Pirates on the way of St.James...

The pilgrim blessing... A long time ago, before the pilgrim left their homeland or left together from a gathering place, they should pay their debts, writing their last will, had to shrive and had to visit the celebrating Mass. After all this, they´ve been sent with pilgrim blessing. The pilgrims of Ronchesvalles in 1078 were being sent away with this blessing(Benedición de Peregrinos’): O Father, you  called your servant Abraham from thee town of Ur in Caldea. You protected him on all of his pilgrim-trips. You were the leader of the Hebrew Nation thru the dessert. We beg you, please protect us as well like your former servants, your servants who travel in your beloved name on their pilgrim trip to Santiago de Compstela. Please be yourself, their leader on their hard journey, be their strength, when they´re tired, protect them all from all risks, be their location of rest on their way, their shadoq in the heat, their light when its dark, give them solace when they´re crestfallen and give them dtrength for their resolutions, so they will reach their destination healthy and secure unde your protrction. That they´ll return rich of your grace and virtues to their own countries again( who suffer, because of their absence) and that they´ll live there again in peace and health and always joyful. The blessing of the Allmighty, of the Father, the Son and the holy spirit, will come over you and stay with all of you. Amen. Dear Saint Jacob, great Santiago, now and ever, so help us God. On the 15th of july 2011 wh took the plane to Madrid. On day later we went to the station. Nils already got on this 9km long trip, two flat tyres, if this is not a bad presage. The train drove us from Madrid to Leon…Of course our bikes had a ticket as well. Our signpost   17th of july 2011: We ate breakfast in „Pan und Jamon" and received our first stamp in our pilgrim pass-yeah. There we go again. The cathedrale was closed. Well, even we had a good will of it. On the “ Camino” we pass the other pilgrim, who travel be feet, there are not so many bikers and no Pirates, besides us. Before we reach Astoria, the “Camino” becomes rock and hilly. In the evening we enjoy a large carafe of “ Vino Tinto” and the spanish food. Leon, shortly before the start... The next morning begins at 5:30o´clock: The first pilgrim are already on their way, but this don´t bother us at all, we stay in bed, in our 38 persons-pilgrim-accommodation. But,we thought something differnet of the spanish sun, its only 8degrees cold. We rode to the „ Cruz de Ferro“ in 1510m height, and we leave all of our sorrows under the cross, and hope and pray, that everything will be allright after all. When we reached “ Manjarin”we, the Templars” took a short break, and after 113km,1984m of altitude and 7:20h of riding time we reach “ Triacastella” after passing “ Ponferrada and Villafranca”. Ant this stage was our  royal stage because of the rain, the cold and the head wind. Luckily all the lodge´s were fully booked and so we rested in the hostel. 19th of july 2011: We slept to long, no matter, we got holidays and at 9:00o´clock, sounded no “ Highway to hell” from the speakers. Our stage today, will go over “ Samos, Sarria and Portemarin” to “ Melide”. The town is really ugly, but its already late and another “ pilgrim-feet-stage”is bullshit. Today we saw lots of wandering pilgrims with bloody feets- it even hurt, when you just see that, but we got lots of respect from these people. 20th of july 2011: It´s raining again, and our clothes are still wet. We pack our stuff and rode to the next town, 15km away, to eat breakfast. We gotta watch out on the ways, that we don´t ride over a pilgrim. Shortly before we reach our destination of today( Santiago de Compostella), we took a break for a coffee, in the hope, that our clothes will dry a little bit, but…without avail. Soon, we reached our destination,be we´re not still there, so we decide, that we´ll ride to the end of the world. Well, on the 21st of july we took the bus and drove to “ Cap Finisterre” and fromm there we rode, against the traffic, back to “Santiago”. The course is diversified and our pilgrim trip becomes by riding over gravel and long ascents to n exercise unit. Addionally, now we got to search the yellow arrows, because normally you walk from “ Santiago” to “Finisterre” and not backwards, its like a paper chase. The end of the world… By the way, one or the other time we took the wrong way, why we knew that so fast? Because te dogs on the “ Camino” are tame, petted and used to human and the others were quiet aggressive, so that we had to push the pedals really hard sometimes, to get rid of the dogs. Anf after 8:45h we reached again “Santiago de Compostella”. This time we were in time for the cathedrale and we´re enjoying the mood on the plaza before it. And with us, all the other pilgrims, who reach their destination after weeks or months of wandering. Arrival at the St.Jacobs Cathedrale with our pilgrim-certificate… Even it is not like finishing the Trans-Alp-Marathon in Riva del garda, but still it is something special to be here. We get our certificate or maybe they got a finisher –shirt??? After all, our hoildays in Spain, with 470kk and more than 8000m of altitude were a good preparation for the 24h race in Duisburg. Buen Camino... Ute and Nils

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