Trepidatious traveller – camino blog | Camino de Santiago de Compostela – before, during and after

One week and counting down, 8 & 9 April 2013

Posted on 11/04/2013 by magwood

Ok, this is my last week before leaving for France and I am feeling extremely trepidatious – equal measures of excitement and anxiety.

Monday is spent in and around the house, with much pulling of weeds, until David dragged me away for a quick drink in the village – he didn’t meet much resistance I have to admit.

On Tuesday I am tackling my longest and last walk before leaving for the start of my journey in St Jean Pied de Port in France. Here is a map of the route I will take to Santiago de Compostela and possibly on to Finisterre.

I definitely need to develop some speed in getting ready and away on my treks, we will be making very early morning starts, whilst it is still dark, and I won’t have time for “faffing about”, as I know Ella would describe my preparations. Oh well, I have already had plenty of practise in not worrying about what I look like, and I doubt I shall have the opportunity to look in many mirrors en-route. Some people even sleep in the clothes they are going to walk in the next day and just put their boots on and go. I am sure I will get my leaving procedure off to a fine art within a couple of days and Ella will just have to be patient with me until I do!

Eventually I set off at just after 08:30 and walk to the village to pick up Lyn and we leave Canillas at Santa Ana church at just after 09:00. First we have to take the very steep descent into the valley to the mill house, over the Roman stone bridge and up the equally steep incline on the other side, and continue up, and up, and up for the next hour until we reach the natural park at Fogarate and then the fork that leads to Salares or towards and beyond the fabrica.

I stop here to put on the new walking sandals I have purchased. They are much heavier than I was lead to believe on the website and I need to know that they will be comfortable in order to justify carrying the weight. They are ok to wear in water so when we come to a shallow stream I stop in the middle to cool off and wriggle my toes. I keep them on for about 5 km and although the straps and very comfy, the soles are ridged and they begin to make the underside of my toes a bit sore.

There is still a lot of water up here, tumbling in noisy waterfalls down the deep crevices of the mountainsides and in other places just dripping through the rocks surrounded by moss.

We hear the enchanting mellow sound of the goat bells and around the next bend walks the goat man with his heard of goats, a few sheep and a couple of dogs to keep them in order.

They look to be a well kept herd, off for the day to find some tasty grass on the banks either side of the track. I expect they are enjoying the greenery whilst they can because there won’t be much after a month of non-stop sunshine and their pickings will be much leaner during the summer months. Roly is a bit unsure to be at such close quarters to so many bouncy, baa-ing animals, but he is very well behaved and doesn’t chase even the baby one that got left behind.

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We come to a deep pool where we encourage Roly to jump in after a stick to have a swim. He seems happy with this exercise, but when I try to get him to jump back in so that I can take a photo, he does not cooperate, and rather than jump in after the stick he just stretches out as far as he possibly can without actually plunging in again.
I knew that this walk was going to be a really hard slog for the first hour, but I was convinced that once we got onto the top track it would level out and be on the flat for the next 14 or 15 km until the track surface changed from dirt to stone and began its descent. However what had always seemed to me to be level when walking in the opposite direction was actually various degrees of downhill, so today we had a steady and continuous climb on the top track for about four or five hours, and although I continued to believe that around each blind bend the track would level out and become easier, it never proved to be the case. It was a hard trek with the added weight of my 7.5 kilo pack, but good practise for the first two difficult days of the Camino.

Once again we have seen lots of caterpillar processions and many, many trails through the dust where they have crossed the track. They always seem to be crossing in an uphill direction. I carried out an experiment and, using my walking pole, pushed a caterpiller from the centre of the procession out of line, away from the others, to see how quickly they would close the gap. It was fairly instant, but then I felt mean that I had left the lonely caterpillar an outcast from his chums so pushed it back towards the line, and they immediately opened a gap to let it back in and off they wriggled, nose to tail across the track.

At a point on this track, about 20 km from Canillas in one direction and 12 km from Canillas in the other is a boulder with the words “El Castaño” applied in tiles, indicating a very rough drive winding precariously down to a property below the track. The last time I passed this I was intrigued and googled it when I got home. It is apparently a holiday let, for up to eleven people, with no electricity, just a generator and gas cooker.

The description stated 25 minutes to the beach. What are they talking about. It would take the best part of an hour to drive very carefully along the track to the first sign of a road and then at least another 30 minutes to the coast. Just imagine arriving on a late flight and trying to find this place in the dark. It would faze even the hardiest of travellers.

Soon after this at about 20 km we finally reached the point at which we could stop climbing and commence walking downhill for the rest of the journey, but it was still hard work as the track turned to the very rough white stone which is difficult to walk on.

The scenery changes at this point from a very green and shady trail to harsh glaring jagged rocks with some interesting formations.

This one took us by surprise and really took our fancy, looking like a giant bear perched high above the ground

And another strange thing was that there were several pines where all the cones that had fallen were the same size and sitting upright on their bases at the foot of the tree

The long haul uphill had taken its toll on me and I was feeling very tired as we neared the end of our trek. By the time we got back to Lyn’s house in Canillas we had covered 32.7 km and we had been out for nine hours, only resting for about 30 minutes during that time. Jens-Kristian kindly handed me a large gin and tonic which served to revive me sufficiently to allow me to continue to the village bar where David was waiting after his spanish class.

Only a few more days and I shall have to walk distances similar to this every day. They say you get stronger day by day – I sincerely hope they’re right!

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | 2 Comments

Spring garden, 8 April 2013

Posted on 08/04/2013 by magwood

We have so many beautiful flowers in our garden at the moment that I can’t resist posting a gallery of colourful splendour.

Wild flowers complete with Roly

And a few early fruit & veg

Posted in A view of life | Tagged beautiful flowers | 2 Comments

Breaking records and in memory of Gretel, 1-7 April 2013

Posted on 08/04/2013 by magwood

On Monday I set out again, complete with fully loaded backpack, in an attempt to break the 25 km barrier.

Roly and I leave home on a bright and sunny day and follow the lorry road to the through track that winds around the mountains high above the fabrica. Walking with a full pack slows my pace a little, but we stride on, climbing all the time. I have ridden this end of the track many times but not walked it in this direction before. It is a lovely day with a beautiful blue sky, but there are gusts of very strong wind that force me to carry my walking poles under my arm as the wind is blowing them off course, threatening to trip me up. It is amazing how quickly I have become accustomed to the poles and how much they assist when walking uphill.

We take the opportunity to refill the water bottle at the deposito where there is fresh spring water flowing into the tank, and continue to the rangers’ hut where we stop to admire the view to the coast which is stunning. I’ve stopped here before but not had a proper look around. It is much bigger than I imagined. I have been told that it is possible to obtain a key in order to stay overnight, but I don’t imagine it would be very comfortable.

The track is made of rough white stone and can be quite dazzling in the bright sunlight. It winds around the hillsides and then turns back on itself and climbs sharply around the back of a peak which is quite hard going. When I have previously ridden this track I don’t remember it being so steep, but then I wasn’t doing the hard work, poor Liana was. Since starting my training I have come to appreciate how hard my horse works, and she is carrying a lot more than 10% of her weight!

We pass a couple of 4×4’s where the drivers are standing on the track with binoculars, I presume looking for birds.

At one point, just above the track, there is a small section of land fenced. Only 100m2 or so. A few of these enclosures are dotted around the natural park and I can see no purpose whatsoever for them. There is no sign of precious plants that need to be protected and they are not appropriate for penning animals. I would love to know their purpose.

When I judge we have more or less reached the half way point I tuck myself behind some rocks for shelter from the wind and give Roly his quota of biscuits whilst I attend to my heel that is feeling sore where the blister formed. I apply a special ‘compeed’ plaster and hope that it will do the trick. I become aware of voices and look up to see a couple, (Scandinavian I think) and I call a greeting. They saw Roly on the track and thought he was lost. They immediately ask me if I have seen the huge dog by the farm (above the fabrica), so big that it is worthy of comment. This animal must be responsible for the massive footprints that Lyn and I saw up there, so big that I took a photo. The couple are taking a small footpath off the track, right next to where I am resting, that they say leads directly into Cómpeta. If I ever again want to put on my walking boots when I return from the Camino, I would like to take this path.

In the meantime we set off again and suddenly the track changes from hard white stone to soft brown earth and is instantly easier on my feet. Roly must appreciate it.

I hear my first cuckoo of the year. This is always a very special sound, that all too soon becomes very annoying!

We are now on the level and I am not expecting any more inclines. At about 16 km from home we pass the fork in the track up to the right that I have taken on two occasions when I have ridden over the mountain to reach the village of Jatar in Granada province, on both occasions with a group of riders from Eva’s ‘Caballos del Mosquin’ stable. This is a three day ride with two nights spent at a hostel in Jatar. On the first, long, day we reach Jatar, the second day we took a ride to a beautiful pine fringed lake, where we could let the horses roam free whilst we picnicked, and the third day we returned to the stable. On both occasions David drove a backup vehicle with supplies for the horses and riders.

The first time I took part in this expedition I rode one of Eva’s horses, the huge and beautiful Descarada, a rather stroppy pure bred Andalusian mare. We were both fairly inexperienced and learned a lot during the three days.

The second time I rode Liana. We had only bought her three months earlier and we were still getting used to each other. Helen and Gretel were also on the ride and, as always, Helen was a huge support to me, the best mentor I could have hoped for.

Liana and Gretel had instantly become friends when introduced at Eva’s stable. Helen had just moved to Salares with Peter, and Gretel was liveried at Eva’s while a stable was being built on their land.

The banner at the top of this blog was taken at the lake, with Liana on the left and Gretel on the right. It was a fabulous day, five years ago now. For various reasons, keeping Liana at Eva’s did not work out and when Gretel’s new stable was ready we decided to take Liana over to Salares as well, where she stayed with her chum for three years until we had built our own stable at home.

Very sadly, due to an incurable illness that would have caused a lot of pain, Gretel was put to sleep a few weeks ago.

Liana and I owe Helen and Gretel a great debt of thanks for their friendship and support during the time I have known them. Helen is a very knowledgeable horsewoman and has always been very generous with her help and advice. She is a much valued friend and we will miss Gretel very much.

Back to the walk, I noticed a lot of caterpillar nests in the trees and saw many processions on the ground, though none as long as the five metre stretch I saw on my last long walk. I worried about Roly treading on them but just had to keep my fingers crossed that he would avoid them, either by luck or design.

We made a few more brief water and biscuit stops for Roly. I don’t really get hungry whilst walking. On longer treks I take an apple quartered and a few nuts to keep me going. As it has rained so much recently there are plenty of clean puddles on the track that Roly can drink from so I can have the bottled water to myself.

When the track forks to the fabrica I decide to change my planned route because I don’t think I will be very successful leaping over the streams with my backpack onboard. I take the reverse route of my training walk and when I estimate I have covered 30 km I ring David to pick me up. It is only about another 2.5 km to reach home, but there is a lot of climbing, including the dreaded track to our house, and I am very tired by now.

When I meet up with David, I regret giving in and wish I had carried on under my own steam. However when I return home and plot the walk on my ipad I can see that I have trekked 29.25 km and have broken my record in style.

This is another week when the weather forecast promised a great deal of rain. On Tuesday I took advantage of the soft wet earth and pulled a few sacks of weeds from the garden. Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to having a constant supply of horse manure. The advantage is that it is an excellent soil conditioner, especially in this area of Spain where the natural soil resembles dust. However the disadvantage is that horse manure is simply recycled grass seed and as soon as it rains the seeds ripen and shoot up into lush knee high grass. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to happen where Liana can take advantage of her recycling capabilities, but somehow the best grass always grows amongst my treasured plants or on the banks that are fenced off from the horse because they are too steep and too dangerous.

It seems to have rained almost constantly this year. March has seen the highest rainfall in Andalucia for 60 years. It is very usual for local landowners to spray with chemicals to kill the weeds. At this time of year the hillsides are a patchwork of lush green plots full of weeds bordered by clean brown stretches where chemicals have been used. I do not like to use chemicals for various reasons, largely because I love to see my cultivated and wild plants multiplying, and to find seedlings of violas, osteospermums, cyclamen, nasturtium, aubrietia and campanula, to name but a few. We also have a variety of wild plants growing on our plot – thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, lavender, rock rose, bee orchids and wild clematis growing on steep banks. However without the use of chemicals I have to rely on elbow grease and a little supervised help from my four legged friend. Liana has managed to get onto my garden a few times, when she systematically ate all the fruit from my nectarine tree, completely ate my newly planted apricot tree and stripped the bark from a young lemon tree.

So on Tuesday I decided I would do some much needed weeding and at the same time supervise Liana whilst she grazed a small strip of land that is so lush with bright green grass that she has no interest in looking for anything else. The only problem with this strategy is trying to part the horse from the grass when I am ready to do something else. Ultimately we were both very happy with the work done that morning.

In the afternoon, once she had digested the grass (and produced yet more of the ’black stuff’) we went for a ride in the mountains – a very tough climb for Liana along a path known as ‘the bungee’ and then a more leisurely descent back home.

On Wednesday we drove down to the coast to return some walking sandals to the Decathlon store in Malaga. Unusually, the customer service was superb and I had my money back in seconds with no questions asked. I had thought these Merrell sandals would be suitable for occasional trekking on the camino, but on reflection they did not seem strong enough.

We also stopped off to buy my forthcoming birthday present. I had mentioned to David (probably on very many occasions) that I really wanted to take my ipad on my travels, but that I was concerned about the weight I would have to carry. I have spent many moments pondering what I could do without in order to take this essential piece of technology. Although I didn’t realise that I was hinting, David asked me if I would like an ipad mini for my birthday present – an offer I most definitely could not refuse.

Thursday was a foul day of lashing rain that kept me indoors. During the evening we watched the film ‘The Way’, staring Martin Sheen and directed by his son Emilio Estevez. It is the story of a father and son, frustrated by eachother’s view of life. The son sets off to walk the Camino de Santiago but has an accident and dies on his first day. The father goes to France from the US to collect his son’s ashes and on the spur of the moment decides to walk the Camino. I had watched it probably a year ago when I first started looking for information on the Camino. It is a very good film – highly recommended.

Incidentally, there was a real life accident that led to the death of a pilgrim during the first stage of the walk only two weeks ago. The conditions have been very difficult, with much snow and rain and freezing temperatures.

Friday was my birthday and after David granted me a lazy lie-in and I had received lovely happy birthday calls from Ella and Rosie, we planned to go out for lunch. However it was another horrid day and I didn’t fancy going out. In the late afternoon it stopped raining and brightened a bit, so we decided to go out for a shortish walk with David on Liana. We phoned Lyn and Jens-Kristian to see if they would like to meet up with us at a bar in the village for a birthday drink and they decided to walk to meet us. By the time we met up, it has started to rain again, so David made a dash for home with Liana and we walked on to the bar and David joined us once he had seen to Liana.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we went into Cómpeta to do some shopping. We split up on arrival, David taking Roly whilst I went in search of the last items on my Camino list.
I met up with David after 30 minutes or so and we had a drink on the roof terrace of Oscar’s bar/restaurant. We then wandered into the square where we met with Jens-Kristian. David ordered a coffee and I had a glass of wine (Well, it was after mid-day). Coffee is usually served with a biscuit which David always gives to the dog. As he unwrapped his biscuit he suddenly realised that the dog wasn’t with us – the poor little soul had been left tied up outside the first shop David had visited, an hour earlier. He rushed from the cafe to fetch him and returned five minutes later with Roly none the worse for wear.

On Saturday evening we went out to dinner with friends and to watch the band Guiri. Good food and conversation followed by lots of dancing to great music.

The sun shone from a blue sky again on Sunday and I took Liana for a long ride in the natural park. There were lots of walkers out and about making the most of the beautiful weather

Posted in A view of life, Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | Leave a comment

This and that, 25-31 March

Posted on 02/04/2013 by magwood

Rain was promised every day this week, although for the most part it has failed to materialise.

Monday I didn’t walk.

Tuesday I set off again for Salares via the mountain tracks, my first long walk with the backpack. I started off on the first two thirds of my training walk and then instead of dropping down to the fabrica, I climb up to the through track that leads back to the lorry road in Canillas in one direction and towards Fogarate and Salares in the other direction. Up to this point the walk had been various degrees of incline which made me very aware of the extra 7.5 kilos I am carrying. Once I reached the top track, the six kilometres to the Salares fork are fairly level and then downhill for 4.5 km into Salares.

Lyn had arranged to join me for the end of the walk as she didn’t have time to do it in full. Jens-Kristian gave her a lift to Fogarate and she walked to meet me a few hundred metres before I reach the fork. We stop for a few minutes at the junction so that Roly and I can have a drink and he has a few biscuits, and just as we were ready to set off again, Helen and her dog Tring rounded the bend, having climbed up from Salares, and became a party of 3+2. It was great to have some human company after slogging for almost 20k with just my faithful four legged friend.

We set off down the hill that Helen had just climbed, but it seemed that my ambition to walk 25k is to be thwarted again, when I am out-voted by Lyn and Helen who thought it will be a good idea to join David in Bar Theo to have a bite to eat. I cannot honestly say that I put up much of a fight as by now I was feeling very tired from lugging that extra weight for 23k. Oh well, there is always another day to set a new record. Here is a photo of the charming Theo.

Wednesday saw us driving to the coast to do a few chores, including buying a printer to replace the one that had just died, and collecting our official papers that allow us to keep our horse at home (only two years after the event!).

On Thursday I felt a definite painful twinge in the region of my shoulder blade and declared it a day of rest.

Friday started off lazily, but just before lunchtime I felt the need to do something positive, so I loaded up my pack again, this time to 8.5k and invited David to accompany me on Liana for the 8.5k circular walk through the natural park. No twinges today, but I was very aware of the weight whilst walking uphill. Today I noticed that the beautiful wild orchids were coming into flower. They bloom all over the hillsides and are absolutely stunning.

On Saturday we drove to the coast as our favourite band were playing in one of our favourite restaurants. ‘El Camarote’ is situated at the marina in Caleta de Velez and when we arrived at about 1pm all the tables were taken at this popular fish restaurant.
However some kind people indicated that we could share their table and we gratefully joined them.

It was a pleasure to share a table with such a lovely couple, Brigitte (French) and Ferie (sp?) (Dutch). We had a lot in common and had a great time with them.

The band, ‘Guiri’, play a mixture of rock, blues and soul and are always brilliant. The sun was shining from a cloudless blue sky, the fish soup was the best there is and we had a fabulous afternoon.

By contrast, Sunday, was a miserable, grey day with lots of rain. I spent the day sorting through my gear, cutting down on weight where I could by being creative with containers for toiletries, being ruthless in deciding what I would not take, and checking that everything would fit into my pack. It was good use of time and I managed to reduce weight by quite a few grams – and as every gram counts, the more I can reduce it by, the better. There is a rule of thumb that one should not carry more than 10% of one’s weight. My problem is that I really want to take my ipad, and I have to balance that by not taking other items.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | 2 Comments

Getting serious, 18-24 March

Posted on 28/03/2013 by magwood

This was a busy walking week. Although I returned to Cómpeta on Thursday night (14 March), I decided to delay resumption of training until the start of the new week. However I had not reckoned with the result of a severe over-indulgence on Saturday night when we went to the Museo del Vino to see the band ‘Elderly Brothers’ play whilst we ate dinner with our good friends Lyn and Jens-Kristian. There were lots of good friends in attendance and I somehow managed to consume more red wine than was my fair share. Although I had a thoroughly excellent time, I paid a severe price the next day, and even the day after that. It is obviously an age related problem, a few years ago I would have functioned perfectly well after such an occasion.

So my new boots had to wait an extra day for their first outing. On Tuesday (19th) I walked 9.25km and was aware of a ‘hot spot’ (pre-blister rub) on my right heel, but no other footwear issues.

On Wednesday rain was forecast, but I decided to walk nevertheless, as I won’t have the luxury to choose to walk only in fair weather when I am on the camino, and it would give me an opportunity try out my rain jacket. I set off in my new gear: fine merino wool long sleeve t-shirt, zip off trousers, ultra light weight down body warmer and my rain jacket hanging from my belt. I took some tape to apply to my heel if it gave me any problems and set off with Roly on the 19km training walk. When I take this walk I pass several places where dogs are chained and bark furiously as we go by. Roly doesn’t really help matters as he charges up an down, just out of reach, and aggravates the poor dogs to distraction.
Towards the quarry is a property where an Alsatian type dog is tied on a very short chain, it seems not much more than a metre. This dog is kept company by a charming pup, probably about six months old, quite large with a beautiful, mournful face. He was originally a little shy, but we pass so frequently that he is now very friendly, seeming to crave company and almost hugging me when I stop to talk to him. He always goes to follow me, but when I indicate by showing him the palm of my hand that he is to stay, he then stands in the road and stares after us until we disappear from sight. I have never seen anyone at the property and although these dogs seem well fed, they are starved of compassion. Unfortunately this is not particularly unusual in this area of Spain.

After 7km I stopped to put tape on my heel as it was rubbing to a blister and continued on my way. A few km’s further on I stopped to take a look and found the plaster under my foot, where I suspect it migrated to within a few steps of being applied. By this time I realised that my my heel hurt mostly when I was walking uphill and was ok on the flat and downhill, and by now I had completed the main climbs of the walk so I was not too worried.

When I got down to the fabrica area I could see that the stream flowing across the path that I usually pick my way across was much faster and deeper than normal. As I stood at the edge pondering the best way to cross, the dog suddenly decided that he would show me the way and charged across in two great leaps, turned around looking very pleased with himself and repeated the exercise in reverse. I realised that I would have to take his advice, hoiked up my trousers legs and tried to emulate his prowess, not quite matching up to his gazelle-like athleticism, but I got to the other side in a couple of strides without getting too wet, at the same time testing my new boots for water resistance. A few hundred yards on and I have to repeat the performance, with a similar result.

However when I get to the actual river crossing, it is a totally different matter. I have never seen the water so deep or so fast flowing and as usual I make my way up the bank to find a place to cross, but have to go quite a way before I find a place that I think I can leap across, it takes me a while to get the nerve to jump, during which time Roly is having a mad five minutes on the other side, charging around like a lunatic. I finally pluck up courage and just about make it across slipping a little on landing but not falling back into the deep water. The dog is still going crazy and it takes him a while to calm down. He is very funny.

I had plenty of opportunity to try out my jacket as it started to rain, not too hard but very steadily, halfway through the walk. I found out immediately that I could not zip up the coat because I was carrying a water bottle on my belt. If I had thought this through, I would have bought a jacket with a two way zip, but when the rain persisted I decided to carry the bottle by hand in favour of keeping dry. I cut the walk short by 1km to avoid a steep uphill stretch because of my blister, just leaving the dreaded driveway to climb at the end. Today’s walk proved a good test for my new clothes and I clocked up 18km.

On Thursday I walked with John, a friend from the village, who offered to show me a new route. Lyn came along and we walked to the fabrica to meet up with John. We took a very steep incline up to the white track above, a short walk along the level track and then another climb, up the fire-break for a few metres, and behind a sharp peak before starting our descent, which eventually led to a point halfway along the track that I know as the ‘forest ride’. We trekked downhill until we met the track above the fabrica, at which point we parted company with John who retraced his steps back to his car, and Lyn and I went in the opposite direction to return home. This walk was virtually 20km, and quite hard going, but I was pleased that I felt fine at the end and that my blister was not causing too much discomfort.

On Friday I suggested to David that he might like to ride alongside me, and so I set out for the fourth day running, down into the Canillas valley and up the incredibly steep track the other side, and then onto the shorter version of my practise walk. On this occasion, having made a start on wearing-in my boots, I decide to try out my trekking poles. Now, I have often made disparaging remarks about people using poles to walk along easy tracks, but during my research I have discovered that their use can alleviate a significant amount of weight from the leg joints, and taking into account my age and lack of experience, I thought I should swallow my pride and give them a go.

I purchased a pair of ‘pacer poles’ with unusual angled contoured handles which are very well reviewed by all who use them. Having kept them telescoped and under my arm until we reached the track, I adjusted the length for the terrain and tried not to trip myself up until I got used to them. I found them a bit fiddly to adjust the length for level ground, uphill (shorter) and downhill (longer), but it didn’t take me long to find my stride with them and they did seem to take some of the strain when walking up the steep side of the valley, although when the track is very narrow, with shrubs alongside, they are difficult to use.

David and Liana reached the top long before I did, and when I caught up we tackled the next stage, also quite a climb, and finally it levels out before we begin the descent to the fabrica. I repeated the procedure from a couple of days earlier, leaping across the streams and finding a crossing place at the river, by which time it had started to rain quite hard, and David decided to push on and get Liana back home asap. Poor Roly was torn between rushing off after David or staying with me. My little friend finally decided to stay with me and we walked as fast as we could, having covered 11.5km.

After a day off on Saturday, I set out again on Sunday with Lyn, and David on Liana. This time I added another piece of vital equipment, my backpack stuffed with various items, including two bags of flour and one of sugar and weighing in at 7 kilos. This is the first time I have ever carried a pack and I have not been looking forward to the experience.

However during the shortish walk of 8.5km I did not find it too much of a burden and for the most part was not really aware of it. It was obviously worth all the care I took in choosing the pack and I am very much relieved.

David took these photos. I love the one of Lyn and me taken through liana’s ears. In case you are concerned, I would like to mention that I have not had a blow to the head, I am wearing a headband that I have discovered is a fantastic thermostat – I can heat up or cool down instantly by covering or exposing my ears to the elements, and can keep my hair off my face at the same time. As you can see, glamour is not part of my training regime!

This week I have introduced the main items of equipment I need to get accustomed to. I now need to walk greater distances with the pack and build up the weight to 8.5 kilos. During the week, including dog walks, I have hiked over 70km. Roly has probably covered twice as much ground, and is getting very fit, with very strong muscles. He is great company and I really appreciate having him with me.

During my walks this week I have had my first sighting of processionary caterpillars, which breed in the pine trees in this area.

Our land adjoins the natural park and has many pine trees in which these horrible creatures nest and at this time of year they hatch out and form an orderly queue, then in a ‘nose to tail’ formation descend from the tree and go in search of a suitable place to burrow underground to change into the adult moth. When they are moving on the ground they can be mistaken for a piece of string and can stretch for metres. I came across the longest procession I have seen this week, spanning three metres across the track and extending another two metres down the bank. They are very dangerous to animals and humans as they have barbed hairs that they can expel, which cause severe irritation and even anaphylactic shock. If dogs get them in their mouths it may result in partial amputation of the tongue. They are to be avoided at all costs.

This is also the time of year when the wild flowers are beginning to put on a show, and they are absolutely delightful at the moment, particularly as we have had so much rain this year.

Also the waterfalls, gathering pace as they tumble down the mountainside, are spectacular this year.

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Shop until you drop (7-14 March 2013)

Posted on 25/03/2013 by magwood

I am sitting on a Ryanair flight, returning to Malaga after a week spent in my home city of Bristol.

My first day in Bristol was spent babysitting my beautiful grandson, Mikey, whilst his parents worked. It is lovely how he accepts me coming to stay every couple of months, always happy to see me and not at all shy. Of course this is helped by seeing each other regularly on Skype, although he is always very keen to take control of Rosie’s ipad and press the button to cut me off.

The next day I made an early start to arrive in the city centre as the shops open. I have a very long list of essential equipment to be purchased for my hike. First and foremost are backpack and boots, but I need to buy virtually everything I will take with me. It is vital to take as little as possible, and everything at the very lightest weight. I have done loads of research about what I will need. There are some extremely helpful forums on the internet where people planning their walks can ask questions of veteran pilgrims, many of whom have walked various routes over the years and are very generous with the advice they are happy to give to the uninitiated, who are hungry for every bit of information available. Since deciding to walk the camino I have not been able to settle to read a book, but have been trawling these forums for information during every spare moment.

So, thanks to the kindness of others I now have a shopping list of necessities. Any items purchased must be carefully considered because I will be carrying everything on my back for five weeks and 800km. Weight is of the utmost importance and pilgrims go to great lengths to seek out the lightest weight equipment and clothing. It is recommended to have two sets of walking clothes, one to wear and one to wash, one outfit that can be worn at the end of the day’s walk and in the evening, sleeping bag, toiletries, towel and technology.

Although Bristol seems to be well endowed with shops selling trekking equipment, I find it impossible on my first day to buy anything. It is so incredibly important to get a perfect fit for rucksack and boots, but other than from my research, I know absolutely nothing about these things and find the decision making process quite stressful. I had great help from assistants in most of the shops I visited, but the guys in the following shops were extremely helpful: Cotswold Outdoor, Go Outdoors, Snow and Rock. It must be soul destroying for the shop assistants to invest so much time helping someone when there is every chance that they will buy the goods elsewhere.

Once I have sussed out what shops are where, I revisit them over the next few days and gradually begin to add a few ticks beside some items on my ‘to buy’ list. I got no enjoyment from these shopping expeditions, the whole experience was stressful and very expensive. However I return to Spain with all major equipment purchased and a fairly short list of items I will need to buy over the internet.

Between shopping I manage to socialise a little, most importantly spending Mother’s Day with both of my daughters and my gorgeous grandson. Rosie, Mikey and I drive over to the Forest of Dean where Ella is working as a volunteer on a farm. Across the very muddy farmyard is a pen with some newborn orphaned lambs. The farmer kindly brings a bottle of warm milk so that Mikey can feed one of the lambs and its tail starts wiggling immediately. The farmer takes in orphaned lambs from surrounding farms that do not have the time or inclination to hand rear them. There are very many chickens and some of the biggest pigs I have ever seen.

After enjoying the fresh country air, and removing as much mud as possible from our boots, we set off to find a rather late pub lunch, but all the local pubs have finished serving and we end up driving to Ross on Wye where we find a nice place to enjoy a Mother’s Day lunch. I show Ella the fabulous photo book that Rosie has made for me including all my favourite family photos. It is a wonderful surprise that I will treasure and can

dip into whenever I feel a bit far away. After lunch We return Ella to the mud and head back to civilisation.

I don’t think I have spent a Mother’s Day with both my girls since Ella left home twelve years ago. It was lovely.

All too quickly my week is up, and it seems I have seen very little of my daughter Rosie, with whom I stay when I am in Bristol. But I am happy that Rosie, her partner Mike and their son will be coming to visit us in Competa after I return from my trek.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | 2 Comments

Plodding on

Posted on 25/03/2013 by magwood

Monday 25 February
I set out for this week’s first training walk on Monday morning planning to trek for 18-20km. However I soon became aware of a groin strain which was proving quite uncomfortable. I kept going hoping that the discomfort would subside, but after about 7km I decided it would be better to change my plans before I reached the point of no return, so I took a very steep path down into the Canillas valley and then back up the other side, finally chalking up a walk of 10km. I realised during the walk that the strain was due to my leg being jolted whilst out riding a couple of days earlier.

Tuesday 26 February
So I set out on Tuesday to take the route I had planned the previous day, this time without any discomfort. It is a walk with many steep hills and descents, about 30:70 tarmac road to rough track, which I think approximates the terrain I can expect to find on the camino. It is an interesting walk which I can make longer or shorter depending on my plans for the day, with varying views and temperatures from different sides of the mountain. This fairly circular route will be my standard training trek which, in its longest form, is 19km. Although I will be walking on average 25-30km each day on the camino, I think that this route is sufficient for practise purposes in order to build up stamina and strength.

I contact my very good friend Helen who lives between the villages of Salares and Sedella to suggest that I walk over to see her and we decide that it will have to be the following day as the rest of the week promises rain.

Wednesday 27 February
So for the third day running I set out on what will be my longest trek yet. I have traced the walk on my ipad app ‘route mapper’ which allows me to plot my route by running my finger along the roads and tracks that I plan to walk (literally letting my fingers do the walking). The app uses google earth images and indicates distance travelled. I have checked the distance stated by this app against the car milometer and as they match up, I feel confident that it is telling me the truth.

Shortly after setting out on a very chilly morning, with hands and ears well wrapped, I pass an area of the road that is always wet due to an escape of underground water. The road surface looks odd and I walk over to investigate, only to discover to my peril that I have stepped onto a sheet of ice and before I know it I am very unceremoniously dumped on my backside and feeling rather stupid (and a little bruised). The dog let out a scream and scarpered out of harm’s way in case I landed on top of him. I have noticed a few times that if I trip or stumble he gets out of the way very quickly. A straightforward case of self preservation. As no damage has been done – except to my pride – I continue my walk and make my way up to the top track that I walked in the rain with Lyn last week.

Again I see much evidence of wild boar, and more horse droppings than can possibly have been left by domestic animals. There is a group of three properties and a small plateau of cultivated farm land in a very remote area, quite high in the mountain, that looks very out of place in this rugged area.
I hear some bells high above and look up to see a small group of sheep looking down at us, although after a difficult incline we are soon on the same level, at which point they decide to run away from us (unfortunately in the same direction that we are taking) and Roly decides that this is a good game and sets off to run after them. Luckily he hesitates when I call to him and I get the chance to put on his lead to put an end to his antics.

The sudden drop in temperature once we reach the high track is a bit of a shock, but at least this track is now level for about 8km and the surrounding terrain is very rugged but stunning, with many water courses running down the mountain above us and on down into the river at the bottom of the valley, very far below.

As we round a bend I finally come across some horses, a young foal, probably about a year old, on the track and two grey adults above us in the trees. None of them seem too purturbed by our presence, although as we get closer the foal turns and ambles up a trail towards the others.

I finally reach the point where the track divides with the option to walk back towards Canillas (via Fogarate) as I did with Lyn last week, or to continue towards Salares which is my intention. I phone Helen to give her a indication of my ETA and she tells me that she is walking up the mountain to meet me. I suspected she might do this and am delighted that I will have some human company for the last leg of my trek. I know this track very well because I have ridden it many times with Helen during the three years that I kept Liana at her stable. I see a group of walkers in front of me, the first people I have seen for many hours.

I see Helen in the distance and Roly rushes to meet her. As we walk down the hill towards the village Helen tells me that she is worried about her horse Gretel, who seems to be in some pain. The vet had already visited but was returning a couple of days later with x-ray equipment to enable a diagnosis. Gretel and Liana were great chums and were together permanently for three and a half years. We worried that they would both be very stressed when we separated them, but in the event they both coped well and Liana settled into her new life at home with us and Gretel had a new friend when Helen adopted a small pony from a horse shelter. Blossom is a very pretty, inquisitive, one eyed pony who had her badly infected eye removed at the shelter.

I have arranged that David will meet us for a bite to eat with our friend Theo who runs a tiny bar in Salares, and we eat a bowl of hearty soup before driving to Helen’s house for a slice of her fabulous lemon tart and a cup of coffee.

I was hoping that the walk would be 25km, but because we stopped off in the village it was only 23km, and having stopped for lunch, I was not in the right frame of mind to carry on and walk to Helen’s.

Although this is my longest walk yet, I still have to break the 25km barrier.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | 2 Comments

A bit too adventurous

Posted on 07/03/2013 by magwood

Liana is a bay coloured mare who stands 16 hands. She is 11 years old and has an ‘interesting’ personality, not always the friendliest of creatures. She seems to have an inbuilt sullen streak and will often give the impression that she intends to bite, although in the five years that she has been with us she has never actually made contact with her teeth. She was passed from pillar to post before we bought her, and at the age of six she already had six registered owners, and I imagine she was not treated very kindly. She is not a pure bred Spanish horse and the vet thinks that she has some thoroughbred blood, and so for the most part she is very calm and patient from her Spanish blood, but the thoroughbred in her gives her a love of speed so she is very keen to take off at a gallop as soon as I give her the go-ahead. Although there are not many tracks where we can gallop in this area – they are mostly too rocky and uneven – no green fields here! Having initially kept her at a friend’s stable for three years, we finally constructed our own stable almost two years ago, and she is now living in the lap of luxury within sight of the house and gets all the attention that she deserves.

For quite a while I have been looking longingly at a green track which rises to the right of the Fabrica de la Luz. I asked my some-time spanish riding companion about it and he indicated that it was rideable. Having looked down on it during my walk with Lyn I decided that I would investigate when I next rode. So on Thursday Liana, Roly and I set off for a new adventure.

The weather was being quite kind with sunshine and a little wind and the road was totally empty. We live just above a road that was built probably ten years ago to service the traffic to a stone quarry that is situated about 4km away, within the natural park. There are four houses on our track and these are the last properties reached from the quarry road, so there is very little traffic that passes below us, except for the occasional farmer and the six lorries that pass by on their way to and from the quarry. There have been rumours for years that the quarry is about to close, it is a very ugly blot on the landscape and no-one can understand how it ever received permission to operate in the first place as regulations within the protected park area are very strict and it is impossible to build anything.

Sometimes I seem to pass all six lorries on my rides and sometimes none. The road is very narrow and it is usually necessary to pass at close quarters. Liana will sometimes pay no attention to them at all and at other times will become very agitated and jump up and down. The lorry drivers are, for the most part, very considerate and patient.

So, on this day we didn’t see traffic of any description and reached the Fabrica de la Luz (literal translation ‘light factory’), which is a lovely recreation area where the ruin of the old fabrica still stands and a fast flowing stream runs alongside with picnic and BBQ areas. It is well used all year by all nationalities. We often visit with a group of friends for a shared picnic.

Liana fords the stream. She does this without any hesitation, although I have never yet managed to get her to walk through a puddle that she can circumnavigate. We soon come to the green track and within 100m we have to negotiate a landslip which leaves a very narrow strip to pick our way over. The next obstacle is a fallen tree over the track. Again there is a narrow strip between the end of the tree and a steep drop which I judge will be tight but passable. I was wrong! The pointed end of the longest branch catches my knee as we pass, at exactly the place I have recently received a severe bruising. It is very painful. We carry on and the track is very wide and there are many signs of horses having been in the vicinity recently, and I start to worry that I will come across the semi wild horses that roam in the park. However we continue up the track, the first time in the five years that I have owned Liana that we have ridden over grass and Liana seems to really be enjoying it. After about 2km of winding uphill, the track comes to a stop. I felt sure it would link up to a stone track that I know well, but it just stops. I can see a narrow trail and follow this for a while, but it becomes so overgrown and rocky and narrow that I have to dismount to consider the situation – which does not seem good. By the time I turn around I cannot trace the track that we used and become completely disorientated.

My horse is an absolute star, patiently waiting for me to decide what to do and then following me without question over land that is really quite dangerous. I trip over at one point and luckily she avoids stepping on me. It is now that I realise how stupid I have been, it would be so easy for me or the horse to get injured and I had not told anyone where I was going. I finally see the green track below and we manage to scramble down onto it. I remount and we head back down to known territory. What seemed like a big adventure on the way up, now seems a bit spooky as we pass a couple of ruins and I notice many animal trails leading from the track, and I start singing and whistling so that if there are any wild animals about hopefully they will run away before Liana sees them and spooks. I dismount to pass the fallen tree and am very happy when we finally reach the main track back to the Fabrica. No harm done, but an important lesson learned. During this recounting of our adventure I haven’t mentioned poor little Roly, who is also a very special animal, just following where I lead and never making a fuss. By the time we get home we have covered 14km.

Posted in A view of life, Animals, Horse riding in the mountains of andalucia | Tagged Liana | Leave a comment

The ups and downs of walking on a mountain – 21.02.13

Posted on 23/02/2013 by magwood

So…. I have been busy walking and riding but as a result I am so tired, I am doing very little else. Hopefully I will soon toughen up and take it all in my stride (literally). Since my last post I have completed walks of
Friday 15th – 6.8km
Saturday 16th – 12km
Monday 18th – 18km
Wednesday 20th – 20.8km

All my walks involve very steep descents and climbs because of the lay of the land. The minute I leave the house I have to tackle the steepest track in the area and every walk ends with me having to climb back up that track, so even when I think I have coped with the walk really well, I still arrive at the door puffing and panting. It must be the best practise for the camino.

Yesterday (Wednesday 20th) I tackled my longest and by far the hardest walk yet with my good friend Lyn, who is a keen hiker and in the past has often encouraged me to walk with her, although I have never previously felt the inclination to use my own legs when I can let my horse do the work. At the outset and at the end of our 20km trek we faced the challenge of huge descents into valleys with the inevitable climb on the other side, and in between these climbs a massive black cloud drifted overhead and proceeded to empty its contents on us for about two hours. Of course I had broken all the rules – none of my gear was waterproof and all was made of cotton, so soaked up all the rain and held on to it. But nevertheless, my temporary 15 euro trainers are doing a sterling job and I returned home with tired, but dry, feet! Poor Roly was not at all happy to get a soaking, but as the sun came out for the last half hour, he was dry by the time we got home.

Even in these conditions we could not help but admire the dramatic views, over a huge expanse of coastline, as far away as the Rock of Gibraltar, a distance from Competa of virtually 200km. We came across many wild boar tracks and saw some huge paw prints that puzzled us, although we decided in the end that they must have belonged to a giant dog.

There are also ibex (wild goats) roaming in the mountains and a few times when riding I have come across a group of horses that have been released in the natural park to fend for themselves. On one occasion I was quite intimidated by a stallion defending his mares that chased us off in a very aggressive manner.

As we came to the crossroads where the track either takes you to the tiny village of Salares, or back towards Canillas de Albaida, through Fogarate, we passed a goatherd carrying an umbrella with a large flock of goats straggling behind across the mountainside, a charming scene that we see regularly in this area.

We finally returned to the village after more than four hours of walking, feeling very tired, but pleased that I had broken the 20km barrier. My next goal will be to walk 25km, which will be the average daily distance we cover on the camino.

I also took my horse, Liana, out for fairly long rides on Sunday (15km) and Thursday (14km), so I have travelled a fair distance in the last week.

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Onward and upward -13.02.13

Posted on 16/02/2013 by magwood

After missing another practice walk yesterday, due to dreadful windy conditions, it was not quite so blustery today and I braved the elements. I expected the route I had planned to be at least 15km, which would be reasonable progress.

I walked into the natural park again and the climb to get there is becoming a little easier. The last time I rode Liana on this route I noticed that someone creative had arranged some pine cones on the track and a week later, despite the fierce winds, they remained in the same position – looking most artistic.

The edges of the tracks are lined with plants – lavender, thyme and rosemary are plentiful. A huge variety of beautiful colourful wild flowers will appear over the next couple of months, but at the moment broom (cytisus) abounds on the banks with its vibrant yellow fragrant flowers.

The views today are magnificent, beautifully clear, both towards the wide expanse of coastline and inland to the mountain peaks. The mountains here are covered with pine trees and after the recent strong winds there are pine cones covering the ground.

It is difficult to know what to wear when leaving for an early walk, so as not to be too hot or cold. It is quite warm in the sunshine, but when I turn a bend and am suddenly in the shade and the breeze picks up, it can instantly be very chilly. However I seem to have assessed it well and remain comfortable. A well remembered Aesop’s fable comes to mind, “The North Wind and the Sun”. The story concerns a competition between the North wind and the Sun to decide which is the stronger of the two. The challenge was to make a passing traveller remove his cloak. However hard the North Wind blew, the traveler only wrapped his cloak tighter, but when the Sun shone, the traveler was overcome with heat and had to take his cloak off. The moral being, persuasion is better than force. My mother frequently read to me from Aesop’s Fables, as I in turn read them to my girls, and they still often tease me about how I would always ask them at the end of the story what the moral was. However I have noticed that Rosie has a copy of the fables on Mikey’s bookshelf, although I can’t remember if it is the one that I used to read from or a more recent copy.

My walk in the natural park takes me high above our village of Canillas de Albaida and after climbing for a few kilometres the rough, stoney track starts to descend and the neighbouring village of Competa comes into sight far below.

There are tracks in the park taking you in all directions, but they are all quite rough and I do not want to risk a sprained ankle and an interruption to my training, so I am not planning to walk too far in these conditions. After about 5km from home I reach the graded track that leads to ‘Cruz del Monte’, a long established urbanisation high above Competa. From here the going is much easier (and downhill), and I soon come to the road, where I choose to walk away from the village and take a circular route past the well advertised ‘Angelino’s’ pet food shop, which also sells firewood and plants, then down onto the main approach road to Competa, through the village and onto the goat track, past the ostriches (yes,really), and back home.

My pedometer tells me that I have walked 17km but I think I need to check my stride length to ensure that it is telling me the truth. It certainly feels like 17km! I have stopped several times enroute to give the dog a drink, and worry a little that I am testing his stamina. But when we are close to home he spies a discarded tissue, which although he knows he is not allowed, he loves to rip them to shreds. He grabs the tissue and charges off out of reach at a rate of knots, to shred it in peace. He is obviously still full of energy, all the trekking with the horse has prepared him well.

I would like to work up to at least one walk of 20-25km a week and two more of similar or less distance. So far – I feel – so good.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | Tagged Training | Leave a comment

Training commences

Posted on 12/02/2013 by magwood

View to the coast from the goat track

Living half way up a mountain there is plenty of variety of walking options, and plenty of opportunity to tackle steep gradients – one of the steepest being the concrete track to our house which I have to negotiate on leaving and returning home, and although I walk this track every morning with the dog, it never gets any easier

My normal dog walk is about 3km, which obviously falls far short of the 25km that we will be walking each day on the camino. In order to monitor my progress I have downloaded a pedometer onto my phone. I don’t yet have the shoes or boots that I will be using on the camino, so for the first couple of days I wore my stable boots, then I bought a cheap pair of trainers that will do until I next visit the UK and have a proper fitting for some appropriate footwear. I have no idea where I could be confident in buying walking shoes here in Spain, so will get kitted out for all my requirements during my next visit to Bristol. Unfortunately this will only give me four weeks to wear them in and practise walking with a backpack.

My first ‘longer’ walk with the pedometer was on 28 January, along the asphalt road that leads from our drive and can link up with my normal dog walk, which clocked up 4.87km. My next walk was through the natural park on very stoney mountain tracks up above the village and then linking up with the road and finally onto the goat track that ends close to our drive, this was some 9.2km. I have taken the shorter walk a few times to test the new trainers, and I extended the long walk to 10.5km a few days ago.

I was hoping to further extend it today, but the weather this morning was awful, blowing a gale and threatening rain, so I didn’t walk at all.

View to Canillas de Albaida from the goat track

I hope to build up to 20km over the next couple of weeks and do this maybe twice or three times a week until we start for real. At the moment the dog is enjoying the longer walks – he is used to long treks following me when I am riding – but I am not sure he will want to walk 20km, he only has little legs. Hopefully I will know if it is too much for him.

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An idea is born

Posted on 11/02/2013 by magwood

Some time, way back, probably in 2011, my eldest daughter Ella proposed two exciting projects. She had been living in Sydney, Australia since November 2009 and was planning her return to the UK in early summer 2012. Her first suggestion was that I meet her somewhere midway and spend a few weeks travelling together. The second was that I join her in her quest to walk part of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela during her thirtieth year, in 2013.

Ella did lots of research relating to the first expedition and we duly met in Bangkok on 9 July 2012, where we spent four days before travelling to Sri Lanka for ten days and finally to India, taking in the ‘golden triangle’ and travelling between Delhi, Jaipur and Agra over seven days. I shall post my journal and some photos from this fabulous experience in a separate blog.

I was tasked with doing the research on the camino trip and started by searching amazon for reference material. I first read “Horseshoes and Holy Water” by Mefo Phillips, which attracted my attention as I own a horse and thought it would make an interesting read, as it did. I also came across the film “The Way”, which gave a very different view of the Camino with lots of inspiring images and not so inspiring living conditions en route.

More recently I found the book “Buen Camino!” By Natasha and Peter Murtagh, which seemed quite appropriate, being written by father and daughter who give their separate daily accounts of the walk that they took in 2010.

Our original, very loose, plan had been to walk perhaps the minimum necessary in order to be granted a ‘compostela’, the certificate given to pilgrims who have walked at least 100 kilometres to reach Santiago de Compostela, and have an appropriately stamped pilgrim’s passport showing starting point and places visited en route.

However, having been inspired by the accounts of pilgrims who have walked the entire Camino Frances, commencing their journey in St Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees, crossing into Spain on the first day of their pilgrimage, and taking approximately 30 – 35 days to complete their trek, I now feel it would be cheating to claim a ‘compostela’ without walking the full Camino. As I am currently not employed and Ella will be between commitments at our proposed start date in mid April, we both feel we should fully face the challenge and walk the full 780 km.

Posted in Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Preparations | Tagged travel | Leave a comment

Day 14, 23 July 2012 – Sri Lanka – Pinnawala & Perahera

Posted on 23/07/2012 by magwood

We have a leisurely 10:00 start when we meet with Anton and drive a short way to the Temple of the Tooth where the only relic of Buddha is kept. We are introduced to a guide who takes us around the temple which is absolutely full of people, almost entirely Sri Lankans, who have come to pay homage at an important time, for tonight is the start of ten days of celebration commencing with the first parade of the Perahera this evening (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esala_Perahera).

Inside the temple we see the elephant costumes being finalised for the parade as men sew fairy lights onto the head adornments.

As in all temples we leave our shoes outside, but normally you can walk straight onto marble floor which is not a problem for me. Here though, the various buildings we visit are separated by some distance and we have to leave our shoes at a deposit and walk around, in and out of the buildings in the rain and across sandy pathways – not at all in my comfort zone.

We return to Anton and set off for the Pinnawala elephant orphanage, where rescue animals are kept. We are a bit late and the bottle feeding of the baby elephants has finished, although Anton manages to organise an extra bottle for me to feed a youngster who is four years old. Apparently elephants suckle until six years.

Also in this area is an aged female who suffers with arthritis and another mature female, terribly sad and depressed looking who has lost the bottom section of a front leg in a land mine incident during the civil war. She looks so forlorn that we think she may have been better off if she had not been saved.

This poor creature is missing her right fore foot

There is another area where a huge bull elephant is kept, who is very old and totally blind. Elephants live a similar length of time to humans and this old guy shows the signs of old age as his flesh has sunken into his skull.

Then the rest of the herd (I counted 48 with the exception of the ones already mentioned) are rounded up by about ten keepers and led out of the compound. The females and youngsters lead the way and the big bulls follow on. The males have chains hanging loose around their necks and as one particularly large guy walks past, Ella and I are totally taken aback as he seems to have an extra leg, which is literally almost brushing the ground. It is impossible not to giggle hysterically at such an unexpected sight.

The herd is led across a busy road (well, you wouldn’t argue with an elephant crossing in front of you, would you?). They continue down a side road to a wide and shallow river, where we climb up to the roof terrace of a restaurant and order lunch whilst we watch the elephants below us enjoying the water. There are quite a few juveniles and a group of three particularly playful babies proceed to climb all over each other and hold one of the group under water by sitting on it until it finally manages to find its feet. It is delightful to watch, especially when one or more occasionally hatch an escape plan and wander out of their prescribed area and the keepers have to round them up again.

Please take the time and have the patience to look at the two videos in this post as it is difficult to convey in words what a fabulous experience we have today.

We sit watching their antics for probably an hour or more, whilst we eat, and they are still in the water when we leave.

On the way back to Kandy we pass a sight that I have to stop and photograph – a couple of large trees completely full of sleeping bats – a very strange sight.

We return to the hotel and quickly change before meeting with Anton again at 18:30 and set off on foot to go to our reserved seats to watch the Perahera.

He leads us through a myriad of back streets and alleys until we reach a hotel where he meets up with a group of young men who he introduces and then we all set off again through the bustling streets, through the temple grounds that we visited this morning, which are now festooned with fairy lights and look beautiful, past groups of elephants and out into the street again.

It is all very surreal, being led by a posse of “cool dudes” through the crowds which are now filling the streets behind barriers, awaiting the parade. After a while I look up and see a balcony above street level lined with chairs and full of people, and comment to Ella that I would not want to be either on or under that balcony as the supports do not seem sufficient to hold the weight. And then, of course, we realise that this is exactly where we will be sitting, although in a row behind which at least has the back legs of our chairs within the building.

There is a total prohibition on the sale of alcohol in Kandy during the ten days of the Perahera. Although of course Anton knows a man…. We have a fanta whilst we are waiting for the festivities to commence, and then Anton surreptitiously asks us if we want a drink, which we will have to go “out the back” to consume.

We are led through the first floor bar/restaurant (which isn’t a place we would frequent under any other circumstances) and into a small side room, which has two grubby beds, a dubious ensuite and some electrical appliances. Very insalubrious.

A clean cover is spread over a bed and we sit down. It all seems very ‘cloak and dagger’. There is a knock on the locked door and Anton opens it to his friend who he introduces as Michael, who comes complete with an illegal bottle of the local fire water ‘arrack’, a spirit made from coconut. Ella has already sampled this the night before but I give it a go with some sprite and it is actually quite drinkable.

Anton and Michael

Michael seems a nice chap who is involved with the organisation of the parade and we chat and drink for a while and every now and then there is a knock on the door and someone comes in for an illicit drink. We are brought a plate of chips, dusted with chile which are delicious, and it is soon time to drink up and take our seats for the start of the parade.

Every now and then Anton hands Ella a bottle of coke, appropriately spiked with a healthy (probably not actually healthy at all) addition of arrack.

The parade is amazing and commences with torch bearers on either side of the road at frequent intervals holding long poles with cages at the top where coconut shells are burning bright to light the occasion. The first performers are guys cracking whips who are followed by drummers and dancers, all wearing fantastic costumes of white sarongs with various gold and red adornments.

After several troupes of dancers pass by the first elephant enters the scene, a glorious spectacle. He is wearing a cloth headpiece which covers its ears and is lit by bright fairy lights outlining the shape of his ears, head and trunk, and also wearing a beautifully embroidered cloak. He is followed by more drummers and dancers and so the procession continues for well over an hour with elephants coming in one’s, two’s and three’s, (I counted over fifty in all), all with different coloured lights, some being led and some being ridden, some dancing to the drum beats and some carrying precious silver and gold caskets on their backs. Between the elephants are more dancers and drummers.

After the last of the parade has finally passed by the crowds disperse very quickly and Anton and the posse lead us back to the place where we met his friends, where the lights of the Temple of the Tooth are shining to great effect, then the three of us pile into a tuktuk and have a rather hair raising drive back to the hotel.

Anton smuggles another couple of spiked coke bottles into the hotel pool bar where I have a fresh fruit juice and leave him and Ella to the hard stuff. I would have joined them but I am determined to walk up the steps to the lion rock tomorrow and I don’t think a hangover would be conducive to that activity.

All in all a rather full and exhausting day, and totally surreal.

Posted in South Asian adventures, Sri Lanka | Tagged Elephant orphanage, Esala Perahera, Kandy, Pinnawala, South Asia, Sri Lanka, travel | 6 Comments

Day 13, 22 July 2012 – Sri Lanka – Kandy

Posted on 22/07/2012 by magwood

This is the first day that we are able to have breakfast in the hotel and it is a very strange affair. We are the only guests in the restaurant and are shown to a table set with fruit salad, a plate full of something that looks like raw black pudding, a plate of Edam type cheese, some dry pastries, and cereal. I look enviously at the next table that is laid with a plate of ham and some yoghurt and honey. I don’t know how the staff have decided who gets what, but I would definitely have preferred the food on the other table. We are brought eggs cooked to our choice and a plate of pancakes. So very much food. It is embarrassing to be given so much in a land of such poverty. I can’t imagine what they think of us. We eat our fruit and eggs and guiltily leave the table.

We meet Anton in reception and set off on a two hour drive to Nuwara Eliya, a town in the hill country with a temperate climate and colonial architecture, known as Little England. It was founded in 1846 by English settlers at the time when tea growing was first introduced to Sri Lanka. The area is popular with Sri Lankans and foreign tourists, specially during the month of April, the season of flowers, pony races, go cart races and auto rally.

The roads we have driven over the last few days have climbed steeply and are very bendy, they make the road from the coast up to Competa seem quite straight. But no matter how sharp the bends it is always the number one priority for all traffic to overtake the vehicle in front, no matter whether there is oncoming traffic or a totally a blind bend. The number of times we have inhaled sharply with fear are beyond count, but we still have not seen any accidents on the roads.

We travel on past huge far reaching tea plantations and lush countryside until we stop for a visit at a tea factory which is not as interesting as the place we visited with our tuktuk driver.

We continue to the large town of Kandy, where we stop for late lunch and have the best meal of our stay in Sri Lanka.

After lunch we visit another jewellery showroom because Ella has decided she wants to buy another ring and once in amongst all the shiny sparkly stuff I also realise that it is necessary to commission a ring to be made. We meet with the craftsman who will make the rings and he explains what is realistic to accomplish and we finally agree on designs and continue to our hotel, where we will stay for two nights – we can actually unpack tonight – luxury.

The Hotel Thilanka is quite normal, the room is lovely, stylish and spacious. We have a garden outside the French windows but are told not to leave the doors open because monkeys will come into the room and steal our stuff.

There is a nice rooftop pool and bar so we go up for a cocktail for me and a beer for Ella before showering and changing to meet Anton at 20:00 as he is going to take us to a restaurant in the town.

Kandy is a large and very pretty town with a big lake at its centre and surrounded by mountains with property dotted amongst the palms and at the top of a mountain is a huge Buddha statue overlooking the town.

Kandy lake with the giant Buddha high on the hillside

We have a very nice meal in a rooftop restaurant and Anton joins us. He is a lovely guy who tells us lots of stories about his country. His key phrase is “are you happy? If you’re happy, then I am happy!” and he genuinely does seem to want to make our visit as interesting as can be.

We return to the hotel and go to the pool bar for a nightcap. I leave Ella and Anton to it as they seem settled in for a few more, but I am mindful of another long day ahead and most definitely do not want to be nursing a hangover.

Posted in South Asian adventures, Sri Lanka | Tagged Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, South Asia, Sri Lanka, travel | 4 Comments

Day 12, 21 July 2012 – Sri Lanka – Yala National Park

Posted on 21/07/2012 by magwood

We are up at 04:30 this morning for a 05:15 departure via an open back jeep to the Yala National Reserve.

We see the sunrise over a lake en-route and as we get closer to the reserve there are more and more jeeps joining the rush to be first in the queue, darting in between each other on the dirt track – all great fun.

We arrive at the park by 06:00 although it takes another half hour for everyone to be issued with tickets. As I look around at all the other vehicles it occurs to me that we are somewhat lacking in the glamour stakes, we have side benches in our open jeep, at the same level as the driver’s seat, so we either have to swivel our bodies or our necks, or both, to see very much.

Other jeeps have luxury raised seats facing forward with a view over the driver’s roof. Never mind, our driver is a lovely chap, very observant, pointing out creatures that we would never have seen without him. The tracks are very bumpy but he doesn’t bounce us around too much. We see the following creatures:

Black bear (very rarely seen and just my luck I was looking the wrong way)

Bee eater

Python

Buffalo

Peacocks

Crocodiles (loads of them)

Black faced macaques

Unidentified lizard

Deer

Painted storks

Mongoose

Land monitor lizard

Elephants

Monkey puzzle tree

We also saw Pelicans, Eagles, Kites, Chipmonks, Golden jackals, Kingfisher, Wild boar.

What we might have seen, but didn’t, were leopards, otherwise we really did rather well.

One corner of the park borders the ocean and there is a memorial to the victims of the tsunami when 58 Chinese tourists died on this spot. Apparently no animals died, as they had all sensed something was wrong and made their way to higher ground. The sculpture indicates the height of the waves that killed so many people.

We leave the reserve at 10:00 and return to the hotel to shower off the dust and then set off on the next leg of our journey which takes us past an amazing waterfall at a town called Ella.

After some lunch we walk up “Small Adam’s Peak” which involves a steady climb along a path through a tea plantation and up some 320 steps to the top of a mountain where the 360 degree views were fabulous even though it was quite hazy due to the humidity.

It is not at all hot on this walk as there is a lovely cooling breeze. This climb has been good practice for the steps up the Lion Rock (all 1200 of them), which we will be tackling on our last day in Sri Lanka.

We are then driven to our hotel for the night in Bandarawela, another very odd place with colourful murals covering the walls of long corridors – Ella thought it was reminiscent of a children’s hospital, or worse, an asylum. The room is very large and comfortable, with good quality bed linen and towels for a change. We eat in the hotel restaurant which is ok, though as usual it is overstaffed by very sweet but rather inefficient waiting staff who hover close by whilst we are eating, watching to assess if we are enjoying the food.

The hotel offers a karaoke bar, but we resist the temptation and retrace our steps back to our room, past a very cross-eyed stuffed buffalo head, which has us in fits of giggles.