Camino bore. The great three days.

And will there still be Tarta Santiago for breakfast?
A year on, we can't help remembering.....

Funny thought that yesterday, we were propelled out of bed by the smell of hot pickled stuff at 6 am, our goal being the hope of other smells by 12 noon! This must be an experience going back centuries, the longing for the 'right' smell! The sermon, D tells me, was about how we pilgrims must go out into the world and perfume it with our deeds. I expect the clergy there are crawling up the walls at hearing it for the umpteenth time; probably they use the time for working out what to have for tea. Suggestions for what-I-would-preach-if-I-were-a-priest-in-Santiago welcome.

The paper camino: 3 pics that I will leave you to guess at.

Today, we didn't have to be up and out by any time at all, but we woke at 5.30, = 4.30 UK time. Not bad for 'not a morning person'. The days in Santiago were precious - three in all, as we didn't leave until the 10 pm train on Monday, so after arrival on Saturday morning, we had 2 nights in our bunker-hotel. I loved that little place. We got in through a thick metal door through a tunnel off the street, and it seeemed to be a little room under the laundry for a hotel a couple of streets away. There was even a nice little bathroom just behind me. At night it was pitch black in there, and so no morning light to let us know the vague time of day. Thus we had to leave a light on overnight in the bathroom just to have a slit of light under the door, as D  found it unnerving. I was happy though, being a natural hibernating animal. The curtains you see did not cover a window, but 'unsightly pipes' as opposed to the pipes you CAN see.

Tarta Santiago & marmalade for breakfast, 2011

Today in 2011, bank holiday Monday and we both have work to do. Our first conversation today was about how we are both running screaming from soome aspects of modern life (I won't give you a list). TV in particular, we can't bear the sound of it, and Radio 4 with its chirpy news is equally unwelcome; radio 3's news is much better presented. Somehow the church's hierarchy seems to expect those on the ground to baptise the culture of the day, but we are feeling more and more alienated by its values that we find it better to keep calm and carry on reading The Rule of Benedict. I suspect we are part of a trend.

Going into our bunker.....

Absolute luxury!

But let us celebrate! So here are some pics....

[I'm not sure I have any readers, so I will entice you with a competition: if you identify correctly the 3 subjects of the paper camino above, there will  be a prize of funding for all-you-can-eat at Monte de Gozo. (Fares & accommodation not included.) ]