On the pilgrimage-to-santiago forum there was an interesting post about wheat allergies:
http://www.pilgrimage-to-santiago.com forum
An update from the road - on the stretch from Pamplona to Burgos I have found no difficulties at all. eg Bar Basseri in Pamplona advertises a gluten free menu in its window. Breakfast - drinking yogurt, chocolate milk, the ever available tortilla in a bar. Lunch, picnic from a shop, or another tortilla. Dinner- usually the pilgrim menu. safe options include beans (alubias) lentils (lentejas) judias verde (green beans) and for the second course fish or meat "asado" or "a la plancha". Postre - frutas or yogurt. In albergues with kitchens, i cook risotto for the evening, flavoured with a tin of something - squid in salsa americaine, or en su tinta is good, as is the tinned lentil or bean stew with chunks of meat or chorizo ( but read the labels on those tins as some contain gluten). As rice is heavy, I put enough rice for a single portion in a plastic bag and carry that with me. in albergues where there is a rice mountain - eg 6 bags in one place, I use that instead. When I have needed to buy it, I leave the rest behind. If starting out again, I would bring a couple of bags, no more, of quinoa as it cooks so quickly and for a treat when I can't face rice again.I also carry a tin of sardines in tomato sauce as an emergency snack, and try to carry a couple of pieces of fruit. The real challenge is getting enough carbohydratge to fuel the walking- lots of sugar in the morning coffee, bananas, other fruit, choosing paella or beans on a menu whenever available, are all working out just fine. In one place I cooked rice pudding with milk and sugar in the morning - but I had the half hour to do it and that isnt always the case.
Everyone has been very helpful when I've needed it. The celiac condition is known and understood in Spain. In my bad fractured spanish, I point to myself and say "celiaca"; "una cena sin gluten, sin pan, sin harina, sin pasta, sin trigo...por favor" has always worked just fine. In the one albergue where there was a set dinner offered and no restaurant in the village, the hospitalero cooked me an omelette for the main course while everyone else had meatballs in sauce.
Finally - some places with special menus - allegedly all the paradores have a gluten free menu available for all meals. Bar Basseri, in Pamplona. The albergue in Najera has a list of restaurants at the desk and one states that it has a gluten free menu. El Corte Ingles department store - the cafeteria in Bilbao has a gluten free menu of pizza, croquettas, chocolate tart, and gluten free beer. The food shop also sells the standard European range of GF products - cakes, biscuits breads etc.
And also one about new refuges and upgrades to the VDLP route:
The Ourense province has just allocated 5 Million Euros to the betterment of the Camino facilities in the province, including the building of six new albergues: One each in “A Mezquita”, in “Vendas de Barreira”, in “Feces” in “Cualedro”, in “Campo Becerros” and in “Alariz”.
Ruben Lois, in charge of the project, declared that the province of Ourense aims to have a public albergue every 25 kilometers, in addition to the existing albergues and those in the City of Ourense itself.
Ourense is the last leg of one of the alternate endings of the Via de la Plata. Many Via de la Plata pilgrims opt to join the Camino Frances in Astorga, bypassing Ourense. This is possibly understandable since the Ourense route adds some kilometers to the Camino; on the other hand, the albergues there are not crowded and pilgrims who go through Ourense could not be better served. The city itself is very interesting; its Cathedral contains a second “Portico de Gloria” which maintains its original colorings, and a great many Camino treasures. The actual arrival in Santiago from Ourense crossing the river Ulla is enormously moving and spiritually significant…. particularly when compared to arriving in Santiago through industry-sated Lavacolla and its airport.
Ourense was deemed a city of “witches”, perhaps because of its sulphuric hot waters that spout everywhere. Many pilgrims arriving at Ourense take hot baths and swear that they become free from tiredness and aches. The nearby province of Pontevedra has also announced the allocation of one and a half million Euros to improve the facilities of the Camino that crosses the province. Their plans include the building of a new albergue at Castro Dazon. The above projects are expected to be completed by next year’s summer, in anticipation of the Xacobean Holy Year in 2010.
In Seville, meanwhile, there will be meetings and conferences at the end of May to discuss ways and means in which the province can improve, and promote, the Via de la Plata which, it is felt, is the oldest of the routes to Santiago, and the one more historically significant. The province of Seville fairly covers the whole of Andalucia, including Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz (the oldest city, per se, in Europe), etc. The province is enormously influential, as is its government which sits in the provincial capital, the city of Seville. So much interest in the Via de la Plata has been evidenced there of late that I expect that their plans and contributions will be something else.
Sevillians appear to happily inhabit a universe of their own and rarely seem to take notice of other places and peoples, so the upsurge of interest in the Via is most unusual.
Even at the Macarena Confraternity meetings assistance to Via pilgrims has been mentioned, which is most surprising.
Santiagobis was rather quiet this week – the only post of interest was for a lost friend:
Our friend Peter Shaw ("Pete") began the Camino Frances on his bicycle on September ll, 2007 l5 kilometers southwest of Pamplona. By September l5th he was 80 kilometers from Burgos, and by Oct. 3rd he had found a nice alberga 25 kilometers out of Leon. The last E-Mail we got from him was on Oct. 3rd in which he wrote "..I finished the camino to Santiago and now onward to Finester". He also mentioned that he planned to do the Camino Portuguese by bike along the coast to Porto. He requested and we sent him $200 by Western Union to Porto for a new passport, and after that we never heard from him again. (Western Union says the money was cashiered, so he must have gotten it)
So Peter has been out of touch/missing for about 5 months now. Before this he was a very regular E-mail correspondent so it doesn´t make any sense ? Peter is a young-looking 56 yr. old Englishman of average height with blondish hair. He is an artist and often works on the street for tips. ´He spent several years in Barcelona working in the touristic ´barrio gothico´ and he has also traveled widely throughout Europe. Most recently he spent an extended period in Ireland. If you met Peter on the Camino or have any information about him that might help us locate him, please contact either one of us by E-mail:
Jaderge@...
Hadass33@...
Thank you very much and we sincerely hope that with your help we will soon find our friend Peter...
Hadass & Jacques
And - a past pilgrim, Jonathan Drane, has set up a website to find lost pilgrims:
http://www.jondrane.net/fp/Camino%20de%20Santiago-Find%20a%20Pilgrim.htm
On the Caminosantiago forum -The post with the most views and most replies was a request for members to name the one albergue that they would not like to have missed:
Gannon, Manjarin, Ruitelan, Torres del Ria, Casa Mari: Molinaseca - Meson el Palacio. the CSJ albergue at Rabanal. L'espirt du Chemin in St Jean Pied de Port and el Ganso,
I was really surprised that no-one recommended Hospital San Nicolas (where the monks was your feet) Ave Fenix at Villafranca del Bierzo, Eunate Santa Maria or even San Bol.
On the Via Francigena pilgrimage site there was news about a new look website for the AIVF and two new guides - the first English Guides for walking from Canterbury to Rome:
http://www.francigena.ch/newsite/index.php?lang=en
The 2 books are complete and available for distribution:
ISBN 9782917183014 "LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena Canterbury
to the Summit of the Great St Bernard Pass"
ISBN 9782917183021 "LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena - Summit of
the Great St Bernard Pass to St Peter's, Rome"
The listing of the books is being passed to Gardeners (wholesaler) and Amazon, but may take a couple of weeks for all listings to be updated. In the meantime there is a shop facility on:
http://pilgrimagepublications.com/UKShop/PayPal/ppbooks.htmlThe price is 23.99 GBP per volume. The total price compares
reasonably with the combined cost of the old VF Topos and Vademecum."
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