The first time I walked the Camino I had no idea about foot care, I had never walked for more than a few days before and that had been when I was much younger. I walked a couple of long walks in my boots before heading off on the Camino and I got some blisters on the heals of both feet, they healed and left some hard skin around the heels, but I never though that would cause me a problem – it did – and a very bad one.
This video was produced by the Spanish Tourist Board that looks after the area around Galicia where all the Caminos to Santiago finish at Santiago de Compostela. You can, however, keep walking to what was known as the “end of the world” at Cape Finisterre. Most pilgrims would at least get the bus to Finisterre to watch the sunset and close their Camino.
The Camino Aragon camino starts in Somport and joins the main French route at Puente la Reina. I walked it in 2004 after I had walked the main French route, it was quiet and deserted, there was not many hostels but it was great; also it had a completely different feels to it compared to the Camino Frances.
Last night I got a mail from Jim at Wandering the World. He has just arrived in Santiago and is heading back to Puenta la Raina to walk this route and asked for a list of Refugeos – Albergues. I put it together, it could be out of date as it is three years since I walked this part. I thought it might be an idea to share this.
Arriving in Roncesvalles the first thing to do is visit the pilgrim office, here you will pay your €5 for the night and be given a slip of paper to take across the road to the Albergue. At the hostel they have volunteers on the door who greet everyone – ask where you are from, etc, and tell you the rules of the house. The main one is that lights out are at 10pm, get used to it, this is a fairly normal time – additionally, often you will be locked out if you don’t get back in for that time.
Friday 23rd of July 2004 I caught a plane to Paris from Dublin. It was summer, I was happy as I had just finished my first year of university. I was a mature student and loved the opportunity I had to study full time, something I had avoided when I was younger. I was setting out to walk along a route that I have never heard of till earlier that year. One of my flat mates, fellow students, and friend, went on and on about this trip he had done a couple of times. Once he had even walked from Amsterdam to Santiago, quite something.
Today one year ago I was in El Acebo on the Camino Frances. I had had enough of sharing in a pilgrims hostel and had decided on a room to my self, (€20).
I had only walked 17km from Rabanal, I was tired and very sore. I had been taken from an albergue a few days before in an ambulance to hospital to discover that I had two hernias, one on each side. But I had decided to finish and I was taking some pain killers to keep me going. A bit mad when I look back at it.
