Got a note from Daphne today that she had arrived in Santiago.
She says the camino has been very busy, and lots of albergues (she checked out 14 in one day, the trooper!) have been full.
Lots of rain on the camino this year, summer is slow to arrive, it seems.
Felicidades, peregrina!
Just got back from 2 weeks’ holiday in Wales. As usual, more time was spent on beaches, at castles, and in the fresh air than in front of the computer. Still, we managed to get some work done. Now we’re back, I feel the need for a schedule coming on.
I’m off to pick up the latest package from Daphne from the post office this morning - sent from Leon.
We’re heading to Wales on Wednesday to stay with family. Lots of grandparent-grandchild bonding is on the cards, as (hopefully) is a bit more progress on updating the book.
Updating from someone else’s notes is a completely different experience. Partly because Daphne’s notes are so much more coherent than Ben’s or mine are, and partly because we can edit as Daphne walks. So hopefully a faster editing experience too.
Now I’ve gone and cursed us. Wait for the oh-no-my-technology-just-exploded post that’s bound to follow soon.
The great thing about multiple forms of communication is that we can hear from people in lots of different ways all at the same time. Today, a package arrived from Daphne, from Burgos. So, in the last week we’ve heard by phone, multiple e-mails and post from Daphne. In this kind of situation, there’s no such thing as information overload.
Got a lovely long e-mail from Daphne today.
From April 20:
Mud.
It has rained alot.. and thus the camino is mud. It sticks to your boots, it coats your pants, and it slows your pace. We all spend alot of time trying to figure out the best way to walk around a puddle that has no way around it!! I am very happy that this time I have (semi)waterproof boots. I just walk through the mud and the puddles and up the streams that flow frequently down the camino.
It hasn´t been all rain and snow and hail. Today was sunny and cool. Perfect walking weather!
THe other day I came upon a beverage (coke) machine. Not only did it offer the usual camino/pilgrim offerings of water, juice and coke, but it also had 3 other choices so I dropped in one euro, hit the button and down fell a bottle of white wine!! From Bodegas de Irache! Yes, I was at the Fuente de Irache.
From May 2:
Today was cool and a bit of sun.. a perfect morning for 4 hours of walking on the stretch of the meseta (plains) that is know as the 17km without water, nor shade, nor a coffee shop!! I did come across a man sitting beside his car, at a table with a dispenser of coffee and a few cans of juice. I think usually there is a ¨mobile cafe¨there but today is Saturday
in the middle of a ¨Puente¨ and thus lots of things aren´t as usual. ( a Puente is when a holiday falls near a weekend, this year May 1 was Thursday, and so everyone takes the friday off and towns are busy, the camino is crazy busy with people walking for just 4 days, and things are closed… )
Yesterday I arrived in Carrion de los Condes at 7:30 pm. I left the lovely Albergue de San Nicholas, an old pilgrim´s monastery though only a small building remains. It is now a may to oct albergue run by a cofradia from Italy. 10 beds, a communal meal, the tradition of washing pilgrims feet with a blessing added continues… lovely. When I got up in the night to go next door to the bathroom, the sky was full full full of stars!! This is what I love about the camino.
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Daphne also reports that the camino is really busy, and that lots of albergues have single and double rooms now.