Deri & Bethan Stories

15 December Barcalona! - Bethan's looking for a cathedral

2007-12-17T10:31:00.001-08:00

15 December 2007 19:15:06

Stuff‏

hola,
hey hey we are in barcelona! at last - got a train in though. we stayed an extra day in monserrat after discovering that deri had lost his bank card, which is a bit of a pin in the arse but it´s better that it´s happened at the end of this stage of the trip rather than half way through or something, although it would´ve better have not happened at all of course.

found cheap accommodation in a youth hostel, only 16 euros each, barcelona is turning out to be super expensive, of course we expected it to be quite expensive but not this much, we just paid 14 euros for a small snack. extortionate!
we were planning on going to the cathedral, but would you believe it we couldn´t find it and ended up paying to get into the wrong cathedral, we thought that you´d be able to see it for miles, so will check the book later. does anybody know where it is ?????
we went to the aquarium though which at the time we thought was quite expansive but in comparison to food and stuff was ok. i really enjoyed it actually, they had one of those glass tunnels you walk under with loads of scary looking sharks in the tank above, their teeth were so freaky, and loads of other fish, i liked the strange looking ones, but watching all those fish swimming around has made me really tired.

loads of people here, and i mean loads, it feels a bit weird to be surrounded by so many people,..ahhhh! adios beth

13 December - Bethan messing about in Monserrat

2007-12-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

13 December 2007 20:43:05

30k to barcelona

hola people ,
i am more cheerful today, after last night though i hardly know why, we got into iguadro about 3.30, obviously everything was closed, you would´ve thought that we´d be used to that by now wouldn´t you, and even though our map said that there was an albergue there, there wasn´t. had to stay in this really scuzzy hotel, scuzzy but expensive that is . 60 euros it cost us, and it was freezing, we each had to sleep in our sleeping bags underneath the blankets and sheets and stuff, because it was so cold.

left this morning and were planning to have a day off ride 10k and then stop but don´t know what happened because then the plan was to ride to barcelona, only 60k - about 30 n (barcelona, barcelona, - olympics theme tune). anyway we´ve ended up in monserrat which is a bit north of the road, but it´s a national park, went for a walk up the mountain but couldn´t get to the top, you couldn´t walk it without ropes, and then you´d have to be an experienced climber i´d think. we get go wandering off the path for a while though, onto what at first looked like a path, then found ourselves lost in the undergrowth. our coats held up well though, kept expecting to hear a loud snagging sound, it was silly to have continues on the ´path´ once it clearly was no longer a path and almost vertical, but we survived. we´re going upto the top of the mountain tomorrow morning before we set off on the cremerilla, which is like a one carriage train that goes vertically up the cliff face to the top. i saw 2 carriages earlier on, passing each other one going up an dthe other going down, to be honest they looked pretty precarious, but i really would like to go up. deri has agreed to it surprising easily though, and i haven´t told him that in the carriages you don´t ssit vertically but horizontally, so that when you come down you´re facing down the mountain, he says he only gets nervey about heights on top og man made structures, so don´t know if a railway track really qualifies. looks really impressive if not a bit scary.

we´re staying in an albergue here in monserrat, we are the only people here. the albergue is very nice, no kitchen, but monserrat is a bit of a strange town. it´s clearly a tourist town, and not really a town actually, you´ve got to pay to get in and there´s no road out, we didn´t pay coz we´re on bikes but how weird. it´s on top of a mountain, about 150m down from the summit, at about 1000meters - yes we rode up today, so who knows what happened to our day of rest. monserrat is in shade most of the day, from about 12 oclock noon onwards, which is silly really, why didn´t they build it on the other side of the mountain? and we can´t find a shop, although people obviously live here because we saw loads of children playing earlier on, there´s gift shops which are super expensive, but it is very picturesq. cracking on to barcelona tomorrow, should be relatively easy really as it seems all down hill from here. i´ve got to go and book us a place in the backpackers hostel once i´ve finished this, by the way mam, we can leave our bikes with osians ex-girlfriend so that´s really handy, althouigh we rae still going to try and get them serviced. deri is contemplating swimming in the sea, but i reckon that he´ll chicken out once we find out how cold it is.
...that´s it for now i think. just played the camino board game, which please take note, deri bought and i´ve carried all across spain - go figure. up until now i was beginning to despise those gtames, sticking in my bum as i sit down on the bike and generally just being awkward to carry around, but they didn´t turn out to be as bad as i´d thought they would be, although would have been preferable witha bottle of wine and turned into drinking games.
ok that´s about it, when you heaqr from me next i´ll be in barcelona, hooray!

11 December targerra - Bethan hasn't got a map

2007-12-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

11 December 2007 19:39:37

i wouldn´t bother reading this it´s boring‏

hey people,
well not really a lot to report, we are in targerra, maybe something a bit different, but am losing track of place names. only 110 k - about that - away from barcelona!!!! so we thinking that we might get there in two days, well we know we could but don´t know if we want to. arrived at lleida yesterday, i think we did get the southernly end of that storm you´ve been having because the winds where fierce, luckinly though it was an easterly wind, so pushed us up all the hills, we did 50k in 2 hours!!! no exaggeration. although whenever the road changed tack the wind was nearly pushing me off the road, had to tilt at a 45 degree angle to counteract it, and truck surfing became altogether too dangerous - truck surfing is when you get into the slipstream of big trucks and they make you go faster. but when the trucks where passing the wind would go and then as i got caught in the slipstream and they took over me i´d get a big gust of wind that would all but blow me off my bike. anyway wind died down a lot today, so in one way it was a lot harder to ride. ok though.

i think we´ve done rather well in terms of distance and in terms of direction, often, definately when we didn´t have a map, obviously we´d ask people, and look at other poeples maps when we could, but often we have just headed in a particular direction, first it was east, then south, now east again, and judged direction on the sun. and when we´ve found a road that sounds a bit like the road we think we need but not quite the road we need we take it and hope for the best, and up until now it has worked out alright - for instance we took the NA-232, when we needed the N-222, or something like that, but we´re in the right place and going the right way, so must be doing something right. well isn´t this email boring, am going to find food now, see most of you pretty soon though.
beth

08 December Bethan on a motorway to Zaragosa road kill, grumpy people, although having a good time

2007-12-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

08 December 2007 18:52:49

road kill, grumpy people, although having a good time

hola people,
well i´m writing this for the second time as i just wrote it all and the computer turned itself off - aaaarggghhhh!!! so apoligie sif this email is a bit disjointed i´m just trying to remember everything that i wrote.

we´re in zaragoza, had an easy day only 38k, not like yesterday when we rode close to 100k, although not as painful as a wek ago.
it´s a bank holiday weekend here, don´t ask me what bank holiday i couldn´t tell, but there´s loads of people about. in fact outside there´s probably the biggest queue i´ve ever seen, again don´t ask me what they´re queuing for, to see father christmas or jesus, ??? i´m not really up to date with religious customs so ?????? it´s something else though, about half a mile long, or half a kilometre rather, into this little mock-up castle/nativity thing. i mean no father christmas can be that good, what´s he giving out...gold coins???? and why would anybody join a queue that long, they really must have very empty lives

zaragoza is really nice, except we´re staying in this youth hostel with the most miserable woman on the front desk, she did perk up after we´d paid her though. the best thing about this youth hostel is that the doors open at 1 o clock, 2 and then 3, which would be good if we didn´t go to bed so early, but we´re pilgrims and it´s an unwritten law that pilgrims must go to bed early. in fact there´s loads of unwritten laws that pilgrims must obey, and you can spot them a mile off.

number 1 - pilgrims are always scruffy - purely practical clothes, although in santiago you could tell the pilgrims by their non-winter-like attire. number 2 - sensible shoes. number 3 - pilgrims usually smell, the sweet smell of success, or in other words a mix of BO and old feet - nice. number 4 - stupid, and i mean stupid tan lines! i really miss the camino actually, just in terms of meeting nice people, since leaving estrella we seem to have met an abundance of truly grumpy people, i´m not saying that we haven´t met any nice people at all, but for instance in the motel last night, we stayed in a motel last night - 53 euros, it was a bit expensive but we thought it was better to pay a bit extra for accommodation rather than die on the road...oh the road, i´ll tell you about the road in a minute, anyhow it was getting dark and we were on a really busy road, so we stayed in a motel. in the restaurant downstairs, or should i say truck stop cafe, there was a really unhelpful and grouchy man, and in the turismo in tudela the woman was so rude that she made us want to leave the town immediately without spending any money there, hence the riding of a 100k. everybody on the camino is pretty happy, even the ´miserable´ ones aren´t that bad in comparison, and we only met one hospitalero that was grumpy.

back to to the road, we were going down this N- road, which is a bit like an A-road at home, pretty fast but not a motorway, or so we thought....we´d been riding down the road for about 60k, quite happily, well, content anyway, although loads of road kill, some pretty badly mangled, cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, mice, voles, you get the picture - sorry if your eating or something, it was pretty grim. anyway, riding down the road, then suddenly, without warning or worse a way to turn off it just turns into a motorway, i mean we´ve had road that have just stopped when quite clearly they´re marked on the map, but this road just turned into a motorway with signs saying no bikes, no pedestrian etc. quite frankly spanish roads are a joke, either there are roads where there´s not meant to be, or more annoyingly vice versa - really now, they just stop, some go for miles and then end in the middle of nowhere. on the way into logroño we had to cross a field full of scrub to get on to another road, or as we found out today and yesterday, they just turn into motorways, like proper motorways, and people are beeping at us telling us to turn off, but it´s not as if we turned on, we were on an N road!!!! it´s the road that´s in the wrong not us!!

there´s about 330 k left to barcelona, either 6 easy days or 4 not so easy, we´re thinking that if we get to barcelona and are spending too much we might go walking in the pyrenees, in the volcanic bit, although there hasn´t been an eruption for over 11, 500 years, looks really nice though.

we´ve finally figured out how to eat vegetarian in spain, in santiago we had falafels and here we´ve had chinese, the trick is to go foreign, it really weird, spain has all these really nice vegetables, fresh, locally grown all that. and they insist on murdering them, either boiling them to death, or pickling them beyond recognition...what have they got against vegetables? you want to see what they do to asparagus, they treat it so badly it turns all white and mushy, it´s vile. oh well i´m rambling now aren´t i, hope everybody is well, i´ll be home in 10 days, oh my god that´s going to be weird, only a week and a half left. (yes mam, book the iceskating, who else is rhian inviting? will it be too cold to go sailing when i´m home?) i´m going to send this now to avoid losing it all again.
ok i´m done adios beth

06 December - Bethan is in calohorra heading south

2007-12-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

06 December 2007 19:55:53

calohorra

hola people,
we are riding into the abyss, no map, no yellow arrows - but we managed to make it to calohorra, i think that´s where we are, in one piece and in the light, and we didn´t even leave until 2 o clock. got to estrella yesterday, pretty uneventful ride, except for some reason i was feeling very unenergetic and didn´t really want to ride, i expect it had something to do with entering the foothills of the pyrenees, we covered about 50k though. on our way we met this woman cyclist, well girl really, probably about my age. she was looking lost so went to talk to her, turned out she´d cycled from her house in nepal, NEPAL!!!! and has been travelling for 16 months, even through iraq - a woman on her own, how incredible is that. wasn´t really expecting much of estrella, except for the wine fountain of course, we´ve been hearing about it for weeks and we finally found it, in fact we would have left the camino sooner but stayed on it just long enough to reach the wine fountain, and it was glorious - hence the reason we didn´t leave today until 2.

anyway got to the albergue yesterday and the hospitelera man wouldn´t take any money off us, then we went for a wander around town and bumped into a random australian who forced, and i mean forced, 10 euros on us so we could get a chinese. in the albergue we met up with a woman who we´ve seen 5 times along the camino, who had started again because she couldn´t get a plane home to canada until after christmas, also met this really nice austrian girl, who accompanied us today the wine fountain, it was so good we had to go back for a second go. oh yes so we sat in the sun and drunk free wine and *** in t-shirts, it´s been so nice here the last couple of days, my tan lines are beginning to return, and i burned my face a bit the last two days, best december i´ve ever had!!!

well i say that we´ve left the camino, we sort of have, but we got an amazing albergue, only 6 euros and we get a private room, sheets on the bed and a bath, A BATH, we thought we´d have to pay big bucks to get a bath, but no - 6 euros....wow hay man!!! there´s also a settee, i haven´t sat on a settee for nearly two months, it´s so exciting, well maybe not exciting but so sweet, that´s sad isn´t it getting excited by a settee and a bath...oh well. one more thing about calahorra, i seen 6 storks sat on a crane when we rode in, and when we rode underneath them they all looked down at me, probably because i was looking at them. i don´t know why people are telling us to go north to jaca, that´s practically on the french border and getting into big mountains, so we´ve come south,

we are following the river ebro to the coast, well as far to the coast as we can get without hitting big mountain ranges, and then assessing the situation again. we will do the pyrenees and the picos, just maybe when we´ve got more time, and maybe a bit fitter. anyway don´t think much more has happened, going to continue to go south tomorrow - maybe thinking that we will go to seville now for new year, i´m just waiting to hear back off loretta so that could be a plan. ok

adios beth

15 December Barcalona! - via Monserrat Deri arrives by train

2007-12-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

15 December 2007 19:30:27

Barcalona!‏

Hola!

So weve finally reached Barcalona! And in only about 2 weeks! We took ages to get to Santiago! Anyway! Back to where we kicked off! Tarrega....

We left Tarrega After fixing another puncture! in my front wheel (I pulled a thorn out of my tire as well so hopefully that wont happen again!) And we started to make our way, once, again oward Barcalona! It was quite easy going till we got to Igualda! There we stopped to have lunch an figure out what to do next! In the tourist office (which was actually closed but let us in) they said there wasnt another albergue for another 30k and that was up a mountain! So we dicided to stay in igualda... That was a bad choice! There were only three hotels (and nothing else) in the whole place! The cheapest was 60 and the most expensive was 94 euros! By the time we figured this out it was getting to late to ride on and hope we found a place in time so we went back to the hotel that cost 60. It was such a rip off! There was no heating! It was on a roundabout so traffic noises went on all night and the shower leaked when you used it (and was very small) and ended up soaking the freezing floor in water! It sucked! And (ive racked my brains about this and it the only possibility) I lost my cash card in the hotel! Though i didnt know til 2 days later!

After leaving Igualda as fast as we could we followed the road for a while but it once again turned into a motorway and we had to find another road! This other road happened to take us up a mountain! Monserrat!

The "Serrated Mountain"! This made me happy asi kinda wanted to go there anyway and by the time we had a choice to get back on track toward Barcalona we were halfway up anyway so i talked bethan nto riding the further 11k to the town of Monserrat!

It really is a beautiful town! And an amazing mountain!

The "town" Is set 700m up the mountain. Almost dug out of the side of this really steep mountain- And what isnt dug out is supported by huge girders! The town is really pretty with a lot of amazing views! But it turns out the town is there only as a stopping point for a train that goas almost vertical up the mountain! There is a tourist office, hotel, resturant and cafe- and an albergue! Oh an a couple of musems. There is not even a shop!

Anyway! I talked bethan into climbing the mountain an leaving later in the day! Once we got up there we realised how big it was an decided to explore everything and get a train later! So we did! We climbed right to the top! I could see the white peaks of the pyrnees and turn around and see the sea! It was awsome! And! As we were sitting at the top, looking around, we heard a scratching noise so i walked to the edge of the viewing platform (there was a big compass with places and arrows pointing the direction to the view) I looked down a sheer drop (the kind where your stomach drops and your hands tingle) And see a mountain climber with ropes and everything making his way toward me! Thats absolutely crazy! He climbed all the way to the top-it took him four hours of climbing!

Anyway once we got back down the mountain i went to get some money an realised id lost my card! *****! Anyway panicked a bit but its all sorted now. I just have to borrow money off bethan til i get a new card for christmas! Anyway after all the panick and spending lots of time on the phone (It sucks being on hold, when your in spain and you know its costing you loads!) we stayed another day in Monserrat And cought the train this morning! But the train station was about 7k away- down the mountain! That was ****cold! Didnt go down anywhere near as fast as i have other mountains- my brakes were nearly frozen an werent working at their best, And after i hit the first patch of ice on a corner (A corner that led to drop where the cars at the bottom looked like ants) I took a bit more care! And i couldn feel my hands or my face! But we stopped halfway in a monostery where they let us sit on a radiator whilst we waited to get a pilgrim stamp!

Anyway got to Barcalona on the train and came in thrugh the tube system so didnt get to see the city till we were in it (I was looking forward to getting to the top of a hill and seeing it before me and then speeding down- Just like Santiago with mont de gozo!)

Anyway! Got alright price for the night (16 each) And went to the cathederal (the wrong one- why didnt anybody tell me there were 2?! An the one we saw was rubbish!) And to an aquarium like proper tourists! We are gonna try an sort everything else out (and hopefully go see the good cathederal) tomorrow! Anyway! Ill be home soon! 5 days? Speak to you/ See you soon! I cant wait!

Deri

11 December - Deri falls off his bike ....Tarrega?

2007-12-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

11 December 2007 18:45:17

Tarrega?‏

Hola!

I cant quite remeber the name of wherever we are at the moment! Were Back on the camino though! Well kinda anyway! We got Lleida and got to the tourist info place and found a really nice woman who reall tryed hard to help us! Gave us all sorts of maps (One of which, of all Cataloña, has all the albergues highlighted along the way to barcalona with green highlighter so its pretty easy- just look at the highlighted places and ride as far as we want!) And good places to go and visit along the way and lots of helpful things like that!

And we found the Albergue there (youth hostal really) And they were really nice as well and forgot to charge us and gave us breakfast! It was all good! So yeah! Now were on the "Camino Libre" that leads all the way to Barcalona!

Anyway! Zaragoza was very pretty and the cathederal is the biggest (though not the most impresive) ive seen so far! The crowds there were ridiculous though- I havnt seen crowds that big in a while- ver scary! I guess its just a taster of what christmas shopping in manchester is gonna be like! There was a q that stretched to the horizon of people who wanted to kiss a statue of the "Virgen" !!!!?

When we left Zaragoza- heading to Lleida- it was all pretty flat and the wind was silly- but going our way- We managed to make 50k in under 2 hours- hows that for fast! And today was easy- had a map! with a lot of places we could go so no stress and so far its pretty acurate! Though i wont trust it completely!

The most exiting thing that happened over the past 2 days really is i fell off my bike The people on the camino are so nice! When i fell off my bike i landed pretty well so wasnt hurt at all but the car passing the other way just slowed down an stared at me as i got up an dusted myself of- cheers for the support ya ******! I could be hurt ya know!? Anyway thats it really! sorry!

I think our route tomorrow takes us through a national park (with an albergue in the middle!) and there is 1000 somthing m mountain in the middle so i might talk bethan into takin a day off to climb a mountain- weve got plenty of time to Barcalona! Wish us luck!

Deri

08 December Zaragoza - Deri does Wine fountains and Baths

2007-12-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

08 December 2007 18:54:35

Zaragoza‏

Hola!

Well, weve left the pilgrim trail and weve reached Zaragoza! And the price is going up! AHHH!

Anyway id say were about six days from Barcalona! And its a lot warmer here even though its not that further south... though i guess were at a lower altitude And getting closer to the meditarainian! Were the last place i sent an e-mail...? Estrella! Right

Well we met an Austrian girl later that night and had a good time And (its unbelivable!) we met the Leon hospitalero woman again (for the fifth time! What are the odds!) But its not as bad as it sounds- shes actually quite nice- a biologist that works on enviromental things- mainly in canada where she lives an i had lot of interesting conversations about how we, as a race, are destroying the planet!

Anyway the next morning me beth and the austrian girl decided to go find breakfast together. So while we were looking i asked some people if they knew a place (anywhere) that was open that early in the morning....... So we had breakfast.....I really liked it on the camino- im missing it already!.... Anyway thats where my plans started to change.... So we decided to go back to the wine fountain... Load up an go sit on the grass, in the morning sun outside the monostery! The austrian girl played poi and could do moves i hadnt seen before so idemanded she repeat them- now i know what im aiming for- Since being in spain ive found loads of new moves to learn! Great! And she did contact juggling which looks really cool! I want a contact juggling ball- im gonna learn that too! Then i can transfer my new found skills to the fire staff! Im gonna be awsome by the time in get to glasonbury! Anyway yeah- sat in the sun, drinking wine,...., playing with toys and cartwheeling around- Ver fun day! Sat on the grass in front of the monostery all day an remebered we could get stamps there with just enough time to find our credentials and run up to find they had closed the doors! We had spent hours sitting there when the doors were wide open and welcome to visitors! But then we realised we had somewhere to go and started to make a move! About 2- wed been up since eight! So we headed south with no real idea where we were going- just "South!"

After a while we came to road sign that said "Calahorra". I recognise that! it is on our pilgrim credentials! Lets go! So we ended up riding about 50k (more or less- no idea) An got to a town that was a bit wierd with loads of churches! After ages of riding through tiny little streets we started to get a bit worried! Then we found the most badly labeled albergue ever!

The first thing we noticed on entering wes the huge, comfy looking sofa! It cost six euros and the guy said- "this is the best albergue you will find!" So we went upstairs to find we had a room with two beds and our own bathroom! (and when i say "bathroom" I mean a room with a bath! Right i know what im doing tonight! It was ver ver enjoiable! And the guy was very nice- made up a pilgrim menu for us (totally vegetarian with no difficulties!) And yes it was really good! I had the feeling they were trying really hard cos not many pilgrims passed through this town!

Anyway! Next stop Zaragoza! Well somewhere half way there anyway! Someone told us Tudela would be a good place to stop half way so thats where we headed! Got there in good time and struggled our way around the town looking for something nice... didnt really manage it- but we did find the tourist office! They were completely usless! "There is one 'albergue' in town. It cost 20 euros per person and you need to book 24 hours in advance."

"What? How is that an albergue?" So she got really pissy with me! She was really rude and even got sarcastic with me when i asked for more imformation! I thought these people were supposed to be helpful! Im a pilgrim!

And everyone else was so nice!

So! She wouldn give me ANY information about the surrounding area and hardly any about the city itself! So- were leaving! Only problem is the road we were on earlier randomly turned into a moterway- no warning- just the lane split in two an we were on it- so we took the first turning off and thats how we cam into tudela! How are we going to get out!? So we took a pile of tiny backroads that wound around the place and eventually linked up with the road when it decided not to be a moterway anymore! And on we rode! With no info about anything! We rode til the sun went down and took the next hotel before it got dark! It cost us 53 euros but- oh yeah- there was another bath! And this one was deeper- I ended up sitting in the bath, with my phone for music and a book i picked up on the pilgrim trail, for four hours... It was so good! Anyway that day i think (but dont actually have any idea) we rode about 100k! Only another 38k to Zaragoza!

So we got up and set off for Zaragoza! After about 10k the road turned into a moter way (again) and the only exits were to industrial estates an stuff! Pretty scary but we rode most of the way here on a moterway! Once we arrived we met a really nice guy who walked about 1/4 hour with us to get us to the right road and then just said "Straight on! Til you see the cathederal" Good directions- Ive found cathederals are easy to find! their Huge! So we arrived outside the cathederal (which might be the biggest ive seen so far! Leon is still my favorite though) Found the tourist info place an got a map and directiond straight to the albergue! Exellent! But its not a pilgrims albergue- its a youth hostal! But cheap! If not particulalry nice! And then went for a nice meal and hear i am! No idea where were going tomorrow exept we have a new plan now! East! Wish us luck!

Deri

05 December Estrella - Deri has pilgrim wine from a fountain

2007-12-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

05 December 2007 17:34:59

Estrella!

Hola!

Hay une fuenta de vino! Es mwy bien! So wa passed a fountain of wine today! Unfortunatly i only had my one water bottle that fixes onto my bike but i didnt hesistate in downing that and refilling with pilgrims wine!!!! Aside from that i think we might have chosen the wrong way.... Were still on the pilgrim trail but weve kinda gone into the foot-hills of the pyranees! Weve been riding up and down big hills all day- Sweating on the way up and needing to peel off the layers and freezing on the way down and wanting more layers again- were both completely **** knackered! But weve reached estrella and were thinking of abandoning the pilgrim trail now to head south toward Barcalona but im scared of the extra costs were gonna get when we dont have the albergues!

And we met a woman today on a bike today and i kindly pointed her toward logroño. I asked where she had started from as is the usual thing when you meet new pilgrims- "Nepal" She said! Holy moly !!!! How long you been going? ....hmmm about 16 months! Now that is super hard core!!! Thats the other side of the world! Could be kinda cool to do something like that....

Anyway! Something ver wierd happened to us today. We turned up at the albergue and after talking to the guy for a while and him charging other pilgrims to stay the night i remebered that i hadnt actually payed. So i tryed to pay. I dont usually have any problems trying to explain that i want to pay for something- in fact just holding money out usually does the trick but the guy refused to take my money- He insisted we stay as guests and i dont understand why! He was adamant thought that i was not to pay.... wierd! It took my a while to exept this and for a solid twenty minutes he refused the money i kept trying to give him! But cool anyway! And then we went out to get some food for the cooking and we met a random aussie woman who wasnt a pilgrim but was driving around spain in a van! She forced 10 euros on us and wouldn take no for an answer! I dont get it! Do we really look that needy or do i need to cultivate a permanent limp? (ive been limping around for the past few days) And i cant seem to get my hair not to stick up- i think its all the wind but i think it helps with the pilgrim "people wanna give me money look" I dont understand!

Also! The final really wierd thing! We have met the hospitalero woman from leon for the 5th time now! (Leon, Santiago when she was going to fisterre, Santiago when she came back, Astorga and now here!) What are the odds! Its getting a bit silly!!! Anyway thats about it for today! Im gonna go drink my bottle of free pilgrims wine!!! Adios!

Deri

04 December - Deri and a disappearing road !! Logroño- Rioja!

2007-12-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

04 December 2007 18:48:10

Logroño- Rioja!‏

Hola!

Well just so ya know- last nights meal was damn tasty! But hten everybody went to bed an left me with nobody to talk to- i did go talk to the rabbits for a while but they arnt much for converstion an its cold outside!

Anyway rode about 66k today and it was actually quite easy although at one point the road just disappeared! Im not kidding the N-120 just stopped for about 3k or something and it was very confusing- had to ride on a dirt path next to the motorway for a while and then the road just re-appeared! I was a bit worried about having to up some mountains today cos all the maps id look at (belonging to other pilgrims) showed that the road went between the mountains but ive learned not to put to much faith in spanish maps (the big nasty 7k hill was supposed to be AFTER the turning we were planning on takin right at the begining) And distances are quite often wrong but today was very pleasant- a few small hills- which is fine cos that means a few small down hills (time to rest whilst gaining speed- great!)

Also the weather was fantastic- i wore just a t-shirt most of the way and wanted to change into shorts but couldnt on the principle that its december and i must be going mad or something if i wanna wear shorts! There was really amazing looking mountains with snow on top to the north (any ideas what they are?) and wonderful foot-hills leading to big huge mountains to the south whilst we got to ride through wide open valleys full of vinyeards! I did try to sneak into a few fields and steal afew grapes but surprisingly i dont think its the right season and there werent any nice ones to found... I did see an orange tree though! I skided to a halt an nearly dropped my bike thinking of running to the tree and climbing it straight away but it didnt work out- it was in someones garden for one reason an i realised that, the state im in, i probably couldn climb a tree if i was being chased by wild dogs! (which isnt that inconcivable in spain!) so i continued without getting any oranges....

But something really cool happened!I think we must have lost the path cos somehow we ended up in a national park or something and i stopped to ask beht if she also thought we were going the wrong way and i noticed- not one but SEVEN (yes 7) deer in the woods!!!! Two stags! (i think one was very young cos its antlers werent as big) And 5 does! Hows that!? I did try taking pictures but, as my mother so kindly pointed out, my camaras picture quality is pretty crap!

So we tryed sneaking forward to get some better pictures! Ive decided that me an beth would make absolutly rubbish hunters cos they heard from ages away! I did get some pictures though and ill put them on the internet when i can (bethan forgot her camara lead in the internet cafe so not til christmas) And then we had to ride through a field heading vaugly toward a road to get back on track! Got to logoño ok and were staying in another christian run place where there is "donativo"! Grrrrrrr I dont mind paying for accomodation but when they say donativo and yet wont let you stay unless you pay a certain amount! How is that donativo!? ***********!!! Sorry but it really bugs me- !**************** AAAHHH! hoo anyway gonna calm down now! sorry everybody!

I have no idea where were going tomorrow- ill have a look and decide tonight!

To Chris- the reason we may be taking a longer route and going further north than we need to is cos were on the pilgrim trail this way and it a lot easier to keep costs down and its tricky to take a day off cos we're .......... pilgrims and they kick us out after one day! Unless we find non-churche with nice hospitaleros and they dont always have luxuries like heating and we dont really want to hang around! The guy who signed us in today asked questioningly "youve only come from santo domingo today" like "your not working hard enough" an i had to explain that actually we rode from belorado but we did stop to visit the church in santo domingo (ive filled my cradential book and ive got a new one that looks bare so i want more stamps- and the churches an stuff generally have the best looking ones! )

Adios

Deri

03 December - Deri survives the mud and Army firing range to Belorado!

2007-12-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

03 December 2007 17:33:22

Belorado!

Hola!

Well weve had a hell of a day! And it started pretty rubbish with some super aggresive cleaning lady screaming me out of bed cos it was half 8 and i should been up already (Whaaat!?) and then having a go at me cos i had to fix my bike (and make a fair bit of mess in the process) but anyway did all that and left- into the rain.... great! Took absolutly ages to get out of burgos! Why didnt anybody warn me about an airport and industrial estates and a moter way we had to ride by for ages (Hans? Amilie?) and we got lost a couple of times on the way out cos following arrows backwards is a lot harder! And once we were out we ended up on some rubbish dirt track next to an open pit mine (in the rain) trying to go up hill!

Got to the top of the hill and found ourselves surrounded by fog and lost the track! Turned around when we found ourselves on some kind of military teritory! Ver scary! And chris called me to have a go (cheers for that!) an slow bethan down even more with questions about gloves (the fog is getting thicker! Can we just get ....... off this mountain please!!!) And then we decended into a small village- into the sunshine again! But everthing was closed! Im hungry! Why is everything closed!?

So we carried on an met a nice old couple from somewhere near bath in a picnic area and they gave us some food (very nice old couple with ver posh accents) so we carried on! Aiming for belorado (and completely covered in mud from the stupid dirt track in the rain)! So we got there around twenty past four and i thought.... we could go a bit further- maybe Granon? "NO!" says bethan and so we went to find tyhe albergue in belorado! Found it and the guy (Juan) is super nice! Im sitting at this computer nice an clean from a nice shower- wearing all clean clothes with all our muddy clothes in the washing machine with the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen (yes Juan is cooking us an all veggie meal! Great) And i said we need to go wash our bikes an stuff ( cos you couldn actually tell what colour they are supposed to be) And he led us into the garden with the rabbits (SO cute) an chickens an stuff an showed us a hose pipe so we could wash our bikes! And ive got a bed next to a radiator (that is a huge luxury!) so turns out this is the same day as with the facist cleaner lady but i feel much better (Juan gave us cake as well- home made, suger covored cake!)

I dont really want to leave tomorrow but nevermind! yeah its great here! Hahaha Anyway thats about it for today but yeah- leg still killing me but someone is cooking me food an it smells goood so im happy even if i do have to hobble around!

Deri

01 December =Deri has a bad knee in Burgos!

2007-12-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

01 December 2007 17:40:26

Burgos!

Hola
Burgos was supposedly only 36k away from where we stayed last night! Quite an easy day? No!

There wasnt so much fog today so it wasnt so wierd- I could see the surrounding fields but the snow-capped mountains that should have been decorating the horizons had disappeared... I think i would have prefered the fog- it started raining! So it was very wet an a bit misrable! And the 36k was in referance to the foot paths that cut straight a accross country (paths that arnt great for bikes at the best of times but were, today, super muddy paths of doom!)

And there was a distinct lack of sign posts directing a non drowning-in-mud route to Burgos! So much so that i ended up having to wave down a passing car to ask the way cos i really had no idea where ...... we were or where .... we were going! Anyway a nice woman told me we had to ride for 9k north before we could take a right turn toward burgos! Great! Anyway we rode that 9k through the rain to find a village with a resturant where we decided to stop, dry off, heat up and have some food- didnt really work cos it wasnt particularly warm and friendly... The bar man, who looked kinda like lurch, seemed genuninly angry when when i asked if we could have food and drinks but gave in after standing and staring for a while (I just stared right back with an unmatchable hunger in my eyes til he started moving)

Anyway i ordered the only veggie thing on the menu as usual- tortilla! But bethan ordered something real grim! Before it even arrived the smell of it nearly (but not quite) put me off my food. When it did actually arrive (i wish now that i had had the presence of mind to take a picture of bethans face- though im not sure my camara lense would have survived the ordeal!) it was some kind of dead fish bits in a goopy black (yes black!) souce! Guuuh!

Anyway! Once we had finished our food we left the bar to head to burgos! I asked someone how far it was. They said about 31k! Surly this didnt work- we had already riden 22k! So we set off for burgos and i was hopeing the guy i asked was completely wrong about the distance- he wasnt wrong at all! But at least we were on a road i recognized! The N-120! We had riden this rode somewhere near Leon! I happened to know this road went all the way to Logrono and passed through burgos on the way. I also knew that on this road it was 114k between burgos and logrono! (dont ask me why i know this i just do!) Anyway all the 'N' roads here have a little marker every k to tell you how far til the road ends (they do somtimes lie though) and i noticed the first one we saw was 144k so i guess the guy was right! Damn! Cos my knee was really hurting by this point an i really didnt want to ride another 30k! I spent the whole journey telling myself it wasnt that far- converting into miles to make it seem less! Marker says "135k" Right! 135- 114 is... 21! 21k thats only... 13.125 miles! Thats not far! come on De! A bit faster! you could be there in under an hour! I did that with every marker for every kilometer! Im pretty sure it was the only thing keeping me going thrugh the pain in my knee! I dont know what the problem is with it but it really “dot dot” hurts!

So anyway! Made it to burgos! Its absolutly pouring down! And (after riding around for ages) we found the albergue in the middle of a really big park in the middle of nowhere! So the only way to get any food or anything is to walk through the rain for ages in a park! (I actually find it easier to ride than to walk- rhythmic motion or jarring steps) So yeah i think were probably gonna take a day off tomorrow- Maybe even get a hotel with a bath an hot water an stuff- dont know if that just wishful thinkin though- probably quite expensive... Anyway! That was my day today! About 53k and quite a bit of pain! Im gonna go psych myself up to get some food! Wish me luck!
Deri

30 November Deri freezes on way to Castrojeriz

2007-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

30 November 2007 21:06:49

Castrojeriz!

Hey hey!

Well today was the coldest i think ive ever been and not opted for just wrapping up in a quilt or something!!

We stayed in another monestery last night but unlike all the other monastic places the nuns were actually really sweet and nice and there were only 7 pilgrims (including us) so we all went out and had a very nice meal an talked a lot of spanish! One of them tryed talking to me at one point and i just plain didnt understand so i got a bit worried but it turned out he was italian (Sounds similar but- what!?)

Anyway yeah! This morning we got up very early and went to have breakfast and planned to set off on a 42k ride to... here! But there was so much fog that we couldn see more than about 10 yards in any direction! And it was cold! After a couple of k i noticed that horizontal icecless were forming on my handle bar bag! My shoes got frozen my toe clips and my gloves got frozen to the handle bars! And we were in the middle of nowhere by this point so the only thing to do was ride faster! Then i noticed that my gears and brakes were frozen solid- I had to nock the ice off my gears whenever i wanted to chenge and i felt like i was constantly trying to nock the ice off my brakes! I mean seriously cold! When i straightened my fingers i could feel the ice snapping off the outside if my gloves and whenever i blinked i could feel little droplets of ice clincking together like beads of glass!

I got to fromister and immedietly went into a bar to have a cup of tea an wait for bethan to catch up. It was shocking going into the bar and seeing a reflection of myself! My beard and eyebrows seemed half an inch longer and were all completely white from the frost! Every crease in my clothes had horizontal iceicless hanging off! I must have looked very strange- a man made of frost! But i soon began to melt! And once bethan cought up we waited in the bar for about an hour and a half for the mist to burn off and the sun to come out- didnt happen!

So we carried on through the mist! Lost sight of each other within about twenty minutes and i stopped a couple of times at junctions an stuff to make sure we went the same way but i had to jump up and down almost constantly to keep warm an keep the ice from covering me! Thank god i had full finger gloves and biult in stereo in my phone to keep music blasting and remind me i wasnt dreaming- I felt like i was riding through the shadowlands! Only me and 10 yards in any direction! A little dream world made of ice! Dont want to be doing that again! though we have to travel on tomorrow to burgos!

Strangly once we reached Castrojeriz (not anywhere near before) The mist burnt off and the sun came out and i actually felt a little too hot! Anyway we asked the nice hospitalero man for a good place to eat and he directed us to this really nice place! I take back... a lot of what ive said about spanish portion sizes! When i explained that we were vegaterian the waiter guy went away to find out what we could eat and came back with a revised menu of foods we could have! Thats a first! And, i finished my first course (yeah-first course!) before bethan and the waiter immedietly swept in to ask if i wanted more! I said no. He asked if i was sure. I hesitated- should i say "no thanks" or "yes im sure" and how to do it in spanish! By the time i figured this out he was already on his way back to the table with another bowl of soup! And he constantly brought more food whenever we finished a plate (like the salad was on a separate plate for us to share- so we devided it and he brought another plate of salad! I was so full i was scared to clear my plate in case he brought another plate full of food over! Now that is the kinda service i like! And he didnt charge extra for the extra food he near forced upon me!

Im not looking forward to tomorrows ride- its only 38k but i banged my knee somewhere along the 100k ride and its been hurting me quite a bit! Espesially in the (absolutly freezing) cold that we experienced today! Wish us luck! And hope for a sunny day along with us!!! Speak to you soon!

Deri

29 November Deri's slow puncture Carrion de los Contes!

2007-12-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

29 November 2007 14:56:26

Carrion de los Contes!

Hey hey!

Well were about half way accross the meseta now (nice long flat roads) and its ok exept my bike has a slow puncture so i had to stop every couple of hours to give it a top up along the way but i can sort that out without difficulty! Were in Carrion de los contes now which is 43k beyond Sahagun (had a slightly easier day after that rediculous 103k ride from Astorga) (Bethan insisted we take the train from santiago to astorga cos we didnt have much time (or rather she wanted to take a train over the mountains)) So now we have to easy days and well be in Burgos and another two easy days and we should be in Legoño (there is aledgedly a ´´Wine fountain´´ somewhere along that route which will probably slow me down a bit... ) Dont really know what were gonna do when we get to Barcalona though so i can afford to slow down for a fountain of wine!

28 November 2007 Deri and bethan bike 103 km Sahagun

2007-12-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

28 November 2007 17:59:07

Sahagun

Dont really have time talk. Just wanted to say we rode 103kms! 103!!!!!

Anyway i need to go colapse! Good night!

Deri

26 November Deri explains Leaving Santiago

2007-12-17T07:56:00.001-08:00

26 November 2007 11:57:44

Leaving Santiago!

Hola!

Sorry i havnt really been in touch but i havnt really done any exiting travel type things over the past couple of weeks though ive made a lot of friends and learnt a lot more spanish! Anyway the time has come for us to move on! But the next couple of weeks are not really gonna be lesuerly riding- weve got to get barcalona for the 13th! From one side of spain to the other! Im thinking we need an average of about 80k day to make it so wish us luck! Ill keep in touch as usual once were back on the road! I almost dont want to wait til tomorrow- It will be good to move again!

Mañana vamos de Santiago a Barcalona! Mucho Bueno!!

Adios!

Deri

15 November Deri - They've decided to stay in Santiago

2007-12-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

15 November 2007 11:44:33

Staying in Santiago...‏

Well!

These e-mails are probably gonna get quite a bit more boring for the next...two weeks. We are now working in the albergue for the next two weeks. Its voluntary so we dont get any money but we do get free accomodation and a chance to do this spanish course and of course practice this spanish on all the pilgrims (Although generally all americans,austrailians, british, canadian, german, danish, swedish and norwegians we have met speak english an no spanish and all the french we have met speak french and nothing else so i havnt been able to practice much really...crazy when you think were in spain!)

Anyway yes! Were here for the next two weeks!

There has been lots of questions about "so starting your own albergue? that sounds like a good idea" And i agree! Yes it is. BUT! not for a while yet- ive at least gotta walk this whole .....thing first! And see more of the world before i can commit myself to any one part of it!! ...........................................................................!!!!!!!

By the way ive got quite a good collection of photos on my phone and i will try and get them onto the computer again but bethan has loaded loads of pictures onto the internet. Let me know if you want to see them and ill get her to "invite" you to her...whatever she has got!

Deri

4 December Logrono - Bethan has Rice, soup and egg

2007-12-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

04 December 2007 18:09:08

Logrono

hola people,

we made it to logrono today, and managed a more respectible 72k (ish), which wasn´t as hard going as i´d invisaged, my knees are slightly achy, but only slightly and i have no pain in my neck. my bum however is a different story and i think i´m going to have to invest in a new saddle as mine is rock hard.

i have no idea how far barcelona is, we haven´t had a map since we started, well we did at one point but it got soaking wet in palencia and since we´ve been flying blind, winging it was alright on the camino but i do think we need to aquire a regional map, a few times we´ve got lost, not seriously, but to the extent where we´ve ridden 15k out of the way - the worst is when you come to a fork in the raod, or a cross roads or something, there´s no yellow arrows, no houses, no people and no cars to flag down - a few days ago when leaving castrojeriz we got to a crossroads on top of a mountain in the rain, no signs no nothing, but then i remembered that this guy with a wierd eye had told us to turn left, an amazing amount of people in the small towns have serious turns in their eyes, not just a little bonk eyed i mean totally wierd. what is tat about. spain - the country of amusing dogs, no scrap that .... I mean hilarious dogs, and bonk eyes. anyway we then we flagged down a car and she confirmed.

yesterday stopped at belorado, the trip there was interesting. left burgos on the actual camino, which is always a mistake when you´re on a bike to follow the walkers path. we do it periodically, it ends in disaster, and vow never to make the same mistake again, but a couple of weeks later we forget and have a disaterous day again. it wasn´t that disasterous though, we got there in the end. as i said we left on the camino, got out of the town through loads of factories and stuff, which was grim, then rode up this ´road´, which was a gravel track, well pushed our bikes up a substantial amount of it. the fog was already closing in at this point, not freezing fog though, just thick...can´t see 20 metres in front, or to the sides or behind you fog. got a phone call off my mother, asking about gloves...really mam! which let the fog come in yet closer without us moving, at one point we´d wandered onto an army firing range without noticing, luckily i spotted razor wire and then a big sign saying pasa perhibido, so we got out quickly. i think we weren´t so concered about being blown up as by being arrested for being spies or something.

anyway found a big cross and the skies seemed to clear then, must a been a sign...yeah right, if we had help or......whatever we ...wouldn´t have landed in a big dot dot dot bog where both me and deri nearly fell in the mud. our bikes didn´t fare so well and got absolutely stinking, needing to be power washed when we got to belorado. anyway got there, and the albergue was raelly nice, the guy had chickens and loads of pet rabbits, and he cooked us food and CAKE!!!!! although it was very nice of him to cook for us, it was a bit of a weird meal, heinz tomato soup, a tower of rice and a fried egg, all in the same bowl, but can´t complain, and did i say we had CAKE...oh and homemade biscuits. ok i think some guy wants to get on te internet, he keeps coming and looking over my shoulder. well write more soon
adios beth

1 December castrojeriz - Bethan survives fog of death

2007-12-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

01 December 2007 15:32:07

fog of death

hola people,
we´ve had another easy day today, again only 42k, well after we proved we can do 100k in a day we´ve kind of lost motivation, plus we need time to recover - because the both of us are in pretty sorry states. less so today though as i only began to get saddle sore in the last 4k, which considering i was saddle sore yesterday before we even started is a bit of an accomplishment, i think so anyway.

yesterday we arrived in carrion de los condres, and stayed in the nunery. the nuns were very friendly, although took an excessive amount of time to explain that you´re not supposed to put metal in the microwave

there was a load of spanish, a load being 3, an italian guy and a boy from luxemberg. these scandinavians, well northern europeans, they know so many languages, phillipe, the luxembergish boy - don´t know what someone from luxemberg is called so that´ll do for now, could speak 6 languages fluently!!!! they´re just showing off though, and no-one likes a show off...no i´m really jealous actually.

anyway we went out for dinner with them and mostly it was very nice, except there was this one spanish man - miguel - who kept trying to feed me rabbit off his fork, he knew i was a vegetarian, and even if i did eat meat as if i was going to let some pro sport uber competitive old spanish medallion man feed me, i mean you´ve got to be on pretty close terms with someone to let them feed you, yuch!!!! and he snored like a steam train!!!! apart from proffessional pool guy (miguel, he slaughtered phillipe at pool, and was raelly competitive about it) i liked the rest of them, although a bit sad that we are going the wrong way so won´t get to see any of them again.

today woke up, feeling good, well as good as you can feel when someone wakes you up at stupid o clock by turning the lights on - anyway everything seemed fine at 8.30, obviously cold, but sunny, went to have desayuno in a bar, tortilla - what else could we possibly eat. by the time we left the bar at about 9.15 thick freezing fog had come down. it was so thick that you couldn´t even see the road, so it was probably a bit silly of us to set of in such thick fog, not having lights an´ all, but we did. deri went off and we arranged to meet in a bar in fromista - 18 k away.

so i´m on my own, i can´t see the road, and more importantly anything on the road can´t see me, and i´m thinking OH MY WORD I´M GOING TO BE KILLED. well that was my first thought, my second was - oh my word it´s cold. I mean really cold, i´ve never been so cold in my whole life, and i know that i exaggerate a lot but really this is no exaggeration. i looked down to see my handle bars had iced up, then looking down at my legs, shoes, and jacket, realised that they also had icycles on them. my hair, eyebrows and eye lashes were also iced up and i was thinking that if i stopped pedelling that i was definately going to die!!!! or at least develope hypothermia, i´ve never been so cold that ice has formed on my face - i really appreciated my alcaeda mask today. anyway the fog remained thick all day - the type of fog you expect some crazed mental patient to lurch out of bearing a chainsaw, or a rapid dog with red eyes to jump from and maul you within an inch of your life, as you probably guessed i was considering my own mortality a lot during this time, it was scary as hell - however that is not to say (mam) that i want a silly handlebar attachment to put my lights on, i´ve quite enough stuff on my bike already.
well stopped for cola cao, met deri and layered up - 2 pairs of trousers, well leggings, 2 t-shirts, my fleece, my coat, alcaeda mask & a thermal hat plus my helmet...oh gloves and socks for my hands - i´ve only got fingerless gloves. and i must say that i was pretty .... cosy, excessively so actually, but hey excess sweat is better than excessive ice.
got to castrojeriz, which is where we are now and went for food. I retract all complaining and slander that i have commited regarding spanish portions - the waiter forced upon us seconds of pratically everything we ordered, double salad, double soup - he even brought us things we hadn´t even ordered!!!! and in spain, how rare is that. well had better go as deri is waiting eagerly to get on the computer and rave about portion sizes.
adios beth

30 November Bethan is cryogenically frozen

2007-12-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

30 November 2007 09:31:24

cryogenically frozen

oh my god, i now know how it feels to be cryogenically frozen. more later
beth

29 November Bethan has fat knees in carrion de los condres

2007-12-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

29 November 2007 15:32:25

carrion de los condres

hola people,
well as i said yesterday were on the move again, about time eh? today were in carrion de los condres, a much easier day than yesterday, although i am still in pain and hadn´t really recovered. only 42k today, but we´re thinking of pushing on to burgos tomorrow ~ 80k. well my knees are really hurting, and i don´t know if they´re swollen or just fat, i never really took any notice of my knees before , well you don´t do you. can anybody remember if i had fat knees or not? all the girls/women i´ve met have talked about losing weight but i´ve just developed fat knees, where´s the justice in that.

we stayed in sahagun last night and met this canadian man who seemed to have been just about everywhere on earth, even done a polar expedition. there was only 4 of us in the albergue, and i think it´s going to get to be less and less as we go further back. not really a lot to say, the ride was very flat, we are on the meseta so didn´t expect anything more, but i am glad we caught a train over the mountains as when we left astorga there was snow on o´cebreiro, and there´s no way that we would´ve got the bikes up in the snow, the hill that we would´ve had to have got the bikes up, was the supposedly terrifying hill that deri described to you into ponferrada, the fastest 20k down would´ve turned into the longest 20k in history. anyway, we´ve got an extra 6 days to get to barcelona now, and i don´t really want to spend a lot of time there as it´s going to be expensive.

i´ve been thinking, are there any ski resorts close to barcelona, coz i could work there, my spanish isn´t good enough to work in a bar or anything yet, maybe in a kitchen or something???? don´t know, hopefully nicki will be able to come up with someone who can look after our bikes but i´m sure we could leave them in the hostel otherwise. ok that´s it really adios beth

28 November - Bethan in pain Sahagun

2007-12-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

28 November 2007 17:46:21

IT´S´A MIRACLE, WE HAVE FINALLY LEFT SANTIAGO!!!!! ridden 105 kilometres (from astorga to sahagun), so not really in the moodd to be sat at a computer, need to lay down.

there´s a problem with barcelona, deri´s friend osian had split up with his girlfriend and flying back to the uk tonight. we are still going to go though, well we have to the flights are booked. i´m going because it hurts to sit still. knees, bum, back. my shoulder has actually gone numb and i´m getting shooting pains down my arm. adios beth

24 November - Bethan's story - planning to leave Santiago

2007-12-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

24 November 2007 14:51:44

we are finally going to leave

hola people of britain, denmark, canada where-ever,
i finished the last english book in the albergue yesterday and now have nothing to do but spend an obscene amount of money on the computer. we are thinking of leaving on tuesday, as yet we aren´t quite sure where, maybe head straight for barcelona, though i think that we should dip south a bit and try and squeeze between the two mountain ranges on either side of soria (north east of madrid) though how successful this is going to be i don´t know???

we are going out tonight, balazs - yes we finally know his name!!! (hospetalero guy) - is giving us a key, he´s also bought the ingredients to make white russians, i.e. vodka, milk and something beginning with a c....so who knows what´s going to happen tonight, although as has become customary tomorrow will be hangover day!!! it´s gonna take two days to recover, hence the leaving on tuesday and not monday. we are however going to school on monday, it´ll be quite sad not going anymore, isabella is really nice (our teacher). ok can´t think of anything else to say.

adios beth

20 november bethan - Santiago albergue - bored, wine and short men

2007-12-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

20 November 2007 12:12:56

cures for boredom‏

hey people,
how is everybody? just come from spanish, ´hoy albergue es hombre alemanio (not sure that´s right for masculine - hari & K ?????) mucho gardo´ - there is a very fat german man in the albergue - better look around to check he´s not here, everybody on the camino seems to use this internet cafe.

ok am happier today, have discovered that the cure for boredom is to go to bed, it´s also much warmer in bed than just sitting around the albergue - ..........

wine - another cure for boredom. also a good way to break the ice, since we´ve taken over in the albergue, - yes we have taken over, first the albergue, next spain...then the world (evil james bond baddy type laugh...moohahaha!) - since we´ve taken over the albergue, i think it´s the 2nd best albergue in the world - (first being ´don alfarios´ in sarria, they gave us free shots) as tired pilgrims arrive after kilometres on the road we hand them free wine,

another cure for boredom change my windows live background (i´ve worked it out), although the computer in the albergue is expensive 1 euro for 24 minutes, and the internet always stops working but as everybody else (except pilgrims) knows, that whenever anything is wrong with a computer you turn it off and then back on, and magically it works.

These pilgrims, it´s like the 20th century has passed them by, also there are a lot of very short men on this camino, like really short, in the albergue there´s a puerto rican man whose shorter than i am - freaky - el es mucho peqeno, .......... i don´t know whether my spanish spelling is right, but i don´t really have to know how to spell it, although i am getting into the habit of pronouncing ´c´s as ´th´s and ´j´s as ´ch´s, which could prove confusing when i get back home, another problem i´m finding is mixing up spanish and french, i only know a limited amount of french mind you, but eventually i´ll learn them both. as you can see another cure for boredom is writing long - probably boring - emails, rambling on ........ i expect.

ok that´s it, i think. adios beth

17 November Bethan reports on Santiago dog nappies

2007-12-17T06:46:00.000-08:00

17 November 2007 09:53:44

how to survive in spain lesson 1‏

lesson 1 - crossing the road

you would imagine than crossing the road would be pretty much the same globally, but you´d be mistaken. in spain you the pedestrian has right of way, no matter how big nor how busy the road. in spain, people don´t get knocked down by cars, they merely bounce off them, hence the motorist´s reluctance to tackle one head one.
i have know mastered this skill, the trick is - show no fear - cross when and how you want. think nothing about forcing a long line of cars to que up as you casually chat to a friend in the middle of the road. it´s the spanish way!

lesson 2 - pets

ok, so you have a new puppy. it´s so cute etc, except, oh no you´ve gotta spend weeks trying to house train it,stop! the spanish have come up with a much better solution - dog nappies. they might make your pouch look like a complete idiot, and probably be the laugh of the doggy world, they might restrict movement, they might make your dog fall over in a heap on the fall - but at least it saves time. and not just for dogs, these innovative Spaniards have branched out into cat and rabbit nappies...how clever...hmmm

ok more lessons when i learn them....see i´m so bored! the most exciting thing that happened yesterday was that we found a load of cds that we hadn´t listened to before - tracy chapman, the Beatles.

15 November Bethan in School in Santiago

2007-12-17T06:31:00.000-08:00

15 November 2007 19:50:37

School in Santiago

hola,
hey everybody, well first day of being hospetalera today and first day of going to school, that sounds so weird ´going to school´, only 2 hours a day though. i wish it was longer, because otherwise we are just sitting in the albergue, waiting for people to turn up, which more often than not they don´t - it´s been really quiet today, and so tedious!!!

we´re gonna see if we can work the mornings on the weekend, so as we can go for a bike ride - ...... but the owner is in amsterdam and even the guy in charge doesn´t get paid - he has accommodation and makes money by taking pilgrims on car trips. gotta go

beth

12 Novemeber Bethan and Deri's plans change by the minute

2007-12-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

13 November 2007 15:31:31

Santiago

hi people it´s beth,
well looks like our plans have changed again, this morning we were thinking of going to madrid, then valencia and up into barcelona, but there have been some interesting developments this morning, the owner of the albergue that we are staying in is going to amsterdam for 2 weeks leaving the man whose managing it on his own, and when i was talking to him this morning he told me that he couldn´t run the car trips because he had no one to be the hospetelera in the albergue and someone needed to be there, so if i had time could i do it today.

well he ended up not doing a car trip, but me and deri got talking and we´ve asked him if we can work in the albergue for the two weeks while we do our spanish courses here - he says he wants to do the spanish course as well coz he´s from hungary and only speaks a bit of spanish, Got to go now and find out the details, found one but it´s a bit expensive 260 euros for 2 weeks!!! each! then we got talking to an irish guy in the albergue and he is highly recommending that we go to portugal, coz apparently it´s cheap and hot there, but he also said that there´s a camino to madrid, with albergues we could stay in?????? so again our plans seem to be changing hour from hour, and a bit up in the air. but we are going to check out the situation with the spanish schools and then take it from there....watch this space.

don´t really know the details off these jobs but as long as we can get free accommodation and enough money for food i´ll be happy.

12 Nov Bethan - Bored in Santiago

2007-12-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

12 November 2007

16:38:31

Subject : bored in Santiago

i am so bored!!! got to wait until tomorrow to get deri´s bike back and once again i find myself sat in the internet cafe, sending second e-mails to people. santiago is ok, expensive, but not overly so for a city. found some good places to eat, had falafels last night from a kebab shop, i was somewhat dubious about eating from a kebab shop, but it turned out to be very nice - obviously kebab shops in spain aren´t like kebab shops at home, i.e. greasy & rank, only fit for the copiously intoxicated.

the plan seems to be constantly changing; yesterday we were going to portugal; this morning to barcelona; now we´re going to madrid, then valencia, up the east coast to barcelona where i´ll do my spanish school and we´re hoping osian can get us jobs just for a couple of weeks so as we´re not really paying to stay there.

I have now developed a small chest infection, but am reckoning on me being ok tomorrow, ............ i´ve discovered a web site that´ll allow us to search for cheap hostels and albergues in all of spain, which is good. don´t really know what else to write. deri has just bought the camino board game,............. he is very excited and has even bought one to send to hans, which he is also going to fill with cola cao (hot chocolate). it´s really odd, here in espaniol everybody smokes, and so many young people smoke, i know we´ve only had the smoking ban for a little while, but it just seems very odd.
ok, i´m done adios beth

9 bethan speaks about vegetarian restaurant in santiago 11 nov

2007-11-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

11 November 2007 18:25:53

in santiago

hola people,
oh my god, i didn´t know anybody could produce so much sick - not me thankfully though. Last night a big group of us went for food, the americans who are friends with the australians wanted to go to a vegetarian restaurant so we went with them and a couple more of their friends. Food was superb, i had cous cous in a stir fry, and deri had falaffel, in fact the food was so good that we´re going back tonight with an australian vegan that we met in villafranca and some more australians -

anyway ...... after the meal we went out dot dot, two of the americans came with us, and we met up with the others, everything was good, some time during the night a group of spanish peopel came and joined us and when the bar closed we went to a night club, it was all rather cheesy but good fun.... anyway ...... we get back to their hostel and i crash out on the bed so deri and paula go back to our hostel. ...... dot dot dot.....got woken up at 10 o clock so only got like three hours sleep - we left the night club at 6. They are heading out to portugal today in a hire car, as are the americans, and we are thinking that we might cycle down there? don´t know, we have just bought a new lonely planet guide to spain though, so ???.

the americans ...brian & cliff - ...- asked me out to colorado and said that they could get me a job in the ski resort they work in, but june to september is out of season. They work in the ski resorts all winter and then travel in the summer, nice life hey!

as it´s sunday everything is shut today, so couldn´t get deri´s bike fixed, i want to get our clothes washed and then i think we´ll be on our way, maybe madrid, but portugal is looking like a strong possibility now. well not a lot else to say, we need to get out of santiago because it´s proving quite expensive, would like agood night´s sleep though, felt really rough all day but am ok now, just tired.

i´ve found out that they have albergues in other places and not just along the camino, so i think that they are like ymca hostels or something,
ok i´m going now
adios beth

8 Bethan's story about Santiago Finisterre end of the world 10 nov

2007-11-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

the end of the world

10 November 2007 18:41:57

hola
well we made it back from the end of the world in one piece, didn´t fall of the edge or anything. I caught up with deri and hans in oliveirao, and actually made in before them. It was good riding on my own because i could go at my pace without feeling like i was holding anyone up, but i made good time, about 75k in just over 4 and a half hours - it wasn´t supposed to have been that long but i went too far north and, didn´t get lost but was a bit concerned for a while. The towns that i was passing weren´t on the camino map, eventually i stopped and asked someone and they said that i was 12 k away and gave me directions.

Met a load of new people in the albergue in oliveriao, most were really nice but there was an american couple - carl and andrea - .... they didn´t walk that far on the last day though so they didn´t make it to finisterre with the rest of us, ...... Finisterre and the towns leading up to it were really beautiful, i had to wait around for a long time for the walkers to show up, but when i was having food the girl sat next to me seemed to fit the description of one of the girl´s from the albergues (paula)´s friend who was catching a bus and meeting her there, and she was reading an english paper, so i started talking to her and it was the right girl. On the language front, since going to finisterre and spending time with a load of people who have been in spain a lot longer than i have i´m feeling pretty smug. Some of them (mostly australians and americans mind) can´t even ask for things like bread, and drinks, and when other people are talking to each other either in their language or for instance hans speaks german, and there seemed to be a lot of germans there - the australians get really fed up.., apart from that everybody was nice and we´re meeting them tonight for dinner.

One german woman - christina - had walked from her house in berlin, and reached finisterre on her 100th day of walking - isn´t that just perfect, you couldn´t get any better i don´t think. we went and watched the sunset last night from the most westerly point in europe (well actually there´s supposed to be one further west, only by a couple of meters, 5k north, but we´re not thinking about that) anyway sunset was at 6.16pm and we didn´t leave the town until 5.40, and had to walk a further 4k, we made it , just but had to run the final 1k, well i didn´t run i just walked quickly, but walking quickly is the equivalent pace to someone running (after they have walked 35k) so got there in time with our bottle of wine, dot dot dot ...... We haven´t been swimming, but we went for a paddle this morning, the sea was very cold, it wasn´t hot enough for swimming when we got there the day before, only 19 degrees, but it was nicer again today about 22. This kind of temperature isn´t normal for this time of year and i think spain has a shortage of water, because all the rivers and lakes are all dried up and there was a news item on it the other day. What floods are you talking about? i don´t know anything that´s happening at home, maybe someone could give me a weekly summary of the news, only like big news i don´t wanna know if the queen is visiting some town or the results of a football match, just major stuff.

Well we are back in santiago today, caught a bus that took 3 and a half hours. We have checked into a pension for tonight, it´s not that expensive really, and we both need a good nights sleep. Again someone was snoring like a jet plane in the albergue last night, the last 2 nights there have been rabid snorers, deri calls it ´the fat man snore´ or ´the french man snore´, when you get an albergue with an old french man you just know that they are going to snore, and it´s not quiet either. Apparently, according to linda a canadian woman, somebody woke up the french man a couple of weeks ago complaining about his snoring and his wife went mad and there was nearly a fight. also met up with a load of friends that paula has made along the way in finisterre, and we are all meeting up later. It´s hans last night and all of us have finished the camino so we´re going for a meal and aiming to get really drunk. an occasion like this is worthy of tequila i say - another reason why we´ve checked into a pension, so we have no bed time and curfew! It was so nice actually, i got out of the shower after spending as long as i wanted in there, and dried using a clean, dry towel! it smelt really good, and tonight we get to sleep in a bed with actual sheets, but i don´t think we´ll be in any state to appreciate it really.

We´re thinking we might stay in santiago for a couple more days, let deri´s feet recover, and i got an e-mail off vitor on the 8th saying he was 100k away, so we might wait for him. Amelie shouldn´t be too far behind us either. we´re a bit confused about what to do now, seen as there will no longer be yellow arrows to follow (the whole camino is marked by yellow arrows, spray painted on roads, buildings, trees, lamp posts etc) you would have thought that some smart allec kids would have gone to work with a can of yellow spray paint themselves and sent the pilgrims on a bit of a detour, but no signs of that sort of thing, in fact all the locals have been really friendly (except cafe owners) like hanging out of windows when you go the wrong way, or going around the round abouts a load of times pointing the way. Maybe they think they have to be friendly to the pilgrims or else risk god´s wrath, cafe owners don´t seem to care though. You try and pay them and they don´t seem to want to take it, they only serve spanish people at the table and you have got to go up and wave frantically at the bar, and yes i know we must seem to eat at what would be strange times to them, but they are on the camino and they did choose to work in this field, and it´s not like i was asking for things in english, so just .....dot dot dot cheer up!

we went out for a meal last night in finisterre, about 10 of us, and after the first course (soup - which was nice) when we tried ordering the main course, the waitress would take one order and then run away, without taking anyone elses, then someone else would get her attention and get their order in and then again she would run away. Only half of us ending up having a main course, and she only asked one person if they wanted a desert and that was in the toilet, how weird is that!

The two australian girls, paula and pauline, are coming back to the uk in a couple of weeks, and hiring a camping van to tour wales - in december - i don´t know why.

well have got to go and meet people,
adios beth

7 bethan gets to Santiago - wierd tan etc 6 november

2007-11-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

Subject: santiago- hooray!!!

Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 17:05:38 +0000

hola,
well they say that a girl´s best friend are cosmetics and clothes, but i´ve revised this idea and now i´m aiming to head a movement championing tar mark as a girl´s best friend. I love tar mark!! whenever i see a nice flat tar marked surface i rejoice and think hallelujah (very god-like i know), no more pushing of the bikes. We´ve been going on the actual camino track more lately, which incidentally has signs for bikes on it, which may i add is a joke. I´m sure that whoever put those signs up has never ridden a bike, and definitely not a bike loaded up with panniers and loads of stuff, anywhere near those tracks. And why is it that they ( whoever makes the paths) feels the need to put all of the most slippery gravel, or the biggest stones - no rocks, boulders even - on the most vertical of up hill slopes, i think they are trying to bleep the cyclist off.

Well today i was in no mood to be grappling with such stupid hills, as now i have deri´s cold and he is all better, my mind over matter thing was working but i got really drunk and forgot to do it, ...... anyway for some unknown reason deri likes these bleep ridiculous paths, so he went one way and i went on the road - i like going fast and i like the satisfaction of seeing the kilometres wizzing by. Anyway i´m ill, and today i didn´t want to mess about, i got into santiago at 11.45 am which was good, had a really nice pizza and a cup of tea and waited for deri & hans. Came across deri at the side of the road when coming back from town, his bike rack has come off so he can´t ride coz it keeps falling in the wheel and the cogs, see that´s what you get for taking stupid-bleep dirt tracks, and not sensible lovely flat tar mark. Again i do love tar mark!

It´s been so hot here the last few days, up to 25 celsius between 1 and 4, and still these spanish people wrap up in shawls, an winter coats, weird weird people, we saw this tramp today with a wolly hat and gloves on, personally i think she was milking it a bit.
I don´t feel too bad in the day time but really rough in the mornings and at night, tomorrow deri is walking on to finisterre with hans and i´m taking a day off to recover, then depending how i feel the next day or day after i´m gonna ride on and catch them up, i don´t think i could manage a whole 8 days on my own (4 days there and back), hope the weather holds up though because they say you´ve gotta go swimming in the sea in finisterre, people used to think it was the end of the world and that you had to go in the sea to wash away you´re sins.

Sarria was good, the night before last and yes the pancakes were great, the albergue was really small and was more like a guest house, me and deri got really drunk ...they put out complementary liquors and shot glasses and light a fire in an out building, it was really pleasant, and the people were really friendly, also they didn´t have a kicking out time or a going to bed time, which was novel.

We don´t really know what we´re going to do afetr finister, the main objective at the moment is to head south to the sun, although i don´t think i could cope with more heat in the day times at the moment, trying to cycle in it is really hard work, but it´s freezing cold in the mornings, i mean like -1, well actually 2 celsius, but that´s pretty cold especially when your going down a big hill or something, i have my hood cagoule that makes me look like a member of alcaeda, but it does the job, until about 11 when we start stripping off into shorts, by the way i have the most laughable tan lines, my hands are now stark white and arms relatively brown - for me anyway - and half way up my legs behind my knees i have horizontal lines from my cycling leggings, down my face i have strap marks from my helmet, thankfully these aren´t that obvious, but how attractive am i looking! and i´m far more tanned on my left side coz we´re always cycling west, i can´t wait to turn around (east) to even things out a bit.

We are a bit concerned about how expensive it´s gonna be when we leave the camino, and one topic of conversation has been the setting up of a camino in britain, we thought to start with we could get it to go to glastonbury torre, via stonehenge, and if we could arrange it so the end point would coincide with glastonbury festival this would be a good incentive, we thought that maybe we could contact the owner and see if he would give a discount on tickets to anyone producing a fully stamped camino credential ( we now have a fully or nearly fully stamped book, which we had to show to get our certificates, and to stay in the albergues) anyway we reckon that we need to get the hippies walking and in 20 years it´ll be accepted in the middle classes, could get lottery funding, and funding off the culture and tourism sectors of the government, get prince charles on board as a green initiative, and he could get the princes trust to build the paths. Local businesses would all benefit, and they could do special pilgrims menus like they do here at cheaper rates, and once one is started, loads of them could be set up - wales camino to st davids, scotland to somewhere or other etc.. As you can see we really have given this a lot of thought, even thought of logistics and stuff, but how could we get people walking in the first place, it´s not as if we have the weather like spain has, maybe an anti-obesity ploy?????? well not a lot else to talk about, adios
beth

6 Bethan again... historic memories Sarria flies and pancakes 3 Nov

2007-11-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

Sarria

Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 15:59:08 +0000

hola people,
everybody keeps asking me about a ´terrifying´ downhill ride, what has deri been telling you all, it was amazing - wouldn´t want to ride up it though. We´re in Sarria, again we´ve done another easy ride, although yesterday turned out not to be that easy. Our 700m climb that we thought stretched out over 40 k was actually condensed into 20k and it just went up and up and up, and on and on and on. We didn´t push our bikes once though. The walkers had a better time of it than we did, they just went up and over the mountain (12k) whereas we spiralled around and around and around. 20k hill - how hard are we! took us 3 and a half hours though. We haven´t seen the kleptomaniac baglady, according to hans, she cheats and catches buses everywhere, so I think she´s just pretending to be pilgrim and goes back and fore the camino all year. We will find her though, if not in this life in the next!!!

We have been keeping pace with hans and had arranged to meet him in an albergue on top of the mountain, when we got into the town if you can call it a town that is, there was all of 6 houses there, but what they lacked in houses they made up for in cows, and nasty vicious dogs. Anyway hans wasn´t there, we found the albergue and waited for ages, at first the hostalera wasn´t there, which freaked us out a bit cos the whole village was a bit freaky, it was like a spanish hick town where outsiders are spit roasted or killed in some bizarre sadistic way. The albergue was rank, after we´d got our stamp i went upstairs to the rooms, at first everything seemed normal and serene, then the buzzing started. When we turned on the light we saw them, a thousand flies all over the windows and ceiling, it was the same in the bathroom, ok i may be exaggerating a bit but there was easily a hundred blue bottles in each room. They thought they´d cleaned the blood splatters of the walls but the flies could still taste it, everybody know that where there´s loads of flies there´s been loads of murders. Deri kept making references to the town being like the town off resident evil 4 (hari & kelechi will know what i mean - the rest of you that´s a computer game with zombie´s in it), ... we decided to leave.

By this time it was getting dark, but we didn´t care, we valued our lives too much to stay in that murderous fleepit. It was a bit scary riding in the semi-dark (and someone´s nicked my lights - i think it was weird klepto woman) but rode up another 3 big hills until we got to the next albergue - in fonferria. It was nice, and guess who we found - hans, he had left us to die in hospital del camino (murderous fleepit) and walked on ahead. The korean people were also there and an australian/english woman, dot dot dot !!!

We left fonferria today - which was awesome incidentally, coz when you go up a 20k hill often there´s an equally big one on the other side - which there was, we done 10 k in about 15 minutes. .....Anyway we stopped for second breakfast, second breakfast has become a necessity now, We stopped in samos to see the monastery, we had to go on a guided tour though, it was long, but you can see why people wanted to become monks ... the monastery must have been so much nicer than what they had at home. After 11´ses we left samos and now we´re in sarria, only another 111k left of the camino,

There's a portugal camino, but it doesn´t go south - all caminos head towards santiago, there´s a load of them, one from seville, the french one (that´s the one we´re on now, most people start from sant jean le pui which is in france) there´s one that goes from santander and from holland, italy and you can even get on it in england, obviuosly albergues are few and far between outside spain & pòrtugal though.

Have a good albergue here in sarria, we´re going to make pancakes tonight with apple sauce, we found an apple tree with really good apples on it and hans has bought flour and eggs. The thought of pancakes, apple sauce and icecream has been keeping us going for days, the albergue last night didn´t have a kitchen in it so our plan was foiled, but tonight!!!! Well got to go,

beth

5 Bethan's Halloween Nov 1 Villafranca del bierzo

2007-11-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

Villafranca del bierzo

all saints day & kleptomaniac

Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 12:04:59 +0000

hey hey,
hola, we´re in Villafranca del bierzo, have stopped an extra day as deri is getting no better, the woman here is really nice though and hasn´t kicked us out in the day time -that´s what they normally do and then open back up between 12 and 2. We´re thinking that a day of rest should cure his cold, or hoping anyway. I have been telling my body that it is strong & healthy and it´s defences are impregnable, and it´s working, i´m not getting his cold or any other lurgy germs that these pilgrims have. There are lots of sick people on the camino, the bathrooms are not the place to be in the mornings with all the retching and coughing that´s going on in there. Some korean woman collapsed last night and an ambulance crew came rushing in, we think it was just exhaustion, but they carried on walking today.

It has been really nice here the last few days and we´ve gone back to shorts and vests, doing really easy days now - we´re only 220 k away from santiago, so we want to try and stretch it out as much as possible - if we wanted we could do it in 4 days, easy, but seen as we´re here til june that would be silly. There are some real hardcore cyclist here though, this italian lot that were in ponferrada had cycled all the way from leon that day - that´s about 110k.

Villafranca del Bierzo is a little town up in the mountains and to answer everybody´s question they don´t seem to celebrate halloween very much, the only sign we´ve seen of it was in Palencia, and that was in the pasterria´s where they had pumpkin shaped cakes and stuff. What they do celebrate is ´all saints day´, and all the supermercados are shut which means we are going to go out for food. Last night though this italian guy made us food, pasta with a tomato sauce , with spinach and onions, it was great - that was the first time we´d had spinach or onions since we´ve been here. He´d turned up at the albergue without enough money so coz it had happened to us the day before and I would´ve really liked someone to help us out I paid the difference for him. It worked out really well though and we had a nice meal, plus wine, worth 4 euros i would say.

It was really funny actually, he spoke italian and could sort of understand spanish but couldn´t speak any, deri (& me sort of) can understand words in spanish and speak a little , or in my case pocissimo (very little), and there was this czech girl who ate with us and she could also speak a little spanish and poco anglettere. So we drew pictures and used gestures alot, but it worked.

We have met a lot more religious people in the last few days and I keep having to kick deri under the table when he starts ranting ......dot dot dot.... too much. We´ve also met a load more australians, most are ok but there´s this one that australian chris would describe as the type ´that if they went to school speaking like that, they get beaten up´- the stereotypical outback australian like on crocodile dundee - she even says g´day. The rest are nice though, and what we´ve discovered is that we, or deri in particular , who had formed quite rigid opinions on australians, is that as long as they are quietly spoken, they tend to be ok, even the religious one who keeps trying to get us to go to church was nice. She gave us yogurts for breakfast and gave deri pasta last night - though this weird kleptomaniac woman stole it. I had been alerted to her thieving tendencies in fromista on our first morning when i seen her looking through someone else´s stuff, but thought that she might have been mistaken or something, coz it´s not really the pilgrim way is it. But no I was right, we´ve been thinking of ways to get back at her, so far we´ve come up with, loosening the wheels on her trolley - not so much that they fall off right away but so as they fall off on top of a mountain or something. or catching up with her taking her picture, riding ahead and making up big ´wanted dead or alive´ posters and sticking them up around the camino. Deri has been considering catching up with her and hitting her with a stick, but I think public humiliation would work much better. Well not a lot else to say except some police men with guns have just walked into the albergue - scary.

4 Bethan's story - red wine and arbergues 30 Oct Ponferrada

2007-11-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Ponferrada

Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:28:33 +0000

hola,
deri keeps telling me to e-mail, we had thought about the whole journal thing coz lots of people here are keeping themm and we do forget so much so quickly.

Well life on the Camino is good, it´s not all full of devoute Catholics as I had anticipated, there´s loads of different sorts of people and all really friendly. Everybody offers you food and wine and we´ve met loads of really nice people. Started in Fromista 5 days ago, rode from Palencia in a bitch of a head wind and were really pleased with our progress ( all of 37 k) untill that night in the albergue when a danish couple - we don´t really know if they´re danish or not, at that stage we were just calling people "the danes", "the australians", "the hardcore loner" (I´ll explain later) - but anyway they looked danish - said that they´d walked 42k. The next day we made it our mission to overtake them, which we did and covered 60k. Since then we´ve been doing that everyday, and it is suprisingly easy, that´s only a couple of hours ride.
The next place we stayed was at Sahagun where we met a really nice brazilian boy, Vitor, got drunk with him. The albergue was quite empty but we had a good time. The landscape around there was all really flat so we covered loads of distance. On our way to Leon - we didn´t mean to go as far as leon, but we arrived in the town before it too early and just cracked on - we seen the ´the hardcore loner guy´ meaning that he had walked 60k the day before and however many k we´d covered on that day - hence the hardcore title. We´ve found people on bikes now and we seem to be keeping up with them ok, or in some cases they´re not keeping up with us. The only thing about being on bikes is that we´re outpacing all the walkers, so when we meet nice people in the albergues we don´t get to walk with them and get to know them properly,

Deri wants to come back next year and do it by foot, and the year after by donkey, we´ve also been considering by pogo stick and on skateboard - we could make t-shirts saying "I´ve pogoed the camino". Anyway I don´t know about walking it, you would get to meet a lot of really nice people but you wanna see the state on some of them when they come in (to the albergues), some of them can hardly walk! Although you do get some who are the complete opposite, i.e. they catch buses, which we think is cheating, or they stay in one place way too long - like Chris. Chris is an australian that we met in leon. We stayed in the albergue in the monastery, which in theory sounded like a good idea, well i suppose it was really coz we met loads of fun people. Our little gang concluded of me & deri obviuosly, chris (aus), amelie - canadian, and hans - danish. We all got a bit too drunk which I am feeling a tad guilty about seen as it was in a monastery, but we´re on holiday so...what can you do.

There were 40 odd bunks in the same room, which was ok in itself, but because we were so drunk we´d stayed up past the curfew - most of the albergues have got curfews, normally about 10pm - which sucks - but anyway, these nuns came out and looked at us, then a monk came out and shouted at us so we had to go in then. I walked in as quietly as I could, tiptoeing around until I fell over a bag and burst out laughing - !!!!....dot dot dot.

Anyway the next day, we woke up with hangovers and decided to take a day of rest, since we´ve been here, sundays have become unofficial days of rest, where little or no cycling takes place. So we sat in the square outside the albergue and got drunk again, it was really nice . Hans walked on because he´s only got 10 days in which to finish the camino, but not before we concocted an album of walking songs, that I think every pilgrim should have. Number 1) "These boots are made for walking" 2) " walk this way, talk this way" 3) "like a rolling stone " bob dylan 4) " walk the line" jonny cash 5) " go west" by go west 6) "one more step to heaven " m people - if you can think of any more let me know. Anyway we´ve swapped e-mail addresses with all of them so intend to keep in touch so that we´ll have places to stay all around the world, how cool would that be. When we went to the albergue that night they weren´t too pleased that we were coming back, especially chris - he´d been there for 8 nights, so they wouldn´t let him stay, I think he caught a bus to barcelona the next day.

So we cracked on and got into Astorga that night. Had an ok time there, there weren´t as many young people, except this hardcore christian american girl, and some korean girls who we shared a room with, they´d also been in leon. That reminds me, one of their friends that they´d left behind in leon had been sick, and apparently a lot of pilgrims are getting ill with sickness and diarhoria. Deri has a cold, which he is putting down to punishment for getting drunk in a monastery (he´s being smited) , but the sickness is supposed to be some kinid of virus that only the pilgrims are getting - you would think that Someone would be looking out for us would´nt you, but nooo, obviously too busy!

Reached Ponferrada today, were supposed to be taking it easy, had decided to stop at the albergue at the top of the mountain - we had to pass a 1000 metre mountain, which actually was alright, the hill was long, about 5 k but not too steep and we both made it up. But we had been like little hobbits in the fact that we we´d had 1st beakfast, 2nd breakfast, & then elevenses, and hadn´t been to a cash point therefore on arrival on top of the mountain we didn´t have enough to stay, it was really expensive actually - most albergues just ask you to donate as much as you can afford, and people pool food together and stuff for breakfast, but this one was charging for everything under the guise of a hippie-esc atmosphere, to try and dupe people into thinking that they weren´t in it for the money which they so clearly were.

anyway we had no choice but to go on, deri has been really suffering all day, and i thought we shouldn´t ride at all, but he didn´t want to stay in the same albergue for 2 nights in a row. we then hit a huge hill, going down though, that was the fastest 20 k I think we´ll do it was great! got here haven´t seen a lot of the town, but I think we´re going to see the castle tomorrow and then have a really easy day before hitting the mountains, well we hit some today and tehy weren´t that bad, it´s really impressive around here. Met some australian women, and some french couple that I had been doing yoga with in leon. So that´s up to date.

We´re seeing lots of these really big birds, I think thet´re red kites, because their tales look red when you look up at them (sort of fork tales), they are also a kind of reddish on their fronts and have black and white markings under their wings, they are about twice the size of buzzards. does this sound right?

Lots of love beth

3 bethan's tale - palencia, rain and breakfast

2007-11-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

Palencia

Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:54:21 +0100

Hola, well we eventually managed to escape Reinosa. or in spanish ´Russia´, don´t be fooled the main street looks like Spain but actually it´s just a cunning façade, it´s really Russia, in fact back of behoynd Russia, where everybody is poor and miserable. A worm hole has opened up on earth, you think you´re entering a small skiing town in Spain, but you end up in Russia. It´s amazing!! It was cold, the people were unfriendly, the place looks like a russian council estate (if such a thing exists), you would not think this was part of the 1st world!!

Anyway we escaped, it rained atrociously and we decided to catch a train to Palencia, where although the rain continued we met a load of nice people. We got here at 5.30pm and went from hostel to hostel and around a load of hotels to find somewhere to stay, all of them were full, this German guy even drove around the city from hotel to hotel to find us a place to stay and offered up his room in the hotel that he was booked in, if he could find a place, but he couldn´t. but how nice is that! Eventually we found a hotel (at 9.30), it´s a 3 star hotel but no more expensive than what we stayed at in Puente Viesgo and far superior. Breakfast was amazing, we both had 4 croissants each, 4 pan u chocalat, 2 bowls of fruit, and I had a yogurt. and it was all free! the first time that I have reached full capacity at breakfast.

palencia is nice, it´s sunny again today, and we really should have set off - we´re going to Fromista next to join with the Camino de Santiago, we´re about 30k south - but we decided to stay another night. Last night I was really starting to get concerned when we couldn´t find anywhere to stay, apparently there´s a Chemist´s convention in town. I was envisioning having to put all my clothes on and sleeping on the railway station, but we both stayed in quite good moods - considering our near death situation (we would have certainly died if we´d to spend another night outdoors, but we are at lower altitude I suppose) luckily a girl in a hotel phoned around another load of hotels and found us a place to stay - we love her! Well that´s it really, so will write more when we do more.
Lots of love Beth

2 bethan's story - caves hills reinosa 22 oct

2007-11-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

Reinosa

Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:04:51 +0100

Hola, Hi, well all is going good. We are spending too much money though, all the ´cheap´ hostals in the book aren´t cheap. We camped last night in an effort to save money, next to a lake called Embalse de Ebro, but now we´re in Reinosa -

Camping last night was good, we only spent 2.50 euros all day, and that was on a bottle of wine. Last night was the first time we´d cooked for ourselves, and in fact was the first time either of us has had a non fish or egg based meal. We´ve both had to compromise a bit, I´m drinking red wine coz it´s cheaper and Deri´s eating tuna in, otherwise he´d be living on tortilla (omelette).

It´s official though sophistication is out the window, we´ve been eating with coomb's that we got free from one of the hostals, we forgot to buy cutlery, and cups, plates, oil, washing liquid - loads of stuff really. We woke up in the night freezing though, my sleeping bag says it can stand temperatures of -8, but that's rubbish,it´s been hot in the days though, really sunny, I´ve got a tan on my arms and I´ve burnt my face and shoulders. However we´re going to have really stupid tan lines, and white hands (because of the gloves).
It feels like we´ve been here for ages, it doesn´t seem like 5 days ago that we were on the ferry. Santander was Ok, not really a lot to do, but a nice city, impressive mountain backdrop and good beaches. It took us ages to figure out how to cycle out, well we didn´t figure it out we had to catch a train to just outside the city, that was on the second day, but we did reach the place we were heading - Puente Viesto - that´s where the caves were. It´s in the middle of the mountains but the ride wasn´t that bad, a bit hilly but nothing we couldn´t handle - Deri just powers up the hills and stops about 3 times on each one, but I go really slow and get up there in one - so I´m chuffed with that.

We didn´t get there in time to see the caves that night but we went for a walk and stayed in a really posh hostal, which was more like a hotel really. We had wanted to stay in the cheap hostal but the owner was out. That reminds me, they don´t eat enough over here, the portions are tiny and breakfast is only a light snack. We were both starving for the first 3 days, and they don´t really understand being a vegetarian, hence why Deri is now eating tuna. I´m gonna come back about 4 stone. Went to the caves the next day, they were amazing!! Huge! lots of paeolithic cave paintings and stalagmites and stalactites. That was quite early though and then we cycled on, we had originally meant to get to Alceda (contact the pentagon, we´ve found Bin Laden´s base) but we overshot it and didn´t realise that we were there until we left. So we went on. We´ve been doing really well cycling - the first 2 days of cycling we did 60 k, then we hit the mother of all hills though. When we were cycling along the road all the locals kept telling us to turn back, but we thought that they were aggazerating, but they weren´t. 6k hill straight up the side of a mountain, (1011 metres, yes metres not foot) We had to push our bikes, it´s ok though coz no one knows us. We didn´t get to the top that day, there was a hostal half way up and we stayed there, we had already ridden 30 k by that point though.

The next day, Sunday, we pushed our bikes up the last 3k of hill, and if you think white rock is bad, it´s a slight incline in comparison, i took lots of pictures to prove it. Well that takes us up to today, yesterday we decisided to rest, and that´s when we went camping in Corconte. Today has been an easy ride, very flat alongside the lake. I think I´ve got used to the roads, and driving on the other side, and have you noticed i´m judging distance in k´s already. I think I´ll be ok with the language as well, I´ve only been here a few days and already I can ask for what I want, explain that I eat fish and not meat, and recognise most meats on the menu and ask for directions. I cant understand people yet though, they talk really quickly but after a couple of months I´ll be fluent. I´m planning on doing a spanish course in Barcelona at christmas time.
After that big hill we´re not planning on doing the picos route until we come back from Santiago, we´re going to get on the pilgrims route as soon as possible to try and save money, and because we reckon it´ll be more catered for foreigners, perhaps bigger meals, and eating at normal times. There is bears and wolves in the Picos de Europa, and eagles! We want to be a bit fitter before we tackle them though.
Well that´s about it for now, both me and Deri are fine, a bit tired but we´ve had 2 days of relative rest. We´re going to leave Reinosa as soon as possible and head south west to Leon then up onto the pilgrims route in Ponferrada something. So I´ll write more in a couple of days, hope you and everything at home is well.

Lots of love Beth

1 bethan's email santander 18 oct

2007-11-20T06:54:00.000-08:00

Santander

Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:58:25 +0100

We got here fine, early even. Santander is nice, we got a hostel first thing which is very nice= its a bit expensive but seen as its only the first night we thought just get somewhere to stay.

Its pretty hot out here, not boiling but reasonably hot. All the spanish are wrapped up warm though and you can spot the tourists a mile off coz they`re in shorts and bikini tops. We haven`t really done a lot of exploring yet, there are these really impressive looking mountains east, but we`re planning on going west. Deri`s doing really well on the spanish front, i`m impressed.

Planning on going to some prehistoric caves tomorrow. The bike has been ok, better than I thought, its harder to push it than it is to ride, but you feel the weight of the bags going up hills, not got off yet though. The ferry was fine, a bit expensive, but hey ho...

love beth

14 November - getting around Santiago and spanish course

2007-11-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

14 November 2007 10:20:07

Santiago / spanish course

Hey

Well the spanish course is looking good! The teacher seems really nice and willing to deal with mine an bethans different levels of language without any kind of extra charge!

Anyway... dot dot dot....d dot dot dot !!!

We met a group of people sitting in a praza makin music and getting drunk. They had dogs and dreads and parker coats instead of ponchos. a guy with his very own dog, with rope-lead and a guitar stood up an started talking to us. He then led me an the hungarian halfway accrss the city to his house, all the while playing guitar (pink floyd- Time 1st, then Money, then the wall- but he broke a string halfway through the wall) and singing at the top of his voice (the kind of singin where he didnt really know the words or what they meant but had listened to the albums so many time he knew what noices to make) with his dog trailing along behind him.... So we got to wherever an he said "look after my dog!" By this point i was a bit confused. I didnt know what was going to happen but i had aquired a dog (of which i have pictures!!! ) which actually turned out to be incredibly well behaved! So anyway. the guy came back and then we returned to praza and sat an sang pink floyd songs (I was the only one who knew the actual words but everybody else made very acurate sounds ) and ............then went back to the albergue ! It was a fun night!

Oh and at the begning when we tryin to find a place to park we found a really narrow alley where other cars were parked. But the alley was so narrowthat the hungarian wanted us to got out so he could park right up against the wall. As he was finishing parking we saw lights of a car started coming around the corner so he waited. That car turned out to be bus! on its route!Me an the german guy (and two passing spanish people) had to press ourselves against the wall to let the bus pass and it felt like i had to breath in as well! So yeah! that was my sureal night with a hungarian, a german and a crazy spanish guy! And in the group in the praza about four other nationalities aside from us! All of them talking brokenly in any language they could to understand each other! Great!

Deri

13 November Work in the albergue in Santiago?

2007-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

13 November 2007 15:34:21

Santiago still

Hey

So im still in Santiago! Been waiting for my bike to get fixed (which it is!!- Got some shiny new screws and an assurance that everything on it is fine and dandy and even a "Thats a nice bike!" as a bonus- Thanks hari!) And considering what would be best to do. Here are the options- Im open to suggestions and oppinions here so feel free to comment!

1>To Portugal!! Its supposed to be a bit warmer and cheaper there right now and 6 of the people we have met have headed in that direction so it could be fun- ! But- I dont speak any portugese, we know absolutly nothing about what we can do once we get there and its supposed to be quite hilly!

2> South to Madrid! And then on to seville and general southy kind of warm, moorish influenced type places with lots of history! Which sounds nice! But, like portugal, would take us quite far away from barcelona where i think we would like to end up in for christmas/new year time!

3> South to Madrid and then eastwards toward Valencia! Which is where El Cid spent the later part of his life (so i could probably have a damn good time finding all the history to do with him!) The birth place of paelle! Which is fine by me! And then not too far a ride from there up to barcelona....

So there were the three options that we were considering! All have pros an cons and we were havin trouble deciding til we spoke to the guy in the albergue this morning! Then emerged secret option number four!

4> Work in the albergue in Santiago for two weeks while the boss woman goes on holiday! There is only one guy to look after the whole place for the two weeks and the wouldn mind getting a few pilgrims to hang around an help out for a while! So were thinking if we can find a decent spanish course in the city for a week or two and the terms are favourable (like free acommodation, enough money to live, an maybe a bit more for savin to continue on with afterwards) We might hang around in Santiago for another two weeks! It would be cool to cos it would give everybody we met along the way a chance to catch up to us! But it would mean sitting around for another 2 weeks....

So i dont know what to do! were gonna look into courses an stuff here which will be a big influence on weather we stay here or not but, either now or afterward, What do we do? Where do we go? I need to find the yellow arrows in my heart! And clean my bike! (It is seriously covered in mud! ) Anyway! Ill let you know about anymore developments and let me know what you think on the matter or if youve got any other suggestion!

Deri

waiting for bike repair and plan welsh camino

2007-11-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

12 November 2007 16:58:18

Santiago

So yeah! Im still here!

My bike is in the shop- gonna go get it tomorrow but it may be to late to leave then... Im starting to feel like a local- I know my way round the city now (even short cuts an stuff)! But it is nice (and a bit worrying) I just got a free cup of tea in a cafe "cos they like me" which is great cos i like that cafe! Hmmm...

But anyway! Even though i want to leave as soon as possible, I have figured out the good areas to go have breakfast, the good areas for lunch and the good areas of the city to have an evening meal (and yes my money is draining away) But ive had a very tasty meal already an i know where im gonna go eat tonight! And im looking forward to it!

As always my plans are not made of stone but ive been thinking... I think (this is changable) that were gonna head south east to madrid (to buy some time to finally decide what to do now) and from there probably continue south east to valencia! An from there north, along the coast, to barcelona so bethan can do a spanish course for a couple of weeks (I wanna learn more as well) an we can maybe earn some money there til christmas!

Anyway. Today i was sitting at a table talking to some more aussies that we met further back and have now cought up with us. An a spanish guy came up and asked us all about our motivation for doing the camino. Turns out he was one of the originals that started painting the yellow arrows along the way to re-vitalise the camino. I couldn let this opportunity pass so i jumped on him! I explained that i thought the camino was absolutly fantastic an that i wanted to expand it. Is there a way i could start it in St Davids? From the patron saint of wales to the partron saint of spain! A pilgrimage between places of ancient culture and spirtuality (This is a very long term plan- dont worry- I know i wouldn be able to do such a thing in any sort of hurry) Ideally for this i should start at the tor in glastonbury but i figure santiago has many different ways leading there so why not start from wales an fill in the other routes later! Anyway....

Yeah the guy seemed to get very exited at my idea of starting in wales- he did explain that there were routes leading from england but understood that i would rather start from my home country (he was from the basque region) And hey! If plan to start in St Davids i may as well just start from my front door! And the first thing i will do- Drop my bag an paint a BIG yellow arrow pointing up the street!!! So yeah we swapped e-mail addresses and ive already e-mailed him my plans (in spanish-really hd to think about that one! With a translation in english just incase i got something wrong)

Anyway! Going crazy stuck in city and i dont know if im gonna be able to leave anytime soon s!!! Anyway til later probably!

Deri

Celebrating the end of the pilgrimage

2007-11-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

11 November 2007

Santiago

Well.

I got really drunk last night! an my stomach is still churning! I didnt get to bed til about 6 or 7 in the morning. It was really quite crazy!

But now most of the people we met along the way are leaving. Im not a pilgrim anymore... I feel kind of aimless now... gonna have to figure something out but i really enjoyed the cammino and it feels kinda sad not to be on it anymore. I feel like ive come to the end of a long journey an all i wanna do is start again.

I cant fix my bike today either cos its a sunday- gonna have to wait til tomorrow. i feel like i just want to start moving again- I wanna get out of the city! Back to the road! I feel stranded here!

Anyway! That is not very cheery so im gonna tell you about last night! Crazy time! We found a vegetarian resturant where i had loads of options of what to eat! Its been a while since ive had options like that! It was good- I had falafels with houmus- It was damn tasty! But it wasnt open til nine so we had to kill time drinking before. And then we met up with a pile more people an kinda went on a bit of a pub crawl around the city an somehow ended up in some crazy spanish club! .... its alla bit blurry but i do remember some people buying me taquila slammers! And the worst thing is its a sunday now and everything is closed- I cant buy any fruit juice for my head or any decent breakfast! But ill manage. Im gonna go hunting for a decent meal an at least a litre of some kind of fruit juice soon. Anyway havnt got much else to say right now- I wanna start moving again!!!

Deri

walking (and running) to Finisterre

2007-11-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

10 November 2007 18:19:42

Back in Santiago!

Aha!

I made it! And now i can bearly walk for the pain! Seriously crazy pain! At one point on the second day thought i was gonna be sick i was in so much pain! But i made it! I even ran for large parts of the last kilometer- I couldn miss the sun set....

Anyway!

Yeah first day. We left shortly after i last e-mailed and set off into the mid day sun-which is hot! So we spent a lot of time sweating an i made a rather chunky walking stick out of a eucoluptus tree. It all went rather well exept one bit where we got cought trying to hit some apples out of a tree with our walking sticks but we made off with a couple of hidden apples so all was well. We walked 22k that day but then had to walk back into town about a k to get some food from the closest shops so in total we walked about 24k that day an i was feeling fine...ish. But pretty good!

There arnt so many albergues or pilgrims along that cammino so on the first night we got to meet the people we would be spending the next few nights with (everybody walks their own pace but generally ends up in the same place at the end of the day). They generally all seemed nice an (even better) perfectly willing to share food an wine so we all got on pretty well though there was a bit of predgudice against me an my bike but whatever!

Second day. 33k Thats actually quite a bit. (like ...loads!) I was ok for the first 20k.... An then it slowly started to become too much! Almost the whole day was spent walking on tarmak roads! It really gets painful when you know you cant stop for another 7k..... 6k..... 5.5k.... 5k..... arrh! Yeah that was horrible! but then i had a shower an hobbled to the resturant (in the middle of absolutly nowhere) for a three course meal in front of an open log fire. And then, on the insistence of the waitress, we all try some locally brewed liqure! So once i got to bed i slept very well.... Ready for the 36k (!) tomorrow!

36k. I dont know... well i started with getting a new, lighter walking stick that i didnt have to lug with me! Then Hans gave me some ibuprofen in a big 600mg tablet an we set off! I didnt go too baddly an we were making good time an spent walking quite a bit of it with an american couple we had met two nights ago. We came to the top of a mountain and saw the ocean- The first time id seen the ocean since i crossed it to get here! It was wonderful- So the ibuprofen carried us throught the cold morning and the knowledge that we were get closer with every step to the end of the old world and the atlantic ocean carried us through the rest! My feet were hurting (But not my legs as well like the day before) but i had learned to ignore it! When we came to the first beach i ran down and took my shoes off to walk bare foot along the sand. It was very soothing for my feet but very tiring for the rest of my body walking through sand so i made it back to the path, put my shoes back on and carried on the final 3k to Finisterre. But now there was sand IN my shoes an that started to couse me problems- i ignored it cos we were NEARLY THERE! THE END OF THE WORLD!! But actually the end of the world is another 3k beyond finisterre. Which we hadnt counted on so we were a bit short of time to get to the end of land in time for the sunset! So we powered on! Up the final 3k up a hill that leads to a cliff overlooking the ocean! When we realised that we might be too late to see the sunset we found whole new energy reserves! I havnt walked for three days to miss the sun setting at the end of the world! So we started to run. I dont know how we did it but me and hans ran for large parts of the last kilometer. Stopping only to hobble on as fast as we could to catch our breath for a moment.

We could see the sun falling behind the mound of land before us and so we pushed ourselves faster! And then we got there...! That cliff was actually pretty high and once we were there we could see that we had about ten minutes to spare before the sunset. So i sat down and got comfortable to watch a sunset over the widest expance of ocean ive ever seen, on a cliff on the edge of the the old world.

I was so happy i was blinking back tears! ... anyway...

Yeah! That was great! but then i tried to move again- it was getting cold an dark fast an we had three k to walk before we could find any kind of comfort- and i hurt so much! So i had one drink with everybody cos i couldn get out of it- we had all achieved something great! And then i went to bed, without even a proper meal, just so i could stop using my legs. So then i woke up an thought "well ive come to the end of land, can i go any further?" So i went an paddled in the sea for a bit- it was very cold an very nice on my feet! Then i got on a bus. Back here to santiago! And now im gonna go an drink a lot an sleep well! Speak to you soon!

Deri

11 Santiago to Finistair on foot !!!! What next?

2007-11-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

07 November 2007 10:08:45

Santiago

Hey

There seems to be a bit of panic at my plans so im gonna answer a few questions quickly before i go. Im leaving in... about half an hour! I should be fine exept i gotta keep up with mister walk all day Hans!

The bike is ok. just lost a couple of screws- if i had the screws i could fix it myself! Ill sort it. Im only takin a tiny bag with water, apples (loads of freshly picked ones) some shorts a sleeping bag (tied on outside) an a towel. (im gonna be quite the smelly one...)

The hostel agreed to look after the rest of my stuff, bike included, til i get back.

It's a Big tourist town so bethan will be fine on her own for a while and i think she is gonna ride out a couple of days later to meet us!

If there anything else? youll just have to wait! haha!

Wish me luck on the true pilgrimage!

Deri

10 Santiago - more mad biking and a crash!

2007-11-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

06 November 2007 17:15:37

SANTIAGO!!!

Ah great! But first ive got days to catch up on! Sorry. I will attribute my lack of e-mails either to bethan hogging the solitary computer wherever we are or there just not being a computer at all. Its strange.... these e-mails were meant initially just to let you know im still alive but they seem to have turned into some kind of journal.... anyway...

Villafranca del Bierzo

I know youve had the story up til now but later that night our friend Hans (Danish guy we met in Leon ) Managed to catch up with us! Very exiting! so we decided to get a bottle of wine an... well whatever.

My cold is slowly getting better as bethans is slowly getting worse! An hans has a time limit of when he can arrive in Santiago. So we got a talking. If he powers ahead an we take it easy we can end up in the same hostal again- good plan! Also part of the plan (cos only one shop was open on all saints day an that shop only sold eggs in groups of twelve- thus we have shitloads of eggs!) was to cook pancakes- I think its a grrreat plan!

So. The day we left villafranca... We rode for a while an found an apple tree which we pillfered for everything it was worth an continued on til we stoped for second breakfast. At which point hans cought up with us so i had a third breakfast there before we carried on. Then we hit a hil. We rode up this hil pretty much all day! It was really long an really hot! (So hot that at one point i took my gloves an helmet off cos i was sweating to much- I didnt die but the blisters on my hands are back an hurting! an i drank all my water by about half way up) Anyway we had agreed to meet hans in a place called hospital de... something- doesnt matter!

So. Onwards! to hospital de... Whatever! We arrived there an thought "maybe not!" Im pretty sure thats the village they based resident evil 4 on. It was really scary!

So we rode off ........ 6 km on we found a hostal to stay in that was very nice !

The next day.

We were right on top of the mountain! There was no more up! Just down! an we were above the clouds- it was a really nice warm day! It was like being on an island looking out at the sea of clouds below with other little islands popping up in places (other mountain tops) It was really nice!

Coming down that mountain was amazing! in some parts the wind was against us but then when the road spiraled round we had the wind pushing on our backs! faster an faster! And going into little ravines of shadow where the rocks are all covered in ice crystals an its actually like riding through a wall of cold water when you go through an coming out the other side dry an warm again! It was amazing! a magical descent?

So we got to the bottom of the mountain- Like crashing into the sea- freezing.... an you cant see the sun for the mist! So we stopped to have breakfast! and as we were sitting there a cyclist ....... pulled up!! Turned out he was from Galicia an was very proud of it! By the end of that conversation we had decided that wales (Gales) an Galecia were cousins! in both policy, geography an historical roots! Which is truer than i knew!(ill get back to that) He insisted that the monostery in this town (Samos) was well worth the visit so we went to the monostery!

... Anyway! After that we rode on to Sarria which had a cloud of smog hanging over it an a choice of hostals- We didnt know which one to choose or how hans would find us so we sat in the sun in a big courtyard outside a church where the pilgrim trail leads to an waited until Hans arrived. And arrive he did! then we found this lush place upthe hill a little with a really nice garden with a room on the other side with a log fire to keep us warm. We made pancakes (which was good) an drank .... til late in the room with the log fire! It was lush!

The next day was awsome! Dirt tracks an country roads all the way! I now completely agree with the cyclist (whos name was Modena by the way- very cool!) about wales an Galecia Being cousins- I could have been at home- The landskape was exactly the same exept that i was lugging panniers with me! I could have been in wales (just in an exectionally nice july or august-seriously) I was loving it! Anyway- after plowing down narrow paths an breaking sharply to avoid flying into river passes all day we got to a town called Gonzar- there was nothing here an only four of us in the hostal (Hans agian an a czek girl weve met a couple of times before) an we had a kitchen an showers an everything! But no cooking implements!

So me an hans went to the bar (hans with props- like some carrots an a tiny milk soucepan) where i was going to try an explain that we wanted a pan big enought to cook soup in! Hans stopped to talk to some americans that turned up (one of which from west virginia) an i maneged to get my point accross to the bar keeper without the use of ridiculus props (i was quite proud of myself) An we made a good meal. An then left! Another day od dirt tracks an country roads to Arzua! Very tiring but Great great fun!

This morning our bikes were locked in the garden an we had no way of getting to them! We waited for a while for someone witha key to turn up and it didnt happen so i ended up climbling over the wall an lifting the bikes over to bethan on the otherside where we loaded up an went! After a short distance the trail went off road again- i was well up for it but not bethan so we split up- Bethan took the big road to Santiago an followed the signs. I took the crazy paths an had a good time ploughing down narrow country lanes! Unsurprisingly bethan got to santiago before me. She turned to look just in time to see me fly down a hill, bounce off a curb an have the metal bit that holds my panniers on... uh ... fall off... So i cant actually ride my bike til i get it fixed- im gonna have to find somewhere here but first... Ive agreed to walk the last hundred k to finistair (the end of the pre-american world as they knew it! Big celtic culture place!) with hans. Should take four days there an i havnt decided if im walking back or not afterward! I might buy a decent rucksack.!

Anyway! Im here! I ache! An im gonna hobble my way round the city! Gonna meet up with hans later an have nice meal an then were gonna walk to finistair! ! Anyway til next time... Adios

Deri

Ps- I wanna start a commino in britain when i get back! I was thinking to stonehenge maybe, accross the lay lines.... maybe. Anyway im gonna need all the help i can get so help me! Adios

9 Villafranca del bierzo... Again - stolen breakfast !

2007-11-13T14:05:00.000-08:00

01 November 2007 14:59:56

Villafranca del bierzo... Again

Hey hey.

the nice lady took pity on me an my cough so we stayed another day. Glorious weather but i havnt really got anything new to say exept that an evil woman stole (SHE STOLE) my breakfast this morning. Can you believe it? That is not the pilgrim way! Shes got a old lady trolley though instead of a rucksack so when i catch up with her i fully intend to loosen her wheels in the middle of the night! serves her right! its all karma! I was really looking forward to that breakfast! I worked for it and everything! Anyway speak to you soon.

Deri

8 Villefranca del Bierza - ahh wine and pasta !

2007-11-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

31 October 2007 19:12:07

Villefranca del Bierza

Hey hey!

Well that was nice. Pasta thing with spinach... Mmmm. an Some red wine!

so ive had a cold for a couple of days an havnt been feeling to hot. So when we left astrgora the plan was to take it easy. What we didnt know was we had a 28k hill up a big mountain! I mean really big! So when we got to the top`we tried to stop at an albergue but didnt have enough money so they wouldn let us stay.

So we carried on up the hill. Then we got to the top... Then i had the fastest 15k ill proably ever have on a bike! I wouldn be surprised if we hit 20 or 30k per hour going down this massive mountain- eyes streaming, everything rateling! twisting around hairpin bends ridiculously fast to avoid going off massive drops!! Spiraling our way down in 1500m in what felt like ten minutes. watching the mile markes wiz past! I was genuinly scared i was gonna go straight off the edge at some points just struggling to keep my balance!

an then suddenly we were in the sunshine again at the bottom. in a pretty little village an i hit a speed bump an one of my panniers flew straight off my bike an started dragging on a bungie cord! Thank goodness that didnt happen half way down!!!

So i stopped to sort it out an found my saddle had nearly rattled itself loose as well then the other pannier fell off! I need to get them fixed asap! Anyway. after that scary (an a little fun) experience we still had 5k til ponferrada so on we went.

We found the albergue which turned out to be a monestery type thing . i was so exhousted i could bearly stand up straight what with the cold, the adrenalin withdrawl an the 55k over a mountain! we had to make a 5 euro "donation" each I didnt have anything smaller than a twenty. So we left. Anyway a guy turned up who didnt have enough money to stay so we paid for him !!

So he made us food, gave us wine an has been really nice! Also the woman in charge is really nice- she heard me sneeze an gave me a box of tissues Oh and the first thing i did when i got here was have a nice warm shower...ah great!!!

Adios

Deri

7 Ponta-something or other - hmmmmm still not well

2007-11-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

29 October 2007 20:34:27

Astragora

Ive got a cold! Not happy!

Were in Astragora,

Weve got mountain tomorrow an i cant reallllly breath... Anyway. been as we were ahead of scedual (whatever) upon arriving in leon we decided to stay another day in the city. we met a pile of really nice people. we did have very pleasant day seeing sights an sitting in a plaza (lovely an warm).

So yeah then i woke up with a cold an we rode to wherever we are now! We got kinda lost about half way though an found ourselves in the middle of nowhere with laughable roads (thank goodness for the mountain bikes!) Anyway! i feel like death! goodnight

Deri

6 Astragora - oh no Deri's poorly

2007-11-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

29 October 2007 20:34:27

Astragora

Ive got a cold! Not happy!

Were in Astragora,

Deri

5 Leon Deri & Bethan biking like crazy in Spain

2007-11-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

27 October 2007 18:21:45

Leon

Hey hey

Went a bit further than we planned today. didnt realise we got so far til we were about one town away from Leon. at about half two so we thought "why not? we got plenty of time to sort ourselves out once we get there!" (so thats about seventy k in record time- We didnt get up til late an we could use a kitchen so i had a fried egg sandwich for breakfast- it was GREAT!)

The place were staying in is run by nuns!

The weather is fantastic again (im wearing shorts an t-shirt) .. Im loving it!

We met some really nice Brazilians last night (mother an son) doing the trail

Ive had a few e-mails about "who is el cid?" !!! the spanish robin hood! - the first real paladin! the epitome of knighthood. Well worth learning about!

ive met a really nice aussy who brought me to this internet cafe! The blisters on my hands are still killing me! an i now like olives. I mean i really like olives! I dont know where were going tomorrow- gonna have to check the map- OH- i got a map- of all spain! i was well chuffed when i managed that- no more flying blind an following the sun west- we can plan ahead! i dont know where im going next so i dont know when i can e-mail next.

Speak to you all soon! Adios

Deri

4 Deri & Bethan in Sahagun Spain

2007-11-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

26 October 2007 18:32:34

Sahagun

Hey hey!

We rode sixty k today! Phew! So! were finally pilgrims! its all good!

We decided to leave Palencia for fromista yesterday. We rode into a head wind the whole way. it was horrible. it was like riding uphill all the way there! an near the end the road just ended! just plain ended an we had to ride on a dirt road for a while but we found another road shortly after.

We got to the pilgrims hostel in Fromista an got our credentials so were now officially pilgrims! Yay! Then we had a good meal an a couple of glasses of wine an got friendly with the other pilgrims. We met a really nice Italian guy, a really nice danish couple an some aussy girls. We were quite proud of ourselves for picking up the pase again after that huge hill - we rode about 37 k-well done us!!! .. It was quite fun waving whilst riding past everybody else- all the pilgrims are really friendly.

Anyway tommorrow were gonna ride within about 10k of Leon an then arrive early the next day so we can guarantee a place for the night an see the city at a nice pace... should be fun.

Speak to you all soon!

Deri

3 Deri & Bethan in Palencia

2007-11-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

Palencia

24 October 2007 17:23:30

Hey hey hey.

Well we left reinosa! Whasn't that nice cos it was cold and miserable. not fun! When we were gonna leave it started to rain an we though "right were leaving-are we getting wet or are we getting a train...?" so we took the cowards option an got a train. Exept there were only three trains a day an we were to late for the first one so we had to wait three or four hours for the next one!

Anyway we waved goodbye through the rain as the train pulled out of the station on its way to Palencia!

We arrived in Palencia at about half five. It was raining heavy! So we thought "lets just get to a hostel an sort ourselves out an then consider the city..." Didnt happen! We rode around the city for hours looking for a place but everywhere was full!

AHHH what we gonna do?!

We had a lot of reasons to be very miserable exept that we did meet a lot of really nice people who took pity on us. It was dark (around nineish) an we had no succes finding anywhere to stay. I was getting worried- I thought we were gonna have to spend the night on the train station an get the soonest train out of there... we were getting desparate... So desparate that we were willing to try (an pay for) a four star hotel a bit out of town that we had seen earlier while checking out hostels further an further afield (in the rain).

Shock- it was also full!- Oh No..what are we gonna do now!! So i asked the woman at the desk if she could ring around an try an find us a place- i felt fairly certain that we had run out of options. She said there was only one place she knew, about 8k out of town, that had any places... What the hell is going on!? Why is everywhere full?! Everywhere- im not kidding we rode around in the rain for hours!! An then she found somewhere! A little out of town! Three star! 70 something euros! who cares? cos i didnt!!

So we ploughed over there ful of hope! And all was good!! !!! So we sorted our stuff out. Changed our wet clothes an realised we hadnt eaten any thing proper since breakfast in reinosa (which had a slab on ham in it!!!!) Anyway we were ver hungry! And tired an not so wet anymore so we went out an met more nice people at a really nice tapas bar. we finished our glorious meal an immediatly ordered another one!!! The guy who served us was really nice! (and very amused that we ordered one meal after another) I ended up saying " if its vegetarian ill eat it! Bring it on!!" So we had one of every vegy thing on the menu and went back to the hotel in much better spirits to collapse!

We decided to stay another night here (despite cost) to see the city in daylight without panic or rain. Its actually a really nice place- A glorious sunny day an a huge buffet breakfast made me happy from the beginning

Were planning on heading to Fromisa tomorrow (about 30k n/w ish) an starting the pilgrim trail to santiago. An then once that is done... South! following the sun an heat! Bring it on! Heres hoping we get as nice a day tomorrow as we had today. Wish us luck!! I

Deri

2 Deri & Bethan in Reinosa

2007-11-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

22 October 2007 18:03:31

Reinosa

Hey hey!

Well for the first day since ive been here im wearing long sleeves! But i think its got more to do with altitude than weather.

I dont know where to start... arrived in Sant Ander on thursday an everything went smoothly. All was good- its a nice place.

On friday we tried to get out an failed horribly everywhere we went led to a motorway so we ended up turning around an getting a train two stops where we could get on normal roads again. From then on all was fine exept that everything closes in the middle of the day when im most hungry an i have to wait a couple of hours before things open again! Anyway we got to a place called Puento Viesco were theres a mountain with caves on it with paintings from 12,000 years ago. Very cool! anyway by the time we got there, sorted ourselves out an climbed the mountain the damn things were closed! but we got to the top just in time to see a very pretty sunset over the Picos De Europa. We climbed the moumtain again at about 10 the next day to see the caves before we set of to... southish... an a bit west...

It was all going fine in the sun with some hills but generally quite pleasant until we hit the town of San Miguel de Luena at about 20-30km along the road south. We had plenty of day left and were aiming for a small village called Corconte. Then we hit THE hill. it was horrible. it looked steep (like bottom gear steep) but we couldn see round the bend. All in all it was 7km long an climbed to the height of snowden- that's a bit much when youve got a fully loaded bike! We found a hostel half way up it an decided to collapse for the night.

The next day we got the top of the hill, then down the other side real fast to find a massive lake with wood around the edges an thought “Lets be lazy! its a sunday after all!" so we pitched camp and made food on the camping stove- - on the edge of the lake by the woods. Then i rode to the nearest village to get more food an some wine an we cooked again an made a fire an it was all very nice.

Then i woke up the next day freezing (really really freezing) an my hands even now havnt really recovered ( i got blisters on my palms from pulling on the handle bars so much on that hill!) an now im in Reinosa and im sitting in the internet cafe now. I think were gonna try an go south from here to try an circle round the mountains but head generally for Leon. Thats it so far

Anyway til i find another town with a computer (could be a while ) Adios

Deri

1 Deri & Bethan arrive in Sant Ander

2007-11-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

18 October 2007

Sant Ander

hey,

how you doing? we arrived this morning. its really pretty an actually i think i brought to many clothes- im wearing shorts an still think its hot but we shall see! bethan bought a camara as well an ill try an send you some pics when we get to a more... modern internet cafe

im in a pub right now. anyway ill be in touch again soon, hopefully with pictures. let me know how the fund raising is going!

Deri