There is an article about Henrik's walk to Santiago de Compostela in the Norwegian section of this web site.
A
slightly truncated walk. After starting off in Léon, where the local
clerk issued a pilgrim's passport to Enich Elcestrand from Norway
in Oslo, even though he had Henrik's passport to copy from.
He preferred to base his official documents on Henrik's signature.
Cacabelos
- the vineyard owner's daughter
Henrik walked from Ponferrada, and after a marvellous stroll, arrived in
Cacabelos for lunch. The local taverna offered free wine and empanada to pilgrims,
and Henrik started talking to the taverna/vineyard owner's daugter, Leni. She
showed him around the place, and Henrik sat down at a grand piano in an empty
restaurant, and sang "Let it be" to her. A number of glasses and empanadas
and chorizos later, he walked on, to Villafranca.
Villafranca
- cobwebs and queimada
In Villafranca, Henrik first helped the local women clean centuries of dust
and cobweb from the top of the church windows. The he socialized with some Spanish
medical students, and tasted queimada in an entertaining pseudo-mass.
Cebreiro
- hell on heels
The next morning, Henrik walked off towards Cebreiro in the mountains, with
his 14 kg rucksack containing everything a pilgrim needs - and everything a
journalist and a diner and a tourist needs. In other words a little on the heavyish
side. After a nightmare of a climb in the scorching sun, he arrived in Cebreiro
with two bloody infected heels.
His new Spanish friends (who could not allow the other pilgrims to see they were actually medics) treated the wounds, and called the Guardia Civil to help him to the next stop.
Guardia
Civil
When the two armed officers arrived the next morning, Henrik's main wish was
to get a photo of himself between them. A little touchy to all parties, but
what a photo. An English-speaking
Spaniard came along as an interpreter. His English was restricted, to say the
least, but he knew how to use it. When Henrik asked him (in the back of the
Guardia Civil jeep) "Doesn't the Guardia Civil have a reputation for being
less than friendly?", Manolo replied: "You good - Guardia Civil good.
You no good - Guardia Civil no good." So Henrik was as good as he could.
Henrik was taken to a doctor who examined his heels, while chatting to Manolo. Manolo happened to ask her where the pharmacy was, since he needed some medication for his heart condition. The doctor looked resigned, faced with these pilgrims.
Samos
After a coffee in a bar with one of the officers, Henrik was driven to the monastry
in Samos, which was the next stop for the pilgrims. On this Saturday night,
he and his friends sat in the bar opposite the monastery, drinking and waiting
for one of the monks to come over and pick them up for Evening Prayer. Fascinating.
And the sound of the brothers entering the chapel in their robes was almost
the same as you expect from angels - a soft swoooosh, and they're there.
To make a short story short, this is more or less where Henrik's pilgrimage ended. He walked on to Sarnia the next day, with half of his rucksack contents on their way to his friend Manuela in Madrid, and took the train to Santiago. Not as a defeated man - his four days of walking had provided more excitement and adventure than a week or two of unproblematic pilgrimage.
