Haloranch

If you'd like to see the photos Hans took while walking the Via de la Plata in October and November 2008, email us at haloranch@xplornet.com and we'll send you an invitation to view them. The photos can be viewed as a slide show or clicked individually, and each one is captioned so you'll know what you're watching on the screen.

Wow. The Rotarians in one of the Rotary Clubs in District 5360 will be sending a cheque on December 5 to The Rotary Foundation in support of The Walk to Beat Polio. The amount? A whopping $17,629 ! That exceeds our goal of $50,000 and brings the total raised for PolioPlus to $51,118. Thank you, Rotarians, for this fabulous donation. Many children will live freed from the scourge of polio.

Night view of Plaza Mayor in Salamanca Stones - sometimes there's no convenient place on which to paint a yellow directional sign, so they use stones.

Got some photos from Hans in the mail today, so here's a selection for you to enjoy. A view of Zamora. Here you see Hans writing in his journal at the end of the day. /W7QOcQTA-8M/s1600-h/015.JPG"> How's this for a catchy name for a sandwich?

Thanks to all the supporters of Walk to Beat Polio I would like to extend my great thanks and appreciation to all those individuals, whether Rotarians or friends and family, who supported the "Walk to Beat Polio" project. Whether your support was financial and/or emails with words of encouragement, they all helped to inspire me to complete the walk. And there is no better cause to support than Rotary International’s effort to eradicate polio from the world once and for all. There is no doubt that I underestimated "mother nature" when I thought that the weather this year would be much the same as it was last year. All my research indicated it might only be a bit cooler and a bit wetter. I had no expectation that I would face winter-like conditions for almost 10 days and I was ill prepared to deal with it. You can deal with hot and wet weather fairly readily as it is mostly a discomfort but freezing temperatures with strong winds is something totally different when ...

Peregrinos When I planned this trip I knew that there would be a lot less peregrinos as compared to last year. Statistically only about five percent of the Compostelas are issued to those doing the Via de la Plata. Over the whole 5 week period of the walk I saw no more than 20 pilgrims. Over the last 500 kilometers I saw only three walkers. Julia, a young lady (mid thirties) from Germany, whom I saw for two days until she took the northern route to Astorga and I headed over the mountains to Ourense. Federico, a Spanish gentleman (mid fifties) who was walking an astounding 40 kilometers per day but taking about 12 hours to do so. He arrived in Santiago two days ago and started in Sevilla four days after me. Thus he was taking only 29 days to walk the 1007 kilometers. Bart (mid forties) from Belgium, who was at the albergue in Ourense when I arrived and was still there when I left. He was straying there until he recovered from flu symptoms......he said! In my view he was taking advantage...

I have completed my Rotary Project! I arrived at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela at 11:40 this morning after a 3 1/2 hour, 17 km walk from Capilla de Santiaguino. A total of 1007 km and 1.248 million steps from Seville. I then attended the noon mass, went to the Peregrino Office where my credentials were validated and I was issued my Compostela. There I learned that the big albergue where I stayed last year was closed for the winter. So, Iwalked down the street to the address where Markus and I had stayed the second night last year and lo and behold got a room for 15 euros per night for a couple of days. The last four days from Ourense to Santiagode Compostela, a distance of 111 kilometers was supposed to be a piece of cake but didnñt quite turn out that way. Firstly, I probably walked about 120 kilmetres when on the second day I missed a marker and ended up walking about 38 kilometers as opposed to the 29 that my guide book suggested. I must have been in a mental fog and the ...