Rain with Kids in Tow= GOD HELP ME!

Camino Day 11- St. Irene to Santiago
22 km

How many adjectives do you know for rain? Pouring, pelting rain and we had to bike it. The trouble with Auberges is no matter what you are out at 8am so they can clean. In Galacia the province at the end of the camino they say it rains every 3 days at least. So far we are 2 out of 3. In fact if you do some you tubing you will find that all the horrendous weather photos are from Galacia. In our experience most of the ill vibed peregrinos and dirty aubergies are also here. Today- 20 km’s of downpour with rain ponchos that we bought from the Chinese import store, Kathryn’s was pink, and then the blue children braced for the wind, cold and sideways sheets of rain.

Not quite the way one wants to enter the Holy City but so it was. We were singing “just keep biking, just keep biking” a la finding nemo, and it actually got us through. Entering Santiago is mainly downhill. Which in this kind of rain meant that Rob had to slow his bike with his foot because his breaks had total failure. Finding our place to stay was also a bit crazy in this much rain.

We went all the way to the Cathedral but it was closed because Mass was in progress. So we took the shivering kids and searched for a half an hour for an auberge. It was raining so hard you couldn't bike near the buildings because it rain from the rooftops would knock you off your bike. It was not my best of half hours but “we just kept biking." Well we found the hostel which is an old seminary that has 800 beds! Panic sets in as we imagine the kids waking up 795 hostile people. We whisper a prayer,'god please let them have private rooms!'

We squeaked up 6 flights of stairs. That is the number of flights required to assend to the third floor when you have 20 ft ceilings. It is quite the place they have running and yet we still didn’t have our own room but had to share with a less than happy French man who did not want to be sharing with a family…can you blame him?

This trip has had so many see-saws. My derriere no longer screams from getting on a bicycle each day but I’m so done with public toilets without toilet paper, oh wait, aren’t I about to head to Africa?
I also feel like we’re just beginning to explore and adventure as a family, this nomadic life, and yet the kids also need routine, school and rooms that they don’t have to share with twenty people; we haven’t had enough time with Ruth or had enough time to contemplate or “just be” on this Camino because so much of our life has been about daily survival. So now we will take some time to hang our clothes one more time. To eat, sleep and figure out how we will get our bikes back to Madrid. Now for a hot shower!

Santiago in the Sun

Sept.2010 The end of the Camino.

Here I am. Arrived at this city on what would have been my Grandma Kerr’s 102nd birthday is she were with us. I just had a moment. I woke up to a sunny and gorgeous Santiago today. It looks a lot like Florence with its white houses and red roofs. We paid for an extra day at the massive pilgrim dorm so that we could have one day without having to move our stuff and the ability to dry out. We walked to the city around tenish moseying through a great market on our way. My kids liked the Octopus.

We didn’t get our Compostella Certificates because the line-up was too massive. Instead we had a café-con-leche and then went to find some shoes for Kathryn because hers were still soaked form yesterday. We were pointed to the Spanish version of Toronto’s Yorkville with 89 Euro leather boots for toddlers, so we quickly hi-tailed it for a local dollar store for mini-mouse flip-flops.

We had two funny conversations today. Rob talked with a pilgrim from Uganda who was a lawyer whose husband was running for political office. She said she had to walk the Camino or lose her mind;) She was inspired by what we were doing and said God would answer all our needs because we had made such a long journey. Rob said he didn’t know God was into sacrificial bartering.

Then we got stopped in the middle of the street by a German man who crossed the street to shake our hands in congratulations. He had literally been on the Santiago path all the way from leaving his front door in Germany! And yet, he was shaking our hands because he thought that what we had done was unbelievable.
We had lunch on the steps of Santiago Cathedral with donairs and falafel in hand. We got to meet up with a lot of pilgrims who made it here today. The Germans with the bloodblisters had to make their last section on the bus.

The old lady from Chicago who walked all the way from France at eighty-five, The Parisian man who pinched my kids cheeks and called them “pere-kids” for the first time, the retired couple from Germany who are trying to figure out what to do with their retirement, Jules, Paulina, Ashley from Australia, so many wanderers who shared a part of their lives with us over these past ten days. Yesterday I just had my fatigue to offer, but today all I can offer is thanks.

When you think you should stop....go further??

Camino Day 10 Melide-St. Irene
26 km

Sept 2010
Left our hovel of an auberge at 9:30 after breakfast of bread and chocolate and then hit the road. Biking today was painful. Ruth had a bad cold but was bearing it silently and we had to take the trail because the hiway was too intense and full of transport trucks. The trail was beautiful and had a series of Eucalyptus Forrests which made me miss Israel. We were happy in the forrest but then the rain came. It took us out on our last 17 K’s with no aubergue’s in sight. We stopped for lunch in Arzua which is known for it’s soft white cheese which I was the only one to appreciate. There was a big town square where a big band played to my Dancing Cammie’s heart’s content. We felt good but then…17 K’s later we were back on the bikes and ended our journey on the side of the highway and the rain started. The choice was go back, or keep going till the next auberge.

5 km didn't seem like much at the time. But judging by our fatigue it was actually monumental. We kept asking, 'how much further.' RAIN. 'not far', the answer. Which when your tired and wet and the kids are cranky in their trailer.....not far is definitely too far. Eventually we would find a tiny municipal auberge in St. Irene because the rain was pelting down so hard. We would have rather packed it in the and continue on the mud paths. Final mind game was making it to St. Irene’s and fortunately it was all downhill!

This auberge was great and only 5 Euro’s! We surprisingly met our British friend Jules there who had done 95 K of walking in the last two days! He and ruth were exchanging recipes’ for cold medication which was healrious. We talks to people from Spain and Stockholm and had some good talks about “the way” and the rhythm of life it requires from you.

We’re kind of all in shock that tomorrow is the end. Trying to let it not end to soon and yet there is always that pull to “just get there.” 'For the walkers who have been out now for 5 weeks following arrows the end is both a relief and a shock. To have now slowed life to this pace and then suddenly...'There is a flight on Wed.' 'I am back to work the day after.' What a shock. What a horrible way thing to suddenly be faced with the lightning speed of reentry into life. Even for us we feel this after only 10 days. How will we be when this is all over? Tonight though is a fun night, full of camaraderie hanging out wet clothes and sleep! Sleep comes quickly to everyone.

5 Truths about Caminos

Camino Day 9 Portomarin-Melide lunch in Palas de Rei

Sept 2010

41 km

5 Truths of the Camino:

1)You will drop 2 belt sizes while consuming a diet of bread, chocolate and coffee
2)After biking for 6-7 hours a day your children will melt down and when you get into your aubegue and a Spandex clad Italian biker yells at you because he has to share his room with your children, YOU will melt down.
3)Ruth will save your life on many and various occasions. From trading bikes to making your daughter a purse, to making dinner and helping with laundry and laughing with you when you want to cry. What a gift.
4)You will have financial stress and the banks will not be open when you do!
5)You will have to repack, get dressed, get kids dressed, eat breakfast, clan up breakfast, get bikes, check bikes, put kids on bikes, take kids to the bathroom again all before 8:00 AM in the dark!

Mixed Messages- camino meditation

CAMINO
sept 201o

no joke here is the sign post we had to follow. this is only one of a number of times during the camino that we found signs that left us thinking.....which way? On closer inspection it is clear that bikers should go around. From further away it looks like a choice, or at least a mixed message.

It reminds me though of sometime when God seems to not answer our closed door blessing. You know the God if you don't want this then close a door. More often than not it is as if God says, 'choose.' In this case it meant the road, or an enormous number of steps. On closer inspection you can tell which way makes more sense. I think the same is true with following God. Choose, and on closer inspection one might just be better than the other. The great news is that when God offers options, He is fully able to make either work.

Camino Day 8 Sarria-Portomarin
sept...2010

23km
We woke up slowly this morning. It’s been a week of biking everyday and we are starting to feel physical and emotional signs of fatigue. Ruth feared that she had lost her wallet so she searched the hostel inside and out while I found an internet Café and found out that one of my best friends had her first baby! It was a hard day for homesickness.

Ruth didn’t lost her wallet which was a great thing because locating where to send her new visa etc. would be difficult in our nomadic state. We eventually found our way out of Sarria and did a series of tough hills for 15 K before taking a break at a stingy grocery shop with just a few items on the shelf. We then found a gorgeous trail that made me feel like I was on my way out of Hobbiton. This kept my romantic self happy until we encountered the gravel path of doom where we had to CARRY the chariot up hill for a Kilometer with Simeon sleeping inside! We met Keith our friend from Scotland on the path and then a South African family who offered us free accommodation but we wanted to reach Portamarin where the Cathedral was rebuilt stone by stone on the top of the hill because a Hydro dam was going to flood their town.

The best was that we stopped at a little restaurant at the foot of the Chapel where the crazy Brazilian pilgrims wouldn’t stop kissing my children. It was hilarious. They took Rob’s bike and trailer for a spin to see what it would be like to tow such a load and the rest sat around kissing Cammy and Sim for a good hour. We were celebrities. I also bought Kathryn and Sim a plastic Shell on a string for one Euro and you’ve never seen happier children.

We’re now at a pretty great hostel (Priavate room with a curtain and no door so you can unfortunately still hear the snoeres) and everyone is captivated by what we’ve done. They’ve nicknamed our children “Pere-kids” instead of peregrino’s. People keep taking our picture every two minutes shocked that we’ve come this far.

Dinner was sandwiches outside and speaking with a Parisian who has tendanities because he was trying to out-run the never ending planes, who informed us that the two rules of the Camino are:
a)You need to allow yourself solitude on the Camino
b)You need to carry your own backpack

Well, with kids we have possibly lost the time for silent reflection but we’ve made up for it with carrying more than our share of backpacks!

Small steps and great views.

the hard part of climbing a mountain is....climbing.

the best part is going down and if the weather is good.....the view.

common ruthie....you'll get there.

I think one thing the camino has taught us is that when people say, 'it is impossible,' it usually means 'i don't want the struggle, or effort.' Really anything is possible, sometimes you need help, but most things can be done in small steps.

Breaks are burning but the view is amazing!

Camino Day 7 O’cebreo-Sarria
32km by lunch + 12 after

I never thought I would say that climbing the mountain of death yesterday was worth it, but…it was worth it. Seriously, you remember in the Two Towers when there are the vistas of the mountains? I experienced that on a bike…sans snow of course. To descend from the top of the mountain on a gorgeous clear day and descend for twenty minutes with out using the breaks in a soft sloping ride was one experience I will not quickly be able to top; this was quite rewarding after yesterday’s endurance race requiring a basic will to live. We had our lunch of baquette and yogourt in the Monsatic town of Samos and then continued on to our final destination of Sarria.

It was our longest bike ride yet of 41 K’s but it doesn’t really count because 20 K past so easily down the mountain. We found a great auberge run by a little Nonno and Nonna who fed our kids grapes from their grape vine and put a fire on for us in an indoor firepit where they lent us their guitar and Kathryn decided she needed to dance. I then went to find peanut butter which was a hilarious mime experience that did not end well. I had to buy Nutella instead. They also had a great hiking store with every book on the Camino you could ever want in an assortment of languages. We bunked with an Australian and a polish guy who learned to speak English in Ireland so understanding him was entertaining. A great day.

Crosses and Caminos

Crosses actually go hand in hand with any journey. You know those times where you get to a place where you realize, ' i should probably leave this behind.' Not just excess luggage, but burdens. Grace I believe is the thing that allows us the ability to take it off, bury it. Probably the most powerful experience of the camino was contemplating this cross. Here people have nailed, hopes, dreams, repentances, things that they would like to leave behind.

It is as if to say, "Jesus you died for me, and told me to bury my life with you, to leave my sin, my hurt, my past here with you. I can leave this thing here for you."

The crazy thing is that in this random place in the outback of Spain, people pray, and lighten their load. It reminds me of the scripture that God would be praised to the ends of the earth. I wonder where else there are crosses?

Knights and Bikes

Camino Day 4 – Foncebadon to Ponferrada
Kms 27

The dark morning is cold here in the mountains. Frostiest morning on a more or less hot trip. The downside of our private space in the Yoga studio was that well, there was a Yoga class in our bedroom at 8:00am which meant we had to feed the kids and get them packed and ready to bike by eight. Wow, we’re getting better at this! We had to hurry it out by the light of the moon. I have mentioned of course that the moon is up until 9:00? We then had granola and yogurt with the hippie’s who were listening to Bob Marley of course and then we were off.

Off meant down the most beautiful descent but it was pretty scary. It felt like we were going down the incline of a black-diamond ski-hill only we had to stop often to cool our breaks. It was literally like descending the alps. Steep, waterfalls, tiny mountain roads and very intense while Kathryn was having the time of her life. There was literally 2 hours with no pedaling.

Lunch was by the river in Maconda where my children tried to swim in the freezing ice-water of the mountain stream. We arrived in Ponferrada to a very welcoming auberge and a great town. They have a castle from the era of the Templar Knights and we had an excellent dinner in the plaza overlooking the town and then the kids climbed olive trees until and then we watched a make-shift theatre production in by the Castle that never started until 9:00 pm so whe had to leave for the kids bed-time.

We put the kids to bed and then I went downstairs and shared a snack with Ruth and Jules, Miriam and her friend. Jules is from Britain and has to have a surgery in a few months on his back and they told him he had to get his body-weight down for the surgery so he decided to walk the Camino to accomplish this. The dedication of those that walk the camino is unbelievable. Miriam is from Belgium and in her early thirties. Her husband could not get the time off work so she is walking the Camino alone. She’s kind and takes an interest in the kids. Ruth and I went back upstairs and passed the chart showing the inclines of the the days ahead. We gulped, shook our heads and went to bed with visions of mountain passes in our heads.

Ponferrada has a great hostel and is a definite stop to see the sites in this medieval town. The books all warn you about directions and well….they are all true. Be prepared to ask for directions on the way in and out of town.

Camino Day 3 hippie goat town

Astorga to Foncebadon
Sept. 2010
Kms 26

We woke at 7:30 in the Spanish dark. It really doesn't get light here till after 9am-very weird. Breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate and then we gather the kids and gear and are out the door by 9:00am. Travel is not easy. Ruth took the bikes to the bike store to get our tires pumped up and I went to the grocery store that smelled like octopus and bought a new stash of diapers and wipes- wince -it would be a few more days before we enter civilization once more.

Today was INTENSE!!! The first half was fine making it to the village Rob thought we would be at our final destination for the day by lunch time. Pride cometh before the fall. We ate outside a tienda with local Grandma’s and the owner gave Sim and Kathryn some banana’s. Afternoon was climbing a mountain. Did I say mountain? Yes. A mountain with Kathryn & I on the trail-a-bike, Rob with the chariot LOADED DOWN with gear and Ruth carrying tents and panniers full of stuff. We are getting used to walking uphill. It was a five Km steep turnpike ascent up what I lovingly call the mountain of death.

Definitely the closest I’ve ever come to complete physical exhaustion. So so tired. Slowly and with great pain we eventually made it to the village of Foncebadon which is hilarious. All I can say are two words: Yoga and goats. We found a little auberge that gave us great hot chocolate and let us sleep in their yoga studio so we wouldn’t have to share our kids with the community of snorers. I literally feel like Mary & Joseph as we park our bikes and head back between the goats and mules to make our bed in the yoga studio. This is so surreal! Tomorrow though, is downhill!

Till then watch your step!

Camino Day 2 biking to Astorga

Sept.24 Camino Day 2
26km

All I can say is that if your doing long distance biking without wearing spandex underneath your pants, you aren’t going to make it. All day was spent biking the beautiful backroads along the last section of the plains.

We left our less than stellar campsite and the Norwegians by around 10:00 am. Laundry was still wet and the unfortunate thing about spain is that you can still see the moon at 9:00am which makes it hard to get up and get moving in the dark. We had six hours of biking ahead with huge hills and I was trailing Kathryn who likes a lot of brakes. She’s doing amazing for a six-year-old with only minimal “I’m tired mom” breakdowns. We saw the longest and oldest bridge in spain and had café and lunch beside it. The afternoon is always the hardest leg in the journey because the physical stamina is waining. We met a nice friend of Ruth’s from Brazie outside the Guadi Museum on our arrival in Astorga. He had been travelling all the way from France and said that for him what separated the Camin from other vacations was that it cleansed your soul. I think his Camino didn’t include having to stop pre-schoolers fighting over blankets in a bike-trailer!

The auberge we stayed at was great! I got a massage for six euro’s and our laundry also dried! The sleeping? Well, however nice a place is, sleeping in a room with 100 other bunkmates is still going to result in a lot of people snoring. We had put the kids down earlier though, so they weren’t phased by it at all. All I can say it that along with spandex, earplugs are a must for any camino venture. The thing that saved our kids was finding a quiet back corner. Tommorrow or the next day we will finally hit....the mountains that have been looming in the distance.

Camino Day 1 Leon-Villadangos del Paramo

Sept.23 2010

Day 1
23Km, 4.5 hours

First time ever biking 23 km.....yeah!!!!!!!
We didn’t make it out of Leon and we’re lost. The kids played with dogs and sat on cobblestone paths as an older gentleman tried to tell us where the best places to eat in Leon. Ruth’s pilgrim guide warned us of well meaning locals, who will send you in the wrong direction. Thanks ol’ man- we are going this way! The number 1 rule of camino we will learn….follow the yellow arrows and sea shells….and hope they don’t point different ways at the same time (they will). We learned to always follow yellow arrows and sea-shells-not people in berets.

We finally found the right path and met real Spain. We had café con leche’s and an omelet that came with fries and hot dog for lunch…weird I know. We ended up in Villadangos del paramo. A kind of two bit town that promised a caravan park with a pool. They lied. The pool was closed. Rob went on a random search for food while we set up tents and I tackled laundry. We ended up having lentil soup over the campstove, but Rob forgot the lentils at the store! It rained and so the laundry didn’t dry, but we collapsed in bed by 8:30.

happy

Leon- camino day 1 photos

Camino Day 1 Leon- but first RUTHIE where are you???

Sept. 22 2010

It was almost midnight when we had arrived in Leon after the worst travel experience of the trip. We were told by bike spain we should be okay getting our bikes on the train......don't try it. All trains accept 3 bikes....we took all three, but the conductor did not want to let us on. If it weren't for some very supportive bystanders we would not have got on the train. They complained and held a mini boycott on the platform or we would still be standing there....after all that stress Cammie cried for 3 solid hours till we pulled out the stroller and put him in it.

In the dark of a foreign city we biked until we found our hostel (which Rob had pre-booked praises be) and we found out that our hostel had no windows and that they were two ajoining rooms not one room for all of us. It did however overlook the most incredible Cathedral that was lit up in the night and the wonderful thing about Spain is that everyone is out on the street with their babies at midnight so they didn’t think that we were up for the worst parents of the world award.

I brought the kids downstairs to find breakfast while Rob had gotten on the bike and decided to see if he could find Ruth somewhere in the city. The best is that while the kids and I were downstairs who should come through the door, but Ruthie! So amazing to see family in the middle of our adventure.

Rob eventually showed up and we ate a raisin bun and café-con- leche’s outside underneath the gaze of the Cathedral. The kids were so happy to have someone to play with besides us, and we met all kinds of interesting “peregrino’s” from all over the world and even one man from Etobicoke. Small, small world. After breakfast and check out and speding time in the cathedral we biked to get our pilgrim passports which prove that you are legit to all the pilgrim hostal’s on the way and then we headed out for day one of biking the Camino!


adios modern transport.....hello biking...and walking (the first hill was a doozie.)