benchinthepark

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 18- April 20th 2018

And, finally ... Leon.End of Part 2

El Burgo Ranero - Leon

A great last day, with no pressure at all, as I knew I was not going to cover , nor did I want to, all the distance, 38 kms, to Leon. So the idea was to walk as much as I wanted and , whenever I felt it , stop in the next town and call for a taxi, avoiding also the ugly industrial entrance into the city.

Funny enough , every day , no matter how long was the journey ( I have done a longest of 29kms and a shortest of 18 ) the last hour, hour and half, has always been a struggle, but not this day.

I do not know if because my legs are getting stronger ,or ,most likely , because I knew it was the last journey ,and one that I could end at will, rather than been forced to reach a certain destination.Mind tricks !.

After a stretch of around 12 kms , again on a late morning departure, I even decided to part from my very heavy walking boots and hang them by it’s cords from the back pack, walking instead on some light sneakers.

And then , after another 9 kms, I received what could only be a divine signal. I stopped for a quick break , untied my backpack , and to my surprise , saw that only one boot was remaining , the other one dropped as another Camino memorabilia in some part of the path already walked.

Pilgrim´s monument. Mansilla de las mulas, Leon. See how tired they looked 😂

I immediately understood the God Almighty , who knows and sees everything , wanted me to stop as he/she would know only so well that I could not go hopping on one leg until Santiago or for that matter, even Leon.

Therefore , quite ecstatic with the loss, I decided that that was it , stopped on next town for a taxi and went merrily to Leon.

On entering the town , still with my pilgrims looks and heavy backpack , I received the charity of a young couple that watching my sorry aspect decided to invite me to not only one, but two coffees.

Truth is they had ordered them by mistake , as they decided later on to go on skipping something that looked suspiciously closed to two very appealing mojitos, and not knowing what to do with the coffees , did not found anyone more worth it for them than the poor pilgrim walking up the street. It was their good deed of the day 😂.

I accepted the charity in good mood , even so more after finding that my benefactor was an iron monger worker . Ironies of life !!😅.

After a very nice time chatting with them , I made it quite cheerfull to my , this time, very nice hotel on the main square on town.

Finally at Leon !!!

It was also fitting to end on Leon as it is an amazingly beautiful middle age city , with incredible ambience and nightlife ( everybody out on terraces and bars , drinking themselves silly. In fact they have a quarter called “ The wet quarter “ and ,surely , is not because of the rains 😂) , and reputedly one of the best cuisines on Spain, so ending here means another chance to come , when , hopefully, I restart on last segment after summer.

On this one , by far the shortest so far, I walked for 7 days and covered 166 kms . Santiago is still 300kms away, but Julie promised that she will start the next one with me, which is fantastic. As I leave , I already start to miss Camino ( though ,at the same time , I had enough for now 😂)

Best

Day Recap- 22kms. 2 towns crossed.

Cumulative - 433 kms. 79 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 17 - April 19th 2018

The Koreans ( and La Boheme )

Sahagun - El Burgo Ranero

For once , I managed today to leave early. That is , around 8.30 am , no need to exaggerate.

The path was quite boring and uneventful , mostly running parallel to minor roads and on unremarkable landscape. Same will call it boring . During the days I had brief encounters with an old , and slightly mad French lady and with a very energetic Japanese, but nothing too worth to expand on it.

On the middle of the road I found a picnic area with a bench full of pilgrims gaffities, that make me think that pilgrims are somehow similar to Smurfs, As a proof , two quotes : “ El Camino is hard and dull.Stop sugar coating the experience “ ( grumpy smurf ) and “ La beaute de la vie depend de ton regard “ ( philosophical smurf ).

Also I came across another pilgrim tomb , closed to Burgo Ranero, of a pilgrim , probably German ( Manfred Kress Friedrich , 9-6-1998 ).

As you would know if you are one of the very few with the patience to read through this diary ,those tombs ,though rare and occasional , are not uncommmon in Camino.

However, I have not come yet across any of a Spaniard. I might claim the honors when my time comes ( I have been told by an Indian guru that I will still have to wait around 40 years, and I am hanging on that thought, but that is another story for other day ) , but still need to decide on the concrete spot 😅.

Finally , I made it to El Burgo Ranero a very ugly yet strangely charming little town , mostly of adobe houses , and the excellent news is that for the first time in this segment I managed to arrive there around lunch time ( at 2.30 ) so Inhad my first Camino siesta this year and then time to reconnect again with the Aussie couple of a few days back and have a beer with them.

On the evening I went to a little bar , where I engaged in a very interesting conversation with the bar owner. He told me that 90% or so of the pilgrims were foreigners and that his preferred ones were the Asiatics , as the most educated ( no surprises there ). Moving into this subject I inquired on the reason for so many Koreans, specially young ones. I have asked some of them before , but the reasons they gave me : “ a very well known Korean writer that did a book in Camino “, “ deep religious feelings” and “Korean love of hiking “ , somehow did not ring totally convincing to me.

The bar tender , however, told me a different and very interesting story.

You probably know how competitive education is in some Asian countries, with kids starting with extra curriculum activities at very early ages , and among them , specially Korean ones.

Well, apparently , Korean universities ( or some of them ) give subsidies to their students to do the Camino and academic credits upon their completion, as they consider it a great learning on superación and self sacrifice. In fact Korean pilgrims do carry the pilgrim certificate we all have, that has to be stamped and dated on each day, but also a similar one of their own University and additionally they need to write as well a diary on their experiences ( poor them , this is as hard as Camino itself 😜) and on top perform and document little social tasks along the way,like cooking for others, washing other people clothes or helping people with walking struggles. What an brilliant incredible story !!. Of course I do not know if is really true , but it certainly deserves to be.

At the end of the dinner a very rowdy big group of mixed Italian and French pilgrims came to have dinner in great spirit and started to sing popular songs of their respective countries. The Italians were good ( O sole Mío and all this ) but there was a French girl of no more than 15/16 years that sang , on a solo , an incredible La Boheme.

And quite contended , and with the comforting thought that tomorrow I will make it to Leon and finish this section, I went to bed.

Best

Day Recap- 23 kms. 3 towns crossed.

Cumulative - 411 kms.77 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 16 - April 18th 2018

Courage

Calzad de la Cueza - Sahagun

A very nice morning and a very tough afternoon. I left miner’s village at a reasonable hour , around 9.30 am ( of course everyone had gone by now ) and had a nice 6 kms stroll to Ledigos ( amazing how well legs function on the mornings 😅) , where I made my customary stop and I engage on conversation with a very charming French young girl from Britanny, called Marianne.

Marianne was only 24 and traveling alone. For me traveling alone already means a certain degree of courage, even more so on a foreign land, but of course that multiplies if you are a woman and even more so such a young one.

But to top it off she had a massive tendinitis and was wearing two humongous knee braces ( does that had bands around and a hole in the center ) .

She was quite good company , so we decided to walk together to the next town , only 3 kms away. It took us more than an hour as Marianne was limping in a big way. She told me that it had taken her 30 days to arrive there from the Pirinees and would take them at least another 30 to complete the route to Santiago , as she could only managed 10 kms a day .

I was totally blown away.

With Marianne

I have seen other people ( thank god not many ) limping around in Camino and ,on one of the first days of this segment , we even saw a woman walking with one feet totally turn so on every step she supported the weight on one foot not on the sole but on the external lateral side of it , like she had a massive ankle twist, only that you could see it was not a twist but rather a permanent condition.

Commenting this with my cousin Elena , it was interesting to see the different point of views. For Elena, way more practical than I, those people were plainly imprudent and irresponsible. For me they were extremely courageous. Probably both.

In addition , Marianne also told me that she did not really liked to travel alone. In fact she looked like a very social and extroverted person. And no, she was not doing Camino for any type of religious zeal, but only as a journey of self discover and exploration on a time on her life were a clear project still had to emerge.

I was totally impressed. I have no doubt that Marianne will manage to succeed and conquer anything she wants on her life. Her experience brought in to perspective all my ankle and knee struggles ( though, unfortunately, did not make them disappear 😅).

Pain 😰

I left Marianne on the next town as it was her stop for the day , and I marched along. The bad news was that , as I did had a late start and I was slow down by her, I still need to cover a whopping additional 19 kms to my destination, mostly uphill and on very hot weather , and regrettably Marianne´s inspiration only carried me for so long .

The afternoon turned hellish with me having to resort , once again, to my , by now , usual break place : another ditch by the road !.

Utterly exhausted and frustrated, I finally arrived to Sahagun and the Leon province around 7.00 pm to a very ugly and not too clean Hostal.

My reward , however , was a dinner on the town main square watching the kids kicking a football until 9.00 pm , whilst their mothers tried desperately and rather unsuccessfully to bring them to their respective homes.

Nice, tranquil, slow , country life !

Best

Day Recap - 29kms . 5 towns crossed.

Cumulative - 388 kms. 74 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 15th.April 17th 2018

Camino Alone ( again )

Carrión de los Condes-Calzadilla de la Cueza.

And here we are again, as a lonely pilgrim, now that everyone has finally left.

I have done sections of Camino in all possible ways : with a great friend ( Carlos ), with my son Nico , with a superb group of friends and , of course , also alone.

Each one has it’s own significance and beauty , but doing it with a group of friends is no doubt the lightest way , were you feel more the company, the bonhommie and the fun and less the pains.

I am really grateful for those who took the time to share this with me and to accompany me on my struggles. They are real friends.

Of course, doing it with Nico was so especial that is difficult to put a name to it, and built a memory that will always be with me.

However, doing it alone is more in sync with the experience of Camino, more the real thing.

It is the toughest way by far , the experience where you suffer more, not having anyone to share it with, but it has also a special beauty on itself.

Of course , moving into practical stuff , another immediate consequence is that suddenly I am 12 kgs fatter , that is the humongous weight of my back pack. Not having any longer the luxury of keeping it until the end of the day, now I have to carry it with me.

In Camino it has become quite popular nonetheless to hire a transport for the back packs, normally through taxi services , that picks it in the morning at origin and deliver ahead of time to your final destination.

However, having decided to do the real experience I settled valiantly ( and stupidly ) on carrying my own stuff , with the extra merit that probably I can be awarded with first prize for the biggest and heaviest backpack that Camino has ever seen.

No doubt my penance for being such a snob and carrying lots of clothes , as I refuse to do my laundry every day ( as many people are obliged to do carrying only one extra underwear and t-shirt ) or ,worse , having socks and underwear hanging out of my back pack to dry them during the day walk 😱.

So all these new challenges I had to face today with the unfortunate addition that for the first time ever since I am in Camino, the journey ahead ( thank god , not a long one , only 18 kms ) did not cross any town whatsoever. So no coffe breaks, no bars, no nothing .

Pilgrim´s special lunch box

I therefore bought a few essentials ( water, nuts and bananas ) and off I marched for an endless day without breaks. The path was terrible boring , a stretching and never ending dirt road that looked the same forever. Eventually, after like 8 kms , tired and bored of the scenery I stopped for a break , literally on a ditch by the track , to find afterwards when I rejoined the path that 500 mts later after a bend there was a fantastic green opening with benches , tables for barbecue , etc where abou 15 smarter pilgrims where having a much better break than mine. Feeling like a total ass, I trod along 😅.

By the end of the day , I had a similar experience. Out of no proper alternative options I kept walking, walking and walking with the heavy backpack load on my shoulders to a point I was totally exhausted. I truly felt I could not do one step more, but again , no options, so ... another ditch stay for me. I knew I was closer , but literally could not manage more. Then a very nice Aussie couple come after and seriously asked me if something was wrong with me ( after ,that night, I had a very nice conversation with the husband Mike on Spanish history mixed with his experiences as a younger guy backpacking in Afganistán , brave guy he was 😱).

When I finally recovered and restart at a sluggish and decrepit pace , I found again, to my utter embarrassment , that the destination town was only like 300 mts away hidden on a glen.

The good thing that really lift me up was the 400 kms sign ( distance to Santiago ) that marks that I was indeed more or less ( nothing is exact or precise on Camino ) at the half way point.

Also the town , to call it something, consisting in no more than 50 adobe houses, was the most decrepit yet charming I have seen so far. It looked like a miner camp in the old Far West movies ( do you remember Paint your Wagon film ? ) , on a crevasse in the middle of nowhere and with an irreal look to it. I loved it, none the less for being so unexpectedly close. So full of leg and shoulder pains ( last ones a new feeling of the day ) , tired , but content , I called it a day and marked another cross on the dairy.

Best

Day Recap- 18kms. 1 town crossed.

Cumulative - 359mkms. 69 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 14th - April 16th 2018

On lands of Mío Cid

Frómista-Carrion de los Condes.

Frómista, what a disappointment!. The romanic churches were certainly spectacular , but the town itself looks like a working class suburb with ugly modern brick houses and definitively not worth it a stop over.

Once we visited the churches , Carlos has also gone the pious way , we started the journey to Carrion , on a quite flat and arid terrain , but with plenty of little towns in between for the customary coffee break.

Coffee breaks “ Camino style “

As documented plenty along my existence , I am still an incredibly lucky guy , and the weather is gorgeous .

As an incise, the week before saw torrential rains, snow blizzards and even substantial hail. To be honest I was horrified with the prospect , but all is gone this week . Incredible so , I just heard that forecasts for next week are also quite ugly.

Nonetheless in the afternoons , at around 12.00 ,it starts getting quite hot . At the end this is Castile , an arid and tough land.

In fact we are walking on the footsteps of Mío Cid, the most famous knight and warrior of Christian Spain on the times of the Reconquest wars against the moors ( XI th Century ).

Half history and half legend , he was an incredible leader and warrior , and among many other epic events he reconquered Valencia for the Christians , he was sent to exile by a Christian King he accused of murdering his brother ( diplomacy and political correctness was not his forte. Very Spanish ! 😅) , and legend says he even managed to win a battle after dead, as they place his corpse , with full armor , on top of his horse , to charge the moors and provoke panic among them.

There is an amazing poem by Antonio Machado, a great Spanish poet, on his exit to exile , that describes quite well these austere lands and that I cannot resist to mention as I walk them :

“El ciego sol, la sed y la fatiga,

por la terrible estepa castellana,

al destierro, con doce de los suyos,

polvo, sudor y hierro, El Cid cabalga “

On a very poor translation , something like :

“ The blind sun,the thirst and the fatigue,

on the terrible Castilian steppe,

to the exile, with twelve of their own,

dust, sweat and iron, the Cid rides “.

Of course we do not see any menacing moors on the horizon 😅 , but equally there are no horses to help , and Carlos, even if worth more than one, does not quite make the twelve companions of the Cid.

The point is , when the sun blazes , you walk endlessly , with pain in many of your bones , the poem seems quite beautiful, descriptive and relevant.

Of course there was suffering at the end of the day ( this is a constant in all Camino journeys ) but definitively less than the previous one and at the end we made to Carrion , which means that , Eureka, we finally completed a full journey on our feet.

“ Ultimate pilgrim “

Returning to Frómista to pick Carlos car we had a bit of an incident with a taxi driver that tried to overcharged us big time , but coincidentally , after calling him a cheater and threatening to report him ,he found he made ( “ silly me , he said “) a mistake on the price, and agreed to take us back for a fair rate.

Then Carlos drove me back to Carrion, quite a nice town where I slept, for once , also on a nice hotel, an old monastery , and then he drove back to Madrid.

Carrion de los Condes

From here on , I found myself again alone with my tired muscles and bones and many kms still to do until Leon. Poor me !!.

Hotel Monastery

Best

Day Recap - 26 kms.5 towns crossed

Cumulative - 341 kms. 68 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 13th - April 15th 2018

Hills and Moorlands.

Castrojeriz-Frómista.

Second journey of this segment , and Marta and Elena will return to Madrid after lunch.

Elena wakes up with one clear mission : walk as little as possible !. 😅. As such , she starts to perform all types of dilatory tactics from “Let’s not kill ourselves and let’s have a decent and relaxed breakfast , of course after 9.00 “, then “ let’s stroll through town as yesterday we did not have time to appreciate it “, then “ let’s visit the local churches and bask on the sacro art “, etc, etc.

Castro

She was indeed very successful on her charming ways and managed to delayed us until almost around 12.00 .

But the truth is that Castro proved to be a very charming middle aged little town perched on a hill with a castle , plenty of stone houses with the classic and beautiful , yet austere, architecture typical of this part of Castile, cobbled streets and as mentioned many,many churches to the delight of my pious, yet intrigant cousin.

As part of the town route, we got to meet with Mau, an Italian guru that have been living on some parts of Camino for 25 years ( before that, 6 years in Tibet ) and finally settled himself on Castro where he created an Hospital for souls , wich was basically a house of silence and meditation.

Mau.

We went to visit it and with effort we managed not to speak a word whilst inside , though we shot hundred pictures , something also strictly forbidden .

The house was the classic local one , run down and about to fall apart , but super charming with lots of Tibet memorabilia. For a moment I had some temptations of a quieter life but I conclude that I will probably struggle with the silence , the peace and living barely out of donatives , plus of course local invitations at the nearby bar where we originally found Mau .I suspect he spent more time there than at home, but only for the conversations, do not think badly 😜.

Hospital of souls

So after all this very cultural morning and a bit of fooling around with the wreck of an old bus, we finally started the journey.

In spiritual rapture ! 😂

Trying other ways. Did not work.

And then my revenge came. Outside of Castro was a massive and steep hill and even though we were offered by other lazy pilgrim to take an alternative route to escape it , I plainly refuse as that was the real one , so poor Elena had now to face , finally, play time !.

It took a while but the girls managed it on a stellar way , and rightfully so Elena was after that extremely proud of herself.

And above and over the hill , we arrived to the moorlands of Plasencia , a very beautiful scenery coupled with a very menacing and dark sky. It really looked out of a Bronte novel and then , it started to rain , not heavily but persitantly and with some lateral wind . We finished a bit soaked , but as it was my first tough weather experience in Camino I really loved it , and found it very romantic in a way. You know, nature at play and all this 😅.

At the end , and despite the obvious efforts of Elena , we managed to walk 10kms before stopping for lunch and Marta and Elena left to Madrid rightfully proud of the effort . Elena told me later that the next two days she felt horrible and did not show up for work 😂. Poor thing ! .

After lunch, things turn a bit more challenging for me. Just with Carlos, that has a much briskier pace , we have to cover almost 20 kms with also other hill to manage and is normally in the afternoons ( and around the 20-25 kms ) when I hit my personal wall so the going was , more than tough, frustratingly endless.

About 6 kms before the end I started to have sharp pains on the juncture of the bionic ankle that really freaked me out , as it could be something different and worst than the always recurring muscular pains , so despite the protests of Superman, I convinced him to hail a taxi and skip, yet again , the last leg , and head to Frómista, our final destination, and supposedly one of the world most renowned places for romanic sacro art .

One of these days, I swear , we will manage to complete a journey without cheating 😂.

Best

Day Recap-26kms , 3 towns crossed.

Cumulative- 315 kms, 63 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Camino day 12th - April 14th 2018

League of pilgrims

Burgos-Castrojeriz ( ma o meno )

One full year later , with lots of events in between and a bit less energy , I decided to retake on my mission ( and promise ) to walk the full Camino.

And for the grand occasion I thought it was a great idea to start with a group of friends as big as possible. You all can imagine what happened.

Many potential pilgrims promised to come ,but sadly , at the end , only a few attended the call.

But no regrets , because the ones that did ( three brave souls ) were the very best .

First , of course , because they were here and they really attended the call , but also because coming from very different places , we built a great and very funny group : “The League of Pilgrims”.

“ League of Pilgrims. Madrid rendezvous “

At this stage, a brief introduction of each member is required : first ,my best buddy, Carlos, super athlete, has done the Camino like five times or so in bike, runs marathons , and is in great physical shape. Then, Marta , my colleague and friend for so many years , with some Camino experience under her , but done in a, let’s say , more leisure way than how Carlos does it. And then , Elena, my cousin , an art dealer, whose biggest athletic accomplishment has been to occasionally run for a cab to take her from one art gallery to another in Madrid. And , of course , me, the Bionic man, artificial ankle , damaged knees and a whole other lot of maladies that are not subject of this paper, or of interest to any of you .

Despite our very different backgrounds and stories , the truth is that , as a very dysfunctional group , we glued very well and had a fantastic time together.

We started with a gathering lunch in Madrid with tons of booze and from there we drove to Burgos where we would start the following day.

Burgos is a mid size town in the center of Spain with one of the best gothic cathedral in the world and a middle aged flavor. The town is actually quite impressive with the centre almost restricted to traffic , a nice walk alongside the Arlanzon river, lined by poplar trees and with a very tranquil , and relaxed provincial flair.

At the Cathedral.

We had a pleasant stroll through the town center with sufficient time for Marta to try to get emotionally involved with a pilgrim that unfortunately did not respond to her obvious attempts and rewarded her with a cold ( iron , bronze ? ) shoulder and also to meet in a drinking hole a couple of charming burgalese ladies that told us all bout the city, the gastronomy and the culture. They, Patricia and Ana, run the most successful lottery administration in town ( what a job ! ) and also told us that precisely every Friday ( as it happened to be ) at 10.00 pm sharp and in the precise spot where we were , the Burgos anthem was played and sang rowdily by a large local crowd displaying various degrees of drunkness. And spectacle worth to be seen and participate , what we happily did, though I have to confess I was quite surprised to learn that Burgos has an anthem and on top of that one that you can sing , something you can not say of Spain. Only in my unique and very special country !.

“ Marta in love “

After that we had , as customary in Spain, a very late and very unhealthy dinner as the best way to prepare for the challenges of the day ahead and went to sleep.

About to learn Burgos anthem with the lottery girls.

Not so early on Saturday ( consequence of the excesses of the night before ) we initiated our march. The journey was planned as Burgos-Castrojeriz with a distance of 40kms, something I of course , knew was totally out of my reach , not to mention of Marta’s and Elena’s. Only Carlos could have perform such bestiality ( he claims he did once a 60 kms journey, though I don’t buy it . Maybe it was on bike 😅).

So with the infinite wisdom that comes with having been on those fields before, I decided that ,if I am certainly not a perfect human being , there was not much sense on trying to be a perfect pilgrim either , and we took the cars to drive us 12 kms into the route , escaping also the ugliest , industrial parts at the end of town.

And then, finally, we start walking !. It was quite a pleasant journey with great weather and fairly flat. We put a sort of average rhythm of 4 kms/hour but quite immediately Elena started to trail behind , something that I have to confess worried me a bit. The interesting thing is that at the end of the day she suddenly change her pace to much brisker one , precisely when we were all struggling . I went to ask her how she felt and she told me : “ horrible , I am in total pain “😅. Obviously she found her pride . Camino has this way to surprise yourself and make you find strengths you did not know you had.

A quick stop on the way

At the end we walked by 22 kms , as we decided to skip the last kms as well , but that is not a bad target for a first day and even Super Carlos started to limp with some knee pains and I have to confess that despite him being such a great friend and support I got some secret ( not any longer after this post, obviously ) pleasure on being the one that finish the day stronger for a change 😜.

Castrojeriz

Final note of the day was the dinner on Castro where , after checking in a relatively decent hotel ( 2 stars ) and have some time to relax a bit and have a shower, we reconvene for dinner , just to find Elena wearing a very chic red HEELS 👠. These artsy people , the live in another planet !!! 😂.

Best

Day Recap- 22 kms ; 5 towns crossed.

Cumulative - 289 kms ; 60 towns.

[benchinthepark]

The truth about Catalonia - October 4th 2017

Like many Spanish and Catalans, I was deeply shocked and saddened by the events of last Sunday across all Catalonia , with clashes between police and citizens trying to exercise their voting rights , and with the scenes of violence, although, as an informed observer, it was hardly a surprise.

Of course the events had ample Press coverage across the world and the media had a meal with them. Since then I have heard many arguments and opinions, mostly well intentioned , but equally lacking a real and deep understanding of the issue. We all like simplification and we love a black and white story of oppressors and victims, but unfortunately the issue is much more complex, with many shades of grey and to fully comprehend it needs to be analyzed from different angles : historical, political, economical, legal and even emotional.

Whatever your stance on the issue , I believe you will gain a better view if you understand each of them. They are as follows :

History

Unlike other territories with independence’s claims ( aka Scotland ), Catalonia has never been an independent kingdom.

In the Middle- Ages , and as part of the “ Reconquista “ ,( our local crusade , after the Arab invasion and conquest of Spain in 711 ) we saw in Spain the built up of several Christian kingdoms : Navarra, Asturias, Leon, later on Castilla and Aragon. Over the centuries some of these kingdoms were absorbed by others and finally the two remaining ones united through the marriage of Isabel, queen of Castilla and Fernando , king of Aragon. Under their rule the last remaining Arab kingdom, Granada, was conquered and on the same year, 1492 , under Spanish crown mandate and under Spanish flag , Cristobal Colon discovered America. The Spanish nation was born.

Catalonia was a region of the Aragon kingdom that also comprised the actual Aragon, all Levante ( including Valencia ) and the Baleares islands.

It was therefore never an independent kingdom, although since the Renaissance become a very wealthy region, mostly due to maritime trade in the Mediterranean and developed their own language, Catalan, that co-existed with the Spanish and, as many other parts of the country , their own culture and traditions.

Today and since the advent of Democracy and the passing of the Constitutional law , voted in referendum by all Spanish citizens in 1978 ( affirmative votes 88% across Spain and 90% in Catalonia ) is an autonomous nationality (term used to recognize their specificity ), with ample levels of self-government.

Politics

The Constitution granted Catalonia their own government (“ Generalitat “ ), and their own parliament with the subsequent elections.

The same Catalan party has been in power in Catalonia since , with the sole exception of three years, and whilst initially positioned itself as ferociously autonomous, constantly negotiating with the central government ever increasing areas of power, but with apparent loyalty to the Constitution and to the rest of Spain, it has veered recently, since the crisis ( money always talks ) , into a radical pro independence agenda.

La Generalitat has full control over local police, public media ( all public television and radio channels ),public servcies ( excluding airports & Defense ), Health, Language policies, Education and many other aspects. It has power to levy taxes and it manages a portion of the national taxes ( ex, Income tax ) collected in the territory. This level of self-Government is substantially higher than any Estate in USA, any lander in Germany or any original kingdom in UK.

The Spanish Constitutional law has articles regulating it´s own change , that requires a qualified majority , as well as the scenario where a part of the country seeks independence , that requires a qualified majority and a vote in referendum by all Spanish citizens as “ the Spanish sovereignty belongs and seats with the whole Spanish people “. These articles are similar and where inspired by those existing in almost all Constitutional laws across Europe ( not the case in UK ).

The Spanish government has repeteadly invited the Catalan party to present their independency plans in the National Parliament for discussion . The Catalan party has refused as they do not have the needed votes to see it through.

Overall the Constitutional law has been a very positive factor on the last 40 years on securing and deepen Spain Democracy, estability and progress, and even if there are already talks about the need of adapting it to the new times ( I am in fact on this camp ) it has a very positive perception for a large majority of the population. However , in hindsight, it incurred in two fatal mistakes that have contributed greatly to the development of events in Catalonia.

First it sanctions an Electoral law that is not fully proportionally and that discriminate positively high concentration of votes on densely populated areas, what favors regional parties, and very specially the Catalan one. Whilst in general ( full country ) elections they collect around 2-3 % of votes, they get awarded with more than double this number in parliamentary seats. Those seats become a major negotiation lever in the often case where any of the major parties fail to achieve a full majority, and has been the origin of the endless negotiations and the constant concessions of the central government, allowed by the myopic stance of politicians only worried to keep or maintain their power and on the survival of today, without much consideration to the effects of this policy on the future.

Second big mistake was to grant full control on Education policies, as this has been used over 40 years by the Catalan party to fuel their independency agenda, rewrite history , and promote by all means at a minimum exclusion and in many cases hatred for anything Spanish. You might think I exaggerate,so let me give just two of thousands of examples. The civil war , a very sad episode of half of the country , backed by a legal government of extreme left , fighting the other half , backed by an army on rebellion, is taught in Catalonia’s public schools as basically a war between Catalonia and Spain. Second example: in Catalonia there are two official languages , Catalan and Spanish , that should co-exist on an spirit of equality. However in Catalan’s public schools out of the 30+ hours of lessons per week, only two are done in Spanish, and that is because the subject is Spanish language ( hard to teach this one in Catalan ). Some very courageous families ( you have to have a lot of courage to do that in Catalonia ) started legal proceedings against this policy and finally, after years of debate , the Constitutional Court ruled that Spanish should be taught in at least three hours per week. You heard well. Three out of +30 !. Hardly an oppressive rule, right. Well, la Generalitat , decided not to obey the rule , with so far no consequences at all.

Another language case, even if not related to Eduaction. In Catalonia you can have a business called “ Burger King “ ( English ) or “ Pizzeria Bella Roma “ ( Italian ) but do not dare to do the same with a Spanish name. If you do it and you do not replicate this name also in Catalan, with same measurements , you will be fine with a hefty fee. Of course the reverse is no problem at all. Only country in the world where you get a penalty for using an official language. Pure Democracy !.

As you can now start to understand the problem on Catalonia is not that of a Central oppressive power , but ,on the contrary , is that of a Estate so weak and in such a regression ,that is almost no visible in many parts.

In such and scenario is in fact a miracle that not all population is for independence. In last elections , pro-independence parties gain a narrow majority in the Catalan Parliament ( 72 seats out 135 ) due to the electoral law design, even though they only have the support of 45% of the population. Based on latest polls conducted by the Generalitat the independency has lost momentum in the months prior and it’s support was now at 41%. The rest of the population, almost 60% do not support or care much for independence.

Economy

At the heart of the issue is the desire of la Generalitat to have full control of all taxes in the territory, halting any type of solidarity with other less developed regions of Spain.

To promote this they actively launch a propaganda myth, amply broadcasted through their controlled media : “ Spain steals from us “.

The Central government ,under the argument that solidarity was not about territories but about people , decided initially not to publish the Fiscal Balances ( what each autonomous community contributes or takes from the total , after deducting taxes and investments on the territory ), what obviously fueled the controversy , but finally under the pressure they cave in and did publish them.

The outcome is that Catalonia, as a wealthy area, is a Net Contributor of around 9.000 million €, but Madrid ( with almost equal GDP ) contributes more than double with 19.000 million €. Not extremely fair, but a consequence of the constant negotiations to help and appease the Catalan party. So, if “ Spain steals from Catalonia “, it steals double from Madrid !. As you can see , this is not exactly an idealistic quest for Independence ( very romantic ), but on the contrary an approach full of unsolidairty and xenofobia.

The other economical myth is that, after Independence , Catalonia will be an economic paradise, in their own words “ The Denmark of the South “.

The truth is that an independent Catalonia will be hardly viable for the following reasons :1- Will be out of the EU and the €. Customs & duties everywhere. Repeteadly high EU authorities and head of states have made this very clear but independentists refuse to acknowledge this fact and believe that they will find an unknown door for a quick re-admission. 2-Around 60%+ of Catalan industrial production is sold intra Spain. Aside from the customs and duties mentioned above , how many Spanish will keep buying cava and other Catalan products ?. Take a guess. Serious studies project a decrease of Catalan GDP of 30-to 50% in the next10 years after Independence. Of course those studies have not made it into Catalan controlled media.3- On their quest to fuel independency agenda and to gain power in all areas , the Catalan party has over the years built a massive administration ( also riddle in corruption , but unfortunately this is also true on the local & regional admin in other parts of the country ) and seats now in a substantial public deficit. The Catalan bond has been rated as junk by all rating agencies and , therefore, la Generalitat do not have access to financial markets . This means that the central Spanish government is issuing bonds and devoting taxes ( my taxes ! ) to finance an administration that is in many cases working with the objective to dismantle this estate.Quite a paradox!.In fact if the Spanish government would decide to close the tap, la Generalitat will not be able to pay salaries of all civil servants, school teachers, nurses, doctors, even for the next month.

Legal

After the Spanish Constitution , the highest law in the country, the next most important one for Catalans is their own Estatuto, voted also in referendum in recent years.

The Estatuto also establishes a legal path for it’s change, that require as well a qualified majority.In clear opposition of the requirements set in both laws , the Catalan pro-Independence parties , using their narrow parliamentary majority, passed two weeks ago a law to call for Sunday’s independence referendum.

Even the proper legal services of the Catalan Parliament, adviced them that the law was illegal as it was in contradiction of both superior laws, but that did not deter them. Furthermore, they passed the law using an express procedure ( just approved with same votes one month prior, and also ruled illegal by the TC ) , that in fact meant that opposition parties could not even propose amendments to the law. All opposition MP leaved the Parliament at this stage, as a protest of the violation of their parlamentary rights.

This ilegal law states that ,to declare unilaterally the independence, the referendum did not require any participation quota ( say ,votes of 10% of the population or 5% or 15 % would suffice ) and also no qualified majority either . A 50.01 % of the votes, literally one vote more for Yes than No , would be sufficient to declare independence and break more than 500 years of common history.

As the law was declared ilegal ,by both the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia, and after the Catalan party refused again to accept the ruling of those courts, they ( the courts of Justice, not the Spanish government ) mandate the police to halt the referendum by all legal means and to vacate the self appointed electoral colleges.

As a consequence of these ruling at the courts the police started to dissemble all the infrastructure prepared for the referendum, including the informatics systems.

As a reaction to these actions, the Generalitat, against their own referendum law, changed the rules of the game just one hour ( 7.00 am on Sunday ) before the electoral colleges opened, allowing an “ Universal census “, that meant that in fact any voter could vote in any college, not only one the one they were enrolled to, by just presenting their identity papers.In fact same person could vote 10 times in 10 different colleges. Also,and not coincidentally , the ballot boxes chosen were opaque and arrive in the last minute to the colleges in the hands of independency agents. There have been recorded cases of the boxes arriving half pregnant , with plenty of votes inside.

Of course , no supervision or control of opposition at the electoral tables, as they refused to participate in the masquerade. This is the example of democracy, that , apparently, all Spanish people should accept and abide to.

With this level of guarantees and controls, the so called referendum carried on. The Generalitat declared on Sunday night that 2.2 Million people had voted and of those 90% were Yes votes to independence. Do you believe their numbers ?. Even if you do ( I commend you on this case for your faith on humanity ) this would represent 38%. of Yes versus total population with right to vote. With this 38% the Generalitat declared Sunday night that on following days they will proceed to declare independence unilaterally.

Emotional Aspects

Trough the works of the Catalan party and the blindness of successive Spanish governments , the Catalan society is now a divided one. A big part of it ( around 40% ) seeks independence, believes that “ Spain steals from them “ and thinks that an independent Catalonia will be an economical paradise and will solve all their problems . They are backed by a local government , lead by fanatics with ample tools at their disposal, including an almost monopoly of all media , and all the local administrative system. This is the Catalonia you saw in the streets last Sunday and the days after.There is one version of the truth and only one ( if you think of populism and Trump and Brexit comes to mind, think of this one as well ).

On the other side is a silent majority ,that has been kind of abandoned by a coward national government and only has one tool at their disposal: their secret vote. If they dare to express their feelings they will be labeled as traitors and treated as outcasts.

Not exactly an example of a healthy and democratic comunity . I personally have profound dislike and contempt for societies where only one truth is available. It brings me back memories of Germany on the early thirties.

On the rest of Spain, the feelings are of alarm,disbelief and indignation. Alarm for the escalation of events, disbelief because is hard to understand the parallel universe the pro-independence parties habe created and indignation both towards a weak and not responsive central government and a dilsloyal and greedy Catalan party.

Is because of that , that some ( many ) people in Spain approved on police intervention last Sunday.

I am not one of them. I believe the Spanish government , once again , fall into the pro-Independence game , that did not really believe on a fake referendum but were in fact trying to take the battle to the streets , hoping for scenes of violence , that will bring International support and increase local sympathies.

Unfortunately, they totally succeed on their tactics. As is often the case, when the weak decides to act, it does it with a heavy handed approach , that tends to back fire.

I do not condone the scenes of violence . I believe the ilegal referendum had to be stopped , but it could had happened by more intelligent means and not feeding the independents PR machine.

Having made that clear , let’s also get factual. If you ( still ) believe the figures of the Generalitat , more than 2 Million people voted and they were mobs and incidents all around Catalonia. However the number of seriously injured people, people that require hospital enrollment were two. Yes, you heard well, two people.

I believe that police in full anti- mob gear dispersing opposite crowds ( think of protests in summits like G- 5 or G-20 ) in any Western countries have produced a significant higher number of people injured.

Make no mistake. This is a Public Relation battle , totally on the agenda of pro-independence parties. The pacific citizens trying to vote were in many cases pro-independence activists that had only one objective that day: provoke the police to act violent for the whole world to see it. There have been plenty of cases recorded of fathers bringing their young kids to insult face to face the police to try to provoke them to hit the kids ( any sacrifice is worth it to build the Catalan nation ).

Also, manipulation is at large.I myself saw in one of major UK papers an horrific photo of a young kid bleeding through his head as part of the Sunday’s events. The only problem is that the photo is in fact a four year old one, belonging to an anti-crisis parade in Barcelona, dismantled by Catalan police. Similar photos of a miners parade in Madrid or even another one that really happened… in Turkey , have been broadly broadcasted. We tend to believe what we see, especially if is published in a major media .Regrettably in today’s world , nothing is for sure.

What next ?

This is the major political crisis Spain has had to face since the advent of democracy. Illegalities can not be condoned , but a pure and only legal approach will not solve the issue. A political solution involving dialogue and compromises is needed. This is easy to say,but… dialogue with whom ? and dialogue about what ?.

Dialogue with whom? To start now a dialogue with the actors that have brought us here is simply not possible for several reasons : 1- they have repeteadly demonstrated that they are not interested . They want to push their radical agenda , as they believe they can win. 2- to accept a dialogue will mean rewarding illegality and disloyalty 3- it will establish a precedent , that will be followed suit by other actors in other areas ( basques ).Spain, as we know it, will cease to exist.

For the dialogue to take place a change of the actors in scene is a must. This can be done if , after the declaración of independence has taken place, the Spanish government takes over the functions of the Generalitat for a limited period of time, around six months, with the upfront commitment to do it to prepare the ground for two events : new elections first in Catalonia and thereafter in total Spain.

Everyone , including pro-independence people will be able to vote and be represented. Everyone will know exactly what support they have. New actors will emerge, hopefully with a better disposition for dialogue, after the lessons learned.

This scenario is in fact also contemplated in the Constitution and therefore totally legal, requiring once again, a qualified majority on Parliament. Obviously, existing actors will have to bear all consequences, including legal , of their previous acts.

Dialogue about what ?. The issue here is what can you offer on the negotiation table when you have conceded already so much. The Catalan independent parties will seek full control of all taxes in their territory. This will not be possible as : 1- will break solidarity among Spanish, creating de facto citizens of 1st and 2nd rank 2- will be followed immediately by other contributing areas. Why not Madrid ?.3- will be immediately rejected by the poorer areas. Spain, as we know it will cease to exist.

In this hellish scenario the only possible solution, in my opinion, is for the new elected govern of Catalonia and the new elected govern of Spain to agree , this time with all guarantees and controls , for a new and legal referendum about the independence of Catalonia. Obviously this referendum will be voted by all Spanish, but equally so, the Catalan’s will be the critical votes. The Spanish government will have to actively engage in all previous arguments and in the battle of ideas to win the day.

This concludes my arguments in the topic. I apologise for the length , but as you can see is a complex issue with many facts unknown by non Spanish audiences. I hope I have helped to give you a better understanding. As you can see ,not quite a simple tale of victims and oppressors, and one where indeed some times the roles get reversed.

Best Regards

An indignant Spanish

[benchinthepark]

Adiós ( not for long )- El final del Camino ( The end of the road ) Camino day 11- March 31st 2017-

Belorado- Villafranca-Montes de Oca Today was our last day in the Camino. Nico was actually very happy ( what is the point of all this walking? ) whilst I was kind of sad, and even missing it before I finished. Anyway, being the last day , and having to return to Madrid ,we decided to take it quite easy. Just half a journey , lunch and take the road back on the way civilised people do, that is ... by car 😜 . Also , as we had to take a taxi back from our final point to collect the car , we decided to do the walk without the bloody back packs and to be , for once , free of all the weight in our backs and without the useless sweaters and coats we have been carrying all the way, God knows why. However, when we stepped out of the hotel , and after catching again the frenchies on the act of taking yet another bus 😂 ( really , what is the point then ? ) under the lame excuse that one of them had had a bad night and was anyway very thin and fragile ( that she was ), we saw for the first time in Camino a very threatening sky , black and menacing, and unsure of what to do, we seeked some local wisdom. Finally we settled in a venerable lady , that looked older than the local ancient trees, and we approached her : " Beautiful sinner , have you seen this black sky ?. Do you think, by a chance, that rain is coming? " " Nah, it never rains in Belorado " was her very assertive and secure response.

So, happy and freely , we marched on for one kilometer or so , until the skies opened and a torrential rain started falling down, catching us totally unprepared ( Nico was even in shorts, but thank god at least this time he was wearing his t-shirt 😜 ). Utterly soaked and miserable we managed eventually to come back to the hotel, to at least collect the coats. Beatiful sinner was nowhere on sight !. That was the funny story of ,other than that, a pretty nice and uneventful morning. We chatted with the owners of two more Albergues in two coffee stops along the road, we passed and were passed back by an Irish guy and finally , not without challenge, we overcome as well other couple of walking nannies ( Thank God ! ), before making it to Villafranca - Montes de Oca, our planned stop, had lunch and head towards the car and Madrid.

All in all, we made today only 13 kms and 3 1/2 hours walking. On cumulative distance , Nico did 100 kms in 4 days , and I, 267 kms in 11 days ( average 24.3 kms daily, 55 towns crossed ) with Santiago still at another 527. So in essence, about 1/3 of the Camino, with the intention to do another third before the summer ( even though in one month will be too crowded and too hot ) and the final strip after it. Also, it happens to be the end of March today, and even though I started Camino only on the 17th , I did walk a bit before as well , and therefore I am finishing the month with 430 kms marched. Not quite a full Camino, but still not a bad number , and of course an absulte all time high for me .If I ever want to go back to honest work, that could guarantee me at least a postman job 😜. Anyway, is goodbye for now to Camino, and also to this blog , after 21 posts. I will retake it , I guess, when I retake Camino, whenever that would be. To all my friends that had the patience and bad judgement to still read me , thank you very much for your support and contact on these months. It has been 5 months since I left Estee Lauder , in which I had a lot of fun, submit myself to fasting, lost a few kilos, stopped smoking , walked endlessly, played some golf, experienced rural Britania, spent half of my hard worked savings on a very pretty version of faulty towers, and , above all , missed you a lot. As I feel a bit emotional , allow me to finish , yet again , with the extract of another poem of, this time, Antonio Machado ( in fact brother of Manuel , and the best spanish poet of last century ) : " Caminante, son tus huellas el camino y nada mas; Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar "

With love Ivan

[benchinthepark]

En tierras del Cid ( on El Cid's lands ) - Camino day 10 - March 30th 2017- Santo Domingo de la Calzada- Belorado

Today we crossed into Castilla ( Burgos province ) , the massive Central Area of Spain , from where I am from, known for long strips of open land, endless horizons, not a tree on sight, very cold in winter and an absolute inferno on summer , with not a single shadow to offer protection.

Nico and I under Castilla's sun Best description of the land by Manuel Machado, on his poem Castilla : " El ciego sol, la sed y la fatiga, por la terrible estepa castellana, al destierro , con doce de los suyos, polvo,sudor y hierro, el Cid cabalga " Apologies, no translation offered , as it would be terrible to kill such a beatiful poem. El Cid was a historical figure, yet half legend. A knight that fought under ungrateful Spanish kings in the Reconquista, and that also suffer exile from them. The most iconic historical figure of Burgos and Castilla on the middle ages. Anyway, a hard land that brings up hard, ascetic, stubborn, hot headed individuals ( like some members of my family, me excluded 😅 )

Castilla

With Nico under the valliant's cross, apparently the site of a little battle ( more like a skirmish, I assume ) between Santo Domingo and Grañon for the dispute of pasture grounds in the middle ages. On a personal front, a superb day. First day since I started the Camino that I managed a journey of 20+ kms ( 25 kms to be exact. 6 1/2 hours walking ) with no suffering whatsoever. Eureka !. It seems that now that I am finishing the first block ( we stop after tomorrow ), I am getting finally into the real walking rythm. Porca miseria 😜¡. We started super late at 10.30 am ( we thoroughly enjoyed the Parador facilities and even had a stroll through Santo Domingo, not counted on the overall kms of the day ) and as a consequence we finished quite late, around 7.00 pm, with Nico by then properly fed up and wondering what was the point of all this walking. On the social side it was also an interesting day. Aside from bumping again into the frenchies that were catching a bus for the first half of the journey ( cheaters ! ) , we came across a swedish lady on the first town on the road ( Grañon ) that told us that she have been doing the Camino since Roncesvalles, like me , and did 33kms on her longest journey , but now had to be home for Eastern, and in order to do it she had to walk at an average of 40 kms / day if she wanted to make it to Santiago. She was properly stressed and in an obvious hurry. Poor thing !. Good luck to her. Then we stopped for lunch in an Albergue in the first town of Burgos ( Redecilla del Camino , aka " little net on the road " ) to find that the owner was a super charming Paraguay lady. I saw the same in a previous village ( Torres del Rio ) at twenty something kms of Logroño in the middle of Navarrian hills, where I stopped in a very nice rural hotel ( was the night after my Albergue experience , so I was very happy to be there ) , run entirely and owned by a bolivian family. Kind of strange to see this in a very, very rural spanish setting and I guess this is the world that Trump, Brexit lovers and Catalan independents want to avoid, but I thought it was great and very refreshing. Global comes even to Redecilla del Camino !. Then in the same town we came across Juanito , a very humble and picturesque Camino volunteer . Basically, he attends and serves in Albergues and gets paid out of charity. He asked us if we could help and was shocked that I gave him 10€ ( later on I felt quite guilty that I did not produce at least a twenty ). With this ten he told us he would cover sleep and food for the day. He was so grateful that he gave Nico and I several little postcards with Santiago calendars and two chip necklaces with virgin images. I am wearing mine proudly. A very humbling encounter.

With Juanito To finish the day we had coffee in another Albergue in Viloria de Rioja and we had a chat with the owner that told us that in his experience the Camino provides everyone what they are seeking : some is friendship, others soul searching, other religious experience , others companionship and love. Whatever you seek , he said, is likely you will encounter here. I thought it was a great comment, and one that so far I think is true. We finish in Belorado entering under dusk light and after a very long journey .

Belorado

Pre dusk and Nico walking

All the best Ivan 25 kms Cumulative distance and towns - 254 kms ; 51 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Under the Rioja Sun ( Camino day 9 ) - March 29th 2017- Najera - Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

Another long day , 26 kms ( 6 1/2 hours of real walking ), though not as brutal as yesterday. We walked for most part of the day under a torrid sun.We started the day with jerseys and coats, at 7.45 am , but after one hour and half we just wanted to be on our swimmies.

Early morning walk. Still with jersey and coat. We also made a big mistake and did not buy sun protection and by the end of the day both Nico and I were suitably and maasively burned on the left side ( arms and neck ). Funny enough, the sun was all the time on that side, do not know why.

Coats off !

We had to manage quite a few uphill strips ( we have already crossed through something like ten valleys in these two days ) and on the longest one , after half an hour climbing, we were so fed up that decided to record our protests in the phones via recording shouts as powerful as we could manage. Nico was , educated guy as he is, ( all my private education dollars on display ) , pretty composed and discret , but , of course , that was not my case and my cry lasted about a minute, and reverberate across at least three valleys. We, I , performed this extraordinary feast, at only about 100 meters from the top of the bloody hill , and to our horror when we climbed it, we found a classic Camino bar with about twenty people , all very alarmed and starting to organize something like rescue groups to attend what they thought were very disturbing cries for help. We , of course , said we had heard them as well , and believed they came from some feeble foreign pilgrims coming after us. I am not sure if they believe us though, as nobody appeared in the next half an hour. Anyway, litle Camino anecdotes. Other than that , the day was pretty uneventful. We came across our french friends again, and we also meet a couple of Madrid ladies as well, that like us, refused to sleep in Albergues and in Santo Domingo were sleeping in the very nice Parador. ( hotel chain belonging to the state and created on the sixties to promote spanish tourism, with hotels ubicated in historical sites and generally in old buildings with very good cusine ). Obviously spanish and even more madrileños are very spoiled people. Another interesting story of the day was crossing in he middle of the hills, and closed to a village of , I would estimate , no more than 200 people, in the middle of nowhere , through a ghost town of chalets and villas ( no less of 500 of them ), all of them closed and empty and with abundance of selling posts. A remembrance of the crazy, stupid construction frenzy in Spain on the pre crisis years , where some created fortunes , but so many went bankrupt. If any of you is looking for a vacation house on the spanish countryside, I am sure you could negotiate a pretty good bargain, though I would not recommend it, unless you want to die of boredom 😜. Finally , we arrived to Santo Domingo, a very cute little town with plenty of romanic churches and a must see in what relates to Spanish religious architecture. The problem is that on the Camino, distances and visual cues are extremely deceiving. We approached Santo Domingo from a height, another valley change , and being at the end of the day pretty tired and longing to make it to the hotel. In our estimation from the top, the distance was not more than 2kms or half an hour. At the end it took us one hour and a half , as the real distance was more close to 6 kms. The bloody church ( The Parador was seating literally in front of the Cathedral ) seemed forever to be moving away from us, literally. This type of calculation errors when entering into a relatively big village ( Santo Domingo has around 5000 population ) are not uncommon, but when they happen at the end of a long day are quite devastating.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Anyway, tomorrow we will cross into another province , Burgos, and will enter into hard, flat Castilla, and therefore center of Spain ( only 200 kms above Madrid ) All the best Ivan Cumulative distance and towns : 229kms ; 45 towns.

[benchinthepark]

The longest day ( Camino day 8 ) - Father ( what remains of him ) and son- March 28th 2017 . Logroño-Najera

Nico is on a mission to kill his father . I think he wants to inherit all my nice watches... and soon. Yesterday we started in Logroño at 8.00 am and we finished in Najera at 7.30 pm , after 8 1/2 hours of solid walking , and 35 kms. For a guy ( moi ) that tends to hit a wall at 18/20 kms, is not too bad, right?.

Logroño Of course, Nico, being much fitter than me , he complains that I walk like a tortoise , but if you check distance and time , you will see I kept the 4kms/ hour pace, that is not too bad in the countryside, under torrid sun , with a 10 kgs backpack , walking endlessly for more than eight hours and crossing 4 valleys with their corresponding dividing hills. The worst moment of the day was just before lunch when we were passed by two granies ( petite , wiry , old ladies ) and Nico started saying that we were been cacth up by a guy in a wheel chair and another one walking with crutches ( funny, he is ! 😅 ). The truth is that the grannies ,to our amusement,did pass absolutely everyone else ahead of us , and by now they should be close to Santiago. At lunch ,we had done 15 kms and it was difficult to move at all, all leg's bone aching, but in this sorrow state we had to make another 20 kms , to our dismay ,in the afternoon ( Nico as well , though he does not want to confess it 😜 ).

Navarrete I know he was also tired because he spent the full last hour swearing , a clear indication, for a perceptive mind like mine, that something was not quite right 😜.

The never ending road. Of course, I was quite anxious on how Nico will enjoy or not the experience , and he was a real champ. He loved the Camino and the whole experience on the road. He loved seing how a woman pilgrim did perform a full back massage in another that was a total stranger at our lunch break, and he immediately caught in the spirit of solidarity, openess and companionship among total strangers that is the Hall Mark of Camino. At the end of the never ending day , amd despite his very high fitness level , he also suffered a bit, which is good , because is part of the ticket , but he had a way to dissociate this from him, that I found very endearing: " Papi my legs are hurting,but I am not tired ". Apparentely his legs are not part of his body when it works on his interest. Using the same or similar reverse logic , I can publicly declare that my ears and eye brows were not tired at all ( I think this is about it ). Anyway, he was a great sport , we talked about everything and anything, as you could imagine in such a long time, and he was a super companion. On the social front we cross with three very nice ladies ( two french and one algerian, the massageur ) and also with a great crew of galician people that were in fact doing a Camino TV show for Galicia TV . Something like a big brother ( 24/7 filming ) of a couple doing the Camino. A great initiative that you can check it online at "destinosantiagotvg.gal ".

Nico and I with the frenchies ( indicating way to Santiagp. As you can see, not all in agrrement 😜 ) We talked with the two actors, the cameras , the producer and the director, all smashing people. The two actors , in fact doing the Camino full length , were a man and a woman. The man was carrying a massive tree trunk as a walking stick , that he claimed was 8 kgs weight ( it was certainly something ) and even more, was doing the Camino ( except in parts with many rocks ) bare footed. Really impressive !. For today that is all. I am really very tired.I just crossed the 200 kms mark that was my first true objective, so I am really happy.

Nico and I after almost 30 kms. On my side I let you judge : fake smile or lots of merit ?

Nerja Of course is not about the distance , but about the experience and how it transform you in many ways , but being a number's guy , this also counts. All the best Ivan Cumulative Distance and towns - 203 kms ; 42 towns.

[benchinthepark]

Logroño ( Camino day 7 ) - March 24th 2017 - Torres Del Río - Logroño

Not all days are equal. Some, you start full of energy , with your tank bursting and only as the day goes by , it starts to deplete little by little , until it reaches zero ( in my case , and depending on the terrain , this tends to happen around 18-20 kms ). Others, something is not quite right since the beginning. Well ,today was one of the others. I did in fact sleep well , in a decent hotel and bed , but somehow my legs were stiff since I wake up and I felt tired before walking one step. I left at 7.45 and again I had in front of me a long walk until next town ( the guide said 11kms , but the reality was closer to 13 ). To make matters worst the first stretch of around 6 kms was all uphill/downhill/uphill, until reaching the Hermitage of Boyo.

Hard Camino

Boyo hermiatge and messages left there under the rocks. By then, after one hour and half pretending to be a goat , I was pretty exhausted , with ankle pains and quite desperate thinking that I still had another 6 kms to frst stop, when around a bend I found a little hut, pretending to be a bar . This kind of funny mountain chringuitos exist in the Camino, but they are all closed and dismantled during the low season.

Pepe and " Casa Lucia " To my surprise ,as I arrived ,the owner, Pepe, was opening up . I really thought it was a mountain mirage ( or may be , most appropriate, ... a true miracle ). I spent there more than an hour chatting with Pepe, to discover that my idea of opening a life coach practice in the middle of the mountains has already been taken and improved ( offering coffee and beers ) by Pepe !. The hut had the grand name of " Casa Lucia ", due to an old love of him ( of course ... unfulfilled ) , and Pepe had on it a pilgrim book where people wrote their thoughts from quite a few years back. Very impressive, and I loved my chat with Pepe. By the time I left, the hut had 5/6 pilgrims enjoying a break , what on this time of the year, can be considered almost like a rush hour 😜.

Pilgrim ( me ) shadow under Navarra sun. Fully re-energized I cotinue to Viana , a very nice little town at 12 kms of Logroño, where I re encounter Stefania ( the italian lady ) and the swiss couple of the Albergue ( Annete and Frank, which by the way happened not to be a couple, and Frank not even swiss, but German. Talk about lost in translation! ). I spent another hour with them in a cafe on the Sun ( so bloody nice! ), whilst they were eating out of their backpack supplies , and when they left , I proceed myself to the best restaurant in town , where I spent another glorious hour 😜.

Viana

With Stefania Then, finally, I started my last strip of the day, of another 12 kms , but mostly flat, to find first a German guy , Alexander, 25, that was studying to become a priest , and soon after a bunch of aussie girls laying on a strip of open grass. Under such a strange view ( all these girls having a nap ), Alexander decided to leave like if he had seen the true face of Satan, but I stay, took pics and walk the rest of the journey with them. They happened to be all journalist for an Australian TV channel ,but doing the Camino together as a holiday adventure. They were very fun and I enjoyed a lot talking with them , though being journalist and I being probably the first spanish pilgrim they had encountered, I was asked zillions questions about everything , that I tried to answer to the best of my knowledge or else invent a credible story. All very fun, though by now I had reached my famous 20 kms wall and answering all these questions was a bit consuming.

The Aussies At the entrance of Logroño , in front of a very humble house, on a very humble table, we found Doña Maria, 84 , that was stamping pilgrim credentials and selling soft drinks. I do not know why , but the conversation divert to our battered bodies and injuries and whilst I had to put in display my ankle for all the aussie reps to take photos , Doña Maria was proudly showing us her operated knee . All very convivial.

Doña Maria With that, I enter into Logroño ( another very beautiful city ), absolutely exhausted,after another 24.4 kms and 6 hours walking . Now, I am in a very nice hotel and my frozen bathtub is about to cure my legs .

Logroño After, I would go out to have some tapas and get a bit drunk ( Logroño is the Rioja capital ) and early to bed as tomorrow at 7.30 I am catching a train to Madrid to collect Nico and continue the Camino with him.

Logroño pichos. If there are better anywhere else, I do not know them ! For all that I am enjoying Camino , I still welcome now the two days break.

All the best Ivan Cumulative distance and towns - 168 kms ; 40 towns crossed.

[benchinthepark]

Camino Spirit ( Camino day 6 ) - March 22nd 2017 - Villamayor de Monjardin - Torres Del Río

Another great day. Despite the weather forecast, I escaped rain so far and I thoroughly enjoyed a sunny day ( whilst there is massive snow in Madrid 😜 ). I left at 7.15 am ( -1C, a bit fresh ! ) and arrived at Torres at 1.30pm. 23 kms and a bit over 5 hours walking , but mostly in flat terrain ( still struggling in last 3/4 kms ). First leg, Villamayor-Los Arcos, with the longest distance so far ( probably in the whole Camino ) between towns , 14 kms.

7.15 am. Mist all over.

Los Arcos Yesterday night was my first experience in an Albergue, one I hope not to repeat often. Individual room , but bench bed , and cold, very cold. Still , Albergues are the place to meet new people and at the end there was more than goats and sheeps , as other pilgrims arrived in the afternoon : a swiss couple, two taiwanes ladies, one hungarian, one Italian and one english ( sounds like a very bad joke 😅 ). Of those, I chat the most with the Italian ( Stefania ), a mature and very charming lady from somewhere close to Rome, and with the english , Alexandra, from Norwich. Stefania did not speak any english at all , so all the conversation was in my poor Italian . For what I gathered she came here because of very emotional changes in her personal life ( she did not want to develop further. Maybe a recent widow ? ) and to find a new path in life. She works as a nurse, but his real passion is glass art, and is thinking of a radical change. She had been thinking of doing The Camino for more than 20 years , but now was the time. However, for all that my Italian is worth, she might be working in a circus and been in charge of the elephants. Who knows ?. On any case, a very nice lady in a difficult personal moment looking for change and discovery. Alexandra was a different story altogether . Definitively on her mid twenties , left home after school and has been travelling the world for 5 years now ( Nicaruaga, Marroco, Mauritania, Senegal ). A very brave young lady !. Also felt something like a calling to do the Camino and she expects that it will help her decide what to do with her life. I think if you put, literally, a life coach little office in the middle of it, you will probaly not get rich, as Camino is a quite popular enterprise, but certainly very,very busy. I envison kilometric cues whilst I coach pilgrims on my cheap, white fornica table , with two garden chairs, in the middle of an open grass section, by the side of the track. In the morning ,on my way to Los Arcos , I met Rafael, a cyclist that had a nice white bear like me, just retired like me ( alhough he is 61. I beat him on that! 😜 ) , had a recent ankle operation like me , and got seriously infected, like me ( his infection was indeed worst with a massive hole .He showed me pictures but are not approrpriate for all audiences , so , apologise, but you need to use your most truculent imagination) . Unlike me, he was a super fit ex-firefighter , that had done the Camino 14 times !.

With Rafael I , on the other side, am still a Camino baby, but after now 6 days, I am starting to get into the Camino spirit. I mentioned in a previous post that Camino was an exercise of determination and suffering, and indeed it is. In my case, I have pains on both knees , one ankle and one hip, but I consider myself lucky as my feet had escape punishment ( the vaseline, of course ) and I do not have either the very common back pains ( shoulders due to back packs , and lower back ).

Sansol on the distance, as seen from 4kms out. But the Camino is also many other things . First as you walk and walk and walk, life starts to slow down a bit. The geography and landscape changes, but at the slow pace of your feet, and after many hours doing this , you start to slow down as well. For so many of my friends , living life on the fast track, overwhelmed with business trips, calls, e-mails, estimates, budgets, etc, four to five days on the Camino , would be very recommendable, and would operate a massive change on the way you ( us all ) see things. Also , even if you do it in company , most of the time you walk in solitude, lost in your own thoughts. Lots of souls searching and reflections on what is really important in life, what path you want to follow , etc. There are quite a lot of very special moments that you live just by yourself. Then, you also learned to live with just the absolute basics , and even without some of them. Weight overweigts ( apologies for the little joke ) any other consideration , and all is very, very basic. You discover also that this is great, and that not much is needed for happiness. Then ,of course, you meet many people. All spirits are in alert mode and people are, because of the experience way more open that they would be in their daily lifes. And you meet loads of them , coming from everywhere. In fact , except Rafael and of course the people in the little twons you crossed, I have not met any Spaniards. Having the luxury of proximity, spanish tend to wait for warmer months ( even though so far weather has been fantastic ) and they do it ( like Marta ) with groups of friends in little bursts ( 3/4 days ) each time. Still a great experience , for sure, but all the foreigners that come are doing it in one go, the whole bloody 790 kms, and I think this also adds for an extraordinary experience. Some, the super fit ones, can do it in as little as 30 days, but for most is a six weeks adventure. As I like to walk at my own leisure ( stopping a lot to take pics and almost hiting every bar in the road ), and I prefer to seek a simple accomadation ( there aren't others ), but a bit above Albergues, I tend to engage only for brief periods of time (1-2 hours ) but with a lot of people ( i dicovered I am more social than I thought , or maybe is also the Camino spirit ) , and they all have great stories to tell. Your own struggles become obviously much smaller and relative, when people opens up to you and you hear all about theirs. And finally , and for me this is very important, is very beautiful in a sort of authentic , not manicured sort of way, and a fantastic way to get to know your country much better, even though, is only the North part of it.

No, not Switzerland nor Scotland. Spain. Tonight I am sleeping in a better place, a rural hotel ( 50€ per night ) and as a consequence I am totally alone. All my friends from yesterday that were planning the same journey are in the local Albergue, 400 meters away, a distance that seems unmanagable to me at the moment, so tonight peace and solitude. Tomorrow, another twentysomething into Logroño, Spanish wine capital ( Rioja ), and a relatively big city. Form there to Madrid to pick Nico and continue with him towards Burgos.

All the best Ivan Cumulative distance and towns - 144kms- 38 towns.

[benchinthepark]

@thestrongtiesthatbindus - Yes, well said

RIP ( Camino day 5 )- March 22nd 2017

RIP “ requiescat in peace ” or Rest in peace , exactly what I have been doing today, even though I am still alive and kicking. What a fantastic journey ¡. Only 11 kms ( lazy, lazy ) , from Estella to Villamayor de Monjardin. Not without climbing ( see day profile ) but still compared with the 24/29 kms journeys of previous days, a real walk in the park. What a difference 10-15 additional kms can do. I think this pace of two long journeys , followed by a ½ one really suits me.

Profile of the day ( part 1 and 2 ) Wake up at 8.30, breakfast 9.00, start walking at 10.00 am and finish at 2.30 pm, but real walking time of less than three hours, the rest doing photos and getting drank since early hours , as I am now in the middle of Spain wine country. La vita e bella !.

Estella Also, as I left so late and I am doing only kind of half a journey , no other pilgrims on site whatsoever , which for once is great. Only people I met was Justo, the manager of the Wine Museum at Irache

Wine museum . Irache

Irache , town and abbey. And then came the funny story of the day. After walking through a very nice strip of forest and open land, I came across a little side road with a block of stone by the side . I decided to rest there for 5 mins and have a bit of water ( to compensate and balance all the previous wine ), when , suddenly, without me noticing and totally out of the blue, to local guys approached me by my back, armed with a hammer and a long iron . You could imagine my scare 😱. I inmediately took my pilgrim stick and adopt a defensive position ( for a moment I thought I was going to be another tomb in Camino ).

The two gentleman , town workers that come to operate on the sewer that was below the block were quite amused !.😂 The only ( minor ) issue is that when you decide to sleep where nobody does ( especially in low season ) , you are in a tiny, tiny little hamlet ( Villamayor ), with a church and a bar for all amenities ( though I had one of the best meals in a long time : salad with Navarra asparagus and peppers and fried eggs with ham. Absolutely delicious ! ) , and I would have tonight as companions a goat , a sheep and a street cat. Loads of soul searching. Also accomdation is not precisely the most glamorous , but that is good. Little by little, I am going pilgrim ( now since yesterday also carrying my load with me, backpack of at least 10kgs ).

Villamayor de Monjardin ( hill on the distance ) as seen from 5/6 kms out.

Villamayor de Monjardin

Hotel and hotel room 😅 Tomorrow, I would live very early as there is absolutley nothing to do here , other than contemplative life , and even if it would be another twentysomething journey , is mostly down hill so it should be an easy and great day as well. Be well Ivan Cumulative distance and towns - 121 kms ; 35 towns crossed.

[benchinthepark]

@jrasmus - Good point . Will do. By the way they told me one of them ( little town close to Pamplona is so full of Nordics that the major name is something like Rasmussen or similar ( maybe some family roots here 😜)

Forgiveness - ( Camino day 3 )- March 20th 2017

After a relaxing Sunday in Pamplona, we came back to Camino today . Even though , with Carlitos , the relax is always relative , and he dragged me around Pamplona for another 8 kms , on the bloody day we were supposed to be on “ dolce far niente ” gear. Anyway, it was worth it, as Pamplona is a truly spectacular middle age city with one of the oldest and more prestigious Universities in Spain, full of old and narrow streets, bursting with tapeo bars, so we fully replenished bellies and depleted energy levels.

Today we started early, 7.00 am , and AGAIN , we walked much more than planned , exactly 27.3 kms to point of destiny ( cumulative now, without Pamplona day, 86 kms ) , finishing at around 4.30 pm. ( real walking time of 6 hours ) We have crossed now through 26 towns/villages on 3 days. I guess this detail is pretty irrelevant for any reader , but for me , an obsessive mind, that can only cope with the physicality of Camino by breaking each journey into little pieces, literally into the walk to the next village,so the amount of them is something I feel quite proud about it. The worst part of today ,as expected , was the climbing to Alto del Perdon ( peak of forgiveness ) and the consequent descend through a 4kms leg breaking path full of rocks ( funny how I keep finding descends by far more difficult ).

In Alto del Perdon, asking for forgiveness and with Mathaus, a very nice slovakian. I initially thought it was called Alto del Perdon due to the amount of swearing and blasphemies expelled by the exhausted pilgrims , that in turn had contriction acts when they reach the top, but I was wrong. The legend is that on the old path there was a fountain , “ Devil’s fountain”, where the malign tempted the pilgrims with all type of goodies ( don’t ask me specifics, as I do not know ), and the good ones , less sinners, were forgiven on the top by act of contriction. Unfortunately for us , the path has changed and does not go any longer through the aforementioned fountain , so we missed the chance to see what the Devil had on offer. My luck ☹️.

As every day, we engaged with new people ,but today the engagement was light : a couple of young Italians to whom we gave all the cookies Carlos was carrying on his backpack and that thought that we were venerable old saints ( truth is we wanted to lighten the load of the backpack ), a very nice slovak Mathaus , 25 years of age , that was in his 4th week of Camino, as he started on Arles, France , and that was here to find a new direction on his life , which I am pretty confident he will do , considering the effort ( as per the Italians, they were there for the reason the Italians do almost everything, to find girls ), and we catch up again with our old friend “ Coronel Thomas ” , that did not stop and play lazy in Pamplona like us. More and more, I am finding that people do the Camino for all type of reasons , but mostly connected with a certain expectation of self discovery. I truly believe that for many it will be an experience that will change their life, for the better. As said, in my case , it was more a promise I made to myself before the ankle transplant , but I am curious ( and open ) to a deeper experience. Will see.

Me on my best Sheperd look ( just missing the dog 😜) Otherwise the day was pretty uneventful except for the fact that my kind and superathletic baby sitter ( Carlos ) has return at the end of the journey to Madrid, considering he has succeeded in his task to launch his friend in the wilderness without harm.

Gracias Carlitos. You are the best.I love you. Now that I am alone, and without , so to speak , a supervising consciensce, is likely that I would wake up tomorrow at around noon and maybe manage a stroll of 4/5 kms ( only if not too steep ) or alternatively, as per Belinda’s suggestion, simply pick a taxi to next stop. Otherwise, I will have to carry my mammouth backpack ( these last days I was free of it , as we used Carlos car at the end of each journey to move it ), and try to be brave. On that event I already reduced the weight of the backpack to half , giving to Carlos almost everything ( except underwear ) that I consider essential, so from tomorrow on I will act ( and smell ) as a true pilgrim. Tomorrow awaits unfortunately another 20+ journey ( Wednesday I will go super lighth ) because I plan to arrive to Estella , a little Navarra town , that is on the origins of the family , as I believe a gran-gran-gran dad was in ancient times the village doctor ( have to check with my mum ). Good nigth and all the best Ivan

[benchinthepark]

@maikekiessling. Thanks Maike, will try. Best.

School of life ( Camino day 2 ) - March 18th 2017

Another very long day , from 9.30 am in Zubiri ( late start due to me posting late at 1.00 am the night before ) to 8.00 pm when we finally arrived to Pamplona ( incredibly beautiful middle age city in North of Spain, capital of the old kingdom of Navarra and today most famous for the San Fermin , a spainsh tradition where wild bulls run through the streets of the old quarter on July 7th among young and very drunk men and where almost every year a tourist gets killed ( usually an american one , don’t ask me why ). Anyway, another 29.1 kms ( combined now 58.9 kms ) though easier than yesterday ( only one peak to manage ). Still , an exercise on suffering. Every day there are at least two moments when you really feel you can not walk one step more and you want to give up, but after 5/10 minutes break you troad on, mainly because you can not do anything else.

I develop a lot of red marks/dots on both legs at ankle level , where the boots end and they rubbed the skin. They can turn easily into real wounds but I am treating them generoulsy with vaselina and Nivea creme ( apologise to all my ELC friends , but I am now a humble pilgrim, so I can not go around treating them with Renutriv or La Mer 😜). Still, I think I emerged out of the two days quite unharmed and happy , considering the circumstances , amd I wear my lityle wounds with pride, as a pilgrim badge .

However the most remarkable part of the journey is the people you meet and the stories they tell you. Today, several stories. First one was about expats and charity. From Zubiri to Pamplona we had to pass through 11 different little towns, each one between 1 to 4 kms from the next one. This is what I loved from Camino. You can break the day into many little pieces that makes it more bearable and you can stop on each place to have a coffee or a beer ( as in yesterday St. Patrick’s day ).

Well, today, to my absolute horror , in every single town all coffe places, hostal, albergues , whatever, were closed . High season will only start in around two weekd and all places were closed for renovation, every single one of them. Imagine the frustration. You are walking for hours and in every place they tell you “ There is a coffee place in next twon in three kms , just to find the same answer in the next one , and on and on, for hours and hours . I was going bonkers. And then, at around 3.00 pm , with no stop since 9.30, we came across a piece of open grass land in front of a river , with park benches , a barbecue place and a group , cooking lamb chops and zipping beers. It was evidently a private party and not a commercial venue ( bar or similar ). But I was desperate , and I did not care. So I approach them, with as much charm as I could muster at the time, to find a group of around 40 bulgarian expats, having a party. The guys all very beefy, wearing sports cloths and big silver/gold link chains and looking pretty agressive. I am sure you get the picture. They did not understand me much at first, and kind of told me to bugger off. But hunger and desperation makes you daring, so I tried the Hristo Stoikov approach : famous bulgarian player of Barcelona a few years back, and a guy I particularly detested. Not today, though . Well, to make the story short we were provided with massive beef chops, empanadas gallegas, beers and deserts made by the mums of the group. The guys , all of them, were truly amazing, kind and genuine with us. And of course on their side ( and in mine as well ) it was a true exercise of charity and human solidarity. A true example for Brexit lovers and other types of classist/racist people. As always, people who have less are the more open to share. The second story was meeting a very charming, mature mexican lady , Luz ( aka ” chamaquita “ as this is how I took to call her ). At the beginning we tried to hook her with Coronel Thomas but she declared that she was there to find God, so poor Thomas of course did not stand a chance. Luz was sixtysomething and had a level of energy you could not believe . I barely could keep up with her . She called herself the ” black widow “ as she had survived two husbands ( first one killed in Mexico at a very young age ) . Luz turned out to be a life coach, so you could imagine my excitement . She of course observed us ( Carlos and I ), analysed us , and gave us a two hours conference on life, life coaching, God, meditation, mind power and on an on ( whilst walking at vivid pace . She was like Duracell little rabbit ). She called Carlos ” peludo “ ( meaning vulgar , after he made a sex joke ) , even though she later admit he was a true gentleman , but she said I was a very kinesthetic ” tiger" . Not sure what kinesthetic means, but if I got it right, is someone that apparently seeks affirmation, is very phisical touchy/feely, has little control of his impulses and a high sense of adventure,even if implies risks. Basically she read through me like an open book, but, of course, I felt quite big about the “ tiger category ” 😜.

With “chamaquita ” Luz In the outskirts of Pamplona we left Luz , as we decided to stop to watch a Real Madrid match against a vasque club in a clearly very abertzale ( radical anti Spain vasques ) bar . We had some very fun discussions on football with local crowd, but we come out without any scratch and also with a Real Madrid win. They were abertzales , but kind of nice. I think it was the fact that we come from Roncesvalles with our pilgrim’s sticks what saved our skins. At the end of the match, totally exhausted, we head towards Pamplona on what had been already a fantastic day, just to be stopped by and old man, Don Santiago, who asked us where we come from, to then engage with us on a chat about the history of the old kingdom of Navarra. To our surprise the chat lasted one hour ( it could have been more but it was getting darker and we wanted to arrive tomthe hotel ) and Santiago told us his extraordinary life. He was 80 ( though he did not look it at all ) and divorced at 70. He told us with enormous pride that now he has a girlfriend of 40 and a Porsche 911 turbo that he gets to drive at 300 kms per hour on a racetrack outside Pamplona. Good for him .

With “ young and happy ” Santiago. As you can see Camino is a true school of life.Tomorrow, rest in Pamlona ( yuuupy ) and no blog.

Pamplona ( finally ! ) at sun set. Happy week end Ivan