Gio's Cross Selection

Some of you might remember that on stage 1 of our walk, I accumulated quite a collection of very different cross photos. I photographed a few more during part 2 of our walk. I like to see crosses along the way as they remind me that I am on no ordinary walk, but on one of the world's great religious pilgrimages.

Crosses by roads are good, as they speak not only to the pilgrims on the route, but also to drivers and other passers by who can't help but notice them as they go about their daily business.

My first cross was located beside the road out of the town of Astorga. I like it's simple nature and I always like crosses made of wood. I also liked the seat I had at the bottom and I found it useful to have a little map of the villages that were coming up on the way.


My next cross is a city centre one. It was located close to the centre of Leon and I liked the fact that it was there in the midst of all the traffic and hustle and bustle of the city. I think there should be more crosses, like this one, in a very different location to a church building.


My final cross was not in a town or a city, but was delightfully situated in a rural setting. It was a beautiful stone cross, in a small wood, just to the left of the camino. My guidebook told me it was very old, 17th century in fact. It was typical of many crosses in Galicia in that it had figures carved on both sides: Christ on the cross on one side, and Mary on the other.


It was a very tranquil spot so I lingered for a few moments to soak up the peace and sense of history.

Lots of love, Gio xxx

Our Art Selection

While we were away on our pilgrimage, you had lots of words from us and less pictures that usual. It's now time to redress the balance and share a few pictures with just a few explanatory words.

Here are the first 3 we have selected, on the subject of artwork.

Within minutes of setting foot back in Sahagun, the starting point for this trip and end point of our last trip, we were greeting our old friend St James, without whom there would be no Camino. He does seem to change his appearance quite a bit along the way, and here comes across as quite a lean and gaunt figure ,and we always think it looks like he has his shopping bag with him. It was nearly 2 years since we stood in this very place beside this particular St James, and we can't describe how good it was to see him again, even though we weren't too sure about the yellow eyes which he has gained since we last saw him.


A few miles down the road, in a small village, was this wonderful agricultural scene, carefully worked in metal ...


Yorkie and I were quite tempted to ask for a lift, but it was a bit soon in our walk and anyway, Gio, our pilgrimage leader, would never have allowed it. He was determined to walk every step of the way and we couldn't help but be inspired by his passion and commitment. We were there to walk, and walk we would.

After a lot of walking, every pilgrim needs a rest and our next sculpture showed us just how to do it. We wasted no time in following this pilgrim's fine example and resting our paws and eyelids.


We loved the spot chosen for this rest. It was right outside one of the most impressive and expensive paradors in Spain. We knew we couldn't afford to sleep inside it, but we did enjoy our snooze outside it.

More pictures to come.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Home Again

As you can probably tell from the fact that our posts have stopped, we're safely back home and caught up in the usual daily grind.

We actually returned to the Bear Cave at 1.15 a.m. on Monday morning, then, a few short hours later, it was back to work, to do our part to keep the wheels of Bears Unlimited turning.

We've been so busy telling our friends and colleagues all about our trip that we haven't had too much time yet to reflect on our trip and what it means for us.

However, a friend and fellow pilgrim Luc, from Belgium, did email us some words that we strongly agree with. We met and walked with Luc 2 years ago and while he wasn't with us in body this time, he was travelling with us in spirit and said he 'would follow us on our trip to the field of the stars on the road that never ends'.

And he is quite right; the physical road may have ended for now, but the journey has not. While we were in the church at O Cebreiro, we came across the following prayer, written by a Franciscan relative of Gio's which we found very moving. It says far better that we ever could, what walking the camino, and returning from it, is all about, so here it is ...

Prayer of La Faba

'Although I may have travelled all the roads,
crossed mountains and valleys from East to West,
if I have not discovered the freedom to be myself,
I have arrived nowhere.

Although I may have shared all of my possessions
with people of other languages and cultures;
made friends with Pilgrims of a thousand paths,
or shared albergue with saints and princes,
if I am not capable of forgiving my neighbour tomorrow,
I have arrived nowhere.

Although I may have carried my pack from beginning to end
and waited for every Pilgrim in need of encouragement,
or given my bed to one who arrived later than I,
given my bottle of water in exchange for nothing;
if upon returning to my home and work,
I am not able to create brotherhood
or to make happiness, peace and unity,
I have arrived nowhere.

Although I may have had food and water each day,
and enjoyed a roof and shower every night;
or may have had my injuries well attended,
if I have not discovered in all that the love of God,
I have arrived nowhere.

Although I may have seen all the monuments
and contemplated the best sunsets;
although I may have learned a greeting in every language;
or tried the clean water from every fountain;
if I have not discovered who is the author
of so much free beauty and so much peace,
I have arrived nowhere.

If from today I do not continue walking on your path,
searching for and living according to what I have learned;
if from today I do not see in every person, friend or foe
a companion on the Camino;
if from today I cannot recognize God,
the God of Jesus of Nazareth
as the one God of my life,
I have arrived nowhere.'

We've lots more pictures and a few more tales to share with you in the next post or two.

Bye for now,

Love from the Camino Bears xxx

Time to Go Home

Today we're going home, although not until this evening. We will be spending the day in Santiago before going to the airport we've already walked round.

I'm sure lots of interesting things will happen today, but you may have to wait for a report, as hopefully we'll be airborne at our usual typing and posting time.

We'll be back soon though.

Love from the Compostella bears xxx

Worth the Wait

As we sat up late last night watching Gavin & Stacey, there were lots of loud bangs as the town was showered with fireworks as part of the fiesta celebrations.

After breakfast we headed out, and this time the Tourist Information office was open, so we could get a map. The lady inside congratulated us on our Spanish which pleased us no end.

Armed with our map we walked for a good 2 hours round a headland, keeping the sea on our right. There was lots to see and some lovely tracks, and the locals were out in force jogging along them. Much of the coast was rocky but from time to time we came across a lovely sandy cove. On the higher land were all sorts of sculptures, including a mini Stonehenge and a real (old) lighthouse.

Around 1.00 pm the sun was quite strong and people started to come down for a swim. We stopped on a sandy beach which was steeply shelving so there was some great surf. We sunbathed and paddled and had great fun.


Spanish Pedro acted as our tour guide and showed us a really lifelike sculpture of some surfers. We could almost feel those muscles flexing.


We had a late lunch then a long walk to the railway station, but at least we knew where we were going this time.

On the way we were able to get a big bottle of Fa cologne which pleased our female minder no end and lots of pimenton (for Rick Stein recipes) which pleased our male minder.

We caught the 15:45 train back to Santiago and checked back into our friendly Pension Alfonso. It felt like coming home and we were given the room above our last one, with possibly an even better view of the cathedral.

We knew there was a mass at 6.00 pm so we went back to the cathedral to find standing room only at the sides, but the botafumeiro back in place over the altar.

We sat patiently at the bottom of a pillar waiting to see if there would be any signs of imminent use. During a long sermon in Gallician we concluded that nothing was going to happen and snook out. The next things that happened must surely have involved some divine intervention.

We went first to the Pilgrims' Office and then to Tourist Info to see if we could get information on when the botafumeiro would be swung. We gave up as either there was a long queue or there was no-one there.

We started to walk further away from the cathedral and met our Austrian/Norwegian friend coming the other way. We knew he had seen the botafumeiro twice on Thursday so asked him when in the service it was used. Our male minder had thought it would be early, before the Gospel, but our friend said, no, it was at the end.

We looked at our watches and thought, we could be missing it right now. We hastily retraced our steps and re-entered the cathedral towards the end of the distribution of the mass (the cathedral remains open to visitors during the services). As chance would have it, we ended up following 3 men in maroon robes, who from the look of them had to be botafumeiro operators. They were heading towards the ropes so we followed them. More strong looking men in maroon robes appeared on the other side.

The priest then said something about the botafumeiro and it was slowly lowered. A dish of burning coals was put into the bottom and then a visiting priest from America (whose group probably paid for it to be swung) blessed the incense and put it on the hot coals.


The botafumeiro was then raised and one man gave it it's initial swing. Once it was going 8 men then started pulling on their spiders web of ropes and it got faster and faster and the arc greater. We had seem it on film before, but the reality far exceeded all expectations. We could only describe the swing of that censer as absolutely crazy. We really thought it might go through the roof and we could quite understand how it has gone flying out the doors in past history. It almost gave us vertigo watching it and the power of it's swing was quite frightening, given how packed the cathedral was. It was also quite surreal seeing all the priests standing there with it passing in front of them.

When the 8 rope operators stopped pulling, the arc of the swing started to decrease but it took a while to slow down to an almost stop. One of the men went to grab the chain and, although it looked as if had almost stopped, it still swung him completely round. It was then raised again and the main rope secured. This most amazing and awesome spectacle was then over. We could understand why it had to be done at the end of the service. It was so spectacular that no-one would be able to concentrate on the mass after seeing it.

We felt so lucky to have seen it in action, especially when we heard that it had not been used at the midday mass today. What a good thing that we bumped into our Austrian friend. It is just a shame that it seems to be the case that you see it if a group has paid for it. This is a form of bribery of which we do not approve.

After this excitement we went for a beer and then a lovely meal. We then went back to the cathedral square to hear more tuna music. The square was half full of Porsche cars, which amounts to an awful lot of cars. There was clearly some special event going on and no doubt the owners were all staying at the Parador the other side of the square.

While listening to the amazing tuna music we were joined by our American friend Christina, last seen in Sarria waiting to be joined by her husband. It was lovely to see her again and to meet Jim.

What an exciting day we've had.

Love from the Compostella bears xxx

Being Pilgrim Tourists

Oh dear, we've been typing throughout the day committing all the exciting events of today to keyboard, and, in a slip of a paw - no idea what we did - it's all gone, and we're just left with a capital T on the screen. Absolute growls of frustration have been let loose!

So what had we been saying? Firstly we'd commended the excellent breakfast at our B&B. Bread & honey, salami and ham , juice, coffee and fried eggs and toast were provided in abundance
and, when we tried to pay our host, he would have none of it, telling us to pay when we return for our second night tomorrow. How trusting!

We made our way from our B&B to the cathedral, arriving an hour early so we could get a good seat in the pilgrim area. We ended up in the second row in front of the altar. By the time the midday service started, the cathedral was packed out, with standing room only for many pilgrims.

It was a good, simple service, with 3 critical phrases in English which made all the difference. Singing was led by a nun with a lovely kind face and we were pleased to recognise the Taize chant of 'Ubi Caritas'. We were also pleased to recognise the priest from Rabanal who had led the compline service we had attended. Sadly, not only was the botafumeiro not swung today, it had even been removed. Perhaps this was because it was Friday.

The numbers of pilgrims arriving from each country are read out, along with a list of starting points. We definitely heard Le Puy and we think it was 26 from the UK, although we were listening out for England, not the UK.

After the mass we spoke to
lots of pilgrim friends who had kept us company on our journey. We were also reacquainted with our friend from Amsterdam zoo and we know his name now, it's Artis de Parvis (picture to follow -taken on wrong camera!).

We then had a coffee and bocadillo before heading for the station to catch a train to A Coruna, for a change of scene an to see the sea. On arrival we gave A Coruna the lead paw award for lack of maps and direction signs. We had no idea which direction to take and, after asking for directions, ended up in the commercial port area. We eventually found a map and made our way towards the centre/marina area, only to find the 2 Tourist Information offices closed, even though they should have been open.

By chance we found ourselves a nice Hostal then headed for the marina, noticing that everything was closed. As we sat having a beer, the reason soon became apparent: it was a festival day. The police closed the road in front of us and we heard sounds of a marching band. We went to investigate and found a procession complete with the carriage of Our Lady of Fatima, patroness of the city. We had never seen anything like it. There were 2 bands with drums, trumpets and bagpipes, ladies in black mantillas and high heels, a full choir, police, church officials and Mary on her trolley being steered by 6 men. It was fascinating and a real Spanish experience. We followed the procession for a good half an hour and it was still going strong when we left it.





We then walked round the marina and timed our arrival with the departure of the biggest cruise ship we had ever seen. The city had suddenly become a whole lot more interesting and we were really glad we had come.

An excellent Italian meal this evening has further given us a good opinion of La Coruna.

Time for bed now.

Love from the Compostella bears xxx

Arrival Part 2

Our first action after our initial visit to the cathedral was to go to the Pilgrim's Office to collect our minders' final Cathedral stamps and their Compostellas. Our ones will come through a special bears' Pilgrim office. If you use the link to our minders' blog, you will see them with their Compostellas.

We then went to find our accommodation and here we really had landed on our paws. It is very like a nice English B & B and our host is a very charming and amusing man and he is keen to practice his English. Our room really does have a great view of the cathedral, it is much more than a mere glimpse.

We went to find some lunch, a tasty Spanish hamburger, then returned to the cathedral for a proper look round ...





... and to observe some of the traditions including going behind the statue of St James to give him a hug. His neck was a bit big for me (Gio) but I put my paws round as much as I could.

We then went down into the crypt to see the remains of St James and 2 of his disciples in a silver reliquary. It was quite a thought that we could have been in the presence of the remains of someone who went about with Jesus.

We also saw the famous botafumeiro (censer) hanging above the altar. The keen eyed might have noticed it hanging above me in yesterday's, inside the cathedral, photo. Someone pointed out the ropes controlling it and I was lucky enough to be allowed a small swing.





We spent the rest of the day strolling round and sitting in cafes soaking up the atmosphere. At 10.00 pm we went to hear local university musicians, dressed up in medieval academic dress, playing and singing traditional songs. It was a fantastic sound and a great end to a special day.

Love from the Compostella bears xxx

Hemos Llegado (We're here!)

Today has been very exciting for all of us as it has been the culmination of many hours, days and weeks of paw pounding the Camino.

We didn't have an early start this morning as we had a late night last night. The sociable Nowegians kept us talking in the restaurant until late, then we had diaries to write and posts to finish so it was nearly midnight before we went to bed.

As a result we had our latest start of this leg of the Camino and didn't set off until nearly 9.00 am. We started with quite a steep climb through eucalyptus woods, the first of many climbs that faced us today. We didn't mind though, as every step was taking us closer to Santiago.

The first major landmark was the airport and we skirted the runway on 2 sides. We will fly out of it on Sunday, and it was strange to be there before we'd even reached Santiago.

A little while later we had a fairly late but decent breakfast, with reasonably sized bits of toasted baguette. After this, we were ready for the final approach.

Monte del Gozo was the next stop. We climbed up to the modern sculpture, from where we should have had our first glimpse of the towers of the cathedral of Santiago. There was nothing to see but the modern suburbs of Santiago. Too many trees have grown since Medieval pilgrim times! The big excitement for us was that Galician TV were there filming pilgrims. Yorkie had let slip that this was a very special day for our pilgrimage leader Gio.





We started to descend into Santiago, passing the huge albergue which can accommodate 3,000 pilgrims at busy times. It all started to remind us of the walk into Leon. Although Santiago has a very small historic centre, it has extensive modern suburbs.

Eventually we reached the town sign ...





... next stop the cathedral. It seemed an awful long time until, at last, we had our first glimpse, then, just minutes later we were looking not just at the cathedral in all it's glory, but many of our friends that we'd met along the way: what a great moment.

The midday pilgrim mass had just finished, so it was quite busy in the square, but was a good time for us to join paws and enter the home of St James who has been inspiring and motivating us for so long.





We'll tell you about the rest of our day in our next post.

Lots of love, the Compostella bears xxx

Skol!

Santiago draws ever closer and we shall be there tomorrow lunchtime, God willing. We think we have 15 to 17 km left to walk, (about 10 miles) but all the guides fail to agree the distance from Amenal, where we currently are. As before, one of the problems is that there is another choice of routes into the city tomorrow. Even the marker posts, every 0.5 km are about to stop mentioning kms to go, so they can be re-set and start counting accurately again.

We did think about trying to rush to the Cathedral for the midday Pilgrims Mass, but we're not going to now, for 2 reasons:

a) this will be the end of over 960 miles of walking and we feel we need to savour those final few clicks and not hurry them.

b) at the midday mass, the names of those registering for their compostella the previous day are read out, so it is the Friday mass we really want to be at.

Today has been quite a relaxed day and nobody has been hurrying. This is because there is a sudden gap in the supply of the pilgrim albergue accommodation, with none now until the one on top of a hill looking down on Santiago, just 5 km away. As we're staying in rooms, rather than albergues, we are now 4.5 km ahead of the rest of the pack, although we know a nice Norwegian couple are also here, and I'm sure other pilgrims will be too (P.S. they are).

Before breakfast we walked with a nice American man who lives in South Africa. Time passed very quickly while we were chatting about all the caminos he has done. It seems that camino walking can be quite addictive. We are already talking about where to go next.

As we neered the small town of Arca we came across an information booth staffed by a very helpful young man who would book you any accommodation you wanted particularly in Santiago. He was operating a booking service on behalf of the Santiago hoteliers.

You told him what you wanted, where you wanted it, and in what price bracket and he sorted it all for you. And so, we, very usefully, got our accommodation for tonight booked and also for Thursday night and Saturday night in Santiago. He has booked us a 2* pension, very close to the cathedral, and it certainly looks very nice and cheaper than an English B&B.

Rather than spend 3 days in Santiago we think we will take the train to La Coruna on Friday afternoon, overnight there, then come back on Saturday. It will be good to get some sea air after the dust of the Camino. We already have the train times thanks to the man in the information office.

At one time we did think about trying to make up a 2nd extra day so we could continue to Finisterra, but it seems it requires some hard additional walking and, to make up an extra day in this extreme heat when paws are sore, just seemed too much, so we will save Finisterre for a separate mini break.

We have only one small growl at the moment. Our accommodation, which is out of town, closed it's bar and restaurant at 5.30 until 8.00 pm. We were just in time to get some beer in bottles to take out but other pilgrims are wandering round hungry and thirsty. This is actually a hotel and it is now full (of pilgrims) so we are a little surprised.

After a growl, we've also had a laugh at the following translation on the reception desk ...







... yes, it is supposed to be English. Spanish Pedro is a little ashamed of his countrymens' linguistic skills.

When 8.00 pm came round we had a very good meal taken with, none other than 4.5 Norwegians.* The half was a half Austrian man. Only on the Camino could this happen. You have to prepare to expect the unexpected!

Lots of love, the Camino bears xxx

* the coincidence was that this was not a single party of Nowegians, but 3 separate groups, who did not know each other and had completely independently chosen this accommodation.

Only a Marathon Away

This evening we are in Arzua and so are lots of people we haven't seen for a while, or who had planned to be further ahead, and we thought we wouldn't see again. It's certainly been fun renewing acquaintances.

We've also seen some people who we felt very sorry for last night as they were limping so badly they could hardly walk. Considering Palas de Rei to here is an 18 mile stage, they've either made a good recovery, which we very much hope is the case, or they must have had some 4 wheeled assistance!

Talking of 4 wheeled assistance, the mild mannered Gio nearly turned graffiti artist today. He got very upset by all the adverts for taxis that kept cropping up along the way and wanted to scribble out the numbers, so that pilgrims wouldn't be led astray and be tempted to cheat. We reminded him that true pilgrims wouldn't cheat in the critical last 100 km., but he was worried about the p.p.s, the plastic pilgrims.

On the subject of plastic pilgrims, we were quite amused by the behaviour we noticed while having breakfast at a private albergue this morning. The albergue was located about 3.5 km after Palas de Rei. We were the only customers, yet streams of 'new' pilgrims were going past and collecting a stamp (sellos) for their pilgrim passports, as the stamp was outside.

Now we know that the rules say that pilgrims doing only the final 100 km get an overnight stamp, and at least one from along the way, but they really want church stamps. To be madly collecting a stamp from a bar that they haven't even had a drink in, seems to us to be a complete waste of time. Needless to say we didn't get a stamp from our breakfast bar, even though we had been customers, but got 3 church stamps instead.

The walk today was quite like that of recent days, but our guide said we crossed 6 river valleys, and it certainly felt like it, as there were a lot of ups an downs.

As a yellow arrow is the Spanish camino waymark, we really liked this yellow arrow made of scallop shells, the Camino's emblem ...




We got a room at the first pension, attached to an albergue, that we tried, so we are safely accommodated this evening. Santiago is now just 26 miles away, an English marathon, not that we will get there tomorrow. There is no hurry now and it's far too hot to hurry, but we can enjoy the anticipation.

Lots of love, the Camino bears xxxx

For those who prefer Miles ...

It was still dark when we left Portomarin this morning, after saying goodbye to the very nice Manuel, in whose albergue we had a very good overnight stay. We did need earplugs though as there were a few howling dogs about.

We didn't realise how many pilgrims were ahead of us until we got to a place called Gonzar, after about 8 km. This was the first place, after Portomarin, that you could get breakfast and it was very crowded, as nearly everyone stopped there. The early arrivals must have walked a long way in the dark, and this continues to baffle us, as we find the 15 minutes or so that we do in the dark, to get us out of town, more than enough.

The mix of nationalities that are walking is quite something. Germans are in abundance, there are plenty of French, plus Dutch, Irish, Fins, Swiss, Americans, Canadians, South Africans, Aussies & Kiwis, Brazilians, Spanish, Orientals (can't be more precise) and some English, including a rather alternative type (bald with a tuft of hair and bivvying every night) who has apparently walked from Manchester.

Over breakfast we chatted to a Dutch couple that we have seen several times. They have an interesting knitted creature that is strapped to the side of the lady's rucksack. We've been wondering what it was for a few days; we're still not sure, but apparently he comes from Amsterdam Zoo and goes on holiday with various people and collects holiday snaps. He doesn't seem to say a lot, but the minders are very nice.

The days fall into a bit of a routine now and there is not so much new to report. From today, the new things are:

a) the increasing pilgrim traffic, a veritable pilgrim motorway

b) admiring the interesting structures for storing farm produce ...








c) passing the waymark that we believe equates to 50 miles to go








When we got to Palas de Rei, after just over 16 miles, we passed an information booth on the outskirts, staffed by a very nice lady who gave us a list of rooms and marked locations on a map. This was extremely helpful as we got a basic room at the first place she marked, and we also got an official town hall stamp from her for our credencials.

The stamps (sellos) are increasingly important now we are on the critical last 100 km. New pilgrims have to get at least 2 every day, preferably from churches, but it's no so important for us given our large collection.

It's currently after 6.00 pm and the temperature across the road at the pharmacy still shows 28 degrees. Apparently it may start to get cooler from tomorrow.

Just to rub the Midlands branch minders nose in it, every evening we get a 3 course pilgrim's menu that includes a bottle of wine for €9! It's good to be in a pilgrim friendly country. And the even better news is that the meals are bigger than they were 2 years ago, so we're not losing much weight.

Bye for now,

Love from the Camino bears xxx

Counting Down from 100

How's the heatwave in England? It's very hot in Spain, but fortunately it only gets really hot after 2.00 pm. In fact, at just before 8.00 am today it was actually quite cool. Once again, we managed to get most of our walking done by 2.00 so our fur didn't get too hot and sticky. We do wonder how Midland Branch minders are faring in Mallorca, as they're a fair bit further south.

Sarria, our place of departure this morning, is the last place you can start walking from, and obtain a Compostella. In other words it's a little over 100 km from Santiago, and 100 km is the minimum distance for a Compostella.

Not surprisingly, there were a lot of people on the Way today. We're used to seeing pilgrims carrying all their gear and enjoy comparing the size of their packs to ours. Today was a bit different. There were lots of people with small day sacks and we have to say a lot of them seemed to be French. We call these people plastic pilgrims, as they're not quite the genuine article.

Today's route was not the best or the worst. There were no particularly memorable bits, although we did enjoy seeing more pilgrim brown cows and also some sheep wandering along the way - most of them in the wrong direction! The good thing was that our paws felt in the best shape they've been for a while. However, we nearly got concussed a few times from falling sweet chestnuts and acorns. Crash helmets might be a good idea now that autumn is upon us (despite the heatwave).

The 100 km to go marker post was a bit of an attraction, and everyone was stopping for a photo, so we had one too.





However, we know that the kms are understated by about 9, so we had another picture at the 91 km to go pillar, as this is more likely to be in the right position to indicate 100 kms to go.





Accommodation was not a problem today, as yesterday we bravely phone booked a private room in an albergue. Considering a dorm bunk at the same place costs €10, our private room with sheets and towels is an absolute steal at €25. We may not be so lucky tomorrow!

Lots of love, the Camino Bears xxx

P.S. We like Portomarin as there is unlocked wifi at the town hall - what a great idea.

Lost 2!!

Oh dear we've done it again, we really must learn how to be techno bears. After another couple of hours of nimble pawed typing, our post has once again disappeared into the ether, lost forever.

It seems we are connecting to a router, but not to the internet, when we post. Our minder understands, and we think we do too now. We will have to be more careful in future.

Anyway, we have had a good day, although, as in England, we are sweltering in Sarria.

We came here via the huge Benedictine monastery of Samos, and had an interesting tour round.

When you see our next picture, I'm sure you'll agree it's a big space for 15 monks, although they also accommodate up to 90 pilgrims, just in one room though.





For the rest of our news, please see our link to our minders' blog -he doesn't make silly mistakes like us.

Love from the Camino Bears xxx

Lost (the post not us)!

We did prepare a nice post for you from Tricastela, where we are tonight, but sadly there was a posting problem and it's disappeared into the ether!

So unless we get to meet you face to face you won't know about ...

- the brown cow pilgrims
- a tarmac free day, yippee!
- our Galician tuna pie lunch
- being driven off by a Spanish
lady (Olga) to Casa Olga where
she has pension rooms
- getting better aquainted with our
Irish friend Roisin

All in all it's been a good day, and we'll be happy to tell you more, any time.

Lots of love, the Camino bears xxxx