‘In the Path of the Pilgrims’

Episode Four

Parador Villafranca del Bierzo; this was one of those stops we somehow didn’t photograph, it was decorated in the Castilian style. As the village was one of the overnight stops used by the pilgrims we made this one of our stops – but in great comfort. From the village there are wonderful views of the Ancares mountain range but we were enchanted by the storks nesting in the village. And we were delighted that we had a stork nesting right outside our bedroom window. Again the restaurant had a splendid menu including trout and a fantastic veal stew. It has been closed for the summer but is due to reopen fully refurbished by the end of November.

Parador ‘Hostel San Marcos’ Leon.

This was probable the best Parador stop. Not on our itinerary but we sort of wandered into it! was originally a ‘monastery’ of the twelfth century giving lodgings to the pilgrims. It was rebuilt in the sixteenth century and is now a Parador, it was great and is one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in Spain. The restaurant was very, very good.

'Matilda’ under police escort was driven by a very obliging doorman to the garages... hilarious.

All the local sights were wonderful. And the stained glass windows in the Cathedral magnificent.

Outside the Casa Botines in Leon is the Guadi Bench with one seated gentleman and pigeon, when we were there it was two gentlemen as can be seen in the photo.

The last stop in Spain was the Parador ‘Santa Domingo de la Calzada.

The best Parador of all for us, and we have repeated our visit to this. We always ask for room number eight. Is it special – no but we like it, so we have the same room each time. The Parador receptionists always seems to be happy that we want this particular room; possibly it was the clock tower by the window where the bell rings on the hour and quarter hour very loudly.

And then back through France to -

Monet’s Gardens at Giverny – but that’s another blog!

In the Path of the Pilgrims

Episode Three

So we continue along our route to Santiago de Compostela.; and our visits to the Paradores. May I digress? I have said the Paradores are a treat to be sampled and I can only recommend that you click onto their website if intending to holiday in Spain http://www.paradores-spain.com you can see the prices and work it out for yourself in each case.On this stage of our journey we stayed first at the

Parador Vilaba; A medieval Galician tower which was the main focal point of the town and the principle remaining part of the building, all the rest has been restored though there are some rooms in the tower. The decor and restoration is all in a medieval style, and the modern extensions had excellent bedrooms and dining rooms. The menu hadsome specialities of the region. I tried the cooked pork with turnip tops – I can’t say I would recommend it! But breakfast in all the Paradores is fantastic.

Lugo; This was a quick visit to see the walls and Cathedral of Lugo but we only stayed for tapas and then back to Vilaba - and then onwards.

‘Hostel dos Reis Catolicos Santiago de Compostela’ The Parador was constructed as a ‘Hospital Real’ to shelter the pilgrims in 1499 and is now considered to be the oldest hotel in the world, always a debateable point.It certainly lived up to its five star rating, though there was some discussion amongst the porters as to who should have the honour of taking our very old car to the garage. Originally the Parador was a Royal Hospital and gave lodgings to the pilgrims.Now it is very luxurious, that’s if you fancy having golden wash basins in your on-suite bathroom.
And it has very beautiful cloisters leading onto wonderful bedrooms. The Galician food served in the restaurants was sheer heaven. All this if you are over fifty-five years of age has a 30% discount.

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral; The main purpose of the ‘Peregrinos’ pilgrims walk is to reach the Cathedral and visit the Silver Urn with the remains of St James the Apostle.
The Cathedral was truly magnificent and down below in the crypt were the remains of St James. I am always a little suspicious of the authenticity of some of the religious relics, still no harm done, and for many it has great significance.For those interested in adventure books, Bernard Cornwell chose this Cathedral as the settings for a battle in one of his ‘Richard Sharpe’ books.

Parador de Tui; This is what you might call a diversion of some importance. The Parador is a typical manor house, the bedrooms are furnished in a rustic style. The menu in the restaurant is varied – Lamprey – eels - fillet steak, and even some gluten free dishes, you are spoilt for choice. But for us it was the call of the shellfish, the coast line is very well known for its shellfish,

and the village of A Guarda is the best of the lot. Somebody got it right, mussel followed by scallops, and then ‘lobster’, a meal to be recalled again and again. Margaret is always happy to carefully dissect a lobster, not missing any of it.

Monte de Santa Tecla is just outside Tui and the path to the top is lined with crosses.
to do with the pilgrims walk but worth a visit.. The remains of a Celtic settlement of approximately 100 dwellings is on the hilltop above A Guarda.

Portugal; a visit to Viana do Castlo, it was a case of in and out just to say we had visited Portugal – yes we will be going back fairly soon. The bridge from Spain to Portugal was built by Gustav Eiffel of Eiffel Tower (Paris) fame; the bridge is just outside Tui.

A wonderful visit was made in ‘Santiago de Compostela’ but there is more to come.

Next Episode ‘Parador ‘Hostel San Marcos’ Leon’

In the Path of the Pilgrims

Episode Two

First stop the Parador de Argomaniz which was originally the Palace of Larrea. Now you’re catching on, I do like my creature comforts. Actually it is only a small Palace but very comfortable, built in the classical Renaissance style. It is located 13 km from Vitoria Gasteiz, but the main reason for choosing it was that it is just outside Bilbao. The Guggenheim Museum is there and that we wanted to see. Designed by Frank O Gehry we were keen to visit. It was murder to park but worth it.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; this is not part of the Pilgrim’s Path as it was only opened to the public in 1997, but it is a must for anybody visiting the area. Designed by Frank O. Gehry it is a significant piece of modern architecture and has to be visited if only to see the buildings. The inside has a changing exhibition, plus some permanent items.


Parador Cangas de Onis; the second stop is the 12th Century Benedictine Monastery of San Pedro de Villanuerva. This is beside the River Stella and our room looked directly onto the river and surrounding countryside. No we were not in the tower but in a modern extension.The Roman Bridge in the town is a typical example of the Visigothic period which eventually led to the establishment of Catholicism in Spain.

ASTURIAS ; Close by are the Picos de Europa and the Austurian farming areas, it is a fantastic place to go rambling.
The cows give the most wonderful milk and are very friendly, but the grain has to be stored were the rats etc can’t get at it.

















Parador de Ribadeo; The Parador is a modern conversion of a Galician house situated on the mouth of the River Eo. Our room looked down on the estuary and the small port. We were able to watch the boats being loaded and also the rowing races on the river.

Playa de Cathedrales




This beach was quite close to Ribadeo and while exploring the Rias Alto (coast line), we called in at this beach, first at low tide when we were able to go on the beach, and then at high tide when it was completely under water.

Next Episode - 'Hostel dos Reis Catolicos de Compostela'

Northern Spain ‘In the Path of the Pilgrims’

A blog in several episodes so that there is something to follow!

Episode One
In the path of the ‘Peregrinos’ or ‘The Walk of St James,’ both titles signify only one thing – walking and I only walk under protest. The idea is to follow the path to the resting place of St James the Apostle (Santiago) whose remains were taken supposedly along this route to the coast of Galicia. Certainly in the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela there is a magnificent urn said to contain his remains and that of two of his followers. And I believe anything that does no harm.
We fancied visiting some more of the State hotels of Spain so we decided to follow the ‘path’. Did I walk it, did I heck! ‘Matilda’ our twelve year old Nissan was selected for the trip and across France we went to find the start for us, this was on the French/Spanish border.
Now followers of my blogs have by now worked out I like to treat myself, so the choice of State hotels doesn’t seem to fit. However there are in Spain, and on their Islands, over one hundred State hotels called Paradores. Try their web site http://www.paradores-spain.com I’ve been lucky and visited about fifty, but I digress.
The routes through Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela are followed on foot by the pilgrims. The main ones are the French Path and the North Path; we are modern pilgrims and prefer a car. So the following photographs are taken as we followed the North Path in and the French Path out ‘sort of’. And this trip was without blisters.

If you can follow the map you will see the route for all four blogs (episodes).
The way in took in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and followed the coast via Argomaniz, Cangas de Onis, Ribadeo, Vilaba and into Santiago de Compostela. The route out was Tui, with a diversion into Portugal, Villafranca del Bierzo, Leon and Santiago Dominigo de la Calzada. We stopped for the night at the Parador’s as these were one of the main reasons for the trip being an historic treat themselves.

And on the drive back through France a visit to ‘Monet’s gardens at Giverny, which will be a blog another day’

Return to Blogging

For those that followed my blogs my departure was sudden and abrupt I shall explain. For some time we had planned to sell our house in Essex and buy a smaller ‘bolt hole’ nearer to my daughter and granddaughter. Our house went on sale the first week in April and an offer was made and accepted within the first week. We then looked for our ‘bolt hole in the village where my daughter lived but not keen on the properties for sale in the village. Our granddaughter who lived thirty minutes away was pointing out suitable houses in her village; we looked and found just what we wanted – all nice, and quick, and simple!
Now for those that know better I have now joined your numbers; selling and buying are both hells – sheer hell. They say selling your house is the worst experience you can encounter – they (whoever they are) are correct. I never realised that lawyers could find so many reasons to drag out the whole thing, and it took almost four months. Only four months the experts said when i mentioned it– gosh you were lucky! Luck, I didn’t think it was very lucky – but it seems I stand corrected.
Now when we had agreed the sale - and I thought it was going to be simple, it seemed a good idea to rearrange my book sales at the same time – just change the printers and the distribution system. Oh, and while we were at it sort out a national advertising campaign. Now I should have known better, but fools rush in where angels fear to tread. There is only one way this last summer can be summed up – a mad house. Certainly tweeting and blogging went out of the window, but now a little bit of sanity has arrived – oh yes, I forgot, the builders started work this morning putting in the footings for a conservatory; first thing to remove is an old tree root system that comes out of the ground with a seven foot bole to get in the way.
I shall endeavour to put my first blog of the season out this weekend so watch this space.
Did I mention I also set up my books with Amazon Kindle just to keep me busy
Signing off for now, and I hope my followers are ready for my assault on their reading time.

Patrick

Location blog - where to find me!

I have been asked for more information on my profile. Not by many, but it’s an excuse for this blog! I am sending out blogs; and you are reading them, but a little more detail is asked for. So you could go to the following sites.

Two places.
Tweet site http://twitter.com/ErasmusORourke is my twitter site. Please note that there is no apostrophe between the O & R in O’Rourke in the URL

My author’s web site www.patrickcoulson.co.uk It is an informative web site, and book promotion site. However it has a short bio, and also photographs in the gallery, (including a sun-set view from our balcony). The Web-site was designed and produced by my eldest granddaughter, and it is very professional and uncomplicated.
The Members section is for those who would like to read short stories at no charge, and no obligations at all. You can miss it out by not logging/joining into that section.

My books that are shown you can buy. You can also skip that bit very easily as you have to click on each one, and then leave the site to buy at national sites, but it is not possible on this author’s site You have to go to, Amazon.com for U.S.A, and Amazon.co.uk for Europe etc., Nobles and Barnes have some of my books, as do many other sites worldwide. Google Book Search allows you to read sections of the books before going to sales sites. Search under Patrick C Coulson; please make sure you put in the middle C.

Hope that explains where to find me. And I apologize for the commercial.

Kind regards Patrick

The things that cost you nothing

When you reflect on the life around you sometimes you almost despair of what we inflict on each other. I don’t mean the painful and cruel things, but the life style and wonderful way of living! We have our transport system – we just love traffic jams – airport lounges – railway station on a winters day – tossing around on the ocean. Then there are the beauticians, treatment for both men and women, slapping mud on your face and you pay them. All those cosmetics we simply must have, the joy of the gymnasium. We must get drunk –why? Our youngsters must have their weekly night binging! And it all costs a lot of money.

If you wonder is anything joyful then the answer is yes.

When I wake of a morning the first thing I do is cuddle up to my wife, and it costs nothing, but it’s wonderful. When I get up I love to go into the garden and when in England make a cup of tea and go and sit by the water pond and listen to the silence of the garden. Yes you can hear silence and it costs nothing. Then the dawn chorus starts, yes I like to get up early, there are so many birds that sing in that chorus and they give it the works, and it costs nothing. Somebody tells a joke, a good joke and you laugh; it costs nothing to laugh or smile. As you walk along a street and you catch somebody’s eye inadvertently, it costs nothing to smile, or say good day, and it probably makes them feel good. The fortunate ones on this planet have fresh pure water to our homes, and what a wonderful drink is fresh, cool water on a summer’s day.

If you awoke this morning feeling grumpy, then reflect. You are here and there is plenty to enjoy that cost nothing. Go for a walk, early when you can look around you, and study the hedgerows and the gardens as you walk along. Watch a couple of blackbirds searching for worms and insects on a neighbour’s lawn. If you are sitting in your garden then contemplate on everything good that has happened to you lately.

So you haven’t got a garden. There are parks and public woodlands all around you, the exercise walking there should be taken at a leisurely pace. No rush, it will wait for your arrival. It’s been snowing! Before the traffic gets on the road it can be a fairyland, crunching through the snow costs nothing.

So sit back and think of what you have that costs nothing, just sitting back costs nothing.

It is a wonderful world, it’s what we make of it that can spoil it.