We are in our hotel near the airport in Madrid. Our final Spanish lunch was in a little restaurant near the hotel full of families having their Sunday lunch, some celebrating special occasions, some just out for their mid-day meal at 3 pm. There was every age group from babies to grannies and the noise level was very high. We had a great final Spanish meal including our vino tinto. Then we came back to the hotel for a post prandial Sunday nap.
A toast to the end of our Camino.
Mark woke us for our Sunday FaceTime chat with them. Can’t wait to see them all tomorrow – a perfect end to our walking holiday. Mark wanted to know if we would like to go for a nice walk on Wednesday as he is taking the day off to spend it with us. ?
Looks like the decision to fly to Madrid instead of London might have made our return trip easier. Heathrow sounds like a zoo today.
Thanks to everyone who came with us through the blog and who helped rally our spirits with their comments when the going was tough.
We had such an inspiring walk. And, Judy, I’m not sure I am planning to do this walk again. Maybe next time in Scotland?
The Day of Reckoning (first day of walking) dawned at 5°C, partly cloudy with a strong cool wind. As we entered the town we saw the first of this year’s Characters of the Camino – a young couple coming toward the albergue, barefoot, carrying bindle sticks and looking like they had just spent the night sleeping rough.
As promised we started today with yesterday’s pilgrim.
After a few kilometers we took the (alternative) road less travelled, and branched off to follow the old Roman road rather than the new track by the super highway. The track was built when the highway went in and consists of more than 20 km of gravel path with trees planted along it for shade. On the part we saw most of the trees looked dead. The old Roman road was a wider gravel road with few trees and not much else – at least there was no super highway traffic. There are still the original Roman stadia markers on the side of the road. We ate a snack by an abandoned swimming pool on the side of an otherwise uninhabited road. The Camino is full of surprises.
We walked.Till our goal was in sight.
We arrived at our hotel in Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos just after noon – with a whole afternoon left that we could have been walking! The 15 km today was enough of a starter day, as our legs are tired enough. Tomorrow will be at least 50% longer, and the day after that longer still.
And we could sit down in the courtyard of our hotel for today’s bocadillo and a beer.
We took part of the afternoon and walked around the town. It is very clean, appears prosperous, and as we have seen in these towns before, not a living thing apparent.
There are two churches, both of 16th century brick construction. The larger is closed. The smaller, Ermita de la Virgen de los Dolores, is probably not really a full fledged church, but a chapel used as a church by the town. It is only large enough for a single row of pews, but it is a lovely chapel, and has a very small retablo, with a nicely carved central pieta.
This being May, the month of Mary, a dozen or so of the very most elderly ladies of the town, plus a couple younger ones that were only grey haired, get together every evening at 5 to recite the rosary. We attended with a couple other pilgrims. I have to credit Vic with my continuing religious education.
Ermita de la Virgen de Los Dolores in Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos – our first church on this port in of the Camino, but probably not the last.
This is our last full day in Toronto. Tomorrow we fly to Madrid. We are enjoying our time with Charlene, Mark and Ivy, and can I say, especially Ivy. She has decided that her Grampa is the best and he is the first to be given her ball, or a book to read or a bit of food she no longer wants. We have graduated to being allowed a good night kiss before naps and bedtime. And the word that is used most and to great effect is “NO”, spoken clearly and with feeling.
We are just about ready to walk again. We fly to Toronto on April 28 and then on to Madrid on May 3. The plan is to start walking on May 5 from Sahagun which is just about where we stopped walking in October. I don’t want to go back to where we actually stopped walking. The memories from there aren’t great and I’m not going back there.
I suppose we aren’t really just about ready, just working towards that. We are still cleaning house for the house sitters and the packing hasn’t really started. We have 5 days before we leave. Panic is setting in. But the plane leaves at 6 am on April 28 and we will be on it no matter what.
I guess it is about time I added a word or two about walking the Camino. I love the walk, what we see, who we meet, and all the interesting food and drink we encounter along the way. (And some of the food is really interesting?)
The hard part is being with Stacey whose feet don’t hurt, who doesn’t get totally winded going uphill, who can just keep walking forever without any apparent bad side effects.
I get growley when my blood sugar drops and worse when I am dehydrated (ask our friends who have done long walks with me). By mid afternoon my feet hurt, my blisters hurt, and my legs are aching.
Stacey is beginning to sound like a saint and the perfect walking companion, isn’t he? He really would be perfect if he would just volunteer to carry me, but that hasn’t happened yet.
I am really enjoying this rest day as it should give me the break I need before we tackle our longest walk so far that includes a rather large hill with some beautiful views. Stacey will have no problem but I do wonder what I will be like at the end of the day.
And after all that whining, I can still say I am loving this.
It has been a fantastic weekend with Mark, Charlene and Ivy, the world’s most wonderful grandchild (sorry all you other grandparents). Sunday was the highlight as we had Marg and Brian Credico come from Belleville to help us celebrate Ivy’ s first birthday. There were presents to open, brunch (beautifully prepared by Charlene and Mark) to eat and a special cake to celebrate with. The special cake was unfortunately for the adults as Ivy is still on a special diet for allergic colitis. That didn’t mean she didn’t have something special to celebrate with, complete with her birthday candle. And she got to eat it all the herself with both hands. It took both parents to clean up after she was done.
Only 3 more sleeps before Arlene (not usually an early morning person) makes the supreme sacrifice and arrives at our place at 6:15 am to drive us to the airport. The packing has started but there is a lot of revision to be done on these 2 suitcases. And there is still the backpack to organise.
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