London Gatwick - Calgary - Lacombe October 29

Oh Canada!

Home Sweet Home

LaCoruna - London. October 28

Thankfully we had an uneventful flight to London England via Madrid.  Lovely warm day and we see the beautiful autumnal colors as we land

Enjoyed fish and chips for our last meal in The Old World

LaCoruna October 27

25 degrees

First thing we did this morning was move to a new hotel.

We were surprised to learn that this city is on the Atlantic Ocean .  And so is our new hotel!

Our hotel is the one with the angled front.  We have a very nice room and are hopeful that the bay window will offer an ocean view.

It doesn't

It offers a very fine view of the brick wall and mortar of the building right next to us...

There is a very nice promenade all around the ocean front...it is so beautiful. I get a chance to collect some shells and

Put my feet in the ocean!  The experience reminds me of Portugal and Biero ...

Our boarding passes are ready and we are both ready to be home.

In the afternoon we walk the other way on the promenade and watch sunbathers 

Full bathing suits are optional....topless?...no problem!

Lisbon- Santiago - LaCoruna. October 26

28 degrees

We both managed to get some much need sleep last night.  

The best part of today

I picked up my temporary passport!  Thank goodness.

We have a pretty good drive (40 plus euros in toll fees) back to Santiago.  We are a lot smarter later....again...

We return the car and shuttle from the rental place to the Santiago airport and take a bus from there to the train station in city central...where - we catch a train to LaCoruna which is where our flight to London leaves from on Friday. Whew...

We couldn't get wifi access anywhere publicly (only in Spain) today so got off the train and began to look for lodging...its been a long day.

Tomorrow we will see what this busy city has to offer

Santiago - Lisbon October 25

25 degrees

We skipped the breakfast option at our lodging today as we are anxious to be on the road to Lisbon .  We booked a cab to take us to the car rental place and  Mr Taxi Man takes us to the airport instead, even though I showed him the correct address.  I show him the address and picture on my iPad and he gets that we are at the wrong place.  He takes us to the rental agency and confirms with them that we have a car booked, his English is about as good as our Spanish.  I did think that was a kind gesture on his part.  Our plan was to get to Lisbon , pick up my passport and be headed north by end of day...and we gained an hour..seemed reasonable.

We are renting a FIAT air bag.  The  rental agency informs us that there is an up charge if we take the car into Portugal .  Not much we can do about that.  We normally never take the extra insurance offered by rental companies as we have that coverage included with our credit card. (FYI - we also have a rider on our home vehicle policy for rentals, yesterday we came to know that only applies to vehicles rented in North America )

Just before signing the final rental documents Sid opts to take the additional coverage, reasoning that if something should happen, our lack of ability in communicating in Portuguese would be a liability.

The rental place, ACE Rental, does not provide us with any kind of map.  

How hard could this be already...just head south.  The car, of course, does not have a compass.

Sid accordions himself into the FIAT airbag and we are on our way.

It's a cute little thing.  We think we would like to rent it for an extra day so we can do a driving tour of the Douro Valley wine region.  I would love that.  We asked Rental Desk Boy about the extra day, he couldn't make such an important decision, but he gave us a customer service number to call

The drive is beautiful and we enjoy figuring out the places we walked to. Sometime around 1:30 we stop for gas, coffee and purchase a map. We are on the A1 highway which is a toll road and by this time have been through 4 toll booths. After coffee we get back on the highway and Sid comments that the car has no power.  None.  In fact it actually quits running right beside one of those roadside SOS stops.  That was fortunate at least. We place the SOS call and ask for someone speaking English.  The very first question Mr English SOS person asks is if we had just fuelled up ....

Never in a million bazillion years would we have guessed that the grade 'Simples Gasoleo' in Portuguese  translates in English to diesel fuel.

Mr English SOS person dispatches a very nice and helpful Mr Speaks Only Portuguese roadside  person who arrives at 2 pm.  He knows just what to do but of course we don't understand a word he is saying, so he calls someone who translates to Sid via telephone.  A tow truck will come to get us and take us somewhere, have the diesel siphoned out, refuel and then we can be on our way.  The tow truck will arrive in one hour. Mr Speaks Only Portuguse roadside person brings us each a bottle of water and leaves us on the side of the A 1 highway at 2:15

I have time to review our rental policy to try and figure out what will happen.  It very clearly states we are responsible for repairs resulting in using the wrong fuel...Sid says it is way better to have made the diesel to gas error as opposed to the gas to diesel error.  

The contract says that we cannot extend the contract by phone....so much for the Douro Valley.  

The contract also lays out a heap of situations  we hope to not learn about. You can imagine that this is not a happy time for us....

Mr Speaks Only Portugese roadside person returns at 4:15 and we have had no tow truck sighting.  So he waits a few minutes ...alas the tow truck appears.  We then have a game of charades with Mr Speaks No English tow truck driver.  What we get out of that non verbal conversation is that our insurance pays the tow charge and we have to pay the garage.  In cash only. No receipt 

The FIAT airbag is loaded onto the truck, Sid and I climb in the tow truck and off we go...to somewhere.

We arrive at this garage

And the tow truck driver and the garage man (maybe they are cousins?) talk about something as the diesel is siphoned out of the car

I believe their conversation had something to do with tourists...and I am certain they were mocking our pronounciation of the word Lisbon...

Mr Manuel Mechanic takes Sid to a gas station to get gasoline (!) and to the bank because we do not have enough cash on hand to pay him.  Manuel puts the gas in the tank, sits in the FIAT airbag, crosses himself and tries to start the car.  It. Took. A. Long. Time.  It does finally start and he takes Sid on a short test drive.

We are finally on our way again and are about 90 minutes north of Lisbon.  By no small miricale and 35 euros in toll fees, we end up at the same place we stayed at when we were here on our last visit...and they have vacancy...and we find parking.  By this time it is 8:30...good thing we gained an hour!

I truly believe everything happens for a reason....what those reasons might be in light of today's events are not yet clear to either of us yet.  One thing for sure, every single person that crossed our paths today was very helpful, and kind and we felt they did all they could to help us.

I still do not have my Passport.

Santiago. October 24

Rested

Relaxed

Restored

Reflected

How. Great. Thou. Art

Padron - Santiago. 34.61 km. October 23

Ardi-  45,038 steps

Sid - 37,628 steps

16 degrees 

Last night I heard it raining....apparently I may have heard it 36 times as my fit bit tells me I was awake and/or restless that often...

We left our hotel at 8:30.  One of us wanted to take a cab to get back to where we stopped yesterday. The other one of us said it was a 20 minute walk.  After only the one short cut and 4.7 km and 60 minutes later we are back to where we ended yesterday.  It never gets old

On our way out we see this rainbow...which followed us to Santiago .  We had 3 kinds of weather today...wet....cold...and hot

The road to Santiago today has many pilgrims...many that we have chatted to enroute

And some of our path

Beautiful way marker

Another rainbow

Now that is a scare crow!

And our first cathedral sighting

We arrive in Santiago and are very tired.  Of all things we are staying In the same hotel as we stayed at 3 years ago...almost to the exact date!

And again my feet need a rest

We make our way to the pilgrims office to receive our compostela

And have a celabatory supper

We have sent our laundry away and look forward to a day of rest tomorrow !

Caldas de Reis - Padron. 29.35 km October 22

Ardi - 39,875

Sid - 33,194

18 drizzling degrees

We have a late start this morning. The hotel we stayed at last night provided breakfast, but not until 8 am...so it was nearly 9 before we set out.  It is quite dark here until at least 8:30

 We had to do some first aid care before we could leave...right out of blister band aids...so settled for really big band aids and duct tape

The day is a bit cooler with a 30 % chance of rain...now that's a roadway bridge,

And we see colors of autumn

We have seen so much of this

It grows tall and is kind of a cabbage...the leaves taste like cabbage.  It must be widely used here...we have had it a few times in soup

We stop for coffee and chat with a couple from Great Britian who are doing their first walking trip...for only 3 days...while we are chatting a mouse runs through the cafe...my reaction is not pretty...they tease me that the critter is in my bag...ha...so not funny.  In all the excitement I don't attach my water bottle firmly and it smashes to smitherines just outside the cafe.  As far as other critters go we have only seen feral cats and one dead snake 

We leave our coffee stop in heavier drizzle ...our path becomes

And we are kept dry by a cover of trees.  So quiet. So calm. So still.  I can hear the rain drops fall on the leaves.  It is magical...and...mystical...just breathe

Be still....and know...

A Spanish doorway

Beauty

This was a lawn mower similar to my J Edgar Hoover vacuum 

Ruins

I would/ could caption this...but I won't ...

Huge graveyards!

For the first time ever in our travels we got to our destination to be informed that there was no room at the inn...really?  Miss desk girl called ahead to the next place and they had no room either...crazy...so she called another place from a village we had just walked through and they did have room.  Great...we will taxi back.  Ha!  No available taxi's ...Miss desk girls boss ends up driving us to another hotel.  So nice!  

It is right across from the train station...

Tomorrow is our last walking day...as we get to Santiago...I will miss the walking.  I have had a lot of thinking time...its been good...really great actually.  As in real life boredom is still my enemy...

Arcade - Caldas de Reis. 40.26 km. October 21

Ardi - 53,219 steps

Sid -

23 amazing degrees

A new record for us!  Because when you have one really good day, you should make the next day twice as long...if some is good...more is always better right?  

I truly hope I live long enough to learn this lesson once and for all.

Partly it was such a long day because the lodging worked out that way.  We left Arcade this morning at 8:30

It's warm out but my hands are cold.

We cross another beautiful bridge going out of town 

One way traffic only, and no traffic lights...can't see that working anywhere in Alberta!

Another bridge on the same river

Sunshine breaking through on our path

This was a hanging spider web...had to look twice or thrice to see it!

A newer home. 

We walk through the city of Ponteverda - population 75,000

The round church in the square...the stone work is amazing

And crossing the bridge out of town.  The city was very clean and tidy

And we continue

We stop at this place for our picnic lunch and meet up with folks from Great Britian that are travelling with their teenage children.  The stop came at just the right time and was very restful 

Sometimes we see buildings such as these...abandoned 

40 k is along way to walk in one day.  My rocket shoes are totally depleted of rocket gas.  Sid is having  issues with his shoes....I think by the time we get to Santiago he will have worn them right out.  I feel pretty darn good.

We check into our hotel and Sid doesn't care what the price is...we get breakfast

We walked to the square for supper..I'm so done with supper in Spain .  We are not willing to wait until 8 to eat...

After today's long trek we should/could be in Santiago a day earlier...that would be very ok

Porrino- Arcade. 29.35 km. October 20

Ardi- 37,285 steps

Sid - 30,841 steps

22 sun shining degrees

Last evening we had supper in the square across from this building

We have only been in Spain for 2 days and I already miss Portugal. The supper was poor and the  square was very noisy...the noise I can deal with...not so much the food.  Every meal in Portugal was amazing!

We began our walk at 8:30 this morning 

and we had planned a much shorter day. 

 We got to our original destination around noon....and then decided to hike on for 8 more km. Early in our walk Mr Brazil defined our walking speed saying we had 'rocket shoes'!  We had a great walk today 

And our path

For some of the time.  Sadly most of today was walking on hard surface and we had some climbing.  250 meters for the highest one...going up is hard, but coming down is not always easy either.  At the summit

Our picnic lunch site

And our view past the summit

If there is such a thing as a walkers high I certainly had the europhia today!  I felt like I could walk forever...lots of ' rocket fuel' in my shoes...Sid feels great also

He is still in the ' real pilgrims don't shave' phase!

We check into our two star accommodation for tonight

It's clean .

We had word today from the Canadian Embassy that my passport is ready for pick up.  Our most recent plan is to rent a car in Santiago and drive to Lisbon.  It is so much simpler than public transport and Sid , bless him, is not intimidated by driving .