The Camino Cafe
The Camino Cafe
103 - Camino News Update 1/31/24 with Leigh Brennan & Johnnie Walker
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The Camino Cafe's intro and outro song with thanks to fellow Pilgrim, Jackson Maloney. Original Song - "Finnis Terre" - written and performed by Jackson Maloney - Singer, Musician, and Songwriter. Connect with Jackson: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fdQsSqq9pDSwKcWlnBHKR
Hello Pilgrims, it's Wednesday, january 31st, and we are coming to you from Santiago de Compostela. And well, all along the Camino Routes, I'm Lee Brennan, and Johnny Walker will join us shortly. Well, let's get to it. Love is in the air. We are thrilled to hear that the owners of Casa Susi, susi and Framing, just announced their engagement. Love truly does happen on the Camino. They met when Framing was guest number 30 at Casa Susi, and since then they have been taking care of and spoiling pilgrims from all over the world. Congratulations to Susi and Framing, we love you both.
Leigh Brennan:So what's happening in Santiago today? Well, it's a gorgeous day here, especially for the last day of January. While out and about in the city today, we met this wonderful group of pilgrims from New Brunswick, canada. They had just arrived after walking from Porto, and boy were they excited. And then we met a local, darius, who was out pursuing his hobby of taking pilgrim photographs. The portraits he took today were absolutely stunning. Then we met up with Matthias, and Matthias, from the Netherlands, was on his way to walk his very first Camino on the Prima Tivo, starting in Oviedo. We hope to hear more from him once he finishes. Lastly, marty Groll starts February 8th and, as I speak, workers are busy hanging lights around the city to enhance the festive vibe for Carnival. Now let's check in with our esteemed co-host, the one, the only, johnny Walker. Johnny, what's up this week?
Johnnie Walker :Thanks, lee. Hello everyone here in Santiago, as you can see, it's slightly overcast. It's pretty chilly in the mornings. That's why we're well wrapped up. As you can see from this forecast, it's wonderful walking weather and over the next few days it might be cloudy, but the sun will pop out from time to time slightly chilly. I think there's nothing quite like walking early in the morning, a crisp, cold morning, and you heat yourself up and be walking, often to take off a layer in the mid morning and here in Santiago by midday, by one o'clock early afternoon, it's much warmer, and then cool again in the evening. A brilliant walking weather.
Johnnie Walker :As I've said, at this time of the year, at the end of the first month of the year, at the end of January, often we turn our minds to what the numbers are going to be like this year. People are going to make predictions. I tend not to make predictions, but in the last week, some 700 pilgrims have arrived here in Santiago and therefore, in the first month of the year of 2024, 2072 pilgrims have arrived. Is that less or more, you ask yourself. Last year, last year was a record breaking year. Well, it's slightly more, because in January 2023, 1925 pilgrims arrived. So we'll see whether the graph is going up and going up and other records will be broken, but we don't know that yet.
Johnnie Walker :Last week I made available to you freely my pilgrim guide to Santiago called Room for Everyone, and I believe here in Santiago there is room for everyone. Many people wrote to me and I'm happy to send you details and give you a link to download the guide, and it's also available from Give it for Nothing to the Pilgrim Associations American Pilgrims on the Camino, a Canadian company of pilgrims, the South African Conf, maternity, the Australian Association of Pilgrims and so forth. So you can get this guide freely from your local country association. Also, at the beginning of the year I'm aware, like me, that many people start to think about preparing for the first Camino or the next Camino. So I wrote another guide and knowing that many people think first of the Camino franthez, I wrote a guide called Preparing for the Camino franthez. Although this guide has lots of information that's applicable all other pilgrim routes. So it's got what's the terrain like, the equipment right you need, how you prepare physically, how you prepare spiritually, what you do in case of emergency, how does the money work in Spain, where are banks available and so forth. So, as you can see, it's a comprehensive table of content and you can download this in the Camino de Santiago All Roots Group on Facebook. Just press the Feature button and it's there for you to download. And if you can't do that because you don't use Facebook, then just get in touch with me, johnny Walker, nathan Santiago, at Hotmailcom, and I'll be very happy to send you a copy.
Johnnie Walker :When it's cold like this, we often think of our warmest Camino Memories and I'm sure those of you who have walked the Camino, like me, have many Camino Memories. I just want to go back, get you back in this cold morning to me walking the Camino Portugues by the coast. It was a misty, hot day. I was sweating, the sun was beating down and I came to a beach that fly at America and it stretches out for four kilometres before you. That's one hour's walking and there was only one thing I could do, which was to take off my boots and my socks and paddle along in the water for a glorious hour's walking and apply at America, and I'm sure you will have happy memories of your Caminos. So please share them with us, and if you haven't walked yet, then I'm certain when you do, you will have happy memories too. All the best folks. See you next week.
Leigh Brennan:Thanks, johnny. Now to pilgrims out on the Camino. Lindsay Tacheney reported in, saying he is doing just fantastic. He's on stage 15 today at the Viettela Plata. He is finding lots of muddy sections, and his shoes are getting wet almost daily. He suggests that maybe consider walking and hiking sandals if you plan to walk this time of year, as there isn't enough sun hours in the day to dry the ground, he says, though temperatures have been so pleasant for walking. Next up is our Camino News Update correspondent, rocco Rossi, with this week's report from the Viettela Plata.
Rocco Rossi:Thanks, lee. One weekend, almost 200 kilometres walked four pilgrims, sighted five, if you include the dog that was walking with two of them, and I've got a top five list for you. Why five? Well, I've only been here a week. Give me a break.
Rocco Rossi:Number one La Plata. It's got nothing to do with silver. It's actually a Latinization of an Arabic term, al-balat, which meant cobblestone paved roads or Roman engineered roads, which is how the Moors referred to them. Number two a thousand kilometres, with long stages in between towns. Get ready to put the me into Camino. You've got tons of time and space to have those deep conversations with yourself and the divine and deal with all the baggage that all of us carry around. Number three did I mention it's a thousand kilometres, with long stages in between towns. You can go 20, 25 kilometres between a source of drinking water, so plan accordingly, particularly as the temperatures increase through the year. Number four it's a dog's world. We're just walking through it. The dog's there to protect the farmer's livelihood and they're going to stay chill, as long as you keep your distance and don't try to get too close, for that super cute lamb and mama sheep shot.
Rocco Rossi:Number five all of this talk of La Plata being flat. There are definitely stages where you're going to be climbing, particularly into Almaden and Monasterio El Cavadio. Going into Almaden is right at the end of almost 30 kilometres of walking, these steep switchbacks and then a rocky descent into the town. Don't be fooled, get ready. Did you like what you hear? Of course you did. You're curious pilgrims. You want to know more. Come back next week. If you need a daily hit, follow me, rocco Rossi, tio on Instagram. Buon Camino.
Leigh Brennan:Thanks, rocco. Now an update to last week's story about the Great Churro Search. It has successfully come to a close. As our team, here we are Donnie Trisha and myself we found the best churros in Santiago. This past Saturday, on a tip from Donnie actually Santiago residents Moncho and his wife recently opened Chore, their first churro shop.
Leigh Brennan:It's located on the street that divides Newtown and Oldtown, just between Plaza Galicia and Alameda Park. Moncho says his secret is using only freshly made dough. The churros were crispy on the outside, fluffy in the inside, and they were served warm. They have a well-stocked topping bar to customize your orders, and my favorite was their churro rolled in cinnamon sugar and then dipped in white chocolate. It was to die for. Don't miss this place the next time you're in Santiago. This week on the Camino Cafe podcast, I spoke with Dan Mullins about his journey of recovering his singing voice after a terrible virus. We ended the talk with Dan performing a world premiere of a new song that will be on his new album Storyteller. Well, from all of us here at Camino News Update. That's it for this week. See you in Santiago, pilgrims.