This week, we have found ourselves walking through the plains, wheat fields, forests, foothills, mountains, vineyards, and cherry orchards full of trees drooping with ripe fruit. We walked a total of 167 kilometres this week, putting in our longest day to date (33.5 km). We also got a lot closer to our goal of raising $800 for the Canadian Diabetes Association, with $265 in donations. We’ve only got one week left until we reach Santiago, so if you’ve been thinking of donating, now’s the time!

Camino Summary to Date:

Days Walked: 28
Distance Walked: 621 km
Money Raised for the Canadian Diabetes Association: $560

Summary of Week 4:

Day 22: Mansilla de las Mulas – Leon (20.4 km)
Day 23: Leon – Mazarife (24 km)
Day 24: Mazarife – Astorga (29 km)
Day 25: Astorga – Rabanal del Camino (20 km)
Day 26: Rabanal del Camino – Ponferrada (33.5 km)
Day 27: Ponferrada – Cacabelos (16 km)
Day 28: Cacabelos – Vega de Valcarce (24 km)

Ashley’s Camino

This has really been a great week. My blisters are pretty much healed, I’ve been able to pack up my knee brace (even when we hit the mountains), and the cold/flu I was fighting is gone. My body, mind, and spirit feel stronger and healthier than ever before.

Last week, I talked about two of the most challenging days for me yet. This week, I thought I’d talk about two of the best. First of all, Day 26 was a fantastic day. It was our longest attempted distance yet, and included a 400 m ascent and a nearly 1000 m descent. We reached the highest point on the Camino (1515 m). I was a little worried how my body would respond, but I shouldn’t have been. When we finally arrived at our destination, nearly eight hours after we left, I could have actually kept walking. The ascent was invigorating… I feel energized everytime I find myself climbing a hill (or in this case, a mountain). And we didn’t pull out our iPods once – the scenery was too breathtaking and the conversations too interesting to distract ourselves. Because we ended in a small city, we were able to buy some great whole wheat bread and pasta (whole grains can be tough to find in this land of white bread) and toasted our success with a bottle of vino tinto.

In contrast, Day 27 was one of our shortest days yet. We purposely planned to stop short because our guidebook promised an albergue with two beds per room. After nearly four weeks of sleeping in bunk beds with between four and fifty other pilgrims in the room, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for some privacy. This was the first time we knowingly stopped somewhere without a kitchen, but it was worthwhile. As we arrived in the town of Cacobelos, still fresh from the short distance, we took a tip from our guidebook and stopped in one of the local restaurants. We asked them “Tiene un poquito vino por un peregrino que esta muriendo de sed? (Do you have a little wine for a pilgrim who is dying of thirst?)” and received free wine and tapas. Not a bad way to enter a town!

At the albergue, the rooms were arranged in a semicircle around a church, and consisted of just two twin beds, a closet (a luxury in itself!) and plywood walls that were just taller than us (but didn’t reach the roof). It wasn’t the most private of rooms (we knew our closest five neighbours snored and had gas that evening), but it was leaps and bounds above typical pilgrim accommodation. We did a little furniture rearranging to make a double bed, and shut ourselves in from the abnormally cold day, emerging only to eat meals (sheep cheese sandwiches on whole wheat bread, spinach salad, and homemade hummus… not too shabby for not having a kitchen!).

Mike’s Camino

What can I say, this week has been nearly the perfect week. No blisters, my cold is gone, the weather has been good. I don’t have anything to complain about. Walking this week has just been bliss. And I mean it. I’ve really grown to love walking. It feels so natural (as in the human body was designed for walking, not as in we are walking through untouched wilderness natural, because we’re not, though it’s pretty just the same). I find it amazing how truly enjoyable and entertaining walking can be. I never get bored of it, even after 6 hours. Not once have I wished to flag down a car, or climb on a bus. Nor have I wished to be somewhere else, doing something else entirely. I just love walking. It’s hard to pinpoint why, I just do.

It helps that the Camino does such a good job of making the walk enjoyable. It goes beyond the camaraderie with other pilgrims, and the stunning landscapes. Just as important are the reasonably priced places to sleep in more or less every town. These albergues come with complete kitchens, laundry facilities, and warm showers (if you find the good ones). Each town seems to be strategically located between 1 and 5 kms apart, giving you ample choice on how far to walk each day. It all adds up to very comfortable, stress free, walking. If the whole world were developed this way, I might just try to walk everywhere.

One thing that was unforeseen when I started walking almost a month ago was the possibility that I would gain weight. And not the muscular kind. As I can now attest, even walking 20-30km a day, I still have to watch how much I eat, because I`ve been steadily putting on a bit of chub all this week. I started counting calories to figure out what the problem is, and descovered that I`ve been consuming in excess of 3,200 calories per day. A little bit too much.

I’ve thought about cutting this back a bit, and even tried unsuccessfully for a few days, but the food in Spain is just too good. Everything has so much flavour. I’m talking about the vegetables, the bread, the cheese, the chocolate, and the less than 1 Euro bottles of wine. We cook every meal, and have yet to have more than a tapas plate in a restaurant, so we’ve had lots of opportunities to get in touch with the foods available in the supermarkets. Our biggest concern has been finding a good supply of whole grains. Most larger centers carry a decent selection of whole grain breads, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and whole grain rice. The smaller stores in the smaller towns… not so much. Fortunately legumes are easy to find, and even come pre-cooked in jars. Perfect for us pilgrims who have to share a three burner stove with up to 50 other roommates.

So… so what if I’m eating too much? I’m enjoying the walk, I’m enjoying the food, and I’m probably not going to slow down until I’m finished. Even if it does mean a diet afterwords.

Want to read more about our Camino?  Check it out…

Our Camino, Your Camino… Our Challenge to You
Camino de Santiago Week 1 – Beautiful Landscapes & Unexpected Challenges
Camino de Santiago Week 2 – Getting Past the Pain
Camino de Santiago Week 3 – Feels a Lot Like Home
Camino de Santiago Week 4 – Easy Walking
Camino de Santiago – We Made It to Santiago, But We’re Not Finished Yet!
Camino de Santiago by the Numbers – Our Budget and Stats
Guide to the Camino de Santiago

 

We’ve just finished our third week of the Camino and, while our bodies are a little battered, we couldn’t be in a better headspace.  As with the other weeks, this one has brought it’s share of challenges, but also it’s share of amazing experiences.  Distance-wise, we walked 163 km and we passed the halfway point (in our typical non-ceremonial fashion. We didn’t realize it until we crunched the numbers that night).  We also raised an additional $45 for the Canadian Diabetes Association.  Thanks donors!

Camino Summary to Date:

Days Walked: 21
Distance Walked: 454 km
Money Raised for the Canadian Diabetes Association:  $295

Summary of Week 3:

Day 15: Burgos – Hornillos del Camino (20 km)
Day 16: Hornillos del Camino – Castrojeriz (20.5 km)
Day 17: Castrojeriz – Fromista (25.5 km)
Day 18: Fromista – Carrion de los Condes (20.9 km)
Day 19: Carrion de los Condes – Ledigos (23 km)
Day 20: Ledigos – Calzadilla de los Hermanillos (29 km)
Day 21: Calzadilla de los Hermanillos – Mansilla de las Mulas (24 km)

Mike’s Camino

I didn’t need to wake up on the first morning of this week because I didn’t sleep. My throat started to get a little scratchy the night before whilst we were walking around the Cathedral in Burgos, and by morning I had a runny nose, cough, and joint pain to go along with the sore throat. I’m not sure what I could have possibly done, said, or thought in that Cathedral that was so bad as to deserve this cold, but here it is. I’m starting to get a feeling that these trials and tribulations are all just a part of pilgrammage.

Including contracting the flu in the Burgos Cathedral, this has actually been the first week where I felt like this pilgrammage has had anything to do with religion. Before I stepped foot on the Camino, I figured that most of the pilgrims would be on the trail for religious reasons, and that most of the albergues would be run by churches and staffed by religious do-gooders. That hasn’t been true at all. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to find a cross on a wall, or around someone’s neck most of the time.

Sure, there have been a few miraculous stories told around the supper table. For example, there was a couple that started the pilgrimmage in Poland because they felt a calling.  That distance is impressive enough, but it gets better.  They had tried for years to have kids, but were told by doctors that it would be impossible.  Along the way, she miraculously got pregnant (half the miracle is how they found the privacy in dormitories). She returned home to have the child, while the man is continuing on to Santiago at a feverish pace of 50 km a day to pay homage to the Saint who blessed them with child, and make it home before the baby is born.

Another similar story of saintly intervention in everyday life revolved around a man who had run out of money, could not afford a place to stay. Miraculously, his bank card was cured of its ailment, cash flowed from an ATM and he continued his journey to Santiago. He returned to the Camino to volunteer at an Albergue a few years ago, and is once again walking the Camino.

Thanks to a group of nuns who run an albergue in a town called Carrion de los Condes we were reminded that the origin of the pilgrammage to Santiago de Compostela is rooted in Christianity. The nuns sang to us, took us to church where we were blessed, gave us symbolic paper stars, and shared supper and stories with us. We found out that one of the sisters, from Hungary, became a nun after walking the Camino just so she could work at this hostel and help fellow pilgrams. It took her 3 years of apprenticeship to get her position in the Albergue, and she seems genuinely happy with how things have worked out for her. These nuns were amazing, kind, generous, and caring.

Now, I’m not an overly religious person, but given what I was experiencing, I dedicated a lot of this week’s thinking to figuring out what I believe. I’m starting to piece together something that is working well for me. And that’s the point. Having a belief is all about improving your life in a meaningful way during the day-to-day. I thought about jotting some of my thoughts down in this post but I don’t think anyone really wants to read about it, or do they? Either way, if you have never taken the time to critically look at what’s important to you, your spirituality, morality, and other such things… it’s worth doing. Once you start to figure out where you stand, you can use that information to shape the way you look at life, and make decisions that you are proud of.

Ashley’s Camino

This week involved a lot of FLAT walking.  I’m talking (almost) Saskatchewan flat.  So needless to say, I spent a lot of time thinking of home.  I really miss the family and friends we left behind.  I think it’s been extra hard for me on the Camino due to the lack of reliable internet, the 8 hour time difference from home, and the pilgrim schedules (early to rise, early to bed) – it’s nearly impossible to squeeze in a Skype call with family and scheduling something in advance is basically out of the question.  I’m also starting to miss the very concept of home – being settled somewhere, even if only for a little while.  While walking from place to place each day has been an incredible journey, it’s tough sleeping in a different bed, surrounded by different people each night.

The small towns we’ve encountered have reminded of how I’m truely a small town girl at heart (my hometown in Saskatchewan has a population of roughly 200 people).  I love the tiny towns we encounter along the Camino (and there are lots of them, many of which must still exist only because of the Camino).  I think I prefer them to the cities, which I often find depressingly loud, busy, and full of concrete.  To give you an idea of how small some of the towns can be… one of the towns we stayed in, Ledigos, only had three businesses : an albergue, a bar, and a store – all of which were in the same building.  After checking into the albergue, we walked out of the bar to find the store.  We quickly realized that we could see both the entrance and exit of the town from where we were standing.  So we asked the locals sitting outside the bar where the store was.  They pointed into the bar.  Asking at the bar, we were told to go back to the albergue.  At the albergue, we were told to go to the bar.  Finally, after walking across the courtyard between the two a few times, we found “the man with the moustache” that could open the nondescript locked door that housed the store for us.  A lot of pilgrims would have found this tedious and would have complained about the size of the store, but I couldn’t help but smile about the “small-townness” of it all.

Despite the flatness of the path, this week has brought some of the most challenging days for me thus far.  The week started with a cold (that Mike so kindly passed on to me), continued with some crazy pains in my ankle/shin muscles, and ended with some new nasty blisters.  Days 19 and 20 were particularly difficult.  On Day 19, we only encountered two towns – one after 17 km of walking, and then another 6 km past that.  Both towns were hidden behind curves and small hills in such a way that you could only see them about 1/2 a kilometre before you were there.  And it was a hot hot day.  By 9:00 we were already commenting on the heat, and it was 32 degrees Celcius before noon – with no shade on the path and no clouds in the sky.  I found I couldn’t possibly drink enough water to combat my thirst and, of course, developed a migraine from the heat.  The heat and “hidden” towns played head games with me and it was a mental struggle to get to our destination.  The next day, Day 20, was a Saturday.  Typically, stores are all shut down on Sundays, so Saturdays mean stocking up on food to carry with us the next day.  Along the way, we’ve discovered that many small towns shut down on Saturday afternoons as well, so we decided to beat the clock and arrive at our destination, Calzadilla de los Hermanillos, before the store closed for siesta (and, quite probably, for the weekend) at 2:00.  This meant that we walked 29 km in just over six hours, with only one 20 minute rest.  It was our longest distance of walking yet and since we chose an alternate path along an old Roman road instead of the primary one along the highway, we were walking the last part on a coarse gravel road.  The muscles in my right ankle/shin were screaming with each step.  My feet didn’t appreciate the gravel, the distance, or the lack of breaks and rewarded me with my worst blisters yet.

But, while the challenges were many, the rewards were even more numerous.  I surprised myself with how well I overcame the obstacles (for example, Mike didn’t even know I had a migraine until I told him… normally anyone that knows me can guess when I’ve got one by the shortness of my temper).  Even with a sore throat, runny nose, blistered feet, and aching muscles, it doesn’t take much to make me happy on the road.  In fact, it only takes three things  – a full belly, an empty bladder, and dry feet.  An extra good day requires only a couple of extras at the albergue – a kitchen and a blanket.  We carry silk sleeping bag liners with us, instead of full sleeping bags.  It gets a lot chillier at night than we expected, and the silk liners don’t provide much warmth, which can mean sleeping in long underwear tops and bottoms, pants, wool socks, wool sweaters, and our fleeces when there is no blanket available.  The last day of this week was particularly awesome… even though I was walking on freshly threaded blisters that hurt with each step, and we had to walk the first 18 km on gravel roads without a town to rest in, the day was one of my favourites to date.  The scenery was beautiful and familiar (flat wheat fields), I had great Canadian music to listen to on my iPod, Mike held my hand as we started out after each stop until the pain of my blisters started fading, we had a nice long break with coffee (the first of my Camino!) and sheep cheese, and we made the final 6 km fly by with a refreshingly productive conversation about our future plans.

Want to read more about our Camino?  Check it out…

Our Camino, Your Camino… Our Challenge to You
Camino de Santiago Week 1 – Beautiful Landscapes & Unexpected Challenges
Camino de Santiago Week 2 – Getting Past the Pain
Camino de Santiago Week 3 – Feels a Lot Like Home
Camino de Santiago Week 4 – Easy Walking
Camino de Santiago – We Made It to Santiago, But We’re Not Finished Yet!
Camino de Santiago by the Numbers – Our Budget and Stats
Guide to the Camino de Santiago

 

We were wandering down the streets of Barcelona one day, when we came across an interesting deli. They specialized in international cuisine. Specifically, the shelves were divided up into sections by country or larger geographical region. Each section was filled with gourmet items (at least they had gourmet prices) that reflect the local cuisines of the regions.

For example, the Greek shelves were lined with olives and olive oils. Spain had tapenades. Japan had nori, sushi rice, and wasabi. Thailand had spring roll wrappers and fish sauce. India had curries. Morocco had couscous. You get the point. In each case, the foods stacked on the shelves gave you a good picture of what the countries known for. You didn’t even need to look at the signs to know what region you were looking at. And, in general, the foods were whole, wholesome, and healthy foods.

And then there was North America. What do we have?

Corn syrup and a ton of pre-mixed, processed, ready-to-make items.

Sugary Cereals, Corn Syrup,Cake Mixes, Canned Icing…

We were not allowed to take photos in the shop, but I managed to snap this one just as the sales lady wagged her disapproving finger at me and I shoved my camera back in my bag. While I think the items in the snapshot above are an honest and accurate reflection of North American “cuisine,” it doesn’t stop me from being ashamed of that fact. Hopefully, the picture of North American food will change for the better and soon. Our lives just may depend on it.

Week 2 has been a week of healing, new pains, and settling into the routine of walking for us. We walked a total of 153.5 km this week, putting in bigger days than last week. We are still mesmerized by the beauty that surrounds us each day (except for the concrete city days… those can’t really be described as beautiful).

Don’t forget about our camino challenge for you! Keep challenging yourself to be a little healthier each day. We have raised $170 for the Canadian Diabetes Association this week and would like to see the total continue to increase as we continue to walk.

Camino Summary to Date:

Days Walked: 14
Distance Walked: 290.5 km
Money Raised for the Canadian Diabetes Association: $250

Summary of Week 2:

Day 8: Los Arcos – Viana (19.5 km)
Day 9: Viana – Navarrete (21.5 km)
Day 10: Navarrete – Azofra (22.5 km)
Day 11: Azofra – Redecilla del Camino (27 km)
Day 12: Redecilla del Camino – Villafranca Montes de Oca (25 km)
Day 13: Villafranca Montes de Oca – Atapuerca (19 km)
Day 14: Atapuerca – Burgos (19 km)

Ashley’s Camino

It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my Week 1 reflection, and here we are… finished Week 2! Time is really flying by for us on the Camino. Each day actually feels longer than usual (between the walking portion and the resting portion of our day, it feels like we live two days for each day gone by) and yet, somehow, when you put them all together they are gone in a flash.

Physically, this has been a slightly more challenging week for me. While each day of walking gets easier and easier (20 km feels like a short, easy day for me now), my knee has been acting up more than I would like. What started as a slow ache became a sharp pain each step I took (particularly when trodding downhill). Happily, through ample rest in the afternoons and the purchase of a knee brace, it’s been improving little by little.

Mentally, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a better place than I am right now. First and foremost, I am so full of joy. And, over the past couple of weeks, I have really come to understand what it means to truely experience each moment, without taking anything for granted. Many people that walk the Camino talk about how much thinking gets done, but I’ve found that just taking in my surroundings consumes most of my attention most of the time. For me, the thinking and reflection part comes with the rest times after walking. As someone who can have a short temper at times (especially when I’m hungry or uncomfortable… just ask Mike), I feel like I’m really learning to get past immediate annoyances and just focus on enjoying the moment.

I can’t reflect on this week without mentioning the amazing people we’ve met along the way. Walking the Camino would not be the same without the other pelegrinos (pilgrims) that surround us. I’m not just talking about the snorers that interrupt my sleep in the dorm rooms, but I mean the people that you make connections with, whether you share a common language or not. We met a 74 year old French woman, Marie, that is walking the Camino by herself (and typically outpacing us each day). Even though she doesn’t speak a word of English and we don’t speak more than a few very basic words of French (merci and bonjour are basically the extent of it), she has taken us under her wing. She finds me each night in my dorm bed to rub some of her ointment into my sore knee, and, through a lot of pointing, gesturing, and smiling, asks about Mike’s feet each day. She literally applauds us when we meet her in a new town, happy to see our injuries haven’t kept us back. She is just one of the inspiring people we have met on the Camino that make each day special.

Mike’s Camino

It’s been a good week.

First of all, it’s been a week of culinary discovery for us. Early in the week, when the weather was cool and wet (we walked three days through continuous rain), I made some onion and leek soup. It was just the right thing at just the right time. It hit the spot perfectly, and I expect we’ll be eating it again soon. We have also tried out a delicious blue cheese cream sauce recipe for pasta that we learned from a pair of French cyclists. And we’ve discovered sheep’s cheese, which is just so darn good.

And what goes better with food than wine? We discovered our new favourite (and most expensive, at 3 Euros a bottle) Spanish wine. It’s a Crianza from the Rioja region. It’s a special red. Special because of the way it’s made. The wine in this area is first aged for one year in oak barrels, and then aged another year in the bottle giving it a unique, well blended taste. If you want to try it at home, I wish you the best of luck finding it. I think all of the Crianza from the Rioja region is going to be good, just watch out for the bottles that say “joven” (young). They won’t have gone through the aging process.

On the walking front, my blisters healed up. They were only really really painful for about four days (~100km). Now I hardly notice them, and that makes a world of difference.

With mostly healed feet, I’ve had a bit better luck thinking while I walk. When I started in on the Camino, I expected to have more time than I could ever want to just think. To my surprise, this hasn’t quite been the case. At first, everything was so beautiful that it took just about all of my attention just to look around and appreciate it. Then, when it was so quiet, I was re-discovering music on my MP3 player. That too demanded a large chunk of my mental attention. Then came the blisters who were by far the worst offenders, making every step a painful distraction. But this week, I’ve been able to think.

I really do appreciate how lucky I am to be where I am, doing what I’m doing, with the love of my life, Ashley. In fact this whole last week I’ve been unable to stop thinking “Wow. I love my life”.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about home. I’m really starting to miss everyone, karate, board games, our cat… Those precious thoughts of home inevitably lead me to thinking about what the heck I’m going to do with myself when this trip is all over, if it ever does end. And so far I’ve come to the conclusion that I still don’t have a clue. I’ve been entertaining ideas of organic farming, becoming a baker, teaching English in a foreign country, instructing SCUBA, writing, building off-grid recycled housing – and those are just the ones I’m still interested in. I’ve already been able to cross off traditional forms of engineering and computer programming from the list on this trip.

There’s also the more immediate questions of where do we go after Santiago? Do we keep walking? I hear you can take any of the camino routes in reverse. Rent an apartment in Portugal or Morocco? WWOOF in Austria, Switzerland, Egypt, or Turkey? Tour through the major tourist cities like Rome, Venice, Berlin, and Amsterdam? Summer in Croatia, Serbia, or Macedonia? It’s so confusing!

Walking is simple, that’s why I think I like it so much. As far as travel is concerned, it’s relatively stress free. I always know ahead of time where I’m going to end up. I don’t have to plan a thing, just read a couple of paragraphs from our guide book and walk. I guess it’s a good thing we still have three weeks or so of the Camino for me to think things through…

Want to read more about our Camino?  Check it out…

Our Camino, Your Camino… Our Challenge to You
Camino de Santiago Week 1 – Beautiful Landscapes & Unexpected Challenges
Camino de Santiago Week 2 – Getting Past the Pain
Camino de Santiago Week 3 – Feels a Lot Like Home
Camino de Santiago Week 4 – Easy Walking
Camino de Santiago – We Made It to Santiago, But We’re Not Finished Yet!
Camino de Santiago by the Numbers – Our Budget and Stats
Guide to the Camino de Santiago

Well, we have just finished our first week of the Camino de Santiago and it has been an amazing journey already! We have been consistently awed by the beautiful landscapes we encounter each day and challenged in ways we never imagined.

Before we get to the distance summary and our personal reflections, we just want to remind you of our challenge to you. Remember, it’s two-fold. First, we want you to get active or improve your diet or both for at least as long as we are walking the camino. Second, we are trying to raise $800 (roughly $1 per km walked) for the Canadian Diabetes Association. We’re already 10% of the way to this goal financially, though we’ve surpassed that in distance… we’d love it if you could donate a dollar or two, if you have them to spare.

Camino Summary to Date:

Days Walked: 7
Distance Walked: 137 km

Summary of Week 1 (137 km)

Day 1: St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Kayola Refuge near Orisson (7.2 km)
Day 2: Kayola Refuge – Roncesvalles, Spain (19.8 km)
Day 3: Roncesvalle – Zubiri (22 km)
Day 4: Zubiri – Pamplona (20 km)
Day 5: Pamplona – Puente de Reina (25 km)
Day 6: Puente de Reina – Estella (22 km)
Day 7: Estella – Los Arcos (21 km)A few of Mike’s blisters

Mike’s Camino:

Getting ready for the Camino seemed like an easy task. We just needed to be in reasonable physical shape and downsize our pack weight a little bit. We spent the better part of two weeks prior to arriving in St Jean-Pied-de-Port walking 6-8 hours a day through the cities of Barcelona and Paris. It seemed to me that my feet were well calloused, and my legs were having no troubles at all. Physically I was ready.

Downsizing our packs was much harder. We gave ourselves about an hour in the morning on the day we started the Camino to buy groceries and mail off all of our unneeded items. We spent about $100 on shipping and holding fees to send 9 kg of stuff in two boxes on to Santiago. We could easily have filled another box, but the items weren’t worth the cost of shipping, yet they were worth too much for us to throw out. So we are carrying a bit more than we need.

After a few days of blissfully delightful walking through the stunning scenery of the Pyrenees, I learned the hard way that a backpack heavier than it needs to be combined with being overconfident about the toughness of my feet could only lead to one thing. Blisters.

Despite the pain of the blisters, I’m still really enjoying the walk. For the first time in just over 10 months, it’s been quiet enough to listen to music on my MP3 player, so I have. Central America was loud no matter where you were, and the cities of Paris and Barcelona were just as noisy. Road traffic, machinery, loud bugs… but here in rural France and Spain, it’s quiet. I didn’t realize until now how much I’ve missed listening to music. It’s been really nice.

Ashley’s Camino:

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we started this journey. So far, I have to say this is one of the most amazing things I have ever done… I spend each morning walking through some of the most spectacular landscapes I have ever seen, with the love of my life at my side. What can get better than that?

We’ve pretty much got a routine established… We wake up at about 6 a.m., make breakfast and pack up our things. We’re on the road between 7 and 7:30 (any earlier than that would be too chilly… one our biggest surprises was how cold it still is here!). We walk until 12:00 – 1:30 most days… our arrival time depends on whether or not we stop for a break along the way. The best days are when we stop for an early lunch of fruit and bread late in the morning, before continuing on to our destination. When we arrive, the first order of business at the hostel is to tend to our feet, shower, hand wash our clothes, and stretch. Then we relax… we make our own lunch and supper, buy groceries, read, write, and visit with new friends. We go to bed between 9 and 10, then start the whole thing again the next day.

Physically, I have been pleasantly surprised by the strength of my body. I expected to be sore and aching all the time, feet riddled with blisters. On the contrary, my muscles feel great and I only have the tiniest of blisters on one of my toes. We have been fuelling ourselves with insanely healthy food, so I have all the energy I need to get through each day of walking. Daily stretches have kept my muscles limber. My left knee has started aching a little bit, but it doesn’t seem to slow me down. Even in crowded dorm rooms, every night brings a deep and rejuvenating sleep.

The most challenging aspect of this week for me has been the helplessness I have felt with the condition of Mike’s feet. He was in a lot of pain on Days 4 and 5 and there was little I could do to help him besides doing the grocery shopping and fetching items for him to keep him off his feet. Mike is typically the rock in the relationship, so it has been difficult for me to see him struggling.

For me, Day 7 was the first truely challenging day… physically and mentally. While my body was strong enough for the distance, we had to walk the entire 21 km in the rain. About halfway in, my pants and socks were soaked through and my spirits were low. Luckily, a couple of things happened… First, a couple of gents from London sauntered by, reminding us that the weather wasn’t so actually that bad (“it’s liquid sunshine!”) and that we didn’t have far to go. One of them shared some chocolate with us before parting ways. Then, (with a little reflection on the Buddhism book I’m currently reading), I forced myself to realize that I was wasting the experience by worrying about things that hadn’t happened yet (like the blisters I expected to get on my wet feet – though never did) instead of taking in the beautiful landscape around me. With Mike beside me, I decided to embrace the rest of the day’s walk and really enjoyed the last few kilometres.

As for me and Mike, our relationship has never been stronger. I have never felt as close to him as I do now, even if we’re stuck sleeping in separate dorm beds. We look after eachother on the road, and have gotten in the habit of stopping to tell eachother “I love you” or giving one another a kiss every once in a while. He helped me get through the difficulty of Day 7 and I couldn’t imagine doing this without him by my side.

Want to read more about our Camino?  Check it out…

Our Camino, Your Camino… Our Challenge to You
Camino de Santiago Week 1 – Beautiful Landscapes & Unexpected Challenges
Camino de Santiago Week 2 – Getting Past the Pain
Camino de Santiago Week 3 – Feels a Lot Like Home
Camino de Santiago Week 4 – Easy Walking
Camino de Santiago – We Made It to Santiago, But We’re Not Finished Yet!
Camino de Santiago by the Numbers – Our Budget and Stats
Guide to the Camino de Santiago

 

Today we begin walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James.  Essentially, it is a long walk to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  It has been well travelled for thousands of years.  While there are many paths to take, the most popular (and the one we’re doing) is the Camino Frances.

Our journey begins in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and continues for some 778 km (this number varies depending on the source) over the Pyrenees mountains and through the north of Spain.

Our reasons behind choosing the Camino are simple.  Despite its history, we are not walking it for religious reasons.  Rather, we want the challenge and simplicity of travelling solely by foot.

Second, we want to raise awareness and perhaps some money for a good cause.  We are firm believers that big changes are necessary in the North American lifestyle.

Thus, we have a challenge for you.  As we walk approximately 20-25 kilometres a day for the next 35 or so days, we want you to make a diet or fitness improvement in your life.  Start going out for walks. Limit the refined sugars in your diet.  Switch from white bread to whole wheat bread.  Try to eat a more whole foods, plant-based diet (we’re not suggesting you turn vegetarian here, just add more plants and whole grains).  Watch a documentary or two about where your food comes from.  Join a recreational sports team.  Grab and a friend and sign up for a half-marathon.  Whatever you do, make it personal, make it count and stick to it.  We guarantee you’ll feel better!

In conjunction with this personal challenge to you, we’re going to try to raise $800 for the Canadian Diabetes Association – about one dollar for every kilometre we will walk.  Type 2 diabetes is very much a lifestyle disease, and we have a very personal connection to diabetes… several of our family members are diabetic.  We have already donated $80 to kick-start the fundraiser… now we need your help to reach our goal.  If you are interested in donating a few dollars or even quite a few, you can do so here:

Our Diabetes Fundraiser Page – $800 in 800 km or more!

We hope you take us up on our challenges.  We’ll be tracking our progress (both distance and money raised) with weekly updates on the Camino.  We’d love to hear about your efforts too!

Want to read more about our Camino?  Check it out…

Our Camino, Your Camino… Our Challenge to You
Camino de Santiago Week 1 – Beautiful Landscapes & Unexpected Challenges
Camino de Santiago Week 2 – Getting Past the Pain
Camino de Santiago Week 3 – Feels a Lot Like Home
Camino de Santiago Week 4 – Easy Walking
Camino de Santiago – We Made It to Santiago, But We’re Not Finished Yet!
Camino de Santiago by the Numbers – Our Budget and Stats
Guide to the Camino de Santiago

 

Well, we made it.  4919 nautical miles.  14 nights.  6 time zone changes.  7 consecutive days at sea.  And now we’re across the pond, marvelling at the architecture in Barcelona and kissing on the streets of Paris.

Our home away from home for 14 days

It turns out cruises are a great means of transportation.  While I probably wouldn’t choose a cruise vacation any time soon (for reasons I will explain later), it certainly beats a long flight followed by the jet lag that’s certain to occur.  Interestingly enough, we only met a handful of other travellers on board that were staying in Spain or Europe for a while… the vast majority were on a two week cruise vacation, taking flights homes within a day or two of arrival .

In case you’re new to the site or you missed our cruise announcement post, we just took a 14 night, 5 star Transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Barcelona, Spain.  We booked the cruise because it was simply the cheapest option.  Taxes and tipping included, our cruise package cost us $1306.48 for two people.  That included food, entertainment, and accommodation for 14 days.

View from the Royal Promenade of the ship

The cruise itinerary looked something like this:

Day 1 – Depart Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Day 2 – Port of Call: Nassau, Bahamas
Day 3 – At sea
Day 4 – At sea
Day 5 – At sea
Day 6 – At sea
Day 7 – At sea
Day 8 – At sea
Day 9 – At sea
Day 10 -Port of Call: Tenerife, Canary Islands
Day 11 – At sea
Day 12 – Port of Call: Cadiz, Spain
Day 13 – Port of Call: Malaga, Spain
Day 14 – Port of Call: Valencia, Spain
Day 15 – Arrive in Barcelona, Spain

The Good

There are a lot of obvious benefits to long distance travel via cruise ship: two weeks of luxurious hotel-like accommodation, delicious buffets and fine dining experiences, entertainment of all varieties, and more leisure activities than you’ll know what to do with.

The food was amazing. Before you ask, yes we are still vegetarians. We indulged in sushi almost every other day, as they made vegetarian rolls on request.  We also indulged in (more than) our fair share of desserts… and we did it all without significant weight gain!

One of the great vegetarian options in the dining room… eggplant parmesan

We went ice skating, rock-climbing, played mini-golf, worked out in the gym, relaxed in the hot tub, swam in the pool, took in an enrichment lecture, caught a Broadway-esque musical, participated in a few champagne art auctions (by drinking the free champagne, not by bidding, silly), watched an ice-skating show with world champion skaters, read books, shared great conversations with our dinner mates, and took in many other shows including a hypnotist, juggler, violinist, Paul McCartney impersonator, and motown group. There’s probably some stuff I’m missing, but you get the idea. And it was all included at no extra charge!

Rock-climbing wall

One of the less obvious benefits of the cruise, however, was just getting to shut off our travel brains. One problem that us full time travelers have in common with the retired community is that we never get a day off. The CONSTANT internal banter of where are we going next? how do I find my hostel? is my passport safe? is my wallet safe? is that guy going to try to rob me? is this area safe? is this hostel safe? and so on and so forth never stops.  After months on the road, it’s exhausting.  Being able to shut off that part of our brains and just…BE was phenomenal.

Mike’s Leonardo moment (okay, I forced him to this)

Another plus was the time change.  Rather than shifting 6 hours ahead in one fell swoop, we had a one hour time change six times on the cruise.  Always on a sea day, the clock would simply jump from 11:59 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  This gave our bodies the time we needed to adjust and we arrived in Barcelona on-time in more ways than one.

Whether it was losing an hour a day most days, or the sheer quantity of activities available to us, the days flew by on the cruise.  We thought we might get bored or feel closed in with seven days at sea, but that was not so.  We were actually sad when the sea days to ended.

Some of the art in the champagne art auction

The Bad

What didn’t we like about the cruise?

The food, though amazing, got a little repetitive.  We skipped the dining room half the nights because they would often only have only a curry or pasta dish for vegetarians which was the same curry or pasta dish as the day before, and sometimes the day before that. There were many more whole food options in the buffet.

I proved that gastrointestinal problems can strike not only in Central American, but on a cruise ship too.  I quarantined myself in our stateroom for about 24 hours while I expelled more fluid than I thought my body could hold.  Luckily our cipro supply from Central America made short work of the bug/food poisoning/whatever it was.

We were pretty much our own age category on the boat. The average age of our co-cruisers was a wee bit higher than us… by about 35 years or so! This made it tough to form more than superficial relationships with anyone, and we really didn’t meet too many people that we could relate to. Our dinner mates were good company, however, and made our dining experiences our social highlights of the trip.

Formal night in the dining room… notice the age of the other diners

The ports were the least enjoyable part of the cruise.  We loved all the Spanish cities we stopped at, but afterwards they all started blending together in our minds.  We typically had about 8 hours to exit the ship, get out of the cruise terminal, explore a port city, and return.  8 hours is just not enough time to experience a place.

We thought briefly about some of the shore excursions that were offered through the cruise line, but they were all quite expensive, fairly brief (1-3 hours) and worse still, took away from the already limited time we had to explore each port city.

This is why we wouldn’t book a cruise vacation anytime soon – it’s just not our kind of travel experience.  But would we book a re-positioning cruise as a method of transportation?  Absolutely.

Ice skating show onboard the ship

Infobox:

Interested in booking a cruise as transportation?  Check out transatlantic and re-positioning cruises on a site like

I have to end with a towel animal… this little monkey was happy to see us!