On 8th May I flew from Stansted to Santiago de Campostella in Northern Spain with friend Jan and her friend Carol to celebrate Jan turning 70 by walking 70 miles of the St James Way.
Jan.
Jan researched various companies that arranged a complete trip package, accommodation, and luggage transport from hotel to hotel leaving us to concentrate on the walking.
Camino Ways was the company chosen with a deal that included evening meals and breakfasts.
Our flight from Stansted to Santiago de Compostela was a reasonable 8.00 am although that still necessitated getting up at 5.00 am and meant that when we got to our first hotel in Sarria, at the start of our walk, the rooms were not available until after 1.30 pm so we left our luggage and went out for lunch and exploration. That turned into our first “walk” of 4.35 miles as we tried to find our way back to the elusive hotel.
If we can’t find our hotel, were we going to be able to manage to navigate “our St James Way”?
The Way itself is well signposted but sometimes confusing when indicating a choice of directions. Often there would be a huddle of us “pilgrims” until someone would stride off and all would follow hoping he/she was going the right way.
Sue and Carol
It is every walker's ambition to gain a certificate of completion when they arrive in Santiago de Compostela, at what is called the passport office and it is necessary to get a minimum of two “stamps" per walking day in an official pre-purchased “passport". The stamps can be got at cafes, churches and hotels.
Stamps in my “passport"
The paths were occasionally ankle-turning, often through woodland and frequently long drawn out 40-degree inclines. Open vistas seemed few but that may be because we were concentrating on those inclines!
We tended to begin walking around 8 am and often finished around 1 pm, depending on the length of the lunch stop and the number of breaks for drinks. This gave us long afternoons for sightseeing but the accommodations tended to be in small towns, tiny villages or the only habitation. The hotels themselves varied from pilgrim simple to modern to rural rustic, the common thread was all were very comfortable.
The weather was in the top twenties Celsius for the early part of our walk and we had true Camino weather on our last day when we arrived at our hotel soaked to the skin and too early to get to our rooms.
Although I had increased my walking on the canals before departing I still feared my ability to undertake the journey, but I had no trouble keeping up with the youngsters, Jan and Carol, and I did not feel unduly stressed or exhausted. In fact, I surprised myself at how well I coped!
On day 9 of our walk, we walked around Santiago de Campostella airport which on our arrival took just 1.1/2 hours from here to where we started our walk at Sarria.
We presented ourselves and books of stamps at the Camino passport office and received our certificates of completion - hurrrrrrrrah.
Sue’s Certificate
It was a great experience thanks for organising it Jan and hubby Pete.