Am I lucky or what?

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I’m reading these blogs of people currently walking the Camino – and they’ve been walking through rain, or mud, or extreme heat.

I had none of that.

I had maybe two days rain, tops. And the temperature was always cool and refreshing. For the 31 days of my Camino, (28 days walking, 3 rest days) the one day it poured with rain coincided with my rest day in Santo Domingo. The other couple of rainy days, the rain was light and intermittent.

I said jokingly to Steve that I took my weather with me – but I also said I never worried about the weather. If it rained, it rained. If it was sunny, it was sunny. It only ever affected what I wore, and whether I covered my backpack.

I walked the entire Meseta in glorious weather. Only on one day – near Sahagun – did it threaten rain. A storm came and went, and it made the walk very theatrical for me, and I put my rain jacket on for about half an hour, but that was it.

Steve left about three weeks after me, and he had bad weather. So I did my walk in this little pocket of amazing weather.

Here’s the thing though – back in Australia several weeks out before I was due to leave, I was watching the forecasts and they were predicting lousy weather. Lingering snowstorms, rain, cold temps etc.

I seriously considered bumping back my trip by… yes… three weeks. If I’d done that, I would have missed that window of fine weather I had, and I would have walked with Steve in the rain. Because the alternative date I was looking at was around about the time Steve left SJPP.

But my PGS told me to stick to my dates, even though it appeared I’d be walking through horrendous weather. That’s why my pack was loaded up with gaiters and thermals and snow gear. None of which I used. I got to Pamplona and posted them on ahead.

So, funny the way things turned out. Probably if I’d met Steve I would have thought him a meth-dealing biker, and he would have thought me a film-type wanker.

This way we met on the net and we’re good mates!!

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20 thoughts on “Am I lucky or what?”

  1. Bill, You were blessed with the weather but you faced many other challenges.
    I have been blessed with good health but wet weather. I watched the forecast for a couple of weeks before I left home, the gave up. Figured I couldn’t do anything about the weather except to be prepared.
    I cover my pack each morning and have my rain jacket handy. Also bought one of those large poncho type things which covers everything. It is red and I look like a cross between Red Riding Hood and the Hunchback of Notre Dame !!!
    About to leave Triacastela. Short walk to Samos. I don’t even care if it rains now as I know the farmers and gardens are happy.
    Blessings from Galicia.
    Anne 🐌

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    • Hi Anne –

      lovely to hear from you! And I ho[e the walk into Samos is as beautiful for you as I remember it to be.

      You are getting very close now to Santiago!

      I hope you have a good day.

      Bill

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  2. I’ve only been reading sporadically over the past few weeks, but I’d like to tell you that your previous post on weather helped me to decide it was OK to leave at the end of April next year. Nothing is a given and we will take the weather we are given.In order to allow my husband as long a time with us as possible (he’s just walking for a couple of weeks), we had to back up to early May instead of mid May. Then we saw we could walk from Bayonne to Saint Jean and that bumped it back a few more days…and suddenly we were faced with leaving in April. We will, and without any worries at all. Thanks Bill.

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    • That’s great Rachael.

      Yes, the thing I learned is that you just simply can’t predict. I would have thought that the weather right now would be sweet – in the fall – but it hasn’t been the case.

      So in other words you’re right – best to make decisions based on your personal needs and circumstances, and don’t factor in the weather at all, because it might do a sudden U turn on you!

      Good to see you back here by the way.

      Bill

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  3. Bill,
    I’m loving all the weather the Camino is throwing at me. I guess because I live in the desert, the rain is a joy.
    I’m finding me this time around and simply enjoying it all.
    What a joy my 2013 Camino is turning out to ve.
    Arlene

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  4. Bill,
    I’m loving all the weather the Camino is throwing at me. I guess because I live in the desert, the rain is a joy.
    I’m finding me this time around and simply enjoying it all.
    What a joy my 2013 Camino is turning out to be.
    Arlene

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  5. Bill, one of the things I was dreading was walking in the rain, and we had weeks of dry weather until last week. Then, around Astorga, down it came. Even climbing up into O Cebreiro, down came the rain. And, you know what, it’s been glorious. Even the lousy photo taken of us at the Cruz de Ferro in the rain by a fellow peregrino, where he chopped off the top of the cross, it’s all still beautiful. And we are sitting here in Portomarin, looking at the river over a glass of wine and some superb seafood, and, you know, it’s glorious. How incredibly lucky we are. Peter and Maggie

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    • Peter,

      Sounds like you and Maggie are having the best time!

      Did you have trouble getting accommodation in Portomarin?

      And I’m curious – what kind of seafood did you guys have?

      I always wanted to get into that gigantic cube of a church, but it was closed while I was there. It looked intriguing.

      Anyway, great to hear that the weather isn’t, as they say, dampening your spirits!

      Bill

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      • Bill, we found a beautiful rural house a couple of kilometres outside the town overlooking the reservoir. We had lunch before we were picked up – garlic prawns, grilled calamari, and the best salad we have seen in a month, with cheese, chicken, bacon. Totally yum. Because we are outside the town we missed the big church. Off to Palas de Rei today. Totally recommend Casa Rural Santa Marina, Portomarin. Maggie and Peter

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      • We had met a Spaniard the day before we walked to Portomarin and he told us to read the visitor’s book in the church – we did and he’d left us a message telling us to count the number of blocks. Many a minute we spent guesstimating…..when we met him later and asked for the answer he just laughed. He didn’t have a clue!
        (We stayed in the municipal albergue and there seemed to be lots of little pensions too. Is accom traditionally a problem there?)

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        • Hi Rachael,

          Portomarin was one of the very few places where I had trouble getting a bed. But I came in very late – about 7pm – because the road leading into the town, before the bridge, was blocked, and I had to do a lengthy detour.

          Later I discovered that other pilgrims had just gone through the barrier.

          Because I got in late, and left early the next morning, I never did see the inside of the church which I really wanted to – it looked an amazing building.

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