All arrows point to Santiago

Ginevra’s Journal

Honestly I’m not really sure what I thought it was going to be exactly. We’ve been going to the south of France since I was little and I know that at some point I noticed, when we were driving or out for a walk, that there were little yellow shells and little yellow arrows on a blue background. Someone, probably Mom said it was for the road to Santiago. The little signs just sort of seemed to be everywhere and so are churches with shells on them. So I’ve always had an idea about this route but no clear notion of what it meant. And of course the churches, especially the bigger ones, I learned that they were important “pilgrimage” churches, or sites, or stops along the way to Santiago. Rocamadour was an especially evocative one because the steps leading up to a church set into a mountain were dipped in the middle from years and years of pilgrims climbing them, on their knees. And so in my head I had this idea of a medieval peasant wandering through France, going to Spain and stopping at churches on the way. And we know that life was hard during the middle ages so it didn’t seem too far fetched that you would go on a really long walk to a church, because why not.

The idea of this walk as something to do today would pop into my head but not with any real gusto. Like oh that sounds like a neat thing to do. I guess.

And then this year we decided to do it.

I kind of freaked out before going. Like what is it? What do I need? And then I thought it’s fine it’s just a walk.

So here’s how I felt.

Mom and I did kind of freak out at the very beginning - like how do we get onto the actual camino from our hotel and how do we know which way to go? Like, there so many routes that we might start walking to Portugal by accident. It took her PhD and my Berkeley architecture degree to finally figure out the single most important thing to know, all the arrows point one way, the way to Santiago. There is only one way to go!

I enjoyed the walks. I hate cars, planes, buses and I always say I wish I could walk to Europe. I enjoyed the simplicity of the endeavor. All we had to do was get up in the morning and go for a walk. That’s it. That was the accomplishment, the raison d’etre. I found that reassuring. Walking through the Spanish countryside, through forested areas, across streams, I loved all of that.

Our longest and worst weather day was in some ways my favorite because we were totally stripped of everything but the need to keep walking. The rain made me feel more present. When the rain stopped and our pants were soaked and we were walking uphill on a small mountain, the temperature dropped suddenly and my only responsibility was to try to get warmer as I walked. I wrapped my scarf around my face and put my hands under my armpits. The simplicity of cold or wet; thirsty or hungry and finally tired was nice. This is all contingent on knowing that eventually I would be dry and warm and fed and rested.

I was not too keen on most of the towns. I thought they were all going to be really cute medieval towns with pretty stone houses. You know, like the south of France. In my head I kept saying what is up with all this 1960s cement block construction? What happened here? That was my overwhelming impression. Especially since the approach to many of the villages and towns was through industrial areas. They just weren’t cute and in my imagination everything is cute. There was also nothing to see or do. So I really couldn’t understand the pilgrims (mostly older ladies) who got up at 5am and left at 7am and arrived by noon. For what?

There were a few very cute towns, and ultimately I enjoyed the walk - I am still coming to terms with what it actually means as a thing to do. I found packing up each day exhausting and not being able to cook also very tiring. I would have chosen different hotels, favoring ones in the countryside as the countryside seemed more charming.

I don’t ultimately know what the point was. Really. I mean maybe that was the point, there is no point. The point is being. Which at this point is a luxury.

On the flight from Paris to San Francisco yesterday, I watched 2 of the 3 Lord of the Rings films. Both the film trilogy and the novel upon which it is based, by J. R. R. Tolkien, are very special to me. I have probably reread the book almost as often as I reread Jane Austen’s books. Re-watching Lord of the Rings this time, after our experience in Spain, made me see it in a completely different way. This time, I was struck by the fact that the movie is about a pilgrimage. There are tons of mythological, political, environmental, economic and religious references in the novel. But if you distill it down to its essence, it’s a story about a journey, actually a really long walk. A good many scenes are just Viggo Mortensen looking fabulous walking around New Zealand. Who doesn’t want to watch that? It’s such a fantastic epic journey, but it is a journey on foot. The characters occasionally ride horses but mostly, it’s a fabulous walkabout. Two Lord of the Rings films are long but the flight from Paris to San Francisco is even longer. So I also watched The Hobbit, too. This time through new eyes. I loved when Bilbo Baggins told the dwarves he was about to join on a dragon hunting quest that he didn’t think he would need a donkey because he had been on quite a few “walking holidays.” Count me in Bilbo! I’m ready for some more walking holidays!

Here is my day by day journal from with photos (slideshow format click on arrows for more):

Day 1 of our Camino journey- Sarria to Morgade on the Camino de Santiago. Gorgeous scenery, some rain, fresh air , cute and smelly cows, and my favorite thing to do - walk! I haven’t owned a rain jacket for a while, but super happy to have one for this trip ! Staying in the cutest @casamorgadefor the night.

Day 2 - Camino route Morgade to Portomarin- 10km walk with varying terrain and a touch of rain, ended with a big stair climb. Felt good and we were hungry, we ordered some bocarones, I ordered a bacon one - it was literally 7 slices of bacon on an enormous half baguette and that was it! It was actually funny, like this is a sandwich?! I was so hungry it didn’t matter, and a cerveza helped. Mom ordered a tuna sando which was literally a can of tuna on bread but at least she had tomatoes! Which I stole… Dinner was delish once we asked the company who arranged all our accommodations @galiwonders for a dinner rec- yummy prawns, warm salad, grilled veggies and cheese cake!

Day 3 - Portomarin to Palas de Rei - our longest walk 23km and it rained virtually the entire time, we got soaked. At one point the elevation changed and the temp dropped by at least 10 degrees. We were freezing. We were not entirely prepared for rain, my raincoat kept my chest dry, but my sleeves, pants and shoes got soaked. Timbuk2 backpack did pretty well. All the fancy pilgrims had backpack covers, which I didn’t know was a thing because I don’t normally walk around in the rain for 6 hours omg. Definitely learned the value of the Boyscout motto, “Always be prepared.” But like who knew it was going to pour in northern Spain in October while SF was having a heatwave! Poor Mum, her poncho was not good, she was more soaked than I was, which I didn’t know until we got to the hotel and threw everything in a dryer. We put on our dry clothes and went to pilgrim mass at the little church which was lovely. There were all these adorable teenage boy pilgrims in cute hoodies singing along in Church. Dinner was at a place that could have been in San Francisco and hell yeah I ordered the burger and it was so good and Mum got ribs omg so good. What a day!

Day 4- Palas de Rei to Melide - 15km - stayed mostly dry, and met a friendly Pilgrim from Poland who lived in San Diego. He had lots of stories which kept Mum from thinking about how she felt a bit meh from the day before. It’s nice, as you pass people on the route, most pilgrims say Hola! and Buen Camino! This town was a bit bigger and had fun a pulperia, we did not order pulpo but had a few slices of Spanish omelet and a salad and then we went back for dinner lol and our Camino friend was there! And so was the cute Mum and son we kept passing all day as we walked!

Day 5 - Melide to Arzua 13km - this became a solo walk- Mum was feeling sick from being soaked the other day so she needed a break, @galiwonders called her a taxi to the next town, the taxi ride was 15 min, the walk 3 hours 😂 it was a nice walk, more steep uphills this day, I got a little competitive going up them passing other pilgrims, but honestly I like going fast uphill and then resting at the top. There was some rain and then gorgeous sun and beautiful scenery. Missed Mum but nice to walk at the pace I wanted and just be in my own head. There were moments I was totally alone but I was always happy to see other pilgrims. When I got to town Mum was having a cafe with a sweet Canadian pilgrim so I joined them and rewarded myself with a cerveza! Mum and I then went to lovely restaurant with seriously yummy food. The weather changed dramatically and Mum was freezing so the sweet waiter brought her some hot water to hold! We ended lunch with camomile. For dinner we had supermarket picnic lol which I highly recommend - cheese, bread, Pringles, apples. For an extra treat, I turned on the television and watched ‘Friends’ in Spanish.

Days 6 & 7 - Arzua to O Pedrouza 18km - O Pedrouza to Lavacolla 10km - Day 6 was a long walk, about 4 hours but we had some picnic stops, I was feeling tired towards the end, the day was lovely but the accommodation was very meh. The town had a cute pizzeria with good food and nice people. We saw the cute Scottsmen we had breaky with earlier in the day. We stopped for yummy ice cream cones which we ate on our way back to our hotel. Next morning we ran into our Canadian friend from the other day! The day’s walk was super relaxed, only 10km. We got to our modern hotel and where we ate good salads followed by a shared dessert and tea and then we relaxed in a nice park. Room service for din din! Tomorrow is our last 10km and I’m excited to get to Santiago but also a little sad that the walk is ending….

Day 8- Lavacolla to Santiago de Compostela 10km - We made it! Arrived at our destination, Santiago today, after walking 130km. We got to the Cathedral and checked into the Parador de Santiago! It is so pretty and so big that we keep getting lost trying to find our room. We went to the pilgrim office and got our official pilgrimage certificate which was very fun. They printed the Latin (Spanish?) version of my name - Gueneveram! We sat in front of the cathedral to take it all in with the other pilgrims. And then back to our 5 star hotel where I took a really nice long shower!