Brent and Claire Ruru have been travelling the globe the last five years. Here, Brent continues his travel diary, highlighting the couple’s second experience on the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage Walk in Spain.
Having cycled most of the Camino de Santiago across Spain one way, we knew that we were half way through the adventure, so a couple of days later, we were back on the Camino walking the 800 kilometres in reverse – from Compostela to Pamplona. People walking toward Santiago often gave us strange looks – they must have thought we were crazy to be walking the trail in reverse.
Accommodation varied on the Camino, ranging from Albergues, which are a type of pilgrim backpacking hostel through to one, two or three-star hotels. We gradually became accustomed to dormitory life and all that went with it – semi-nudity, body odour, nightly snoring and rummaging through belongings at all hours of the night. A few times we sought the comforts of our own personal space and stayed in a one-star hotel but by the time we had laundered our clothes in the hand basin, the bathroom resembled a laundry.
Our scaled-down backpack weight was around seven kilograms. For the 31 days it took us to reach Pamplona by foot, we wore the same clothes every day while walking, and changed into a different set of clothes in the evening. Food was readily available across the land with traditional paella or bread, cheese, salami, olive-topped tapa’s or potato tortilla the common menu items, which we always washed down with a local red vino.
We saw many wonderful sights along the way. The Leon cathedral, which had over 2000 square metres of stained glass and the French-influenced Gothic masterpiece, Santa Maria de la Regia. Both took our breath away. Fields filled with sunflowers broke up the brown of the summer-scorched countryside.
We averaged between 20-24 kilometres per day. When we arrived at Pamplona, the San Fermin festival was in full swing. We debated whether or not to participate in the running of the bulls. We purchased the red and white apparel being worn, saluted citizens with the sangria being drunk and overcame our fear to do it.
After that, we had three days of walking to go, the last 26 kilometres where we had previously started biking from Roncesvalles and over the Pyrenees, out of Spain and into France to finish at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
The Camino de Santiago was a journey of moments – a countryside with breathtaking scenery, mouth-watering cuisine and amazing culture. We made many new friendships with people who have passion for life and our own passion for living didn’t stop there. We then pointed our noses toward East Africa to trek among gorillas and to complete a safari across the African savannah. However before that, there was a Kiwi haka to be done on Africa’s roof top, Mount Kilimanjaro. Another story for another time. Nā Brent Ruru
Footnote: Brent Ruru is a professional speaker, mentor and funeral celebrant (www.brentruru.com) and can be contacted at [email protected] or 027 511 0249.
The Leon Cathedral at sunset.
At Cruz de Ferro.
The Leon lay-abouts.
Standing tall in a wheat field.
Doing the Alto del Perdon without bikes.
Arriving at St Jean at the end of our walk.