Hiking El Camino de Santiago for Cystic Fibrosis

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Day 25: Molinaseca to Villafranca - 31km

From my Dad:

It's harvest time!

Life throws you curves and one came my way today. I've been wearing my right knee brace, but yesterday I knew something was settling in wrong with my left shin. The pain is more in the lower left above my ankle. The first ten miles this morning I was really quiet with Sue as I was concerned. So many peregrinos are derailed. We are determined to carry our backpacks together for all 500 miles ... we want to start and finish together. We took a break after four hours of hiking (I'm slower today) and I iced the shin, massaged, stretched and then applied Traumeel which is a homeopathic gel. I'm allergic to ibuprofen so this is all I can do for anti-inflammatory relief. The pain is so severe, though, that I had to start taking hydrocodone just to take the edge off to finish the last four hours and 10 miles. I was able to smile and enjoy the second half of the hike through some incredible villages and vineyards.

I talked with my physical therapist back home and it appears it's most likely tendinitis and not a stress fracture. I'm optimistic all will get better soon and I'll just grind through it for a couple of days.

Sue and I left at 7 am in the cold dark and proceeded to get lost going out of town. Fortunately, flecha Amarillo always shows up one way or another and onward we go.

We ran into 2 ladies from Washington state and they appeared so spry and excited. We were still recovering from the previous day's inclimate weather so we just had to ask when and where did they start and their answer was they just started The Camino one hour ago in Ponferrada. We've been on The Camino for 25 days so we had a good laugh. This is the norm now as many peregrinos hop on at the 100 or 200 kilometer mark.

We were so excited to run into our two friends Sophia and Alexandra from the states and had a nice chat as we haven't seen them in a week.

The final ten miles were out in the vineyards and wound up into the beautiful village of Villafranca.

We are blessed with incredible weather ... only 1 1/2 days of rain and forecast looks good into Santiago de Compostela.

Tomorrow brings the region of Galecia with incredible views in the highest regions 4,500 feet. We'll be hiking for 8 hours tomorrow so early to bed tonight.

Blessings,
Steve and Sue

It was cold this morning!

There's Sue on an ancient bridge

Beautiful castle in Ponferrada

Tough street to hike

The Way

Mary and chapel

Looks like a home you would find in Ross!

Incredible gardens are extremely prevelant

Chapel in neighborhood

Beauty everywhere

Man and two helpers!

Local Camino sign

Mr. Ed

Our friends from CT

Kilometers ... we are getting there!

Entering a village

This man probably lives on the Camino

Camino Dog (he's SO cute!! - Caitlin)

Villafranca home for esta noche

Sue is thinking about it ...

View from our room

Sue's commentary

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Day 24: Rabanal to Molinaseca - 26.5km

Emotional moment at La Cruz de Farro

From my Mom:
Although the mileage doesn't look like much after some days we've done, (16.4) Steve and I decided that it was definitely one of our toughest days. We left Rabanal about 6:50 and had hiked about one mile when the rain and wind started. It was pretty awful for about 10 miles. Imagine getting up, putting on your shorts, tank top and long sleeve UVA shirt, then wrapping yourself in Saran wrap (in our case, an emergency poncho) and then setting out to hike in Tahoe, in the rain, 45 degrees, with winds blowing about 20 miles an hour. At first we were like, look at all those peregrinos in their long pants, waders, jackets, hats, heavy boots, etc. and then when we were wading through huge rivers of mud and water, we thought, geez maybe we should have carried a few extra pounds!! Still not sure though.

Today was very special as we reached the highest peak of our whole journey. If you saw the movie, The Way, it's where the huge cross sits at the top at La Cruz de Ferro. It's where you place a stone for any myriad of reasons: to let go of all your problems, to pause awhile and remember the purpose of your journey, or to place your token of love and blessing to the great pile that witnesses to our collective journeying. One woman was so overcome with emotion that she stood in the pouring, freezing rain and sobbed uncontrollably. We just stood under the protection of the small chapel and said our prayers for all of our friends. Perhaps one of the most significant spots on the Camino. We continued on and stopped in a small town where every peregrino came in completely drenched and shivering. We hung out with friends for awhile, tried to dry off a bit and continued on our way. The rain had let up a bit, but now we were hiking straight downhill on what looked like shale and loose rocks. I was ahead of Steve as his shin was bothering him and I felt great, when suddenly my foot went out from under me and basically I slid into a very graceful fall. Thank God for my poles or the Camino may have been over for me. Steve thought it was all very funny. We finally arrived at our destination for the night and heard that many people were taken off the mountain or had to call taxis because of injury. This is serious stuff out here and not to be taken lightly.

We took awesome, HOT showers, had some lunch, met a nice couple from Ireland and are now taking a quick nap. The rain continues to come down and we can only hope it won't be as awful as today. Our Saran Wrap won't hold out much longer.

We ended up sleeping for about an hour and a half. It's amazing how your body tells you what it needs. After hiking 370 miles, I was really tired today. Nap felt terrific!

The rain had stopped so we walked down a lovely little street to a restaurant and ran into several of our new friends. We sat with Tom and Ann and enjoyed a nice pilgrim meal of hake (a very popular fish out here) spaghetti, ice cream and wine if you wanted it. I actually passed on the wine tonight. Steve told the waiter he only wanted a glass and the guy gave him a bottle and said, "just drink what you want." Pretty funny.

Everyday we meet new people out here and are always surprised by who we might run into from the beginning of our journey.

We are getting geared up for an extremely tough hike in two days! We feel strong and ready, although now that my shin is fine, Steve's is bothering him, so we'll see how he is in the morning.

Our best to all of you,

Sue and Steve

Heading for the summit

Out of control wind and rain

Check out what Sue is wearing vs everybody else!

Heading into town

Tom and Anna from Ireland

I've iced my shin and knee tonight

A break from the rain

24 hikes down ...

... 9 to go ...

Tuesday, 9/25 AM

Warming up at halfway point

Crossing ancient bridge

Monday, September 24, 2012

Day 23: Astorga to Rabanal - 21.4km

From my Dad:

Our credentials are filling up!!

Today is a special day as we have exceeded our goal of raising $10,000 for Cystic Fibrosis ... $11,375 as of this morning. When we left the U.S. on August 29th we were at $6,000 and didn't know if we would make it. Over 80 people/families donated. We are so grateful and this should push us to the finish line of hiking 500 miles to Santiago de Compostela ... 150 miles to go!

We only needed to hike 13.3 miles today so we slept in until 7 am. We wanted to rest Sue's shin and achilles as much as possible. We iced it four times plus she's on a high dosage of ibuprofen. Well it worked as she was in no pain the entire 4 1/2 hours out hiking today. We are thankful it appears she's fine as so many peregrinos have gone home due to various injuries and one of the most common is shin splints.

The winds were westerly ... directly in our face ... it was one day we knew it was better hiking than biking. Our poles really helped, too, as we were getting blown all over the place.

I've often thought, while out on The Camino, that engaged couples should hop on for a week or two to see if they really want to get married. Or married couples should also give it a try as a tune-up so to speak. You have to operate as a team, show compassion and flexibility toward one another and be patient.

Sue and I have always traveled well together, but have never done anything like this before. It truly is special to spend all this time together and live in the moment.

The Camino has changed since Leon as there has been an influx of Peregrinos who hike 200 miles rather than 500. We have met many new people, which is fun, like Debbie (Australia), Ryla (Finland), and Tony (Switzerland) who joined us for dinner. And Theresa y William from London who hiked into town the last 20 minutes with us. We really enjoy the immediate Camino respect and camaraderie. We had a chance to attend a Gregorian chant at Iglesia Santa Maria which wasn't exactly as exciting as we thought it would be, but there were about 100 of us in attendance and it was educational.

We both feel this is a trip of a lifetime. We might be leaking a little oil as we iced my knee and Sues leg, but we are determined to make it to Santiago!

Blessings,
Esteban y Susana

Tomorrow is gut check time and Sue said what does that mean. The answer was it's supposed to rain all day, temperatures in the 50's and climbing from 3,000 feet to 5,000 feet ... highest elevation of the entire trip, plus it's 20 miles. We are both up for it and plan to hit the trail in the dark at 6:30 am.