Stories thru Image & Word

Mile 524.3: Lires

November 6, 2017

Today we walked along an ocean shore.

Had a late start…breakfast was not till 9 am. We headed out of Finisterre to Muxía We will be staying in Lires to shorten the distance. We headed up and up and up. The trail is marked a bit different. There are pilgrims that are heading to Muxía and others to Finisterre so there are double arrows painted on the streets using an M and F to indicate direction.

The bay was beautiful and as we headed up we entered more and more into the countryside. There are a lot of donkeys here. Only one other pilgrim passed us. We were following a long road that disappeared into the horizon when we decided to take a break and sat along a wall near a mechanic shop. My husband told me that we needed to find a sign for a small town called San Salvador. I told him that it was just behind us. There was no sign for this town that faced us as we walked but I had noticed a sign in the other direction across the street with this name on it. We backtracked and followed the road to a dirt track. It took us up through pine forests.

Sometimes the trail was wet sandy dirt and nice to walk on, other times it was full of big rocks. We walked through several small hamlets until we came upon a lumberyard. There was a yellow arrow tile on the corner of a wall that pointed in the direction that we had just come from (to Finisterre) so I continued to go straight in the opposite direction of the arrow but some men on the side of the road told me that I needed to take a turn right there.   I turned around and saw on the other corner a yellow arrow tile that pointed in the direction that I needed to go…the signage is rather tricky for those headed to Muxía.

Later in the forest we followed red arrows and red dots on rocks. The trail became rather rocky with loose stones when we came upon a marker that gave us a choice: straight through a forest or turn left to go along a beach trail.   We knew the beach trail was a kilometer longer but this was a “no brainer”…we took the beach trail. It descended down and was rough and rocky but when we came to the shore it was so worth it.

During the day we met few pilgrims: most headed to Finisterre and a few walking to Muxía. We met a young pilgrim who was deaf. He indicated that he could take our photo and we said yes. We indicated that we could also take his and he was pleased. He also wrote out on his phone asking were Lire was. We thought it was the one across the cove and showed him our map…he took a photo.   Lire is actually at the end of an estuary that was around a bend. The town is settled on a hillside and there are few ruins and many nice homes here, hórreos too…a lot. There are cormorants and herons and ducks. We saw fish swimming along the surface of the water some jumping. It is so peaceful here.

Tomorrow is our last day as we head on to Muxía.

El Camino brings one to peaceful places.

Mile 534: Muxía

November 7, 2017

Today was poetic.

I turned 61 years old today. Don’t feel 61 but then I don’t know what a 61 year old should feel. I have lost weight during this trip in spots that are hard to loose and some of my joints are creakier…but I feel good and I did something that I never thought I would. Today is our last day of this journey from France over the Pyrenees across Northern Spain and to the Atlantic Ocean.   I already look forward to our next adventure walking.

When we began our walk over El Camino Frances it rained for two days as we crossed the Pyrenees. Today it rained too. Not as hard and it didn’t sleet but it was wet and beautiful…how poetic.

We passed farmland and dairy farms, and small hamlets. We walked over soft sandy dirt and rocky roads, up and down through valleys and over hills. There is a new bridge for the pilgrims to cross. Before it was slabs of cement that pilgrims had to jump from one to the other in the water. Many bridges have been built to make the travel easier and safer for pilgrims along El Camino.

Though we could not see the ocean…the sound of the waves breaking were always in the background.

There were people we passed, few pilgrims going in our direction, many going to Finisterre. Dogs in their yards and cats everywhere (dairy country). One cat was comfortably lying in the middle of the road…in the rain. Guess it was waiting for the sun to come out. Another was sitting at a window looking miserable, the people inside ignoring it.

We finally made it to Muxía. The beaches are rocky here and beautiful, tomorrow we explore.

Yesterday when we were having lunch at the lighthouse there were three gentelmen next to us. We began a conversation with them. One asked me if our trip was all good. I told him no…El Camino is life. He agreed. Yet…in context the journey was good for it was a journey of development. Someone once told me, “What you want isn’t always what you need and what you need isn’t always what you want.”

This applies to El Camino too.

Mile 537.8: Santuario da Virxe da Barca, Muxía

November 8, 2017

Today we stood before a wild ocean of waves and stone.

It was nice to sleep in this morning. We were not in a hurry to go anywhere and didn’t have to get the suitcases packed and take down before 8 am for pick-up. No clothes to wash (will do that in Santiago.)   Our plan was to go to the Santuario da Virxe da Barca (Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Boat) were the ancients worshiped the sun and St. James saw the Virgin on a stone boat.

As we were walking up to the Sanctuary we passed the albergue and saw someone that we knew. She had started with us and the last time we saw her was in Ponferrada. She had a sore ankle so we helped her find the hospital there.   Later we met up again and it wasn’t as bad as she feared. It was so good to see her and to know that she had made it all the way to Muxía. She was waiting for a taxi with friends to go back to Santiago. She will be there for a few days so hopefully we will meet again…anyway my husband and I gave her our e-mails.

The walk was short and easy. The church was closed, the gift shop open. (Go figure.) We walked down along the rocks that line the shore and watched the waves as they hit the shore. I could have stood there forever. There are four stones of interest: Pedra do Timón (the rudder stone); Pedra da Abalar (the axis stone); Pedra dos Cadris (the sail stone); and Pedra dos Namorados (the lover’s stone). None are marked but we found the sail stone and the axis stone.

After we walked up a hill were you could see a 360-degree view of the area. I didn’t go all the way up and decided to take a side trail that led me to three large stones. Two were touching and one was not. There was a flat stone between the single one and one of the other two. I stepped on the flat stone and stretched out my arms to touch both stones. My fingers barely reached. I sent Reiki energy to the stones and I felt a serge of energy come back. I think the old church missed some of the Ancient’s sacred stones. I had felt nothing when I touched the sail stone. Now I feel a peace inside of me. I have also received what I needed from El Camino. Earth’s bones can hurt but they also can heal.

We left to have something to eat and rest. We went to a small bar where we could have some Caldo Gallego the standard soup made with the collar greens that are grown all over in home gardens. The lady gave us a plate of barnacles to eat with our drinks before we were served the soup. We had never eaten barnacles before and my husband ended up splashing himself with seawater when he tried to break the shell cover. I heard a hardy laugh from the bar and looked up. A man was having a great time watching us fail in our efforts. I looked at him and smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He came over and showed us how to break them open so we would not splash ourselves. He was very helpful and left the bar laughing.

They were quite tasty.

Later we went back to watch the sunset. The tide was up and the ocean wilder than before. Again I took a lot of photos. It was windy, cold and beautiful. As the sun set we both felt at peace and are ready for new adventures.

El Camino will always be with us.

“Donde el silencio esconde algo más que palabras.”

 “Where silence means more than words.”

¡Buen Camino!

Good Journey!

Pilgrim’s Passport:

Certification for Muxía:

Footnote: The second day that we were in Santiago we were walking to the laundry mat and saw the young French man whose cart had broken. He had seen us crossing the street so he was standing by his table at a café waiting for us. It was so wonderful to see him. He told us that he was going to go to the albergue to find new shoes (people leave things there for others) and than he was on his way to Sevilla…walking. This is El Camino de la Plata (Silver). We too will be leaving Santiago for Sevilla in a week (by plane)  We will not meet there, his journey is another 1000 km.  I wish him well in his new journey.

His name is Uriel like the angel.

NOTE:

The distances that we walked do not match well. I used the distance that my husband’s iphone gave us at the end of each day. Officially we walked 799 km or 496.5 miles from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela.   We took a bus once (to avoid traffic right outside of Burgos) and taxi a few times to shorten our walk because of illness, fatigue, or bad trails. This added up to 43.1 miles all together for me since I took off a day because of food poisoning (18 miles). From Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre and finially Muxía we walked. Even with a bad knee, I was able to get thru the 135 miles of our second phase of this pilgrimage. So taking the official miles to Santiago de Compostela, adding the miles to Muxía the total comes out to 631.5 miles of which I walked 588.4 miles total. This does not count the miles that we walked on our days off.