I had dinner last night with Bob and Joan, two retired educators from Berkley. Bob is 69 and Joan is 71. (You wouldn't believe their ages to look at them both.)

I left half an hour before them this morning, and today I really cranked it out. I was hooting along at near to 5 kms / hr, which for me is verging on the speed of light.

They passed me three hours into the day. And they'd also stopped for morning tea.

I had a rest stop and spoke to this fellow who'd come through from south of Madrid. He was 64, and this was his fourth Camino.

Yesterday I got talking to a couple who'd come from Nimes, in France. Already they'd done 1200 kms, and by the time they finish they'll have done 1300 kms. Jean Marc is 61 and his sister Genevieve is 64.

And then there's Soren, from Switzerland. He's 67, and he climbed up O Cebreiro a couple of days ago leaving me bobbing in his wake.

The Camino is full of OLD PEOPLE.

Note the caps, note the italics, note the underlying tone of disdain, and bewilderment. Bewilderment because they're all faster than me.

My definition of old? Anyone over 60.

For the record, I'm 59 years and 9 months, so I write from the relative perspective of youth.

It's not surprising a lot of old folk walk the Camino. They have the time – most are retired – and most have a degree of financial security. (Mind you, you don't need to spend a lot of money to walk the Camino.)

Some are looking for answers to the Big Questions of Life, others see it as a way of keeping active and staving off the degenerative symptoms of old age. Some see it as the ultimate FU to getting old.

But, if you saw one of these people standing in a crowded bus, you'd get up and offer them your seat. They look like they should be getting Meals on Wheels. You feel that some should be accompanied by Carers. With bed pans.

And yet these oldies are blitzing the Camino.

They're leaving the young folk, like me, reeling in their backdraft.

You never see them getting buses, or taxis, or shipping their backpacks on ahead. Nope, they are hard core. Seriously hard core.

They have stamina, resilience, and the wisdom to listen to their bodies, and judge the demands of The Way. Often they are people who've lived active lives – but I'm astonished by those who've just turned up and done it, with very little training.

They are amazing.

Today –

Today I hardly took any photos, because I couldn't find much that was really interesting. The path followed roads for most of the way. I'm now at Palas de Rei, with only 64 kms to Santiago.

I did though meet up with Lazlo, the Hungarian fellow that I started the Camino with – the friend of Balazs. I last saw him in Pamplona. It was great seeing him again!

Here are a couple of shots that I kind of liked:

When I first arrived at Biarritz airport – a month ago now – and I was walking gingerly down the stairs because even before I started, my knee was giving me problems, I was greeted exuberantly by this bloke I’d never met before.

He was a Hungarian fellow called Balazs.

As it turned out, we shared a taxi to Saint Jean Pied de Port, along with another Hungarian chap, Lazlo, and a beautiful young Dutch lass named Rosa.

That taxi ride cemented a strong friendship amongst us all. We were excited, nervous, scared.

We then stayed in the same albergue in St. Jean (Espirit de Chemin), and whilst we all went our separate ways up the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles, we crossed paths several times later that first day.

My knee went ballistic on the second day coming into Zubiri. It was a steep and rocky descent, and I was in a lot of pain.

The third day I hobbled into Pamplona, wondering how i could possibly go on, and who should appear behind me but Balazs and Lazlo.

Balazs knew which was the best albergue to stay in and we all checked in. He looked at my knee, then the size of a football, and he gave me a tube of Voltaren which he’d brought with him. Voltaren is a very effective anti-inflammatory and I’ve used that cream every day since.

Then he insisted I ice my knee.

He produced a towel – one of these expensive hi-tech trekking towels – got some ice and wrapped the ice in the towel, then wrapped it around my knee.

Later, after the pain and swelling had subsided somewhat, he took me to the department store in Pamplona and insisted that I buy a pair of walking sticks. He helped me choose the best pair.

Anyone who’s followed this blog knows how resistant I was to using sticks. But that pair of Lekis, without a doubt, will enable me to finish the Camino.

The next day, Balazs and Lazlo left early to continue on – I stayed back to rest my knee.

I went to give the towel back to Balazs but he insisted I keep it, on the proviso that I keep icing my knee.

We said goodbye, I took some photos, and they left. And I haven’t seen them since. Balazs is fit, and a strong walker, and after he left Pamplona, he powered ahead.

We’ve swapped a couple of text messages since, and so I’ve been aware of his progress.

He flies out of Santiago on the evening of April 12th.

The reason I’ve been pushing hard this last week or so is because before he leaves, I want to give him the towel back.

He was so kind to me, and so generous, it would mean a lot to me to personally hand him back his towel in front of the Cathedral in Santiago.

Rosa —

Balazs and Lazlo —

The reason this blog is late is because today was a huge day.

36 kms and 12 hours walking.

I left Samos this morning at 6:30am, and I arrived at Portomarin at 7:30pm. I got lost, and added another 3 kms to the trip. I had lunch of 30 mins, and a break of 15 minutes. Otherwise, the day was walking, and taking photos.

I started off slow. I did the first 12kms from Samos to Sarria in 5 hrs. That's about 2.5 kms / hr.

Here's the thing though – today I took 276 photos. Now, as you can probably gather, I take my photography seriously. (You wouldn't think so most of the time, looking at what I post, but I do.)

So when I see something that I think could make a shot I stop, consider it visually, get my camera out, start it up, (which doesn't always happen instantaneously), select the focal length, the aperture and the ISO, I then frame and focus, check my exposures, re-frame and refocus, and finally I take the shot.

Then I do the same thing from a slightly different angle. And then I do the same thing closer. Or wider. I figure if something is worth stopping for and photographing, then I may as well do it properly.

I walk slowly so I don't miss anything. I'm constantly on the lookout for shots.

I estimate that it takes me between 30 seconds to 90 seconds to take just one shot. I don't just shoot from the hip. I consider everything carefully. And I look and try to see. Then at the end of the day I look at what I've shot and wonder why the hell I wasted so much time on such a bunch of ordinary images!

(I've taken about 4,000 shots so far and of those, there's only about 6 or 7 that I really like.)

Anyway, my point is this – I walked today for 12 hours. But of those 12 hours, I spent a hell of a lot of time taking photos. Let's say I averaged 1 minute per shot, which for me is about right. That's 276 minutes. That's over 4 hours.

I could have walked the journey today in 8 hours, which would have put my speed at about 4 kms/hr. Instead I stuffed around taking pictures.

But what my photography enables me to do is really see the Camino. I see stuff that most people miss. They walk right past some amazing things, because that's not their purpose. Their purpose is to walk.

My purpose is to dick around with my camera.

Lets talk about today. Or rather, let's start with last night.

I went to Vespers in the Samos Monastery chapel. (I'd always thought Vespers were little Italian motorbikes.) There are no pictures because photography was not allowed, however the chapel was inside the monastery – a simple but beautifully elegant chapel – and there were a dozen monks that sang Gregorian chants. Some were very old, stooped, and tiny. With their robes, they reminded me of little Obi Wan Kanobis.

It was beautiful though – and worth doing, even though I'm not CathoIic and I had to stand for about 40 minutes and my knee was aching like hell.

I then left early this morning – 6:30am – and grabbed a coffee and some “mother's” cake before I left Samos.

Again the track leading out of Samos followed the stream. There was a gorgeous stone angel by the track at one point, and on several way markers people had left photos of loved ones – presumably those that had passed.

As I said, I got into Sarria at 11:30am, and stopped at a Supermercado to pick up my lunch:

1. 1 x Coca Cola (they didn't have Coke Zero)
2. 1 x packet of potato chips, crinkle cut.
3. 1 x packet of sugar coated lollies (they looked too good not to buy them)
4. 1 x block of milk chocolate.

Yep, that was my lunch today.

I ate it on a moss covered rock about 2kms outside of Sarria. Later in the day, at about 4pm, I had a proper lunch – Galician soup, fried eggs and bacon, and French fries. Much healthier…

Later, I stopped and had my photo taken at the marker for 100 kms to Santiago.

And still I kept walking. It was a long day, made longer by my getting lost just before the end of the journey and adding about another 3 kms to the day.

(I'd just taken a shot and got distracted and missed a crucial marker. Stupid me and my stupid photography.)

Anyway, the title of this post is that everything is different in Galicia. This is why I'm going so slow. Because the images are so enticing. Different light, different textures, different weather.

Rain and wind – and if it's not actually raining, then it's drizzling. And the food is different. The Galician soup is sumptuous, and of course there's the Pulpo. Octopus.

The buildings are all stone, and there's such a strong Celtic influence to everything.

I am now 90 kms from Santiago. I can't believe it. After these past two big days, I'm now going to take it a bit easier.

And I'll try not to take as many damned photos!

Why am I doing this walk?

Today, that question reasserted itself very strongly.

I still don't know, but what I do know is that the call was very strong, and where I am right now had a great deal to do with it.

Firstly, my day –

Can't say I liked O Cebreiro. It had a very strange energy. I didn't take any pics because I couldn't bring myself to. It looked like a movie set. Something you'd find on a Universal Studios tour. It was a stone village so perfectly preserved, with so many tourist shops and so many tourists, that it reeked of artificiality.

The storekeepers and merchants had the battle weary dissonance you always find in tourist traps. I was pleased to get out of there, so I left at 6:30am, knowing I had 32 kms to do today, to get to Samos.

It was a beautiful sunrise. Yeah I know, I'm not supposed to think sunrises are beautiful, but this one was a cracker.

(I took a photo with my iPhone and a High Dynamic Range app. It's the first time I've not used my Fuji. I find those Instagram / HDR Pro apps too gimmicky for my taste, but it gave a spectacular image, even though I think it looks fake!)

The first part of the day was hard – steep climbs and equally steep descents. Murder on the knees, and my knee reminded me today that it hadn't gone away. It misses the Meseta.

I had breakfast after about 2 hrs walking – coffee (only one, because I'd grabbed one in OC before I left) – and beautiful ham and cheese on toast. The bill came to €2.75. In Australia, the same breakfast would cost about $4 for the coffee and $6-$8 for the toast and ham and cheese. That's about €8-9.

I'd done about 21 kms by lunch, so I popped into a restaurant in Triacastela and had a Pilgrims Menu (€10) of beautiful home made Galician soup, and barbecued steak, and home made rice pudding. I needed the sustenance after the walk – and I still had a ways to go to Samos.

The last 7 kms into Samos has to go down as perhaps the most glorious walk I've ever done. A track that led through ancient stone villages (the real deal!) and following a stream which had little waterfalls and rapids at regular stages.

The track rose and fell, so at times I was way above the stream looking down at it through the trees, and at other times I was walking right beside it.

Many of the trees were ancient and covered in moss, and some were in flower and were blowing tiny white blossoms onto the path in front of me. Always was the sound of tinkling water, along with cuckoo birds, and cow bells.

I stopped regularly to take photos, and just take in the beauty. I was very slow – 9 kms in 3 hrs – and I didn't want the track to end.

But then I turned a corner and there below me was the Samos Monastery. Truly magnificent.

Two years ago, my wife and I stopped in Samos for a coffee and I wandered around the Monastery. I remember seeing pilgrims entering the Monastery's albergue, and I poked my head in. I saw all these bunks, and pilgrims staking out their territory with their backpacks and sleeping bags.

Later, I spoke to a fellow who was doing the Camino. I remember asking him a lot of questions – how many kms he did each day, how long he'd been walking for, etc.

Samos isn't on the most direct route to Santiago. It's a 7km detour. But I had to come back.

I've now staked out a bunk with my backpack and sleeping bag. I'm sleeping in that same dormitory in the Monastery I checked out two years ago. At 7:30, I go to Vespers in the Chapel. It includes Gregorian Chants.

It will be an experience.

And it might give me some clue as to why I'm doing this walk.

I now know my schedule.

I want to be in Santiago for the Sunday Pilgrim's Mass. It's on the Sunday that they swing the giant incense burner – the Botafumeria – and having seen it on docos, I'd like now to see it for real.

It would be a fitting end to this extraordinary experience.

Again, let me state that I'm not Catholic, and I don't follow an orthodox religion. As I said earlier, in the last census I put down that I was a Buddhist because they've had a rough time in Tibet and I figured they needed my statistical support.

That said, I'm on a pilgrimage. And I'd like to be there for that Sunday Mass.

To get there in time, I will have to do a couple of 30km+ days in the next week. I want to try and get to Samos tonight, and stay in the monastery there. I was there two years ago with my wife – we were driving through and stopped at a cafe for a coffee, and found the monastery by accident.

(There are no accidents, right?)

At the time, I had a hankering that I wanted to walk the Camino, and the place struck me as being something very special. Very calm. Very spiritual. And the monastery is supposed to be one of the largest in western Europe. I'd now like to go back as a pilgrim.

However, it's an option on the route, and adds another 7 kms to the day's tally. For me though, it's important to go back. What's 7 kms when I've done 650 kms?

If I do make it to the Sunday mass, then that means I will have walked the Camino in 32 days. With 3 rest days. So my actually walking days, or hobbling days sometimes, would be 29.

Some of you might think that's too fast, however let me say, and others along this path who've seen me walking will vouch for this – I could not have gone much slower!

Even when I'm full throttle I barely break 4 kms/hr. And most of the time I've been doing 3 kms an hour, both because of injury, and because I stop and take photos.

Most pilgrims are averaging 5-6 kms an hour. However they take long rest breaks. And they usually end their day at 1pm or 1:30pm.

I don't rest. I just walk. (One day I walked 22 kms without stopping for a break.) And I'll often walk until 4pm or 5pm.

People who've passed me during the day are amazed to find that I'm ahead of them the next day. They reckon I've bussed it, or taken a taxi! It's just that I'll finish late and leave early.

So I don't feel I've rushed the Camino. Like I said, I don't think I could have done it much slower.

What I've learnt from all this is that I've got a lot of stamina, and I'm much stronger both physically and mentally than I thought I was. But my theory is that the Camino infuses you with energy, from the soul imprints of all those who've been before.

I truly believe this.

Oh yes, and Coke Zeros help too…

So that's my schedule. I hope I can do these next few long days.

For those of you who have very kindly told me to slow down because they don't want the blogs to end, let me say that even after I've finished, I want to do a series of blogs doing an “audit” of the whole experience – practically and metaphysically.

For instance, I want to do a blog on my expectations of walking the Camino, versus the reality. I want to explore the question: Is the Camino a spiritual journey or just an adventure holiday? And I'd like to post my top ten photos that I've taken. Things like that.

So there'll be more blogs!

Now, it's actually 3:32am here (damn you Camino, why couldn’t it have been 3:33?) so I better get back to sleep. I have 32 kms to walk today if I'm to get to the monastery at Samos.

Today, the big climb up to O Cebreiro was fine.

Demanding at times, but fine.

I learnt a big lesson today, but we'll get to that later.

Villafranca del Beirzo turned out to be a gorgeous little town. I left very early, (6am), as I'll explain later, and made my way through the empty streets in the dark, trying to find the markers out of town.

I followed a group of girls who seemed to know what they were doing. They had the giggles and exuberance of day packers.

I ended up getting lost and following them, then they suddenly stopped by the side of the road. I thought it was to check their map, but it was to have breakfast!

I walked up to them and they immediately invited me to join them – they offered me hot chocolate and beautiful biscuits from Toledo. They were from Madrid, and it was their first day on the Camino. They were so generous and sweet.

I bumped into them on and off during the day as the walk progressed.

After about 10 kms I had breakfast of the mandatory two coffees, and some freshly made tortilla. The next 10 kms was fairly flat…

And then the climb began.

I thought about how the Camino has thrown this last hardship at us, right near the end. And once again, how like life it is.

Many people have to deal with hardship in the later years of their life – health issues, caring for aged parents, losing their job or dealing with financial problems.

The Camino really is metaphoring nicely!

I was anxious about this stage. I'd been anxious about it before I left Australia. Looking at topographical maps, the first stage from St. Jean to Roncesvalles, and this stage to O Cebreiro, were the two doozies.

Consequenly last night I didn't sleep. I left the hotel this morning at 6am with about four hours sleep. So by the time I hit the climbs, I was exhausted.

There were two sections in today's walk which were stiff. But nothing I haven't handled before. What made today really hard for me was my exhaustion from lack of sleep, because of my anxiety.

In other words, I perpetrated a difficult day for myself. I created it. I said it was going to be difficult, and that's what i manifested for myself!

(Read my precursor to this blog – Day 26 Coming up. I told you all it was going to be hard and it was!)

If i hadn't been anxious, and if I'd had a decent amount of sleep, I would have sailed up to O Cebreiro.

My secret weapon when I'm whacked on this walk? Two cans of Coke Zero. With ice. Caffeine and putrid chemical sugar substitutes. Works like a dream!

At the base of the climb, there was this old codger dawdling along. He was from Switzerland, and his name was Zoren. He was 67. We chatted briefly, then I politely told him that I'd have to leave him because I was going to walk at my own pace – ie, I was going to leave him well behind.

After about a kilometre he passed me going up a steep incline, and I never saw him again on the climb. He moved like a mountain goat.

i did though bump into him in O Cebreiro and complemented him on the vigour of his climb. He said that he was a telecommunications technician, and his job involved him traipsing over the Alps in Switzerland fixing towers etc.

Never never judge.

You think I'd have learnt that by now.

By the way, I've now crossed into Galicia. And the capital is Santiago de Compostela. I can't believe I only have about 150 kms to go.

I have a huge day ahead.

36 kms and a massive King of the Mountain climb up 1,000m to O Cebreiro.

If my day's blog is late, or there's no Internet up top of the mountain, that's the reason why.

Hardest section other than the very first over the Pyrenees.

Wish me luck!

Bill

I shaved this morning.

Thing is, I shaved with a disposable razor.

I haven't used a disposable razor since I was a student. I bought 6 Gillette disposable razors yesterday for €1.90. I didn't buy them for the price, but for the weight. When you walk the Camino, everything comes down to weight.

Plastic disposable razor blades weigh bugger all.

The reason I haven't used a disposable razor since I was young is that technology has moved on, and we've now been primed to believe that we need the latest Gillette Powerglide, (or whatever they're called), which requires a battery to make it vibrate and give you a closer smoother shave.

Its blade isn't just one blade, but four blades with an aloe vera stripe to ensure that you never get a shaving cut, and your cheeks will be as smooth as a baby's butt.

These blades cost two bucks a pop.

I mention this as the start to my post today because it occurred to me as I set out on my walk this morning, at 7am, (with my cheeks freshly shaved without a cut), that my relationship with my shaving apparatus really does run parallel with my life.

Why has my life become four blades instead of one?

Where has the simplicity gone?

The Camino demands simplicity.You carry everything you need to survive on your back. You haul it up hills, up mountains, across vast plains and down into valleys. What you possess is your burden. Literally. If you don't need it, really need it, you still carry it. So it forces you to look at everything you have and ask: is it necessary?

If you want to have a fancy wardrobe choice, you carry it. If you want to wear make-up, or use after-shave, you carry it. If you want to use a blow dryer, or take multi-vitamins, you carry it.

Your possessions are your burden.

There are other simplicities the Camino demands.

You walk from A to B each day. If you leave late or walk slow, you arrive late. If you linger over lunch, you arrive late. If you arrive late, you may not get a bed. In which case you have to walk to the next town.

In terms of goals, objectives and obstacles, there is nothing simpler.

Relationships are simple. Everyone shares a common goal – to get to Santiago. And everyone goes through hardship. That makes for courteous respectful and ego-less relationships.

There is no status on the Camino. Everyone is equal.

(Except for those miserable lazy day-packers who bus in from Astorga and talk loud.)

Ooops. Remind me to delete that.

Let me tell you about my day:

I thought I got lost walking out of Ponferrada this morning, but I did finally connect up with the ubiquitous yellow arrows. On the outskirts of town I passed a very old church, and in its grounds was an old moss covered rock with a statue on top.

Many of these statues, and figures in paintings in the churches, hold their hands Buddha like, or similar to some of the Hindu gods and goddesses. There's such strong similarity across religions in the iconography.

I had breakfast in a town about 2hrs out of Ponferrada, and later met a young couple from Montreal who are carrying their 11month old baby to Santiago. Amazing people. They started in Leon.

I then walked through some beautiful old villages until I got to vineyards on the outskirts of Villafranca del Bierzo.

Today was a short day for me. 23 kms. Just over the pussy mark.

Whew.