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Not the Blair Journey

mint

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5-element Newbie

5-element

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Sweet 17 - Like everyone else, very glad you are back safely. Keeping a low profile, and staying away from the web, sounds such the right thing to do after such an adventure! While you take your time resurfacing (or not as the case may be) I hope you are fully enjoying sinking into the home comforts that you were doing without for such a long time and in such a determined fashion. See you around, and many heartfelt congratulations.[kiss]

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mint Newbie

mint

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Hi, everybody

Many thanks for the brilliant Welcome Home!  Teapot, your post made me grin with happiness..........it's just so lovely!

Pat, it's not that I need to recover; indeed, I feel perfectly well and surprisingly un-tired.  It's that Normal Life is catching up with me and I am also, in some ways, trying to dodge "responsibility" for as long as I can.

Anyway, please look out for PMs, all the usual suspects, as I will be PMing you individually.

Had a lovely PM from Gardian and I have replied, Gardian!

If anyone has anything they'd really like to know about the Camino, please just ask.  I am more than happy to answer if it's something I know about.

Also, to Cendrillon, a million thanks for introducing me to Nordic Walking.  A few people have asked me about the poles and quite a few knew me from my gait.  They knew it was me even from way back (on account of the poles) and came up to find me.

Best of all, the poles do mean that my upper half (and back) is as well toned as my lower half and I have lost more or less the weight of the rucksack!  How much do you reckon five toenails weigh?  I've lost three from one foot and two from the other?

Go on, Gem, how many did you lose?  And how much weight?  Will email or PM you in the next day or two.

 

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Gemonimo Newbie

Gemonimo

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Go on, Gem, how many did you lose?  And how much weight? 

[/quote]

Toenails? three on one foot, one on the other.  One of my last walking companions was a podiatrist (?) and on the day before the arrival in Santiago she took me in hand (well, foot, actually) and trimmed and removed all the bits and pieces so I walked into town light of foot.  As for weight, four kilos which no doubt will be put back on in due course although I do quite like the new 'look'.  What I did notice, though, was that the shape of my legs had changed.

I'm glad you are well rested, Sweets.  We must have a debrief at some point to see whether we stayed in the same places. 

A few days after I had returned vowing never to do the Camino again. It really was a most life changing experience and pain or no pain I really will do it again and I bet you do, too!

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mint Newbie

mint

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Oh, Gem, I love your reply!

Albergue life is definitely NOT for me but I wouldn't mind doing some of the French route from Le Puy.

I thought of you so much and, yes, prayed for you in my inadequate, rusty way.  Now you have given me confirmation that it was life-changing for you!  It was, of course, life-changing for me....how could it not be?

Yes, we will have our debriefing session but it's too soon for me at the moment.  I haven't yet had time to reflect on the meaning of the Camino and Real Life has knocked me for six.

It does take some time to adjust and to re-orientate the mind.

As a simple example, this morning I woke up in the dark and thought, where is my torch so that I can look at my watch.  It took a second or two to realise that I have a perfectly good, working bedside lamp and that just switching it on will enable me to consult my watch.

How comfortable our lives are, Jen, especially compared to some of the Spanish people's in the villages that we passed!  But, that's food for thought for other places and times than here..........

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mint Newbie

mint

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Cendrillon, how good it is to catch up with you.  I am replying to you on the Forum (having lost your email before I could read it....ggggrrrrgghhh!)

When I was in Santo Domingo, the chiropodist gave me a tip for preventing blisters.  He told me to change my socks every 5 km or so.  That's to say, change your socks, pin them to your rucksack to dry out and, after a couple of hours, put on the dry ones and pin the damp ones on the rucksack and thus, in this way, keep alternating your socks.

This might sound like a bit of a faff but, believe me, it's heaven to change your socks because then you feel like you have new feet!

He explained that, when your socks get damp, that's when your feet start moving in your boots, rubbing and so on and causing blisters.

After I saw him, I conscienciously changed my socks as prescribed and there were no further foot problems.

Wish I'd known about that from the beginning....

BTW, would be good to walk on the path around Saintes with you in the spring.  By then, I should be "up for it"!

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Cendrillon Newbie

Cendrillon

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Hi Sweets

Will send you a proper email. Yes I would definitely be up for some Nordic Walking in the spring. (LOL at the rate I am doing the walk I shall be lucky if I reach Compostelle by the time I am 100 if I live that long!)

Thanks for the sock changing tip, our Nordic Walk leader was full of energy and trying to get him to stop and wait while one changed socks might have been difficult.

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mint Newbie

mint

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Cendrillon, you will learn on the camino that it doesn't matter how full of energy and enthusiasm someone else is, you just DO YOUR OWN THING!

That's the best bit of all:  I believe that, in life as in all else, you have your own pace which suits you the most and it's best if you don't get pressured into other people's agenda!!![:D]

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Théière Newbie

Théière

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I read today that Gordon Ramsay had a mouse running around in his very posh restaurant, (just think Faulty Towers) One diner said his wife's whole evening was ruined as she hated mice.

I had a picture in my mind of SW17 turning up in full walking kit, rucksack the lot and with one kick, booting the rodent straight out of the window then turning to the distressed diner and telling her to pull herself together (actually get a life but I though I better not upset anyone) [:D] 

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mint Newbie

mint

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Teapot, you're right, my boots pack a punch.  The funny thing was, I bought a pair of boots last year, broke them in nicely and then, a couple of days before I was due to start, I panicked at wearing "new" boots and insisted that OH glue my old boots together.

The soles were practically falling off them and they looked entirely disreputable:  think of comic pictures of a pair of boots hooked up by a fisherman.

Anyway, OH, to his credit, filed the falling off bits down, filled the cracks with rubber solution (like that for repairing bicycle tyres) and finally glued all together with araldite.

Did the trick as the boots were great and I have returned with them as I didn't want to discard them.

Wools, there were cyclists galore except that sometimes (on the trickier parts), they had their own route and certainly there were very good looking horses (don't know about the riders as I didn't look at them) and sometimes the horses were also wearing the shell which is a kind of outward sign that you are a pilgrim.

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mint Newbie

mint

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Pacha, thank you so much for that.  I was wondering how I would get a look in.

Considering that half the cathedral was inaccessible to the public on account of scaffolding put up, I supposed, for cleaning and remedial works and the famous censor (is that spelling right?) sent away for polishing (or whatever), I felt that I deserved a view of all of the cathedral even if it were only on TV.

I was most disappointed about the censor as I do love the smell of incense plus, there's always the chance and DANGER of the thing falling on someone's head and causing a bit of a commotion!

Not that I'd want anyone injured, it's just a childish bit of breath-holding as one does watching high-wire acts.  LOL, at my age, I still retain a sense of childish mischief..............[:-))]

Oh, and I don't suppose they'll risk taking him up on to the Cathedral roof?  That's the most fascinating bit of all.  You go behind the statue of St James on the famous (and most photographed) Western façade and, not only can you see most of the city and surrounding buildings, you get to see the flame in the "lighthouse" which is only lit in a Holy Year.

Then, there is the clear view on the roof of the great, wooden rattle in one of the "twin" towers which is only one of four in all of Spain and is used between Good Friday and Easter Saturday.  It was deemed inappropriate to ring bells before Easter Sunday as, in the church, the period before Easter is supposed to be a time of mourning.

Sorry, if I have gone into too much detail or explained things which are known to everybody.  It's always difficult to know what to point out in a Forum where you don't really know to whom you are talking!  So, please excuse me if I seem to be stating the obvious.

BTW, Pacha, I sent you a PM yesterday.

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pachapapa Newbie

pachapapa

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Yup got it.

Depends on what satellite you are tuned to but I presume it will be on Spanish,Portuguese,German and Galician TV in direct.

But if you have to watch on internet streaming the American Catholic TV Service is a good bet, note it may be streamed with a short delay allowing editing of multi channel feeds.

http://www.catholictv.com/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Visits-Spain.aspx

censer[:)] o botafumeiro en gallego.

http://santiago-online.com/eng/Santiago_Botafumeiro.php

2010 Salve Marinera   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg9r2Vrtj_0&feature=related

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mint Newbie

mint

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Oh, Pacha, how thrilling the video is showing the botafumeiro being swung!

The little thing I saw then was obviously the alcachofa because it did look like a small and uninteresting artichoke-shaped object.

Actually, in my own way, I did swing something although it was only the bell at the chapel in La Faba which is a very small hamlet. I came back to the albergue after swigging back a very large brandy at the local bar and saw a Franciscan priest ringing the bell in the chapel next door, summoning people to prayer.

Impulsively, I went up to him and asked whether I might have a go?  He immediately relinquished the rope and handed it to me!  I swung the bell with all my might, not expecting it to be that heavy or painful on the hands!!!  Served me right, always wanting to try things which I have no business to try.

But, oh, the thrill of hearing the peals echoing through the mist-filled valley and people indeed coming to pray.........the power nearly went to my head, I can tell you!

And then, the ceremony included the washing of people's feet, but I won't describe that now as it was hardly my most glorious moment on the Camino................[:(]

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mint Newbie

mint

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If anyone hasn't already fallen asleep with boredom, here is what I have been able to find:

http://thereader.es/en/spain-news-stories/4971-santiago-awakes-on-day-of-popes-visit.html

Pacha, I tried some of your links but I couldn't really get to see anything.  The American Catholic site seemed promising but I can't say I am enamoured of how Americans "do" God.  Then again, I wasn't sure how 8.00 eastern time relates to French time.

 

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