June 16, Richmond-upon-Thames

Devoted the day to Richmond Park, advertised thusly:  

"Spend the day in the company of kestrels, fallow and red deer, and meadow butterflies. Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve, a haven for rare or endangered species such as stag beetles, bats, and moths. The park is home to a variety of natural habitats, including ancient anthills that date back 150 years and an oak tree estimated to be 750 years old. The 600-strong herds of red and fallow deer have roamed the park since 1637, providing a unique connection to the park’s past.

If you’re into history, there’s plenty of it here. The park can trace its origins back to 1625, when Charles I brought his court to nearby Richmond Palace to escape the plague sweeping through London. He turned this landscape into a hunting park, filled with red and fallow deer. Amazingly, some of the trees that Charles would have ridden past still stand today."

Stag beetles, bats, and mothsI did not encounter, but am completely taken by the part about the anthills. And, ohmygod, the very trees past which the king, running from the plague, rode?  From such a factoid you could plotz!

My day in the park, what with all the ins and outs  added up to 15 miles.  Some of it was delightful; some was a slog.  When it got hot and there was not shade, and the scenery looked like this: 

it was a slog.

The park is HUGE, and a lot of it is quite lovely.  The best part, where I did not spend anywhere near enough time, was The Isabella Plantation, where someone, named Kev, whose Insta (as people seem to call it) I have but cannot find it on my phone, took this photo:

(For some reason, it evokes that  R.E.M song...."That's me in the corner..." Only really, that's me looking at my phone trying to figure out where I am)

The Isabella Plantation, really a park within a park, was spectacular.  I didn't even try to take any pictures, but look here if you want to get a sense of its prettiness.  What you cannot see from the pictures are the paths and ins and outs, which is what gives the growing things such charm.  Every twist and turn yields a new surprise.

Not in the Plantation—BTW, I am surprised that word hasn't been woked out of existence—but in the park proper was this structure, which, in East Rock Park, IS NO LONGER ALLOWED!  

As noted above, red deer are a big attraction in the park.  Take a look at those fab, velvety antlers!  Inter alia, they serve to scratch a hind leg 

It can't be easy to walk around carrying all that weight on your head.  Here is the Google scoop on antler function, which maybe everyone knows anyway, but it's been a slow newsday!

• Dominance and Mating:  Male deer, especially during the rut, engage in fights to determine which deer will have access to females for mating.(Ok, so does the winner get ALL the does?)

• Sparring and Rituals:  Deer fights often involve sparring with antlers and pushing matches to assess strength. (And the antler bashing makes a lot of noise, too.)
• Consequences of Losing:  The loser of a fight typically yields to the victor, retreating and avoiding further confrontation. (That's gotta sting.) 
• Potential Injuries:  While fights are often ritualistic, injuries like skull trauma, ruptured arteries, or gouges from antlers can occur, according to aboutdeer.com. (Oy!)
• Stress and Energy Expenditure:  Fighting is energetically costly and stressful for the deer involved. (One would think.)
• Continuing Challenges:  The dominant deer may still face challenges from other males, so they cannot rest on their laurels. (It's a hard knock life, really!)

June 14-15, Departure and Arrival

 Two and a half hours to JFK on a Saturday afternoon, in the rain, is not bad at all, and since I had reserved a,—OK, let's call it by its name, Virgin Atlantic Upper Class!!! seat, check in and security took about five minutes.  With tons of time to spare, I thought it wise to check my phone plan.  Had the Unlimited International kicked in?  No, it had not!  Netflix with ads, which I had unsuccessfully tired to cancel, was still there.  Fortunately, I had the 800 number for international plans, which is a mighty good thing, because that little-known number allows you to speak to a person. Unfortunately, however, the person I got was barely understandable, and it sounded as if she was a million miles away, which I am guessing, she was.  Anyhow after some irritating back a forth, it seemed as if all was in working order, only it was not.  I still had the plan featuring Netflix with ads + an extra $100.00 charge for switching plans.  Another phone call, this time with a man who did not seem to be millions of miles away, and, after a  L O N G  L O N G time on hold, the desired plan was finally in place, for real, at last.  

At least there was some art at the airpot: 

                         

No, not an ad for an Apple Store.

Slept all the way from New York to London, a way of travel I highly recommend. 

The weather was perfect—today— and Richmond, several miles from central London, is an upscale area, full of upscale offerings:  shops, bakeries, coffee shops, eateries of many many kinds, lovely homes, a huge, and I mean huge green...maybe the size of a number of football fields, yeah, lots and lots  of football fields, parks, and so on.  Oh, and there is the Thames, of course!

As I was admiring this house: 

                                                

a woman came out.  She announced with some nostalgia that the roses had been just beautiful this year, but now she will have to wait for the second blooming.  But as you can see, what is there now is far from shabby.

Then I met Louie:

                                                        

Man, he was a huffing and a puffing.

Anya and Hugo, on the other hand, were neither huffing nor puffing:                                                                    

They were itching and scratching. or thinking and grooming.

And whom do we have here?!!

None other than:

In the soda section of the local Waitrose...No, I did not try any:

Life or art? 

Clearly, it is an attempt at art.  The @NatBowenArt reveals all!

Madrid, July 17 and 18 and home July 19

 After doing the River Walk on Wednesday, I thought I would check out the location of Joanne´s (very very fine) hotel.  Just as was approaching, a taxi pulled up and who should emerge but Joanne!  She had stuff to do, so I walked around, returned later for snacks provided by the (very very fine) hotel, and then we went on a tour of the Royal Palace, where, among much opulence there was quite a finely framed mirror:

I was most impressed by the fabrics on the walls, and most unimpressed by the fact that the Palace owns two Stradivarius violins and one viola, which are played rarely,  at the most special of occasions.  That just seems not to be the best use for such precious instruments...IMO.  OTOH it was an experience to see the instruments up close. They were beautiful.  And I was most amused by the account (true) of King Juan Carlos who was forced to abdicate in 2020 due to his having done some illegal elephant hunting and for having been involved in shady business deals in Saudi Arabia while Spain was having a fiscal crisis.  So off he went to live in Abu Dhabi, sustained by his almost 2 billion euro personal fortune and perhaps to continue indulging in more shady business deals.

This morning I walked hither and thither yon and returned to the Retiro, a good place to be on a hot day.  

There I learned something:  Lilies of the Nile:

also come in white:

There were ten little dicky birds sitting on a fence:

and, no, one did not fly away.  I just could fit number 10 into the frame since the guy on the left wouldn´t move over.

Speaking of birds.  Where were the peacocks?   By and by I came upon a peahen:

And finally Mr. Peacock

One must not neglect to notice the lovely little tuft on its head:

At noon I met Joanne at the Reina Sofia Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building itself is impressive and an unusual space for an art museum. That is because in its former life, it had been a hospital.

Some of the art was pretty whacky, but not all!  

A few favorites were this Miro:

A beautiful Spanish woman, artist not named:

And a woman who had a challah like affair on her head:

because where else are you going to put it?

We spent the whole afternoon there and then it was time to go!

The trip home was made eventful but the massive computer issue that affected many parts of the world.  Luckily, my flight was delayed only two hours, and Joanne´s somewhat less.  Then driver who was to pick me up at JFK was held up by traffic and went to the wrong terminal.  The point of these details is to communicate this:  Pacing back and forth when your flight and driver are delayed  can allow you to get over ten miles of walking in for the day, which is better than nothing.

Madrid July 15 and 16

 An expat named Matt Smith drove me to Santiago de Compostela whence the train to Madrid.  The drive was an hour, the train three hours, wait time between arrival at train station and train departure, one hour.  That one hour was spent pacing back and forth, suitcase in tow, because what was I going to do, sit?

There were three reasons I wanted to get to the station early: to make sure the ticket I had was adequate.  The guy at Customer Service looked at it scornfully and told me it was not big enough!  "Es todo lo que tengo.  (It is all I have)," I told him. He looked at me scornfully, took a picture of the QR code, printed out a paper ticket, crumpled up my (perfectly good) piece of paper, threw it in the trash, looked at me scornfully again, handed me the new ticket, and that was that.  The second reason was that I wanted to get on the train early to secure a space for my suitcase.  Desafortunadamente, that was not possible as the train pulled into the station about two minutes before it was scheduled to leave and the eager hoards were rushing to their assigned cars with the same plan in mind.  I left the bag in the baggage area but protruding into the aisle. Someone must have come along and rearranged the suitcases because it ended up in a kosher spot.  And the third reason was YOU NEVER KNOW!!

The train offered wi-fi that did not connect to the internet.   Fortunately I had a Sunday puzzle already in play, so I finished that up.  Sitting beside me was a woman of enormous proportions, who, with a couple of friends had done the last bit of the Portuguese Camino.  She was looking forward to a nice rest in Madrid.  I was looking forward to wi-fi. 

Hotel: OMG it is gorgeous!  I was worried that the pictures overplayed the reality, but no, this is not a tacky Air B&B marketed as a luxury apartment.  It is genuinely gracious and comfortable. (The immediate neighborhood leaves something to be desired, though.)  And there is a supermarket open 24/7 closer to the hotel than Nica´s is to my house!  I was planning on cooking eggs. onion, and potatoes, but instead, made toast.  There are other dining options, for example, you can order in, if that is your preference.  You can reserve the gym for yourself!  (They don´t have a rowing machine so I won´t bother.) And there are many other amenities of which I am unlikely to take advantage.  

This morning, at 6:45 a.m. I left on a city walk that was about 3 1/2 hours long.  It could have been designed better, but it had some worthwhile moments like the rose garden where there are many many many different cultivars, each in its own bed..

The fairest of them all:

And there was a market that offers all manner of tappas and other eatables most artistically presented:

Even the olives were glistening and nicely arrnged:

The tour completed and I being fortified by the fritata I had been waiting to cook, I headed off to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which does have an impressive collection.  The Thyssens made their money in steel and spent in art.  The Bornemisza part of the name is from a Hungarian wife of one of the sons, or something like that.

Gaugin welcomes you into the museum:

The artist  of this flower needs no introduction:

But the painter of Cat Learning Fire may:

Robert Nava

I got a kick out of this glistening, gold plated, traveling tea set.  When heading off to Nepal or where ever, back in the day, you would not leave home without it:

A stroll in the Retiro:

 

Another stroll in the botanic garden with no photos to show for it, and then "home,"  in a manner of speaking.

 

Muxía July 14 and 15

Let´s just jump to the end, more or less.  Tell me, is this the way to end a two month long walk in Spain?

 

There has to have been a lot of rerouting most likely to accommodate cyclists. If not that, then since there has been a fair amount of deforestation, the route has been diverted to main roads.   In any case, this highway schlep hardly elicits joy!  It is more, "Are we there yet?"

Arrived in Muxia at 10:30, and again the receptionist, who I think was actually the owner, let me up to the room.  Sometimes I think my less than fluent attempts to speak Spanish help in matters such as this.  The guy looked at my passport and asked, "Did you hear that Trump was shot?"  "¡Claro!"  Holding up my phone, "¡Tengo mis dispositivos!" (I have my devices.)

I did a smart thing today and put my Keenes in the pack, so that I could change when I got here.  I had figured out the suitcase delivery schedule for this section of the trip, so knew the bag would not arrive until about 2:00.  Reshod, I set out to do a six mile rather challenging coastal walk but the wind was beyond awful.  I could barely walk against it, so I just walked along the shore.  When I went down to the beach I thought "This would be so bad for a person wearing contact lenses!""  The sand got into your eyes, your mouth, it stung your legs.  I cannot imagine a sandstorm in the desert!  Then, just to spice things up, it started to rain!  Apparenlty it has been raining pretty much since October.

The water was several different colors:

So, this is it!  No feeling of accomplishment, just a feeling of "OK, it is over! I made it!  On to Madrid!"  

P.S.

I wasn´t being picked up until 8:30 so there was time for an early morning walk. 

Muxia 6:30 a.m.

6:45:

7:30 

Ahh, what a nice time for the gulls when no one is around:

Of a truth, though, it is unlikely that the gulls have to share this bit of beach very often. 

Confession:  I could not bear my boots for one more minute, so I deposited them in a secluded spot where they can take a rest for a      l.      o.       n.        g.     time.

 

Lires, July 13

Oh, hello, collection of cats!
 

Almost immediately after starting out today, and just after the cats, I saw a Camino sign, then, as is my custom, glanced at the route on my phone. They so did not match!  I did not know what to do.  By and by two men came along and pointed me in the direction of the yellow arrow, so for a few minutes I walked along, but then thought, "Ya know, the other route looks more beautiful, above the ocean and even a beach section, I think I will turn around and do that instead."  So I did.  For about an hour it was lovely.........until a left turn onto an unmarked path.  I took the path for about 10 minutes or so.  It started to become a steep downhill and somewhat overgrown.  I got kind of scared and decided that to continue would be risky.  Coastal paths can have some serious droppage and other difficulties such as you could fall off.  I also worried that the beach section might be affected by the tide,  (YOU NEVER KNOW!) so I turned around, reached the road, and, leaving that adventure behind, figured out a way to get to the standard, boring path, which turned out to be really boring. 

The nice recepcionista at the hotel let me into my room early.  I took a few things out of my pack, went downstairs and refuelled with a sparkling water and a magnum, and then did a three mile walk around a bit of coast.  But since this is a town with nothing in it, and I mean nothing except B and B´s, albergues and bar/restaurants, there is not much to do except admire the view.  Well, there is always another walk.....

On the way to Lires there was a lumber concern.  The machine spitting out the wood chips made a lot of noise:

And this is the guy who moves the logs, sort of like the guy who moved those bales of hay, only this guy scoops up the logs from the front:

Dude, I feel your pain:

View from the local walk in Lires:

Coastlines are so often dramatic.  Just think, had I not turned around, I would have been walking above that (unless there had been some other outcome):

Sign out in the middle of nowhere where there is nobody!

It is heather time!

And yellow-lilies-that-look-like-wax time:

Finisterre July 12

I did not see much of Cee yesterday, but I did see Cee this morning.   The walk began along the water and it was quiet and a complete delight.  Also, it was a gorgeous day, the first in some time. I do love setting out before sunrise to catch moments such as this:

There were still shade of grey:

That, too, was beautiful!

Shells are a major motif of  Los Caminos:

Cat of the day:

Finisterre:

If you want to sound like a local, you would say Fisterre.  If you want to show off your Latin, Finisterre.  In any case you are at the end of the land is where you are, on the Atlantic coast at the westernmost point of Spain. 

I arrived at 10:00 a.m., stopped at the hotel and told la recepcionista that I knew it was too early to check in, but could I use the aseo (bathroom)?  "Your room is ready," she said, but in Spanish.  "¿De veras?"  Really?  It was so nice to be able to go to my room, lighten the backpack, go to the bathroom not behind some bushes, and drink the ice cold water that was in the mini-frig!  Some days you get lucky!

There is a lighthouse about an hour´s walk from Finisterre, but I did not go there because I already did the last time I was here, and it is a hideous walk for an hour along a highway—not to mention an hour back—no shade, lots of cars, but I was tempted because I remembered a cafe, where, I assume, they sell good ice cream.  Most people would opt for a beer, so maybe my expectations would have gone unmet!  Had my suitcase arrived early enough, I might have schlepped out there since I would have been able to change my Zamberlan boots for the Keene sandals, but it didn´t so I couldn´t.  Instead, I walked along the coast around town.  

This sand is MY sand:

There will be so grocery stores tomorrow or the next day.  Tomorrow because there are none, and the day after because it is Sunday.  This means careful planning for two and a half days....the half includes Monday morning.  I will not starve; I just worry that I will!