Camino: blisters, bowels and bladders

A year in the planning after a member of the magical midlife group said she’d like to do this, there was enough of us interested to get a group together.

There was much talk of footwear, training, choice of sock, clothing, backpack choices, snacks and anything else in between.

On the 4th May, 14 of us met up in Baiona to walk the 128km to Compostela de Santiago in 6 days.

Hotel El Mosquito was ok, and restaurant was buzzing from our chat, some of us had met before, some only remotely, and the handout of our wonderful swimming caps.

Our first night saw the routine begin of packing our case for transfer followed by our day packs for walking.

We started the walk to Vigo (26.3km) following the coast and it was very pretty with a few additional sights along the way (iykyk). A stop to eat/drink and later an ice cream and we arrived at the busy port of Vigo. The final kms were hard, but we arrived to our luggage at the hotel atlantico. After a refresh and change, we sauntered to Rias Baixas1 for dinner.

Next destination was Arcade a modest 23km today. Off we went with a steep ascent and a better expectation of what our day would be like. Less coastal but still scenic. We stopped at Redondela for lunch and were quickly ‘pulpoed’ into a plate of octopus. Luckily one of our group spoke Spanish to wave it away, a very disgruntled gentleman, but we learned a valuable lesson.

Hotel Duarte had our luggage and we walked to Casa do Muelle for dinner. The wine, water and esterella sin alcohol flowed.

Wednesday morning and a modest 13.8km which fooled me into thinking our walk to Pontevedra would be easy. The terrain was harder with water, tree roots, ascents and cobbles. It was hard under foot and my feet were throbbing despite compeed, sock changes and paracetamol. We stopped at a coffee stop in the middle of the forest for a cuppa and the ground was uneven, Nicky was sitting when her chair gave way, and she put her hand out, which in turn unbalanced my chair. As she fell to the ground I was in slow motion falling with Karen trying to catch me. I ended up on the ground and smelt of coffee for the remainder of the day. Everyone was in fits of laughter, a bit of light relief. The walk continued but about half way through the day I had checked out mentally, I was going to look at flights home as soon as possible. We went for a late lunch and it helped lighten my mood when we were all offered a dessert, the choice was tarta, melon, and pina. Everybody seemed to get the tarta, which was a bit like Neapolitan ice cream, and it didnt matter that others ordered pineapple or melon. Later they were given tinned peaches and pineapple. Hysterical laughter washed the whole table. Something we will never forget.

Once at our hotel Avienda I didn’t go to dinner. I tidied my case, and called home. The encouragement and support I got from Kevin and Joe, that I’d also had from Georgina and the women I was travelling with made me rethink coming home. Yes it would be hard, tough and so out of my comfort zone, but I’d come this far, and so I decided to continue.

Next up was 21.1km to Caldas de Rias. It was another full on day, with lovely views of the country. We arrived late afternoon at the Hotel O Cruceiro. One of the women had found thermal baths nearby and we booked slots to enjoy the respite from walking. We took along our bathing caps and had a very entertaining taxi ride to the baths. The thermal baths provided a relief. I had a Scottish shower ( never knew that was a thing). Hot jets at the top, warm in the middle, cold at the bottom. It was invigorating, and a foot spa after was just the ticket. Dinner at the Cafeteria Termas by the River was lovely. Lots of conversation and laughter flowed.

Padrón up next 18.6 km. Weather less clement so ponchos were packed. Again more inland with some interesting scenery and more pilgrims too.

Lunch at Buen Camino was delicious so ponchos on and off we went.

We arrived in Padron in the rain, the pension Jardin was like a 70’s throwback, no lift and we were up three flights of stairs! Some others had additional interesting quirks. Dinner after drinks at Botanico, was at O Secreto which was delicious and we were all set for our final day of walking .

Final full day walking 24.9 km to Santiago de Compostela. Breakfast was a fiasco, and didn’t get the day off to the best start. My blisters now had sister blisters. The pain was intense, my feet and ankles were swollen and my knee decided it had had enough. A lunch stop at O Camino was very welcome, with tears and laughter. The last final push was needed, we had enjoyed singing along many of our other days and this was no exception.

And then we were minutes away from our final destination. There it was in front of us. We entered the square expecting a serene quiet but due to a race being held later that evening we were heralded in by ‘Highway to Hell’. There were tears, hugs and congratulations all round. We had made it. We were the last ones to get our certificates on Saturday-even I ran the few yards to get it before closing time!

A celebratory drink then a cab to our hotel, Miradoiro de Belvis.

Another quick change then a walk, with screaming, bleeding toes to O Sendeiro. A wonderful restaurant with a private room. Food was outstanding and we all congratulated ourselves for completing the walk.

So we had all set out to do this walk, we all had our own motivations, we all had our own pace. It was so good spending time with these women, there was plenty of time for conversations, listening to stories of their lives, their families, their careers.

There was much laughter, tears, hugs and a realisation that we are stronger than we think. We take for granted so much of our lives and those around us that we love. I learned that I am so fortunate to live where I live and have an amazingly supportive family. I have many true friends and I have my health and the time to do so many things, and I messaged my family to tell them that.

The walk was harder than I thought, but I’m so glad I did it. I did wild wees, never thought I’d do that and so many of us had lots of conversations about our bowel movements, hence the title

Sunday was a chance to get ready to go home, have lunch and a saunter without a thought to walk any distance.

Home safe and sound and I’m sure we will all have our own memories and moments to cherish. There were so many different experiences we all had, so much to think about, to reflect upon, and so much to be grateful for.

Will I do something like this again? Probably not but I hope to keep walking once I can get my shoes back on!

Thank you to Jo, Honor, Becky (my roomie), Amanda, Jenny, Sarah, Tamara, Christine, Nicky, Julia, Yve, Karen and Dionne. It was a privilege to spend this week with you and to experience the Camino with you all. Buen Camino.