The Colour of Autumn

Few things conjure up Autumn than the colours and changes in trees etc. In Queensland, we don't get much of a seasonal change, but I recall vividly my first trip to Canberra and enjoying the vibrant colours of red, gold and rust of the fallen leaves. Here in Europe, Autumn has an intensity that is quite wonderful, and they celebrate seasonal change in a more profound way than we do in Australia.

Germany is a seasonal country - fruit and vegetables are generally only available during their growing season, not all the time like in Australia. In the south of Germany where I am currently, pumpkins are the big thing at this time of year and they perfectly show off the colours of Autumn. Hence, Ludwigsburg has a Pumpkin Festival, held in the grounds of a schloss (castle / palace) which in itself is a wonderful place to visit. Here you can see and sample the delights of the humble pumpkin. I had an absolute ball and really enjoyed the pumpkin fries, served hot with herb quarck (a sort of cheese). Each festival has a theme, this year's is sport. There was pumpkins depicting soccer, boxing, skiing etc, etc. I also learned that the German word for pumpkin is kuerbis and that pumpkins are very photogenic.

Ludwigsburg Palace and southern gardens

Pumpkins lining the pond

Multiple uses for pumpkins

Pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes

The colour of Autumn

Strange pumpkins - Turks Turban variety

Another strange pumpkin - Gremlins variety

A Fork in the Road

Firstly, my apologies for not updating the blog earlier. I was wrestling with my conscience and trying to find a reliable internet connection with little success.

Sunday - 29th September

I finally made it to Ponferrada in pouring rain and with my ever present foot pain on 28th September. Really annoying but I thought it would be okay after a rest. The downhill stuff is getting to be really painful. So, after getting some advice, it turns out I may have actually hurt my back, which may be the source of much of my severe foot pain. The rest of it is manageable with anti-inflammatories and regular massage of the foot. I was advised to cease carrying the backpack and rest to see if the pain subsided. Looking seriously at what I thought I could accomplish, I have made the difficult and disappointing decision to cease the walk.

Accordingly, I went back to Madrid to ponder my options and decided it would be best to contact my friend in Germany and see if I could visit a couple of weeks earlier than planned. That means, I will probably bring my flight home forward as well. All in all, I've had a wonderful trip since I left Australia in February and didn't have anywhere else in Spain I had a burning desire to visit just now. Apart from that, I can't walk very far, even not carrying the backpack, so I don't really feel like more sightseeing at the moment.  Also, if I have the opportunity to come back to Spain, I could finish the walk in about 15 - 20 days so do-able on a normal vacation. Perhaps subconsciously I just want an excuse to come back to Spain?

Monday, 30th September

Decision made. I'm off to Germany on Thursday via a 15 1/2 hour train trip - Madrid to Figueres; Figueres to Paris, change stations and trains and then train to Germany. Need to get up before 5 am to catch the train from Madrid. However, I'm staying in a part of Madrid I know reasonably well as I stayed near here in May with my friend Gillian. Great location and only 10 min walk to the train station. Now, if I can get my foot to cooperate, I can visit some favourite haunts from that trip.

Thursday, 3rd October - 10 pm

Finally in Germany. Very long day after getting up at 5am to catch the train from Atocha Train Station. Walked to the station in the rain to find the main entrance doesn't open until 8 am. No signage to alternative entrance. Walked around the building until I found a security officer who showed me where to go.

Train changes in Figueres and Paris easy. I took taxi in Paris, as I just can't work out the metro system. In Paris I had to change stations from Gare de Lyon to Paris Est. Seems simple on the transit map, but I couldn't find the information desk to ask how to manage it. Oh well, taxi not that expensive for piece of mind - only had 1 hour to get to the other station so not much time for mistakes.

Finally arrived at my friend's apartment at 10.00 pm, very tired and feeling a little sad at the end of my fabulous year.  However, I enjoy new haunts to explore and whilst I've been to this part of Germany before, there is much more to see and experience. Autumn in Germany. Should present some interesting photo opportunities.

Thar' she blows!

Well, today's challenge was wind and rain. The weather had been forecasted to change and today was it. Started out with a cloudy morning and managed to walk from Rabanal del Camino to Cruz de Ferro in weak sunshine. Following tradition, I left a stone I had brought from Australia at the foot of the cross. This cross and spot has become a very important symbol of the Camino. During the climb, I was constantly buffeted by very strong wind which kept blowing me sideways. It was difficult to stay upright in places. After Cruz de Ferro, it was basically downhill for a very steep descent. The rain started about 5 mins later. After 3 hours of downhill struggle in the rain, I decided to stop in El Acebo. I still have a further 8 kms or so of downhill descent to do tomorrow and it will still be raining. Hopefully it won't be quite as exhausting as today! However, I have now traversed the highest point of this route. Feels like an achievement. Will likely have another short day tomorrow and only walk to Ponferrada.

Gourmet eating - Pilgrim Style!

I´ve made several comments about the food on the Camino and you may have gotten the impression that it is universally bad. This is not really the case. However, variety in pilgrim menus doesn´t really exist and whilst filling, it isn´t very healthy as it doesn´t contain enough vegetables to keep me happy. Lots of chips, meat (usually pork) and legumes together with the ubiquitous bread make the general menu for pilgrims - cheap and filling is about it. However, as I´ve been basically travelling with a couple of other Aussies from Western Australia for the past 10 days or so, and they are completely over the standard pilgrim menu offerings, we have been seeking out more interesting food. Not good on the bank balance but excellent for the taste buds and variety. Yesterday, in Astorga, we ended up at a wonderful restaurant that served us prawns and mushrooms in a wonderful sauce (sounded funny but was a great combination). Over the past couple of days I´ve managed to have trout stuffed with vegetables, a large plate of grilled vegetables, leeks filled with seafood, leeks with smoked salmon (leeks are a speciality of this area), wonderful vegetable soup and today, one of the best seafood and fish soups I´ve ever had. Truly, the life of a pilgrim is hard work and suffering!

The benefits of a good massage

Day 26 is now over and I´m two thirds of the way to Santiago (measured from St Jean Pied de Port). Lots of towns claim the half way point but it really depends on where you start. Tonight, I´m in a lovely little town called Rabanal del Camino which has mostly stone houses and walls everywhere. The two churches are built of stone as well. As far as I can tell, there are about 80 inhabitants and 5 dogs - two German Shepherds, one French Mastiff, a ginger/red dog of indiscriminate parentage and a small dog of a terrier sort. However, there are 4 albergues, a guest house and the Posada (pub with beds basically) so room for around around 120 pilgrims as well. There are 4 restaurants / bars and two small grocery type shops. Not bad for a town that probably only still exists because of the Camino de Santiago. The other claim to fame here is that there is an order of monks that come to one of the churches and sing Gregorian Chant for vespers. Hopefully I will get to hear them tonight as I actually like this form of music and have a friend in Australia who leads a similar group of singers (but he´s not a monk!). Today was basically a standard day´s walk - around 22 kms. There were a couple of small climbs to negotiate but nothing too strenuous. However, my foot pain recurred again today and just before I got to Rabanal, I had to stop for a while to rest my foot and try to get the pain under control. When I arrived in town I saw a sign advertising massages. My albergue hostelero was happy to arrange this so at 4 pm, I presented myself at the appointed place and had a full massage. I knew I had a few tight and sore muscles but wasn´t expecting some of the ones the therapist found! I´m happy to say that currently I feel very relaxed, comfortable and have no pain of any sort. Hope the benefits last for tomorrow as well. Anyway, it is good to be pain-free, even if for only a few hours. I think the time to just chill and relax (whilst somebody performs torture) was worthwhile and if I get another opportunity to indulge, I may just do that! Tomorrow, I´m off to Molinaseca which is about 26-27 kms so a bigger day with lots of steep sections to test those newly relaxed muscles!

Where am I now?

24 September - Tonight, I´m in a little town by the name of Hospital de Orbigo. When sending my nightly text to my parents to let them know all is well, I thought I´d better ensure they knew it was the name of the place, not that I was in hospital! Spain has some interesting place names that come from distant history and make sense when you know the stories. This place used to have a large ¨hospital¨ (hostal) for pilgrims back in the medieval period, hence the name. Orbigo is approximately 30 kms west of Leon. So a very long days walk, but not so hot today. Tomorrow the weather is likely to change and become unstable with rain forecast for several days. I am still about 12 days from Santiago and have the Galician mountains to traverse (likely in the rain). Tomorrow, I head for Astorga which will be approx two thirds of the way done - yippee!!!!!

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Santiago.......

You might get the impression from some of my blogs that this walk is all about pain and suffering (and bad food). However, it is also puntuated with sudden and unexpected acts of kindness, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and various amusing incidents either happening directly to me or people I am with or related as stories by other pilgrims we meet. ¨M¨- (name changed to protect the guilty). Wonderful lady with great sense of humour. However, at every albergue, she seemed to manage to leave things behind. First albergue it was her shorts, next albergue was her toiletries. A little later, a pair of walking trousers were inadvertantly ¨stolen¨ by a young Spaniard (she´d left them hanging up as they were wet and he took them in the dark thinking they were his!) Luckily, she was finishing her walk at Logrono. We were a bit worried that if she kept going, she would be walking in her pyjamas or worse! In many albergues, the beds are bunk beds. One even had 3 tiers. Great for the snorer´s symphony as you can fit more people in each room! In one small town (lucky us, we arrived on fiesta night), I shared a bunk with a very friendly Spanish cyclist. I had the bottom bunk and he the top one. However, the weight range for the beds was listed on the side and he suddenly looked very guilty and said he might weight more than that! Being of a generous nature (think self-preserving), I offered to swap with him. His response gave me a good laugh - he declined to swap and asked me if my life insurance was paid up! We left the discussion agreeing that if the slats started to bend, we would swap. I safely spent the entire night on the bottom bunk. However, nobody got any sleep due to the fiesta which went on all night. I did try to warn the others at my end of the room that this would happen but they just didn´t believe me. Now they know!!