Blogs from Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, Europe - page 10

We are now in A Rua at the hotel, O Pino. It's 3.30pm and today was a pretty easy walk. We didn't get out of bed until 7.00am and went to the bar for breakfast at about 8am. Today's walk is only about 20 kms and from all accounts on good paths, passing through well shaded forests. After breakfast we started with a long steep climb out of Ribadaso until it levelled out into a village. It was a day of walking with old acquaintances and chatting about the end of our journey and what is to follow. I walked with a young Spanish girl for an hour and was educated on the current state of Spain, where she was from (Madrid), and was asked pretty general questions about Australia and aspects of our lives that ... read more

Santiago De Compostela Saturday 11 October 2014 - Brian's Day Today has been a tough day. We woke as the sun was rising at 9.00am in La Coruna and I thought I hadn't talked to my sister Sheryl for several weeks so I called. My sister-in-law Kerry answered Sheryl's phone who handed the phone to Sheryl. She said Brian has died. I thought she meant Kerry's Dad who has been sick but no, it was her husband, my lovely brother-in-law Brian. I could not believe it and couldn't mentally process it. Brian who was 70, was mowing in his tractor and must have had a massive heart attack and died instantly. He was slumped over the steering wheel with the tractor motor still going. Tom & I can't believe it. We are so far away. Thank ... read more

Our 19th Wedding Anniversary today. This time last year we were driving down the West Coast of California back to Los Angeles in a Mustang. This year we are driving down the West coast of Spain in our Tandy. We could have driven from A Coruna to Santiago de Compostela in less than 2 hours but we decided to take the scenic route round the coast. We’ve been having a few minor navigational problems in that the road atlas is absolutely useless. It shows garages and named beaches ok but doesn’t really care about the rest. Clarissa Tomtom is a couple, but only a couple, of years out of date but keeps getting herself lost. Not helped by the fact that a lot of road numbers have changed. Not major changes but increased from say the ... read more

You know that perfectly lazy summer day spent in the garden – the wonderful weather; BBQs, salads, wine, beer, family and friends; viewed through the concertina of time our journey through Northern Spain felt just like that. A pageant of picnics, BBQs and camping, all amalgamated so completely into one, that looking back it is difficult to highlight any one particular experience. There were no traumatic events, no significant highs and no significant lows…a blissful slice of uncomplicated life in the comfort zone. Looking at most places in the atlas I have a good idea of what the place would look like on the ground, even if I’ve never been there personally. Yet, the Bay of Biscayne has always left a big question mark hanging over my head. This is the place Spanish people like to ... read more

Hi everyone Today is the last day of our cruise and it has been fantastic. I’ve had a nasty cold for several days which has curtailed activities somewhat. We managed to procure cold tablets, codeine and eucalyptus drops and they helped a lot. I have had a very husky “smokers” voice for the last couple of days and have been turned off coffee. The thought of it makes me feel sick. I hope that symptom doesn’t last too long. Yesterday we went to Santiago de Compostela, one of the three ancient pilgrim destinations in the world. The others are Rome and Jerusalem. The Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. The ... read more

On my flight to Reus (Barcelona) with my least favourite airline Ryannair, I was thinking to myself that the weekend ahead could go one of two ways. It was to be my first music festival in Europe, and well, anywhere at all, ever. The first way was that it would be the best weekend of my life, one that I would never forget and use constantly as a comparison for my future festivals. The second way was that it would be utter shit, and I would be grumpy and tired and hate the world. It was unlikely to hang in the middle. It was going to swing to one of the extremes. Luckily it swung the right way, with only one slight hiccup at the beginning. I arrived at Reus, ready to pick up the hire ... read more