Chapter 38
Hola Peregrinos,
Welcome to another instalment of my ‘’Tales from the Trail’; a daily update on my 6 week long Iberian adventure.
It’s just before 06,00 on Wednesday 29th April.
I’m on my 36th day of walking.
I’m now holed up in a shall hostel in a very pretty village called Combarro.
I’m about 55 km from Santiago, but have opted for a route that now adds ‘extras’.
I’ve previously dismissed ‘extras’.
But if the recommendations are true, this is an “Extra! Extra! Read all about it,” sort of extra.
The Spiritual Variant (alternativo) route, adds ‘extras’ to the Camino Portuguese, but it is meant to be a sublime experience .
Hopefully my blog will confirm it.
The idea of a 1.5 hour boat trip at the end, up the river towards Santiago, is exciting.
And 1 day in, I love this trail already.
That ‘tree’ sealed it!
I fell in love with it yesterday.
As I walked along a beautiful eucalyptus lined path, that follows the shores of the bay, that tree kept presenting me with more and more beauty.
My old C’Amigo Dessie, from my Camino Frances in 2023, had cautioned me “to find some perspective,” as I told him back then all about my post retirement, relocation and renovation blues.
That tree gave me a greater sense of perspective as I circumnavigated it yesterday.
My university friend Ruth, commented on the tree reference in my blog from last night:
“Wonderful tree there. Amazing how it stands there alone. Resilient like you Martin!! Nearly there 🎊”
Such a lovely friend.
Such an insightful observation.
I know I’m resilient.
My wife is incredibly resilient too.
I don’t share that to brag.
I guess we are just quite self aware.
And I know that we have come a long way during and after the years of my depression fuelled ‘set back’ from 2021-2024.
If only we boys would talk more!
There was one other big advantage of taking the Spiritual Variant Route.
There was a significant absence of peregrinos.
Phew!
They had really irritated me on Sunday and Monday.
Not their fault particularly.
They have as much right to Camino as me.
But my feet had been screaming and the last thing I had wanted was to play ‘dodgeball’ with lots of people who had barely walked a step.
“Grace MM: exercise some grace!”
Not because I’m better than them, or my Camino is more pure, or because I can walk or blog better.
More so, because there was just too many of them.
I’ve had some lovely ‘pilgrim exchanges’ in recent weeks .
But, crucially, they have been proportionate.
There haven’t been too many.
For the last 2 days? I’ve had to play ‘dodge the pilgrim!’
And it is flipping hard!
Today it appears, that the ‘Tourist Pilgrims’ have gone the more direct way to Santiago…….. for now.
Alleluia!
I applaud their choice.
This ‘Way’ is both beautiful and tranquil!
The ‘Spiritual Way ‘ is definitely the best way!
Did I tell you that I absolutely love that tree? ❤️
There’s more information on the Spiritual Variant in the link below.
https://stingynomads.com/spiritual-variant-portuguese-camino/
The walk was over before it had really started.
I met Michael for an 08.30 breakfast.
Or maybe it was a ‘breadfast!‘
€4.60 for that lot!
Wow!
Everyone else had chosen to walk the official route.
He did too.
So the sole pilgrim became the solo pilgrim for a few hours,
I was very happy with that.
After all, I was much l more interested in the ‘Camino MM’ and offering my feet some much needed ‘Time Out,’ than walking the 12 km of the official route.
After all, I’m still walking all the way aren’t I?
So I went off piste and followed the ‘Kommut App’ to pick up some fairly random trails that brought me to the coast, just 2 kilometres away from that tree.
A pair of local dogs snarled their ‘welcome’.
In general, dogs on this trail are pretty ‘Latino’.
They are excitable and yappy.
But at least they stay within the confines of their homes and gardens.
Another sculpture greeted my arrival in Combarro.
Then the village itself!
Gosh!
‘Eye candy’ on every front.
I’d arranged to meet up with some of our group for lunch.
But it was only 10.20 and I had finished walking for the day.
Luckily I caught up with Nitin, a dentist from America, Marcus, who works for Audi in Germany and Ursula, a school hospital nurse from Rome, Italy.
I met them the night before at a dinner in Pontevedra.
Lovely people.
Articulate, interesting and fun.
We had such a great chat together.
Lots of talk around ‘Why Camino?’
All too soon they had headed up the trail.
They had a big hot hill to climb.
Marcus was relishing the heat and incline.
Nitin and Ursula, less so.
Michael and my good friend, another Marcus, were next to join me.
We ended up chatting for 3 hours.
Real chat!
Not superficial ‘British Type Man Chat’ about the weather and football.
We talked about shared experiences around trauma, loss, retirement…….
P U R P O S E
And so much more.
142 years of retirement are in that photograph.
Crazy really: I’m 61, Marcus is 46 and Michael 35.M
Marcus looks about 25!
We all recognised our privilege in retirement, but we also shared the challenges.
Retirement sounds great:
Yes it is!
Truly.
But it is only great if you can exchange the sense of purpose we all get in our work, into something new, positive and tangible
Michael, effectively, has a year off work.
Fully paid by Google.
But he will go back to work on something: eventually.
He’s very intelligent.
He probably needs the challenge.
He is definitely too young to retire.
Marcus is 46, with a 25 year military career in the US Coastguard Service, behind him.
He has seen and felt tragedy at first hand: regularly.
Pulling bodies out of the water can never be easy.
He retired last year.
Like i did, he has found retirement challenging.
We talked about it: about the real stuff!
This was the best chat of my Camino, without a doubt.
3 guys bring open, honest and vulnerable.
Whilst we chatted, the boys ate polpo: octopus!
I much preferred my ‘bocadillo’.
Then if was off to the hostel, before heading back to the waterfront to watch a storm sweep in from the south.
Donna, Jenni and Lisa, the Aussie Girls, joined us for the pyrotechnics.
Don’t mess with these ‘New World Peregrinos’.
Moody blues!
A brilliant day: my soul was lifted and my soles revived!
For the last few days of this fantastic experience, I’m travelling with a small ‘band of brothers and sisters’ as we near Santiago de Compostella.
We all met in the early days of our time on the Camiño Portuguese, which for most of us started just under 3 weeks ago in Lisbon.
We are a ‘Bubble’.
A mini ‘Camino Family’.
We walk together, joke, talk, eat and sleep.
When we hurt we try to help.
We are committed to each other and committed to each other’s Camino.
It’s a very open group: nothing seems to be off limits in our ‘Trail Chat’.
Funnily enough whilst we talk about anything and everything, we don’t discuss world politics that much.
At the mention of the ‘T’ word, most pilgrims just roll their eyes.
We don’t dwell on the ‘Donald’
On the Camino his status is low.
Better to talk about the things you can influence and predict.
There is no prediction with that man.
So apart from knowing that diesel and petrol prices are sky high at home, I know very little about the political situation around the world.
I find it hard enough to play Wordle, let alone know the latest world news.
In recent weeks, despite all the positives of this Camino, my ‘Wordling’ has gone west.
I’ve struggled.
1 got 2 consecutive ’X’s at the weekend.
Total Wipeout,
As my feet have suffered, so has my puzzling.
I asked a question of some of my fellow Wordlers yesterday:
Question
What characteristic does the editor of Wordle share with the trail layers of Iberia?
S A D I S M 😂
I thought that was rather good 😂
Whilst I started to type this morning, 3 of my company gently snored in our shared dormitory.
We were in a that room overnight, with bunk beds for 4 people.
Some of you might wonder on the standard of accommodation that we access.
Most of it is of a very good standard.
This hostel is immaculately clean, with a trendy and modern ensuite, airy and comfortable.
Most are.
We have absolutely no complaints
Soon enough, my ‘purring’ companions would be up and out.
Today, Wednesday, will probably be our last day involving a continuous walk.
We have to cross a large headland and there are big hills on it.
Thankfully the heat of yesterday is gone.
It was 28 degrees in the afternoon on Tuesday, but this had now dissipated. It is forecast to be 18 degrees with a chance of showers over the next 3 days.
After 37 days of sunshine this feels strange.
It is what it is!
And Galicia is lush green for a very good reason.
It is the pretty wet, Atlantic corner of Spain.
In total, my whole day on Tuesday only involved 8 miles of walking.
Only 8 miles!
On this trip, that constitutes:
A personal WORST! 😜
And my feet thanked me.
It was a bonus day.
I walked in trail shoes for the first time in 6 days and at last it all felt bearable again.
I’ve been troubled by the repetitive impact of walking on hard ground, step by step, for 30+ plus days.
My daily walk totals around 40,000 steps.
I usually average about 20 miles/30 kilometres and so far I have walked in excess of 1.3 million steps.
The soles of my feet, below the toes have taken the brunt of the impact. They have been so sore.
As I have tried to manage that pain, I suspect that the position of my feet inside my footwear (mostly Crocs in recent days) has adjusted slightly.
This has then compounded my pain as long term blisters on both my little toes and one on my left heel have consolidated their influence.
I’ve managed them pretty well, but have never been able to lose them.
That will only start to happen when this adventure comes to an end on Sunday as I return to the UK.
I suspect I’m going to lose 3 toenails.
I also suspect that playing football on Sunday night, is a bridge too far.
That might be a slightly insensitive ambition anyway.
I’m not sure me jollying off to Leeds to do more playing out with the boys, on the same day I come home, would go down too well with Nicky.
I suspect she thinks I’ve already been playing out for 6 very long weeks!
And enough is enough.
So in a spirit of sensitivity, I’ll leave any thought of football on Sunday evening, on these pages.
I’ll also shelve plans to join my Monday walking group next week.
My feet will thank me for it.
Besides, in recent years, I’ve learned that good things DEFINITELY ‘come to those who wait’.
I got an update from Lizzie, my sister and Hannah’s mum this morning.
Hannah, Lizzie and her family are the reason I’m doing this walk,
Hannah’s tragic story is detailed in the link below.
Plus my sponsorship details.
Thank you so much if you do sponsor me.
Lizzie wrote:
“It’s been a rough few days but sharing this post makes me smile 😊
📚 The Leaning Tower of Books!
This amazing tower consists of 56 books that we are donating to a children’s home.
💛 We received the books today and the donation is planned for next week… we can’t wait. This project is a little different from our usual work: we chose to give one book per child in the home, as well as a selection of literature and non-fiction books they will share.
🌻 It is truly a joy for us to be able to do things like this, and it is thanks to your ongoing support. Thank you!”
That’s the difference your financial support can make.
Lizzie also wrote another message:
“I couldn’t sleep last night. I tend to sleep quite well when I’m away from home, but not so well here. It’s frustrating, and exhausting.
But while I was awake, I looked through old photos — I often do that.
Sometimes they make me smile.
Often they make me sad.
Last night, it struck me just how much I miss Hannah’s spontaneity. She was very much my partner in spontaneous crime — always up for anything I suggested, even if it meant dropping everything and leaving straight away. And just as often, she was the one instigating those impulsive moments of fun.
A picnic after Mass.
Hiking in the mountains.
Darts in the ‘Save the Queen’ bar.
A pyjama-and-film night at her student flat.
Not batting an eyelid at driving three hours just so we could spend New Year’s Day on the beach.
I could go on and on.
That she lived such a short life breaks my heart. But that she lived it so fully — and so wildly — goes some way to filling the cracks with pride and, dare I say it, joy.
Life feels so precious now, and time so clearly limited. I find myself thinking more about how it is lived — about saying yes, about seizing moments, about not waiting for the right time.
Mary Oliver asks, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Hannah, I think, already knew.”
That’s why I’ve walked over 1,000 miles.
Thanks as ever, for the read.
Buen Camino,
Martin x
Ps: yesterday I wagered with my ‘typo obsessed’ friend Sarah that I could be typo free in my blog.
Sadly , she found 3!
Luckily it is only half time!
HT FLASH SCORE
Sarah 3 Martin 0
Find them if you dare Sarah! 😜
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!
Martin Moorman 