Walking in the clouds

In Hong Kong (again)

2008-11-14T09:29:22Z

And waiting to get my connecting flight to Auckland. Looking forward to it now.

Just about home

2008-11-13T16:26:56Z

In four and a half hours I should be on an aeroplane bound for Auckland by 2pm Saturday I should be in Wellington and steeling myself to start work again on Monday.

*gulp*

Looking forward to being home very much though

In London!

2008-11-11T11:10:55Z

And I've actually been through Paddington station. Paris was absolutely lovely, I did climb the tower in the end and I just generally enjoyed getting lost around the place.

I caught the Eurostar last night and got into my hotel which is pretty basic but very cheap by London standards.

I don't know what I shall do for the next two days but on Thursday I start the long journey home and I should be fully back by Saturday midday.

Still a wee bit tired

I loved the Louvre

2008-11-08T14:20:19Z

I discovered something very interesting about the Louvre, it's open late on Friday nights and it is (by Louvre standards anyway) remarkably empty later in the afternoon and evening. So I got to wander around everything and queued for less than five minutes to get in.

The guards were even turning a blind eye to the flash photography so I might have managed to get some decent shots of the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. It's a wonderful museum when it's not full of people.

I loved the greek and Roman statues and the Dutch painters.

Today I toured the Catacombes and found that I did not have a nervous disposition or heart trouble. It's odd but seeing that many human remains laid out seems to make it almost part of the scenery.

I might be up for climbing the Eifel tower tomorrow.

Anna in Paris

2008-11-07T12:37:00Z

And oddly much more cheerful, I don't know why Rome seemed to get me down, I mean it was full of wonderful sights, endless history and fabulous food. I think it might just have been the heat.

I managed to navigate the metro at 11 in the evening and find my way to my hotel which is absolutely perfect small, cheap (for Paris anyway) and less than 2 minutes walk from a metro.

The food here is amazing as always but unfortunately it's raining outside. I found my way to an English language bookstore and bought the new Terry Pratchett which I'm going to try and read slowly despite devouring most of the other books I've bought in less than and evening.

I also bought a small guide to Paris to help me decide what to do with the rest of my time here (although tomorrow is going to be the Louvre...all day).

I train out of here on the 10th and wind up in London for a couple of days until my flight on the 13th.

Rome days 3 and 4

2008-11-06T08:24:29Z

So yesterday despite being kind of tired I walked out to the Spanish steps and then over to the Vatican to look round the museum, I saw a mere fraction of what they've got but I did manage to fit in the Sistine chapel and the Raphael rooms.

I'm walking everywhere I can in Rome because I have a slightly bad reaction to wheat ( to the gluten in it I think). On the Camino the stomach aches that I usually get went away almost completely, I was walking with two people who are a lot more sensitive to gluten than I am and they found exactly the same thing, huge hunks of bread at every meal didn't seem to do us much harm at all. The only problem was when we stopped or slowed down all of the affects came back full force. In cacabelos where I stopped for a couple of days I found it very hard to leave because I had a stomach ache and really didn't feel like walking.

In Rome where there's a pizzaria around every corner I'm trying to keep the walking up as much as possible to stop the stomach aches.

Today I have a flight in the afternoon so I will be going nowhere more exciting than the laundrette.

Paris tonight!

Rome is Amazing!!!

2008-11-05T08:57:45Z

I've mostly just been walking around because the crowds kind of scare me right now.

On the first day I threw a couple of coins into the Trevi fountain, walked round the outside of the coloseum, walked over to Travastere to buy some books ( any books...god it feels good to read English language books). I also walked round the ruins by the coloseum, saw the circus maximus and the smallest inhabited island in the world.

On the second day I walked out to the New Zealand embassy, found that the Canadian embassy had moved in and spend the next 2 hours walking round the same few streets looking for the street where they'd moved to. I finally found them, voted (lovely experience, embassy staff are awesome) and then walked back and saw the Pantheon, after that I kind of got a bit lost, found pizza (actually pizza is everywhere) and a gelateria with a huge selection of flavours, two gelatis later the heavens opened and a spectacular thunderstorm started.
I walked back to the pantheon to watch the rain falling down through the dome and then got pretty soaked as I walked back to the hostel marveling at the lightening.

I don't know what I'll do today, I honestly don't feel like I've got the energy for the Vatican so the Sistine chapel might have to wait for the next time I'm here, I might go and wend my way through the capotoline museums.

Anna in Rome

2008-11-03T08:31:39Z

And still feeling really really tired.

I have this horrible feeling that I will wind up doing very little tourism here.

Still I will see what I can see

Anna in Santiago (again)

2008-11-01T13:44:25Z

So anyhow I fly out to Rome tomorrow night, has anyone got any requests for souveneirs?

I can do you yellow arrow things, scallop things and even witch things. I could even do you a skeleton pilgrim tee-shirt.

Hope everyone else is ok.

Love

Anna

Anna in Finisterre

2008-10-30T10:55:08Z

Ok so we cheated a little and caught a taxi for the last 30k, I just got so very sick of the rain out here, it tended to mix with the cow muck and and the mud and form horrific puddles which we had to wade through.

The weather in Finisterre was absolutely lovely and we got to watch a sunset at the end of the world.

Now I´m at loose ends for a day and catching a bus back to Santiago tommorow. I fly to Rome on Sunday the 2nd and then on to Paris on the 6th where I´ll stay for 4 days. Still have to find accomodation in London and Paris but that shouldn´t be too hard.

It feels so strange not to be walking and to be able to buy heavier things.

Anna in Santiago!!!!

2008-10-25T15:35:28Z

And feeling just a little dazed by it all. I stayed in Lavacolla again because I just couldn´t face the walk up to Mount Joy last night.

I walked slowly in this morning with some friends and felt just very very weird.

I´ve walked about 900k and I´m starting to feel it but I would also quite like to start on to Finisterre on Monday, I´ve got the time and honestly I think I would rather not hang around Santiago, it feels so busy and rushed and I´m really only moving and thinking slowly right now.

I´m staying in the Hotel Suso which is quite nice (if small).

I have my compostella but I haven´t done any of the cathedral things yet because I want to wait until late tonight when it´s quiet.

Love you all and hope all is well!

Anna n Arzua

2008-10-23T19:17:18Z

And yes I know it´s only 14 k but I was walking with someone who stopped at a quite nice albergue here and I decided that a good albergue experience was worth a short day (and I was so suprised to find a nice albergue out here). I made myself a huge fruit salad and had vegetable stew for lunch at a wonderful restaraunt.

Ribadiso de Baixo looks absolutely lovely in the sunshine and the rolling hills and valleys would be absolutely beautiful if I didn´t keep having to walk accross them.

It´s only 37k to Santiago now and I can sort of feel everything beginning to wind down.

Still not sure about Finisterre, will see how I feel when I´ve had a days rest in Santiago.

Anna in Melide

2008-10-22T14:52:00Z

Yesterday everything and everyone got totally drenched in miserable cold rain. I decided that if I could make it the 25k into Palas de Rei I would have earned myself a stay in somewhere with hot showers and a towel bigger than a hankerchief. I made it and had a wonderful evening.

I think I´m going to be staying in cheap hotels for the rest of the way into Santiago (which is only like 3 days) because the last 100k rush is starting and the rushers this time don´t look all that friendly, plus it keeps raining and rain turns albergues into unpleasant seas of mud and seems to send all of the showers cold.

Melide seems quite nice which is all I can really think to say about it, I feel kind of dazed and I´m not sure why.

Anna in Portomarin

2008-10-20T16:54:26Z

And grumbling, the scenery was great but the albergue is a little underequipped (i.e. no glasses, cutlery or anything else), it´s odd that I can never seem to find a good albergue here.

I know that the little albergues in Galicia often don´t have stuff but it feels odd that one that is set to hold 160 people can´t even seem to get any glasses.

Anyhow the scenery really was great and I´m really appreciating the greeness of Galicia much more this time.

Anna in Sarria

2008-10-19T14:22:03Z

And I found my spiting frog fountain. I couldn´t remember the name of the albergue but when I saw the fountain and the deck chairs I knew I had found the right place.

The scenery today was amazing, we´re still quite high up so the views over the hills were stunning.

I took the short way and skipped Samos this time and quite liked the route. I´m planning to buy supermarket stuff and sit out in a deck chair....luxury.

Anna in Triacastela

2008-10-18T14:34:25Z

And still no sign of the three castles. Do you think they move them when the pilgrims aren´t around?

The scenery on O Cebreiro this morning was breath taking. I met the crepe woman again and decided I didn´t really need a crepe.

I´m planning on washing almost everything I own and eating supermarket food for dinner, to me this sounds like a perfect evening.

I think I shall take the next few days slowly as I get nearer to the 800 kilometre mark.

Hope everything is going ok.

Anna

Anna up a very big hill (and finally in Galicia)

2008-10-17T16:51:12Z

I decided to take a very short day to climb a very steep hill. I didn´t stay here last time and I have to admit that the views up here are amazing.

Evem just looking out of the albergue windows is an experience.

I´d write more but I´m kind of fighting the keyboard right now.

Anna in Vega de Valcarce

2008-10-16T18:17:24Z

And I just sat down to a fantastic Brazilian meal.

I´d forgotten about the yellow path that sits alongside the road. I´m not a big fan of tarmac these days ( although it was raining today so I was at least a little grateful that I wasn´t wading through mud).

The scenery is fantastic, a little like New Zealand.

Anna (still) in Cacabelos

2008-10-15T17:14:15Z

I decided to give myself a little bit of a holiday when I realised that I´d gone for 5 weeks and 700 kilometres without a day off (I´ve done some very very short days though). So I´m taking a few days off in a place where I don´t feel the urge to rush out and do things so I can get enough sleep and give my body a chance to rest before I make a push for the final 200.

I´m also thinking that Finisterre might be best visited by Bus.

There´s nothing physically wrong with me other than feeling a little tired.

It´s actually kind of a guilty pleasure watching all of the other pilgrims go past though.

Anna in Cacabelos

2008-10-13T17:55:20Z

And kind of tired. The mountain crossing went ok except for some mist that hung round til after I´d got to the Cruz de Ferro.

I got to the confraternity a little late so I wound up staying at the Pilar albergue instead (god that woman works hard)

When the mists cleared the mountain scenery was stunning. El Acebo seemed a lot more touristy this time ( although that may just have been due to the bus-pilgtims´bus trying to squeeze throught the streets). Stayed in the new private albergue in molinaseca last night which is lovely.

Ponferrada was as poluted and castlish as ever. The albergue at cacabelos was reported dirty and it kind of is but it´s worth it not to have bunk beds.

Not sure where I´ll be tomorrow.

Anna In Astorga

2008-10-10T20:28:19Z

And pretty beat after a 33k day. There was jousting over the Hospital de Orbigo bridge, the occasional singing of wizard of Oz songs and general craziness. We are all sore and tired and we made up for it by going out to Restaraunt Gaudi and having a meal where the table cloths were made of something other than paper.

The scenery has changed to greenery and we´re finally off the meseta!

The Cathedral looks wonderful lit up at night

Anna in Leòn

2008-10-09T09:54:08Z

And heading out.

I made my 12k walk in, admired the Cathedral and then found that almost everyone I knew was in Leòn and staying the night. So I decided it was fate and got a hotel room, the first I´ve had so far.

The Cathedral was all restrained elegance and the city centre had a much more liveable feel than Burgos (as well as having kebabs!).

I´ve now been walking for 4 weeks and I´ve covered over 500k. I´m well past the point where I got sick last time which feels oddly triumphal.

I didn´t hate the meseta this time although I could have done without the rain.

Looking forward to the crazy castle in Astorga.

6 kilometres on (and less whiny)

2008-10-07T15:20:54Z

So it stopped raining and I thought why not keep right on walking to the next place. I am in the Albergue San Pelayo and they have a fire, hot water, only one other pilgrim and a drier!!!

I am feeling a lot more content with my lot and on top of all that I have only 12k into Leon tommorow, I dont know whether I will stay there or not but it is certainly tempting.

My shoes are stuffed with paper and all of my damp stuff is being washed and dried.

The slight formality of this post is due to the fact that I can not get the apostrophe key to work (usually on Spanish keyboards the apostrophe appears after you hit the next key but this one seems to be broken). I like the effect, gives it a sort of Commander Data feel.

Anna
(considerably more happy)

In Mansilla de las mulas

2008-10-07T12:43:34Z

and very very very damp, first day of rain, I totally could have done without that. I was planning to go on another 6k but I´m so wet I think I might go about tracking down the albergue.

scenery was rain and fields and flat and brown and grey.

Beginning to wish that I´d taken the train again...

In Sahagun

2008-10-05T12:44:27Z

And feeling a little tired despite last night´s good sleep and a short walk. I had the good luck to meet Rebekah who blogs from moratinos who was out walking her dogs. I felt really awkward about saying hello (I´ve read your blog seems like a terrible way of introducing yourself) but she was nice about it.

I´m still not sick and I think subconciously I was expecting to be.

Tonight I am going to launder everything I own, cook dinner and get an early night. Maybe the short day will give me enough energy to get accross the 20-30k stretch tomorrow.

Scenery continues brown and fieldlike.