Kiwi on the Camino
A Walk that Changed My Life
VIVIANNE FLINTOFF
Copyright © 2017 Vivianne Flintoff.
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ISBN: 978-1-5043-8252-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-5043-8254-0 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-5043-8253-3 (e)
Balboa Press rev. date: 06/17/2017
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Disclaimer
Introduction
Part 1
Auckland to London
London to Pollensa, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Barcelona, Spain to Saint- Jean-Pied-de-Port, France
Part 2
St-Jean-Pied-de- Port to Valcarlos
Valcarlos to Roncesvalles
Roncesvalles to Zubiri
Zubiri to Pamplona
Rest day Pamplona
Pamplona to Uterga via the Mountain of Forgiveness
Uterga to Estella
Rest day in Estella
Estella to Los Arcos
Los Arcos to Viana
Viana to Navarrete
Navarrete to Azofra
Azofra to Grañón
Grañón to Belorado
Belorado to San Juan de Ortega.
San Juan de Ortega to Burgos
Rest day in Burgos
Burgos to Hornillos del Camino
Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz
Castrojeriz to Frómista
Frómista to Villalcázar de Sirga
Villalcázar de Sirga to Carrión de Los Condes
Carrión de Los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios
Terradillos de los Templarios to Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos
Calzada de los Hermanillos to Mansilla de las Mulas
Mansilla de las Mulas to León
Rest Day in León
León to Villar de Mazarife
Villar de Mazarife to Astorga
Astorga to Santa Catalina de Somoza
Santa Catalina de Somoza to Rabanal del Camino
Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca
Molinaseca to Cacabelos
Cacabelos to Trabadelo
Trabadelo to O’Cebreiro
O’Cebreiro to Lusio
Lusio to Samos
Samos to Sarria
Sarria to Portomarín
Portomarín to Palas de Rei
Palas de Rei to Arzúa
Arzúa to Lavacolla
Lavacolla to Santiago
Day 2 in Santiago
Santiago to Negreira
Negreira to Santa Marína
San Mariña to Cee
Cee to Finisterre
Part 3
Finisterre – Cape Finisterre
Postscript
Glossary
Bibliography
Dedication
To Bruce in gratitude for shared life-journeys with companionship and friendship along the way.
Acknowledgements
No act of kindness,
No matter how small,
Is ever wasted.
Aesop (5th century BC)
I GIVE THANKS TO THE Author of light, life and love.
Apart from myself, the other person who appears frequently in this Camino account, is Bruce, my husband of some thirty-nine years, companion on my life-journey and fellow pilgrim. Thank you, Bruce, for being with me, for sharing our pilgrimage journey and for unconditionally accepting and loving me.
Other authors have written that it is the people one meets on The Way of Saint James (The Way) that enhances and deepens the pilgrimage experience. I agree. It was the people I met along The Way that enriched, not only my pilgrim journey, but also my life as I now currently live it.
Thank you to all those who live and work along The Way and who give generously of hospitality, kindness and friendship. Thank you to the pilgrims who belong to the Confraternity of St James, who volunteer time and energy each year to assist pilgrims along The Way. Amigos de Santiago de Compostela (Friends of The Way) maintain the waymarking of the route. Thank you also.
Waymarking is essential, but so also were the invaluable guidebooks of both John Brierley and Jaffa Raza. I studied and marked both guidebooks, for two years, when planning for the Camino. In the end, I carried Brierley’s book with me, as I appreciated the stage maps and the depictions of the elevations for each stage. However, I have drawn upon both guidebooks when writing this book for in places, my notes and memory were either inadequate or quite failed me.
Thank you to past pilgrims who kept the faith and traditions alive. To current fellow pilgrims, adventurers, and those on the road for the training exercise, thank you for your contributions to my journey and to my deepening spiritual and self-awareness.
Thank you also to those who faithfully read my blog and followed our journey along the Camino Way. Thank you for your encouraging comments in response to my blog entries. The responses made me feel connected with those at home in New Zealand and with our new friends as we met, then separated, on the Camino. Your responses encouraged me to think that you enjoyed my writing and this encouragement, has in part, contributed to my having the courage and audacity to craft this book.
I also thank the writers of travel books from which I have derived many hours of pleasure. You have inspired me with your courageous and often humorous accounts of your journeys.
Thank you to the Coromandel Writers’ Group for your encouragement of my writing attempts.
My thanks also to tho
se who read either part or entire drafts of Kiwi on the Camino: A Walk that Changed My Life - Robyn Cresswell, Rosemary de Luca, Rodney Denham, Catherine Fife, Bruce Flintoff, Stacey Flintoff, Mike Jerebine, Robyn Jerebine, Marianne Lammers, Reg Nicholson, Elaine Riddell and Wendy Talbot. Your encouragement and critical feedback has been invaluable. My thanks, also, to Robert Flintoff for the creation of the map.
Thank you to Hannah Ermac, Marisa Matires, Peter Le and team at Balboa Press who journeyed with me through the throes of presenting this book in its final form. Thank you for encouragement and support through the publishing journey.
Disclaimer
One man’s way may be as good as
another’s but we all like our own best.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
KIWI ON THE CAMINO: A Walk that Changed My Life is not a practical, factual handbook to assist any would-be walker of the Camino Frances (the French route to Santiago) or the Camino Finisterre (the path from Santiago to Finisterre). However, I have at times interwoven some facts because they interested me. If there are errors with any of the more verifiable information, these mistakes are mine.
My story is threaded through with fragments of other pilgrims’ stories. If in reading my account, you recognize your name and yourself, then it is you of whom I have written. My inclusion has been intentional and the use of your name has been with your permission. If, on the other hand, you recognize yourself under a different name, that is because I have not known how to contact you to ask permission to use your name. In whichever category you fit, I trust my representation of our shared stories concurs with your memories. I also hope that in reading this account, your memories will be rekindled and that your retrospective enjoyment of our shared journey along the Camino is enhanced.
While Kiwi on the Camino: A Walk that Changed my Life is not an academic work, I have included a bibliography. Each of the books listed there have been an inspiration and have helped shape my life. Furthermore, I have drawn upon material in each of the listed books and have integrated it into this narrative. It may be that other books have also influenced what follows in these pages and if they are not included, that is my oversight. Books after all are my friends, and while I do not consume my human friends, I do devour books.
I have included some Spanish, French and Te Reo (Māori language) and trust that my translations, which appear in the Glossary, are as close as is possible given the cultural nuances of each language.
Introduction
We cannot know ourselves in this
life except through faith and grace.
Julian of Norwich (1342 – 1416)
KIWI ON THE CAMINO: A Walk that Changed My Life is an account of my Camino story threaded through with some personal life experiences. As author, I necessarily write of the walk from my perspective, but Bruce and I walked together as a couple and I interweave our individual and shared experiences. Our Camino walk of some nine hundred kilometres (five hundred and sixty miles) began in the picturesque Basque town of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees, took us westwards over the mountains and across northern Spain, to the sacred pilgrim site of the Cathedral of Santiago, then on to Finisterre with a final short walk to the lighthouse at Cape Finisterre on the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death) where the province of Galicia meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is highly probable that St James the Apostle first landed in Spain on the Praia de Langosteira - the two-kilometre beach just south of Finisterre - to proselytize the pagan Spanish. The thousand-year-old Christian pilgrimage to Santiago and onwards to Finisterre runs directly under the Milky Way. This ancient trail was also a pre-Christian pilgrimage. Both Celt and Roman also walked under the Milky Way to the Costa da Morte, to watch the sea consume the sun and to worship at the Ara Solis, the Phoenician altar to the sun.1
One of the early decisions made when planning for our Camino was that we would walk at a pace our bodies required and enjoy the journey without rushing towards a deadline imposed by a pre-booked plane ticket. The journey itself was to be our goal and prize. However, every journey needs an end and for Bruce and me, the end would be Finisterre, with an important stopover at Santiago. We came to appreciate the no-time-pressure decision as we journeyed along The Way.
We also made the decision to take-it-easy because Bruce suffers with some health challenges as the result of a traffic collision. A drunk driver smashed head-on into Bruce’s car at 100kph. Bruce hit the right side of his head during impact. Our lives changed dramatically after this accident. I gradually picked up tasks and responsibilities that Bruce was no longer able to manage. Over time I became the primary income earner. Our relationship as a couple changed with the need to respond to new challenges. However, like all relationships, the space between us is constantly re-negotiated in response to ongoing life changes.
Due to his condition, Bruce needs frequent rest to manage physical pain, stress responses and subsequent exhaustion. The Camino would be a major challenge for him. Therefore, we planned to stay in some places for a couple of nights so Bruce could have a rest-day to sleep and rejuvenate. While I agreed with our take-it-easy plan and despite our solid relationship, prior to beginning our walk I harboured a fear that in taking it slowly, I would become frustrated and angry with dawdling.
Like many women today in so called developed countries, my daily life pre-Camino, was fuelled by adrenalin and cortisol. I worked long days, some evenings and some weekends. My time was always limited, under pressure and consequently parcelled out in spare amounts. My work space was an open plan office and as an introvert I found that exhausting. In my daily life, I had very little time to think, precious little time for solitude and had become incapable of relaxing. With ongoing high levels of cortisol caused by stress.2 I suffered from frequent recurring infections, requiring antibiotics to enable me to continue working. While planning for the Camino, I came to the place of knowing I was emotionally bankrupt and physically exhausted. I needed to walk the Camino as a time-out from the many demands of my complex life. To give me this time-out and to give us time to visit with family living overseas, I took eleven months’ unpaid leave from my place of work.
Bruce and I have a very full family life. We have three married sons and six grandchildren. Our family is very important to us both and we try to spend as much time as possible with them all.
Given my overly busy life, Bruce and I had not had many days at a time in each other’s company for a long while. Our Camino would be a gift to ourselves, giving us time to be together to reflect on our lives as individuals and as a couple. However, despite our acknowledgment of wanting time together, prior to leaving home I had a further anxiety. Would our relationship take the strain of day after day in each other’s company in possibly difficult conditions? Moreover, when we trekked in Nepal, Bruce’s sister and her husband were part of the group and our brother-in-law was the one who would support Bruce to keep moving each day. Would I be able to remain generous and kind, giving Bruce the support he needed for the duration of the walk? Or would my inability to take it easy and relax reveal itself as frustration and anger, potentially sabotaging the trip and our life as a couple?
PART 1
Auckland to London
…..I shall make all things well;
and you shall see for yourself
that all manner of things shall be well.
Julian of Norwich, (1342 – 1416)
COMING FROM SO FAR AWAY, from the island nation of New Zealand in the South Pacific and travelling to Europe, is a big deal for us both. Just the flight itself is a challenge. The long-haul flight from Auckland to London takes twenty-six hours including the brief stopover at Los Angeles. We plan to stop over in London for a few days to help us begin to get over jet lag before flying on to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where my younger brother Wayne and his wife, Julia, live. On our arrival in London, I begin thinking about travelling to Palma and realise that there is just one-time
zone difference between the two cities. Our three-night stopover in London will do little to alleviate our jet lag.
A further surprise awaits us on our arrival in London. It is cold! Back home I had done a rough reckoning of seasons. When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern. Therefore, (early) autumn in New Zealand would mean (early) spring in the north. It is barely spring. London feels as cold as a winter’s day back home. Nonetheless, we are grateful for three days of sunshine and enjoy the few early daffodils which are in bloom. Wordsworth would have been delighted with them. Our trips on the London underground bring us in contact with pale, washed out faces, etched with longing for days in warm sunshine by the seaside.
London to Pollensa, Mallorca,
Balearic Islands, Spain
Fear is a useful emotion.
It stops us doing stupid things.
Rhonda Pritchard
WAYNE AND JULIA HAVE A weekend house in the village of Pollensa on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. While they spend the working week in Palma, Bruce and I will have the use of their Pollensa house and they will join us during the weekends. Spending ten days in Pollensa will prove to be ideal preparation for the Camino. Bruce and I adjust to local time and have a gentle introduction to Spain and Spanish culture. We walk each day around the village environs and adapt to living at a walking pace.
On our arrival at Palma de Mallorca, Wayne and Julia are there to meet us. Together we drive forty minutes northwest to Pollensa through almond and olive groves as well as vineyards, all thriving in the dry, rocky soil that makes up the landscape. Old rusting windmills draw precious bore water. Familiar with the verdant lushness of New Zealand, I am amazed at the productivity of such soil and land despite its apparent aridity. I do not recognize the almond trees clothed in their spring green until Wayne identifies them for me and then regales us with an account of their white flowering beauty a few weeks earlier. The olive trees with their signature green and silver leaves are more easily recognizable.
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