uncomfortable way, along ‘The Way’.
Steve was cracking on.
I suspect his feet were tender.
He doesn’t mention them.
We have walked over 300 miles already!
Then it was sculptures, statues and churches, as the lie of the land began to rise.
The trail left the roads and entered the eucalyptus woods once again.
It became steep.
Fortunately, it was a cooler day so we didn’t sweat:
Too much!
‘Eucalyptus for Men’: my new fragrance?
I suggested it to Mike.
Not for the first time on this trip, he gave me an eye roll!
The hill topped out and we made our way to a small village, where we stopped for a drink and bought some bread and cheese for a trail side lunch.
The bar still had its Christmas tree on display: but now decorated with Easter eggs.
Maybe we could do that at home?
Nicky?
“Erm no!”
Trail lunches are always delicious.
No bread!
So we bought cheese crackers: olives, sheep cheese, tomatoes.
We feasted like 3 wise men.
The analogy ends there!
Wise?
Mmmmmm!
My soles were shrieking again, so I did a pitstop.
Actually a Crocstop!
I moved ahead of Mike as he was walking very slowly now and my feet were really hurting.
Funny how simple things make you feel so good though.
A farmer, cutting the grass on his tractor gave me a cheery wave!
I was buzzing!
I had reassured Mike.
I would wait 3 Km up the trail for him.
I wanted to make sure “he ‘never walked alone!’ 🎵
I said I would find a short cut.
I did.
By that railway line.
When he arrived, I went to reconnoiter the time saving ‘alternativo’.
It looked really good.
One problem though.
It had a sign, which I suspected was going to convey some disappointment.
I hate Google!
Google Translate was not a help.
Mike also questioned the legality of my shortcut!
He talked me down!
Gut wrenching!
Google encourage improvisation apparently,
Mike?
He wasn’t for improvising.
So I decided to reject the Google job offer Mike had never even made me earlier.
I’m joining Yahoo now!
Wahoo 🎉
So back on the trail we went……
Mike’s way: not mine!
Just like in life, all tough trails (trials), do eventually come to an end.
We shortcutted our way across the town.
Saved 5 minutes against the Goggle Maps predicted arrival!
I hate Google Maps!
The town was beautiful.
Worth the trek.
Eye candy again.
Many of you know I’m walking this walk as a sponsored trek.
My sister and her family are grieving the loss of her youngest daughter who was killed last July, in a drink drive car crash.
Hannah was 24.
Talented, beautiful, waspishly funny.
She was going to be a teacher like me.
We all miss her.
Their grief is daily and it hurts.
The family have established a charity, to give local children, starting school, a first book: all donated in Hannah’s name.
My walk and your sponsorship will help them to fund more books and make a better difference.
If you are willing to sponsor me. I would be so grateful.
Clicking the link below is the way to do it.
I asked my sister to try and help the readers of this blog to get to ‘know’ Hannah a bit more.
Lizzie wrote:
“Our summer holidays in Argelès, in the South of France, were a spectacle. Nine of us — children, parents, assorted bags and beach gear — would pile out of my parents’ tiny one-bedroom apartment each morning and head to the beach, much to the astonishment of the neighbours.
Given its proximity to Spain, we often took the road from Argelès to Port Bou, just across the border. It became a familiar route over countless holidays in that part of the world.
Along the coast, around Collioure and Port-Vendres, forts and towers are scattered across the hillsides. When Hannah was little, her older siblings told her that a different Disney princess lived in each one.
She believed it, completely.
Each tower had its own story — who lived there, what they were doing, why you couldn’t see them. It became part of the journey, something we returned to every time we drove that road.
The tower in this photo had been derelict for as long as I can remember. For that one, the story was that it belonged to Cinderella, who was away on a cruise while the builders were in.
She only believed it for a couple of years, of course. But even as she grew older, we still revisited the stories as we passed — adding to them, laughing at them, keeping them alive.
And now, in them, we keep her alive too.”
Gosh!
That made my eyes mist up.
AGAIN!
Thanks for the read.
Buen Camino.
Martin x
Martin Moorman is a 61 year old retired Headteacher who lives with his wife Nicky, daughter and her family in North Yorkshire, UK.
Happily married for 36 years, Martin and Nicky have 3 grown up children, all happily married too. In his spare time Martin loves walking, photography, football, renovating cooking and talking rubbish to anyone who will listen!
Yesterday’s Question
The ‘Botumfeiro’ is a huge incense burner that is often swung in Santiago Cathedral.
What was the original reason for doing this?
Answer:
To mask the smell of the medieval pilgrims.
They stank!
Today’s Question
Which Camino route is the oldest?
Primitivo, Portuguese, Via De La Plata or Frances?
Martin Moorman 