28 May 2008

It is still raining in Santiago. I see on the news that it is also raining in Barcelona. It seems that the rain in Spain is much more than a line in a song. Everything is wet. Even our dry clothes get damp just sitting in our packs!!! Danielle´s cold has not improved, and it is dragging her down making her susceptable to other infections. Today we went to the train station and bought tickets for Vigo for tomorrow. We will go to the Air France counter and change our tickets to get home early. It sounds like a wet and damp ending for such an adventure, but it was always about the journey not the destination.

27 May 2008

This is our final day on the Camino. It is still raining, but not too cold. Danielle has been unable to shake off the cold that she has had for days, and it is beginning to wear her down. We are all thankful that this odessy has come to an end. This morning we strapped ourselves into our harnesses as usual put on our grimy shoes and for the last 10 kms set off down the road to the Cathedral of Santiago. Most of the way was through an urban landscape, and it seemed as if hundreds of pilgrims were converging into the narrow streets leading to the Portal de Compostella. It turns out that they were, all the various Caminos converge here, so those doing the Portugese, the Northern and other less well known routes all converge here in Santiago. When we finally entered the Cathedral grounds, we were greeted by a friend with whom we had walked many miles. She had arrived in Santiago a couple of days ago and was spending some time in the town. She showed us to her pension where we were lucky to get a room, as it was very close to the Cathedral. After checking in, we went to the office of the Perigrinos and stood in line to get our Compostella. Well we are now certified pilgrims, so we attended the pilgrim mass, and saw the huge boit a fumero being swung across the entire church. It was a sight to behold. Our completion of the Camino will be read out at the pilgrim mass tomorrow where we will be listed as ´two Canadians starting from St. Jean Pied de Port´. Tonight we will go out to dinner with a friend, or friends and decide what we will do with our remaining time we have in Spain.

26 May 2008

It rained all day, so we were thankful for the 15 km walk into Lavacolla. The walk was easy and uneventful. Even the scenery has turned to drab. Fields and fields of weeds through which the Camino winds quite often through shady canopies of trees which provide some protection from the rain. The total feel of the Camino has changed in the last few days. There has been an influx of new walkers, and also during the weekend bus loads of Camino´tourists´have joined the walk for short stints with small day packs. Needless to say the camaradrie felt by those that walked long distances is no longer. Also it seems as if the businesses which the pilgrims frequent such as bars and restaurants don´t seem to be well disposed to pilgrims. It seems as if they depend on them less, than those higher up the Camino. Anyway all that to say that we are glad it is almost over. We did the 15 kms in about 3 hours and checked into a little pension in Lavacolla about 10 kms from Santiago. Dinner was terrible and we went to bed early and hungry. What I wouldn´t give for a good plate of rice and curry!

25 May 2008

Finally a good day. It is not bright and sunny, but it is not raining and it is quite cool, perfect weather for walking.Our walk today crossed numerous small river valleys, and involved a lot of ups and downs all day. The villages are no longer as pretty as the ones during the early part of the walk, They are usually small dairy farming places with few houses and virtually no facilities. We try to get past them as quickly as possible. We had expected to slow down as we got closer to Santiago, mainly because of the lack of lodgings along the way. Unfortunately two short days left us with a long 20+ walk on our final day. In order to fix that, we decided to do a very long 30+ km day an make all the way from Melide into Brea. We were not the only ones with that plan, so when we got into Brea, in the rain, the one and only hostel was full. They assigned a couple of beds to us in a dormatory, and we were resigned to living refugio style again. Fortunately a Canadian girl we had met further up the road found that she had no use for the two bed room she had reserved, so they gave it to us. In the end it was a pleasant evening with a German couple we met at the hostal. Tomorrow it will be a short day into Lavacolla only 15 kms away.

24 May 2008

Just a word about yesterday´s dinner. We had not fully understood what the young woman was offering us. She did ask us if we wanted the ¨especiale¨. It was a chulettón and not a chuletta. Whatever... In fact it was a 970 gram steak covering our whole plate with not an inch to spare for anything else not even for cutting the humongous thing. It was quite tasty since it was fried in garlic and even had been salted, unheard of though more common here in Galicia. Pepper never makes it into anything not even on the table. We dragged ourselves away from the table not having had this much meat in the whole month put together. It turns out that the 18 Euro price which we though was for two was in fact for each of us. We had a good laugh and fell into bed like rocks.

We hit the road once again this morning under a cloud covered sky. We stopped for cafe con leche which is now a must for Bernie who never had anything but tea at home. He is now a convert to Spanish coffee which is consistently excellent. The road was good and the walk fairly easy today. Whenever we got too warm and decided to take our raincoats off, it started to rain. So we put them back on and minutes later, it was nice. This went on all morning. At one point, we got to a place called Furelos. It had a very old church with a most unique crucifix. Only one of Christ´s hands was nailed to the cross which left his other arm hanging by his side. Even the stamp (sello) provided by the church for our credentials, depicted this unique crucifix. We will have a picture in our album. We are now checked into a nice Hostel in a town called Melide and we have already had a rest and a great lunch with vino tinto, salad and great meats. It was a short walk today since it is becoming difficult to break up the remaining distance into pieces that would lead to decent accomodation at the end of the day. We either have to make them too short or much too long. We are opting for short. We will now go see the town and, if anything interesting comes up, we will report later on.

23 May 2008

Well today it rained off and on all day sometimes a torrential downpour but mostly a drizzle. The path however was very pleasant and sometimes downright beautiful as it went through a forest canopy. We passed through a few small towns, nothing extraordinary and generally not too smelly, an improvement. We walked for over 7 hours and covered a distance of 24 kms. By the time we arrive at our destination, we were quite wet but still in good spirits. As has become our custom these days, we checked into an inexpensive pension which is a bit more expensive than an Albergue but much better value for our money. We should be in Santiago by the beginning of next week. There is not much more to say for today. It was an uneventful day except for the incessant rain. We have already arranged to have dinner at our Pension. On the menu is chuletta de lomo, just more drab Peregrino food but the desert here is really good. They make a really great cake called Tarta de Santiago, a beautiful almond cake served all over the place, a nice change from Flan. We are now off to dry all of our clothes because more rain is in the forecast tomorrow and the following days. Our shoes will be in the garbage as soon as we get home.

22 May 2008

Our Albergue was comfortable but the evening meal was not the greatest. We went for a walk after diner, for a change, and realized how big a city we were in. It had a downtown with lots of shop. Too bad we can´t put one more thing in our packs.
After a decent night´s sleep, we started off at about 7:30 this morning, destined for Portomarin, about 24 kms away. It was a beautiful sunny day and we very quickly shed our excess clothing. The walk was generally very pleasant and quite often on a shady pathway but on occasion it got muddy and we even had to walk along the bed of a fast flowing stream. The Camino went through a number of picturesque but smelly villages. We climbed from the first moment we started, decended and climbed again for the rest of the day until we finally had a great downhill to master. That has to be the hardest thing on our knees. The highlight of the day was crossing the 100 km marker which means we are now within a 5 day walk to Santiago. We are now in the village after doing our daily laundry and having our shower and it is pouring rain. The forecast seems to be more of the same for tomorrow. During the day while stopped for our usual cafe con leche, we met some people who had just started in Sarria. They were all full of vim and vigor but when we finally got to Portomarin around 2 p.m., they were nowhere to be seen.
Portomarin is on a river and as we entered the town today, we were faced with crossing the bridge over that river and, from afar, we could see a staircase leading up to the town, a very long and steep staircase. (remember, we had just made it down). You have no idea how discouraging that is when you have been walking for almost 6 hours, in mud, water, and more... Once at the top of the stairs, we were faced with a long steep hill leading us to the town itself.
We have not been to dinner as yet and we are not looking forward to having to make it back to our Albergue in this torrential rain. I hope tomorrow is not as bad as this. We´ll let you know next time we find an internet cafe.

21 May 2008

The Albergue where we stayed yesterday was quite comfortable and we took full advantage of it by being the first ones in and the last ones out this morning. We had originally planned to go to Sarria via Samos to see the huge and old Benedictine Monastary but because of our late start, we opted to take the direct route and reduce our walk by 4 kms. The distance to Sarria was now 18kms. It was definitely the more scenic route. It was sort of cloudy when we left but quite pleasant to walk. The path took us through a few small villages, some of them rather smelly but generally very scenic. We climbed upwards for part of the day, spent the rest of the time going down, nothing is ever easy. At one point, the path was a river bed which was still flowing so we were either going through water or mud. At other times, we shared the path with cows who dropped their calling cards all over the place. All in all, it was a great day even when the skies opened up and we got soaked in a heavy downpour and that, just as we were about to enter the city. As usual, the Albergue was at the top of the hill in the old section. One could take a street up or the steps, about 70 of them. We took the steps nice and easy and made it to Caille Major where we found a place to stay. We opted for a double room for an extra 5Euros. We have just been walking through the town after having had our daily shower but there doesn´t seem to be very much to look at. There seems to be a lot of refugios in Sarria since this is the starting place for many a pilgrim who want to do the minimum 100kms to qualify for a Compostella. By the weekend, we have heard that there should be a huge influx of Peregrinos mostly from Europe followed by those from North America, somewhat later in the week. We don´t think it should be much more than 5 or 6 days for us to reach Santiago. Hopefully, our luck will hold and we will stay in relatively good shape as nothing hurts anymore. Perhaps we are just numb but it feels good. We will be having dinner early at our Albergue but now we are off for a Cerveza and Coca Cola. Hasta Luego everyone.

20 May 2008

The day started out bright and beautiful with not a cloud in the sky. The beds were probably the best on the Camino so far though really crowded. Since we had checked in much later than usual, we did not have the best of places. Our beds were right by the door so, everytime somebody entered or left, they would walk past us. In spite of that, we still had a good night´s sleep. Today´s walk was to be fairly short into Triacastela, only 12 kms away. The thing about this walk which made it quite difficult, was that it was a steep decline on a very rocky and often muddy path, littered with cow patties. Yea, my nose is plugged and I can´t smell a thing. We got into Triacastela quite early, about 11 a.m. after passing through a few small dairy villages. I am not feeling so great so stopping early is a plus for many reasons. We hope to catch up on our emails and laundry and now, we have the best beds in the room. The Albergue is fairly new, bright and spacious, well equipped with laundry machines and internet facilities. Let´s see what the rest of the day brings. We are now 137 kms from Santiago. Sarria is the starting point for all those people who want to do the minimum 100 kms to qualify for a Compostella or a certificate of completion. Therefore, we expect to encounter many more people on the road and in the Albergues. People that we have been traveling with plan to be in Santiago by next Sunday. We have not planned that far ahead.

19 May 2008

It turns out that the Albergue we stayed at in Ruitélan was a Bhuddist Albergue. It had a picture of the Dalai Llama on the bulletin board, and burned incense sticks. The atmosphere was very friendly as we had met most of the people previously, and though we were packed in like sardines (1 toilet and shower for 34 people) things went quite well. The communal dinner was also very good with a bottomless jug of wine, a huge platter of salad, a huge pot of soup and a huge pot of spaghetti carbonara. We felt sorry for the young girl beside us who was a vegeratian. The next day was the day we were to climb El Ceribiero, so it was early to bed.

We didn´t get that early a start, as we were told the night before that nobody could move until the music started at 6:30 a.m. We were woken up with the Ave Maria, it was really beautiful. As most dawdled over breakfast which consisted of the great Spanish pane cut into rough slices and toasted, together with butter and honey or one of any number of jams, we were not out until 7:30. By-the-way Tim Horton´s has nothing on Spanish coffee. It is consistently good wherever one has it. All the restaurants have elaborate machines not only for making the coffee, but also for despensing it and packing it. I have become a convert to Spanish coffee, which means that I will have to revert to tea back in Canada. Anyway all that to say that we got off to a slow start. It was drizzling slightly so we water-proofed ourselves and set out with our packs, even though we had talked about having them sent. For the most part, the climb was not that difficult for us and the scenery was breathtaking. One must describe a part of the path later on that morning. Enormous cow patties littered the path, they were really smelly and disgusting. Because of the rain or because of a rather sick herd, the stuff was glistening. As we moved on, again because of the rain of previous days, we had to trudge through this smelly mud in which I could see the mixture of glistening cow dung. It did not seem to bother very many people but it did me. I was heaving every now and then but we made it past this maybe 500 metres and the rest of the road was beautiful. We were so pleased with ourselves when we got to Cebreiro, which was packed with busloads of tourists "pilgrims". We had heard so much about this climb and it had turned out to be fairly easy for us but, it was not finished. After descending for a while, we climbed again to the same altitude as Cebreiro but in a much shorter distance. That was the difficult part people must have been talking about. Up at the altitude of 1500 metres, it was quite cold and since we were already sweating, it was quite uncomfortable. The descent to Fonfria was long and tedious and, by then, we had walked 22 kms, so it was time to stop. The Albergue was run by a Portugese couple and, again, was really full. The dinner wss, like the previous day, a communal meal, serve in a most unusual but very nice round building made of stone with a straw roof. Just before getting to Cebreiro, we entered the province of Galicia. Maybe it is our imagination but we all noticed that the food was a lot tastier. They seemed to not be afraid to use salt and some spices. Dinner was enjoyed by all and again, a bottomless jug of wine made everyone quite jolly. We were in bed by 10 p.m. I (Danielle) seem to now have quite the head cold. My theory is that dog suffer from Kennel cough and Peregrinos suffer with a Peregrino cough.

18 May 2008

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning. It was still pouring so we were in no rush to leave for our 10 km walk. We donned our rain gear, covered our packs and braved the weather at around 10am. The walk so quite easy through a few picturesque villages though the weather made it more difficult to enjoy the view. We were quite impressed with the modern highways crossing the valleys high overhead, hundreds of feet above our heads. It was quite a feat of engineering and, even in the pouring rain, Bernie had his camera out every few minutes. We went through La Portela, Ambasmestas, Vega de Valcarce and stopped in Ruitelán, 168 kms from Santiago. The Alberque here is quite basic but the Hosteliero very warm and welcoming. They serve dinner and we were told that no one stirs unitl the music starts in the morning at 6:30. There is breakfast and then you can leave. So it will not be an very early start. We have a big day ahead of us as our next destination point is Fonfria. We will let you know tomorrow, how the climb went.

17 May 2008

We had a great night in our own private room at the Albergue. Bernie got up at 5 am to beat everyone to the sink and shave. We were ready to leave by 5:30 only to find out that the gate at the entrance of our compound gets locked at night and does not reopen before 6 the next morning. Having 30 minutes to kill, we went to the coffee machine for cafe con leche and hot chocolate. Promptly at 6, we hit the pavement and started to walk with Melanie or Jon´s headlight strapped to Bernie´s head. He looked like a miner. The road was following the highway but being Saturday, no one was on it. After a while, we got across and onto the Camino path which went through vineyards, up hills and back into valleys and finally, into Villafranca del Bierzo, the center of this wine district. The town was of course as high as possible but very picturesque and one of the most attractive on the Camino. The romanesque church of Santiago has a Puerta del Perdón. Pilgrims having made it this far but to sick to continue had only to pass the door of forgiveness to be granted the same benefits and indulgences as if the had completed the pilgrimmage. From here on, the Camino followed the highway separated by concrete barriers. It was a difficult walk because of the continuous slant of the road towards the curb and, after about 20 kms of walking, the skies open and it started to pour. We called it a day at that time and checked into a roadside hotel for the night. We got a chance to have leisurely baths in hot water and to do our daily wash. There was a restaurant in that place where we got the usual Spanish fare, overcooked vegetables but great fish. The surrounding villages have no nightlife so, being Saturday, the place filled up to the gunnels with young couples, their children and even the grand-parents. It seems like everyone was having a good time. We rushed out of the smoked filled room and went to ours. Tomorrow, we don´t plan much of a walk perhaps just 10kms to the base of El Cebreiro.

16 May 2008

We want to start by wishing Francois a belated Happy Birthday. We know it was yesterday but we had no internet facilities then.

Also very important, all the very best of wishes to Teresa and Sean on their upcoming wedding day. May it be the most beautiful in every way and may it bring you both, health, wealth and happiness.

We got up later than usual and decided to take our time since Danielle had not been to well during the night. Our stuff was scattered all over the room so by the time we finished getting ready, it was about 8:30. We had breakfast and hit the road by 9:oo. It was not clear as to where we had to pick up the Camino so, after going around in circles for a while, we asked a few people and they all steered us in the same direction. The long straight road leaving Ponferrada went on for miles and miles, always on sidewalks which hurt Bernie´s shins, up to Fuentes Nuevas a distance of 8 kms. It then started to improve passing through vineyards (we are back in wine country) all the way to Camponaraya and finally Cacabellos, a further distance of 8 kms. We decided to stop eventhough 18 kms was not a full day but by now, it was already 1:30 and to go on, we would have had to walk for another 2 hours making it too long a day. The Albergue we stopped in is quite interesting. It is built like a long curved motel with many two- bed rooms. The washing and drying facilities are good and the showers with hot water and toilets very clean. The town is quite interesting and a lot of effort seems to be made to renovate a lot of the older buildings and even build new facilities. There are lots of storks in the area and they occupy all the belfries and every other high point available. Today, getting here, we even saw a stork nesting on a crane that was in use at a construction site! Needless to say, that was another picture in our collection of stork pictures. The villagers here like having them around for good luck. In another day or so, we will be faced with the extremely steep climb of El Cebreiro which goes from 600 to 1400 metres. It is suggested to have your bag transported during that leg. We are getting quite close now to the end of this odessy, less than 200 kms of the 800, to our destination of Santiago. Our feet are looking forward to finishing. A demain tout le monde.

15 May 2008

First a correction to our last post. Foncabadón was not our destination point since it was just about 6 kms away.

This morning we got us a bit later than usual because last evening we were asked to do a reading at Vespers at 7:00 p.m. The Monks did the ceremony in Gregorian chant and at the appropriate time, a reading was done in Spanish, English, French and German. The reason we were asked was that we could not get in to the Albergue run by the Confraternity of St.James, a British based organization. The hospitaliero came to find us at the refugio where we had checked in and, trying to be nice to us, offered Bernie the reading part and Bernie immediately said "Danielle can do the French reading" and so it was. All our friends were at that Albergue and made sure they attended Vespers to hear us read. Not one of them understand French but they all said both of us had read well. So much for that compliment. We then went out to dinner with everyone. Here I am back to why we got up late. When we came back to our place, all lights were out and we could not get ourselves ready for the next day. At 4:00 am, some of the guests started to get up and pack and they were out by 4:30. Can´t understand that because it is really dark at that time.

We set out around 7:30, in the rain, and we were in Foncebadón in a little over an hour. It was definitely not the highest point. We kept climbing pretty much all day, in the pouring rain and on trails that were getting quite muddy, slippery and rather dangerous at times. There were times when we would opt to take the road instead but reverting back to the Camino when it seemed that the road route appeared much longer. We finally got to the place where there is a huge rock cairn at the food of a large metal cross. It is here that people finally deposit the rock or rocks they have brought from home and over the years, it has grown to be a huge pile. Most people have written something on their stone and for some of them, it is a very profound and religious experience. They see it as leaving their troubles behind. Amanda and Stephanie, our friends from Australia, had brought a stone for their life long friend who had just died of breast cancer. For them, it was emotional. Leaving the rock cairn, we continued to climb and it continued to pour. Reaching a town called Riejo de Ambrós, we stepped into the only cafe so far which was packed with people in wet clothing. It was virtually impossible to get anything ordered. We sat at a table at which Amanda and Stephanie had been eating and when they left, a British couple joined us. He had been a Vicar at St James parish in England. They had just ordered a taxi to get down the mountain, about 12 kms to Ponferrada, the temptation was too great and we accepted. Once there, we checked into a little Hostal near the downtown (Bernie had to shave with cold water two mornings in a row, enough already). Since it was still quite rainy, we did not get much of a chance to see the place except for the huge Templar fortress. It was a huge job trying to find a place for dinner since a lot of the bars that do serve meal do lunch but not dinner and the restaurant don´t serve dinner till 9 o clock. By the time we had dinner in the dining room of the Hotel Madrid (a grand hotel in its time), neither of us were in much of a mood to eat. It was quite funny to see the waiter with a crisp white tea towel around his arm, a nice bread basket and tongs place our bread squarely on the tablecloth, no plate no nothing. This town was quite interesting and we would have needed another day to see properly. See you tomorrow.

14 May 2008

First a few words about out stay in Astorga. When we got there, it was raining and cold so we checked into the Albergue and, first things first, we did our daily laundry and had our shower. Now refreshed, we went in search for a Mercado to get our daily vittals. Since it was now cold and raining, we did nothing more than have our dinner and go back to the Albergue. Our room mates had also stepped out for dinner and were not back so we took the opportunity to repack our packs, fill our bladders with water and get ready for the next day. We were up later than usual since our room mates were still sleeping. The rest of the place was alive and someone turned on the hallway lights which was the cue for us to get up even if they were still sleeping. This is the Camino after all, not a 5 star hotel. We were on the road around 7:30 and it was a beautiful day. We took the opportunity to look around town and wer awestruck by the Gaudi Palacio. We had seen one of his buildings in León and it was beautiful but nowhere close to the magnificience of this Palacio in Astorga. The Cathedral was next door. It was also beautiful in a gothic way but nothing to compare with the ones of Burgos and León. That was all the time we had for sightseeing since our destination today was Rabanal del Camino, a distance of 25kms and 750metre climb. The Camino was fairly decent mostly packed earth that started out yellowish and then turned to reddish. It was generally straight km after km. We went through the villages of Murias de Richivaldo, Santa Catlina de Semozza, El Ganso to finally reach Rabanal. As usual the town was at the top of the hill so, at the 25km point, we had this steep hill to climb and no energy left. To make matter worse, the Albergue we chose was at the very top of the hill. As is the custom on the Camino, we lined up our packs outside the door, waiting for the Albergue to open, when a woman volunteer appeared to say that they only had 24 beds and so, anyone after the 24th backpack, would not get in. We started counting and we were bag 26 and 27. Off we went, on a search for another refugio. We ended up at a very nice one called Albergue Pillar. As we were walking towards the reception, this guy came from behind us and thrust his credential on the table before we could produce ours. That´s not all, it turns out he had 4 more but none of the people were visible and he had no backpack with him. When the hospitaliero asked him from where he was, guess what? Allemagne... Later on, we saw him with carkeys and luggage which he distributed on all the beds he was saving. It is freezing here today and we expect it to get colder tomorrow as we climb another 800 metres to Foncabadón, but that´s for tomorrow. For now, we have to think of dinner. Hasta mañana.

13 May 2008

We are now on our way to Astorga. It rained during the night and it is very cloudy and quite cool which is great for walking. The route we have chosen is a couple of kms longer than the road route but takes us through a number of picturesque little villages and towns. The landscape in this part of the Camino is quite different from the Maseta. There are taller trees, hills and mountains in the distance can be seen, and the little grassland birds have been replaced with larger birds such as magpies and other birds we cannot identify by name. We reached Hospital de Orbigo in a couple of hours and were so disappointed that we had not pushed on yesterday. It is most beautiful. It is all dressed up for a Fiesta including the jousting tents in the meadow leading up to the city. We stopped and had breakfast in a little bar just on the other side of an old Roman bridge. The Camino took us through some very interesting landscape, difficult going at times because of the rocky road killing our feet and at other times, it was pleasant. When we finally reached the top of the hill with a cool wind blowing, we just stood there and enjoyed it. We had been quite warm during the climb and it was a relief for both of us. It was a very long trek and at one point we had to take a break. We sat down in a shady place beside the path and had our lunch. The place seems to be just full of Germans. They don´t seem to want to mix and, I suppose, they don´t need to since they can always find someone from home to do a bit of the road with. We also met a couple praying out loud while walking, they did not even respond to our "Hola", quite a rare thing on the Camino. Finally, after over 6 hours of walking, we reached the top of the hill and, there in the distance, we could see Astorga. It was a good 5 kms away but, we now had a target to shoot for. Two hours and four extremely sore feet later, we were in town. There was one final hurdle to overcome, so we thought, and that was an extremely steep hill to reach the town. We got to the Municipal Albergue only to realize that we had to now climp quite a lot of stairs to get into its lobby. Once checked in, we were shown our room - on the fourth floor, no less. It had a great view and another couple in it since it is a 2 bunk bed room. They are German, not that friendly. They went to bed just as we needed to unpack and fell asleep. The guy snores enough to swallow us up. Poor them, we have all our things packed in individual ziplock bags so everything we take out is noisy. Our walk from here will be a continuous uphill all the way to Rabanal del Camino, an 800 meter climb. We almost certainly won´t make it there tomorrow since it is over 25 kms away. Bye for now, we are going to dinner and will hopefully be back to our room before our bunk mates go to sleep. Remember, all our things are in plastic bags!

12 May 2008

We were up and on the road by 6:30. The day off did us good and we were full of energy and without pains. We had to cross the city which took about 2 hours on hard pavement. It was tough on our feet but frankly, everything is, especially the terrible rocky roads which we will share pictures of with you upon our return. On the way out of town, the path took us through the suburbs and finally through the interchanges leading to Leon. It was here that it became confusing as to where we needed to go, there were no real markers indicating the Camino paths. To make matters worse, there were a couple of choices. We wanted the road which was shorter by 6 kms and it was not clear which one that was. That is when we met a guy from Britain who had done the Camino 3 times already and was doing it now for the 4th time. (Crazy... ) He pointed us in the right direction and we set out. We moved from one small town to the next, in an almost seamless fashion. The landscape was much more industrial and far less pleasant to the eye not to mention really noisy because of traffic. Our path followed the road for about 24 kms. At on point, we stopped for cafe con leche and hot chocolate and, guess who we ran into yet again, Amanda and Stephanie. We were leaving and they were just arriving for the cafe so they suggested we meet for lunch in Villadangos del Paramo. When we got there, there was nothing but a panaderia where Bernie bought himself a sandwich. We sat on a bench outside and ate. I had been carrying a couple of yogurts and apples which we polished off which lightened our load. We did not see our friends in the distance even after eating so we pushed on to San Martino del Camino. Since we had always been in the habit of checking into the first Alberque in town, we decided to hold off and check in at the Municipal Albergue, at the end of town. Bad decision. It was so bad that we were the only people in the Albergue. A huge room with probably 50 bunk beds, a kitchen, men and women toilets and shower facilities, all to ourselves! Even there, we were on our own because the hospitaliero did not reside there. She just dropped in to tell us to close the door and lock it from the inside when we were ready for bed. To make matter worse, there was no place to eat in town. In Spain, most bars have a Comidor (a room where they serve meals). In this case, one bar was filled with elderly men, all of them smoking and playing cards and the other one was also full of elderly men playing cards but not much smoke. Neither place served food. The only option was the Mercado (grocery store) and they had nothing much. We settled for a Paella which is ready made and on the shelf. It had an expiry date of December 2009. How can chicken and seafood stay on a shelf for so long and not kill one? We microwaved our dinner and had it. We are still alive so... Since there was no one else with us, we were able to move a couple of beds into a good spot and plug in a heater found in the kitchen to warm us up a bit. I (Danielle) felt like big bird when I got into bed. The mattress sank so badly to the middle that I was like in a nest. We could not wait to get out of there. I (Danielle) went outside while Bernie was showering and, low and behold, Amanda and Stephanie were walking by on their way to Hospital del Orbigo. I felt like packing up and going with them. It was another couple of hours walk and we were both sore. Bernie had quite a lot of pain in one leg and Stephanie rubbed it with an analgesic cream. They sat and rested for while and took off. They cover a lot of ground because they have much less time than we do.

11 May 2008

Fantastic, a day off and we did not have to get up at 5 am to avoid the heat by the end of our trek. Our second day in Leon is a beautiful, sunny one. The cold winds of the previous day have died out though it is still unseasonably cold for this time of year, 16 C. After breakfast in a nice little cafe right by our Hostal, we went to see the San Marcos Cathedral part of which has been converted into a luxury hotel or Parador. The entire building has been renovated and is absolutely breathtaking. It is located in a big square, Plaza San Marcos and on such a beautiful day, it is filled with people. We were walking towards the church and we came face to face with our two friends, Stephanie and Amanda, whom we had not seen for some days now. They were just as happy as we were and so we spent the rest of the day together, wanderng through the town, taking pictures and stopping every now and then for wine, cerveza and tapas. It was a most pleasant afternoon. Later that day, we scoured the city looking for our Pizza place because they felt they would love a pizza and we were only too glad to go back. We finally found the place called Competencia. They were so thankful for our perseverance. After the pizza meal, we went for churros and a cup of dark liquid chocolate to dunk in. It was decadent and succulent but it was the Spanish way and who are we to complain. When in Spain do as the Spanish do. We never mentioned that the owners of our little Hostal had told us the day before that we would have to change room in the morning and, when we went to ask them about it this morning, they said it would not be necessary and that they would leave us with a key to the hotel because they were going out for a drive. It turns out we were the only people in that hotel all day until 10 o clock that night. What a funny feeling to walk in and out like we owned the place. When they returned, Bernie went to meet them and paid them since we would be leaving early the next morning. Buenas noches todos.

10 May 2008

We have been out of touch for a few days but we are both keeping well, there was no internet facilities available.

Getting back to the last blog where we checked into this large warehouse type Albergue in Sahagún, we need to tell you that it was a terrible place eventhough the owner was very nice. The place was damp and cold and Danielle decided to sleep fully dressed, with many layers. It poured all night and into the next day making the cold now wet. It was quite miserable and, on the Camino, that means mud paths everywhere. Since the train station was just around the corner from us, we decided to walk there and check the timetable. As it was, a train was due within 20 minutes and, on the spur of the moment, we decided to take it to Leon. That saved us two days of walking, about 40 kms and allowed us to take a day off in Leon. Once again we ended up in a big city on a weekend and we expected to have some difficulty finding accomodations. After asking a few elderly Spanish men, we were directed to an area where we found the Hostal de Londres, a one star hotel (we did not know those existed). It turns out it was a perfectly adequate place and the owners were quite a warm couple. It was in the center of things which made it convenient to do some sightseeing. It was then that I Danielle, discovered that I did not have my passport. What a panic! I immediately remembered where I had left it. Just before going to the train station, I was on the internet and had taken it out to find an email address for some friends who had asked us to let them know where we were that day. Bernie was in a rush for me to get ready and, it turns out he was right to be, because the train we caught was 25 minutes late so, if it had been in time, we woul have missed it. Anyhow, I rushed to get my pack on and leave and hence, the passport catastrophy. I walked in to our hotel and, with my awful Spanish, told the man ¨grande problemo passeporte in Sahagùn". He immediately understood and he was nice enough to find the telephone number and call them. They had it and said the would drop it off at our hotel by 9pm that night. What luck seems to follow me on the Camino! At 9 o clock, as expected, he was there with my passport. We did some sightseeing in Leon such as the Cathedral which is far more beautiful than the one in Burgos. The stained glass there rivals anything in Europe, so says our book. We tend to believe it because it was breathtaking. At one point, we came upon a great Pizzeria and we had a very good meal. Christine, it was the kind you like with the very thin crust. It was just delicious. Bernie seems to think he is on a starvation diet here so he very much enjoyed that stop. Talk to you tomorrow on our next blog.

9 May 2008

Today we did not try too hard to get an early start because we expected that it would be a cloudy day, so we could walk without discomfort for later than usual. At 5;00am some dork turned on the lights in the dormatory. I can only think that he read his watch wrong, and thought that it was 7:00am. Needless to say after a few irate shouts he turned them off again, but not before he had woken most of us up. We expected the night before to be very cold. Soon after we got there, a rain storm came up, and the temperature dropped. We were freezing all evening, and there was a run on the limited blankets supplied by the hospitalario. However by bedtime he had turned up the heat in the radiators, and it was quite comfortable. We were finally up by 6:45, and on the road by 7:30. Our destination today was Sahagun a larger city about 22.5kms away. Our Australian Camino friends Tina and John walked with us through Ledigos where we stopped for a cafe con leche and chocalate before continuing on to Terradillos de los Templarios and then on to Moratinos. According to the history of this area it was under control of the Knights Templar for very many years during the crusades, though most of their buildings have since been destroyed. The next town was San Nicolas del Real Camino where we stopped for lunch. Tina had been having trouble with her feet, and felt that she couldn´t continue for the last 7.5kms to Sahagun, so they stopped there at San Nicolas where there was a small allbergue at the top of the bar. It was very convenient! Danielle had also been having trouble with hot spots on her feet, but we decided to press on even though a storm seemed to be coming up. We finally got into Sahagun about 2:00pm. We had got some rain along the way, but it was more of an annoyance than a problem. The town of Sahagun is not very pretty. All the old buildings and remains of the old Benedictine Monastery which was once the most powerful in Spain are all gone, replaced by modern buildings and industrial sites.
The total distance covered today was 22.5kms. We are now 2 or 3 days away from Leon where we plan to take our third day off. The albergue we checked in is like a big concrete warehouse with all kinds of antiques all over the place. Because of the large area, it is very popular with bikers, but does not seem to be too popular with the walkers, though it is still early in the afternoon. We haven´t worked out a destination for tomorrow yet, but will walk into the Centro to take a look around, and perhaps have supper there. Hasta mañana.

8 May 2008

We got up at 5 a.m. and met up with Tina and John to get an early start. Today, we are headed to Calzadilla de la Cueza, a remote little village, 18.5 kms down a dusty stretch of isolated road on which there will be no facilities. It was still dark when we left but since we were in a city, the streets lights guided us back to the Camino. Once there, daylight had come. Bernie and John went on ahead and I stayed behind with Tina who walks slower then them. The road was absolutely atrocious, the whole way. It was covered with rocks of all sizes, some loose ones and other anchored into the grounds. No one´s feet was immune to pains of all kinds. It was shear hell but luckily, it was overcast so not too hot. Having both would have been intolerable. Half way there, a local entrepreneur showed up in his little white van, set up a table and dispensed cafe con leche and zumo de narangha, in exchange for a donativo. He even had wafers, the kind you like Melanie. When we arrived in Calzadilla, it was just 10 a.m. and a lot of people rested a while and continued on. We and many others decided that 18 kms of this kind of surface was punishment enough and we checked into the only Albergue in town. There is also one bar with a hostal above. Nothing else really. It will be a long day because now, a storm is coming in. With nothing to read (because books weigh too much) with no games to play not even a pack of cards, the afternoon promises to be a restful one. We can´t even hang our laundry now. The Albergue is surrounded by fields, a single road with a few houses and a bar completes the town. We have already visited the local watering hole. Bernie had his usual Cerveza and me, my hot chocolate with once again, our tortilla de patata and bread. It is 3 p.m., what to do till 6 tomorrow morning? I forgot to mention that a smell of sheep manure fills the air. We truly are in farm country.

7 May 2008

We were on the road at 6 am. We are so pleased but, it is quite dark. We are navigating by flashlight because we need to find the Camino markers so we don´t walk in the wrong direction. It is so nice and cool. I love it. The frogs are serenading us and it is a song neither one of us have ever heard. It must be mating season for frogs here. The cacophony is loud and so unusual. The birds are just as loud. What a great start to our day which will be very long and most probably very hard. By 6:15, there is enough light to navigate without our flashlight. We are already taking our coats off and we are walking at a very good clip and, we are in Fromista by 7:30. That whole walk followed a beautiful river and ended at the locks where we had to turn to enter the town. At the first intersection, who do we see sitting at a little sidewalk cafe, our friends Amanda and Stephanie. They have just had breakfast and are on their way. They left after a little chat and Bernie had his usual cafe con leche and little cakes. The rest of the walk was long straight stretches, as far as the eye could see. At one point we had the choice of taking the highway or following the aqueduct. We chose to follow the aqueduct which had a few shady stretches along it and, again the frog were at it. Bernie decided to record their songs. By 9 it was blistering hot and we were starting to wilt. It got worse as the day progressed. After 6 hours of walking, we took a break in a small town called Villacaza de Sirga where we met San, a South African woman who spoke to us at length about the sad state of her country. It was all very depressing. Our last 6kms were absolute hell, with the sun beating down on us, sweat dripping down our faces and burning our eyes and, that is when Bernie ran out of water and started imagining himself crawling the last few meters into town with the condors circling overhead. We were after all entering Carrion de los Condes. Later that evening we met up with our friends from Australia, some of them had taken the bus in Fromista. We had a good afternoon visit of the town with them, had dinner and completed our blog. We are keeping the internet guy past his 10 o clock closing time so we have to rush and let him go home. Goodnight all.

6 May 2008

Finally, we got of to an early start. We were on the road by 6:30 because we did not take time to have breakfast. About 15 minutes into our walk, we were faced with the biggest and steepest climb ever. Thank God it was early and still sort of cool. By the time we made it up there, about 150 meters, we were both sweating and half dead and so were everyone else. It would have been impossible to muster up the energy to do that later on when the sun got up. The view from the top was of course fabulous with the sun rising in the distance and the mist lifting off the green fields. The top was flat for a little while and then, low and behold, we had to get down on the other side of the mountain. All we gained was now lost. For the most part, the Camino consisted of long straight stretches of yellowish, grayish earth. Since the road was built years ago, the rain has washed away the soft earth so that now the surface consists of extremely hard packed earth with all sizes of rocks so that one never walks on a flat surface. It is very hard on the feet. It is impossible to plant your walking poles in that earth. The scenery on either side of the road consist of rolling fields carpeted in green as far as the eye can see. Every now and then, an outcrop of rocks sticks out to add a feature to the green fields. As we walk, we see towns in the distance which get larger as we approach. The silhouette of these towns are always dominated by that of a church. The first town we came upon was Puente Fitero and Itero de la Vega where we stopped and had some breakfast. A lot of our Camino companions planned to go on to Fromista, a distance of 26kms but we planned to stop at Boadilla del Camino, 20 kms away. In Itero we came face to face with two Australian ladies that we have spent a lot of time with. We like them very much and they like us also. We all were so happy to meet and, since they were done with their breakfast, they asked if we could meet for lunch whenever there was a bar or cafe in a few hours time. By the time we got to Boadilla, we were so hot and tired, we checked into an albergue. At first sight, the place looked really ramshackle with its old barnwood door, held together by rusted hinges. However, the door opened on the most beautiful garden with sculptures, a pool, flower beds packed with colourful flowers, lilac trees, all in bloom and of different colours. There was even a pool. In a corner of the yard, there were plenty of clothes lines with clothes pegs, almost an unheard commodity here. A really friendly Portugese young man greeted us, showed us around and left us to shower and do our laundry. After all that, I suddenly remembered our good friends Stephanie and Amanda who were probably sitting somewhere waiting for us. I went to look for them and found them in the bar, another facility of our albergue. They had had their lunch but decided to stay around with us for a while before leaving for Fromista like the others. Amanda really wanted to stay but Stephanie thought they should go on a while longer. The reason everyone so wanted to get to Fromista is because in another 2 days, there is an 18km stretch of Camino which is barren, with no place to stop or sleep and they all wanted to start that distance first thing in the morning. It meant that tomorrow, they would just have to walk 20km followed by that difficult 18km. That evening, we had a communal meal with all the other guests which included a couple that we met some days ago. We get along well with them and have been keeping tabs on each other wherever we get into town. The meal was quite good probably one of the best of our trip. After dinner, we went through the usual routine of collecting our washing, filling up our water bladder in our packs and getting all our things ready for the next day. We were in bed by 10 p.m. and the snoring had already started. One gets used to everything so it doesn´t bother us much anymore. Tomorrow we plan a very early start to make up the 6km to Fromista and then the 20 to Carrion de los Condes.

5 May 2008

First things first. Happy Birthday Suresh.

Well, as we said yesterday, we got an early start heading to Castrojeritz, not as early as we had hoped but still early. The day got of to a good start with a cool morning and a decent road. We walked about 5 kms before reaching the isolated Arroyo de San Bol which comprises one Auberge. It seemed pretty spartan so we walked by it without even checking out. Another 5 kms later, we came upon the village of Hontanas where there was 2 cafes one across from each other. A number of our Camino friends were already sitting at one having cafe con leche and bread so we sat ourselves down and did the same (no cafe for moi). I took the opportunity to lather on the sunblock lotion because, for the first time, I took the lower part of my slacks off. It starts off quite cool in the morning but by 10 o clock, it is scorching hot. It makes the trek quite hard for me the winter person. After a quick stop, we left and when we finally pulled into Castrojeriz, we crossed what we thought was the town and found nothing there remotely resembling a auberge. A few minutes later, the town start again and at the end of a very long street, there we were, in front of the Albergue we had been looking for. By then, we are exhausted, close to the end of our rope and the albergue in question is at the top of the longest flight of broken down stone steps. Where all of us found the strength to climb up there is a mystery to me. The place was really nice, the hospitaliero was the most welcoming little Japanese guy. He had previously worked in Calcutta, India at the Mother Teresa place. He was quite happy to share these experiences with Bernie. The dorm was one large, high ceiling room, very airy and clean with a number of bunks and also mattresses on the floor with great facilities. Soon after getting there, I did laundry and took of my watch and ring. When I went to put them back on, I could not find my ring. Bernie went to see if it was with the stuff he had put on the line and I proceeded to empty my pack, pockets, ziplock bags and more. No ring. Just then, a lady walked in showing me her finger. It turns out I had put it on a table at the cafe in Hontanas when I creamed myself. She was sitting there and we had been talking to her, her husband and son. She was so happy to see me and I was very glad to get my ring back. We are now great friends. Later that night, we had dinner with them and a bunch of other people we have been with for many days now. It was most enjoyable and the food and wine were great. That was a fine ending to a good day. Tomorrow it will be Boadilla del Camino, about 20 kms again. This walking in the heat is a real killer. Someone, rescue me.

4 May 2008

Got an early start today as we were already at the edge of Burgos and close to the Camino. The path was quite good, and there was a cool wind blowing for most of the day. The Camino here passes through a number of small towns such as Villabilla, Tardajos, Rabe de las Calzadas. Most of the towns were in various stages of disrepair, though it seems that a lot of money is being invested in to some. It seems that there may be a lot of money to be made if interest in the Camino continues to grow. This year even though we are early in the season we have encountered Albergues that are full by the time we get there. It is only going to get worse as the season advances. The Albergue in Hornillos del Camino was fairly cramped with limited facilities. We were assigned a two tier bunk bed with no place to put our stuff, so I had to sleep with my pack on my bed. All in all it was fun, especially dinner where the owner, and the person serving us had a real dry sense of humor, and kept everyone laughing throughout our three courses. After dinner it was a rush for the facilities, early to bed with plans to be up at six for an early start for Castrojeriz another 20 km day.

3 May 2008

We want to start this blog by wishing Chloe a very Happy Birthday as we may not find Internet access later on. Better early than late.

We are in Burgos again today, met some pilgrims we already know who said they had to walk 34 kms yesterday to finally find accomodation. They have also decided to take the day off today. We will all meet each other tomorrow somewhere along the Camino. Hopefully, the weather will not be too hot as we are told that on the Meseta, it gets very hot. I (Danielle) am not looking forward to hotter since I am finding it quite warm already. My feet seem better today.
The Meseta is an elevated plain, apparently very flat and featureless, a section of the Camino that a lot of people bypass. We will get back to this later on after seeing a bit more of the place.
We ended the blog rather abruptly as some camino friends came into the bar to chat with us, and messed up our concentration. We had drinks and tapas with them at an outdoor cafe and later wandered around the town which was quite crowded as it was a long weekend in Spain. Later we found a nice restaurant and the four of us (Jennifer and Bob from Australia) had a good dinner. They will be taking another bus tomorrow, as they are on a six month tour of the world, and have a limited time to walk the Camino, so they will be skipping the Maseta. Tomorrow we hit the road again this time destined for Hornillos del Camino about 21kms from Burgos. The funny thing about the Camino is that as one goes down the road, you meet different people and hang around with them for a few days, and then they are gone for one reason or another, and you meet new people that you hang around with. Then out of the blue you arrive in a town and see the people that you had met several days ago, and it is a happy reunion for all.

2 May 2008

We slept very well last night and were on our way by 7 a.m. after a quick breakfast at our hotel. We had decided to walk the 24 kms to San Juan de Ortega but, after 12 kms with no opened bars to quench our thirst, we decided to take a bus from Villafranca Montes de Orca to Burgos. It seems a lot of Pilgrims had decided to do the same as the bus was full and the cargo space was full of backpacks and walking poles.

Burgos is a large city with a lot of run down sections dominated by a magnificent Gothic cathedral (pictures to come). Since it is a long weekend here, there are mobs of people, tourists and pilgrims. A lot of Spaniards take holidays at this time so we had difficulty finding a place downtown and ended up 20 minutes away from Centro, near the University and on the Camino as it leaves Burgos. Walking that distance without our pack is a breeze.

We spent some time in the Plaza Major in front of the Cathedral, sipping on a Cerveza and Coke and munching on a bowl of olives. We found a place that offered the Menu de Perigrinos. This is a 3 course meal that is offered in all of the towns through which the Camino passes. It is usually offered earlier than the local Cena (dinner) and is priced in the 10Euro range. It is often quite good and often quite mediocre. In this case, it was quite mediocre. Strangely enough, it is better in the small villages. They probably need the Pilgrim`s business more than a city like Burgos does. We have also planned to take the day off tomorrow and, guess what, see the city on foot.

1 May 2008

The Albergue was really full last night. The beds in the room we were in were partitioned 4 to a section and once the door was closed it was pitch black in there. It seemed that no one wanted to get up this morning. Bernie got up to shave at 5 am since we wanted to leave really early but it was then impossible to pack in such darkness and with everyone snoring still. There was so much snoring, it sounded like a symphony of snorers, all that was missing was a conductor!
We finally managed to get out by 7:30 after having a bowl of Golden Graham and yogourt. It was quite annoying to have been up so early and not be able to leave.
From Santo Domingo de la Calzada where we stopped last night, the Camino mostly followed the highway, a long rocky, dusty straight road that seemed endless. We still walk about 6 hours a day and more. The road took us through Grañon and Redecilla del Camino. May 1st is a public holiday here and just as a group of Pilgrims entered this little village, we were greeted by a 4 firecracker salute. Later on that morning, we heard from those behind us that, as they went through the town, the entire population, dressed in red and white, turned out to serenade them. The Camino continued through other small towns such as Viloria de Rioja and Villa Mayor de Rio to finally get to our destination of the day, Belorado. One of things we noticed on this leg of the journey was that the villages were not as well kept and a lot of the ancient buildings had fallen into disuse and abandonment. The places today have not been as pretty as previously. Viloria de Rioja is a modern, cookie cutter townhouse subdivision with a large golf course. It is quite at odds with the rest of the place and I can´t imagine who would want to live there since there is no industry around. It is possibly a bedroom community to Belorado or even Bourgos. That night, we checked into an inexpensive hotel about a 5 minute walk to town. Later that evening, we walked into the Plaza Major, the main square in front of the Church and were greeted by all the Camino amigos we had met and spent time with along the way. We sat down at an outdoor cafe and had Cerveza and zumo and then went to dinner with our Orleans perigrinos, Pat and Glen. During dinner, we chatted with another young Monreal couple whom we had met a number of times before. They were so excited because they had met the Mayor of Belorado who had taken them for a full tour of City Hall and the city archives. They were shown documents dating back to the 16th Century, handwritten on parchment and documenting minutes of meetings at the time. They were even allowed to photograph them. The lucky guys! We are now going back to our place to get ready for another long day tomorrow. There is a bit of a complication tomorrow since our destination point, San Juan de Ortega, 24 kms away, will not have an Albergue because the priest running it died and no one has taken over. Our choice will either be to walk another 3.7 kms to Agès or to take the bus to Burgos. A nice bus ride sounds nice to me, we need a treat for my sore feet.

30 April 2008

As has been the last few days, we started out with a cool wind and a clear blue sky. Today we were a bit later than usual because we stopped for breakfast at the local bar which was serving desayono from 7:00. Danielle woke me up again an hour early than we had planned. I´m going to have to teach her to tell the time! We finally hit the road at 7:30 at the end of a long trail of pilgrims. The road was good and dry until we encountered a section that construction trucks were using. Just before we got there a huge tanker watered down the path reducing it to a sticky muddy mess. Thankfully, we soon got past that section and it was dry again. The surface of the Camino was made up of rocks of various sizes. One had to watch the ground carefully to be sure you did not step on a loose rock and take a tumble.


The Camino, now in the Rioja provence of Spain meanders through fields of hay and vineyards as far as the eye can see. The rolling hills and valleys make for a spectacular sight. For most of the day, we could see a range of snow-capped mountains in the distance. They are probably part of the Pyrenees. We went through Cirueña, a small town where we stopped for a cappucino and a zumo de naranjha for Danielle.



It is interesting how these towns appear in the distance, dominated by the church in the centre, and then get bigger as we approach. Sometimes they disappear completely in the valley and you wonder where they went! We did not make it all the way to Grañon as we had planned but stopped at noon at a fair sized town called Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The albergue here is quite nice, and we were worried that, had we gone on to Grañon, the limited number of spaces in the small town would all be gone. So here we are in Santo D de la C. The plan (such as it is) is to leave early and go on to Belorado 23kms from here tomorrow. Perhaps today is not the day to teach Danielle to tell the time as we will have to be up early.

29 April 2008

We had a great dinner last night and, when we got out of the restaurant, it was freezing cold. The church across the street from our Hostal was opened so we walked in for a visit. It was quite dark until a Pilgrim lady inserted a Euro to turn on the lights. The whole place was covered in gold leaf, from floor to ceiling. It was more than the eyes could take. Bernie took pictures of yet another church to show you on our return. We turned in early after buying a couple of pastries for the next morning´s walk.

I woke up in the night and Bernie was awake thinking about the Camino. He announced he was ready to pull the plug and that we could go to Paris and spend a few days there. He said it was far more difficult than he ever expected (his allergies are quite bad). I can´t believe it but I replied that we could continue, at least for a little while longer. He turned around and we both went back to sleep. I woke up at 6 am, woke him up and proceeded to get ready. I was all dressed and almost all packed, ready to go when he finally got up and did the same. We had a great day on this leg of the trek, even if the sun came up at 9 am., and it was a cloudless day, there was always a cool breeze and the road was never that difficult or dangerous.

Part way through the morning, we stopped to talk with a couple we had met on the road many times and it turns out they are from Orleans, a 5 minute drive from our place. We did a some of the road with them then continued on our way. We later met many people we had talked to before and we all ended up at the same Albergue. The route was fairly non descript walking through a lot vineyards (this being wine country). We walked about 21 kms today to a town called Azofra passing Najera and another village which name escapes me at this time. The Albergue here is fantastic. They have 60 double rooms only, each of which has two beds, 2 large cupboards and a nice big window. The walks are pressed wood but each floor has toilets and showers. We have joined up with 6 other people we have been meeting for the last many days (including the Orleans´couple) and went to dinner. A good time was had by all. A funny thing happened at the restaurant. The lady serving us seem to take an immediate liking to me (maybe I look like her mother or something). I noticed it right away and so did Bernie. When we were leaving, she came to see me, gave me a nice bag of almonds which she said were a local sweet, and gave both of us a great big hug and wished us a Buen Camino. The almonds are great, covered with butter and honey. She told us she wanted us to have them for the road tomorrow. We are now off to bed. Tomorrow´s destination will probably be Graño, about 22 kms away.

P.S. at the end of the walk today, my feet were a bit sore and I mentioned to Bernie that if he offered to quit right now, I am not sure I would talk him in to going on.

28 April 2008

The hotel was very nice. I was awake early this morning and when Bernie started stirring, I took my watch and told him it was 5 am which was the time we wanted to get up. Well, in my usual manner, I rushed up, washed my face while Bernie reluctantly dragged himself out of bed. His first reaction when I told him the time was disappointment as he had just made himself really comfortable in order to go back to sleep. Nevertheless, he got up and went to shave. When I checked my watch again it was just after 4am. Now, I had to tell Bernie I had made a mistake but I was killing myself laughing. He was sort of upset and said he would never ask me the time again. We went back to bed, me almost all dressed and waited for 6am now that we were almost ready to go.
We left soon after 6, still dark at that time here. The temperature was perfect and remained that way most of the day. It was cloudy but still really very nice for walking. Our goal was Navarette, a town about 21 kms away and past a major town called Logroño. Walking through Logroño, we were able to buy some fruit and nuts. We also stopped for a pastry accompanied by a coffee and hot chocolate. Exiting the town, we walked along a paved path for miles and miles where the people get to do their daily walk through a very organized recreational area. The park is beautiful and equipped with barbecues, children´s play areas and nature sites. Along the river, losts of men were fishing. We expected to be in Navarette by 2pm but the roads for once were decent and we arrived shortly after l pm. We checked in a little hostal right across from the Albergue. Bernie seems to have had enough of refugios for now. We were not in very long when the skies opened and it rained heavily for about 30 minutes. We felt sorry for the Piligrinos still on the road somewhere. It is now quite cold but sunny. We will probably have a bite to eat and go to bed early.
P.S. My (Danielle) feet are killing me even after being here for hours now. Hope I am not damaging myself for life on this HOLIDAY. Bernie is still taking lots of pictures and wishing he could download some for the blog. Hasta mañana!

27 April 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM.

We actually slept quite well last night and were up early, around 5 am. We managed to pack in the dark without making too much noise and to leave the place by 6. It was still dark but nice and cool and the road was well marked. We were on our own for a good hour before the stronger walkers caught up with us and passed us. By then, I had two very painful blisters and, we had to stop in the next town and I pierced through them and Bernie patched me up quite well. We left with me limping a bit but it all passed when Bernie realized he had left his camera on the bench where many people had arrived and put down their stuff in front of his. We turned ourselves around and rushed back. No one had even noticed it. It was about 7 o´clock by then and both of us were so hot, we had to peel of everything that could be taken off. It´s not too promising is it? Well, surprise of surprises, it turned out quite well, there was a breeze a lot of the time, we encounted some shady spots and made it into Viana by noon. There was a Fiesta on the main drag, starting in front of the church. The band was lively and we sat outside to eat our tortilla de patata, Bernie had his cafe con leche and I had water. After that, to reward ourselves, we had a nice fresh pastry. Just as we got up to leave, the band in front of the church was coming down towards us, so we were leading in the front. Bernie took his walking pole and started pretenting to be guy in front of the band that sets the marching pace. A few people outside in front of their place were laughing their heads off. We have now checked into a nice hotel as Bernie has had enough of the refugios for now. We have done our laundry already, had our bath and we will be going out in search of food before everything closes. It is Sunday, the shops don´t reopen until tomorrow. We have not planned our next stop. That´s next on the agenda. Stay tuned.

26 April 2008

Today was a terrible day for both of us. We left Estella early and it was nice and cool. By the time we got to Villamajor de monjardin, it had gotten quite hot and there was no shade anywhere for over 15 kms. Not one tree could be seen and we were being baked alive. For those of you who know me well, you know how I love the heat. I was no longer a very pleasant companion! It took us 7 hours to do this one. Our hands are quite tanned but in the weirdest way. Because the straps of our walking poles cover part of the top of our hands, only half our hands are tanned. Looks like we haven´t washed for many days. When we finally got to the refugio in Los Arcos, it was packed to the gunnels with smelly stinky people. We were in a room with 2 bunk beds with only enough space between for a person to pass. (Some refugios have triple bunks). The town was a real disaster, so not in keeping with what we had seen so far. It reminded us of a one horse Mexican town, with its sleezy bars and dirty sidewalks. We have never mentioned that in Spain, everything closes at 2 p.m. and reopens at 6 p.m. but the eating establishments don´t reopen until 8 or 9 p. m. so, if you are hungry and want to go to bed early, you are out of luck. There was one place in Los Arcos which served dinner at 7, so all of the pilgrims gathered there around 5, had a few drinks at their bar and waited.... The lack of competition did not do anything for the food. We had all showered before leaving the refugio so, as soon as we got back, we went to bed. It was 8:30. Tomorrow, our plan is to get up even earlier then today and to to Vianna, about 18kms away.

25 April 2008

We had a great sleep at the Monastario and have decided that after 8 days of walking, we deserve a day off. The doctor we met last night at dinner took some time off this morning and drove us around Estella. He is an expert in Romanesque archeology so he was able to explain in minute details every single fresco in the carvings of the churches. He only speaks Spanish so both of us were kept on our toes trying to understand as much as possible. It was extremely nice of him. We then just walked about (for a change of pace) Estella all day, treated ourselves to an ice cream cone and sat in a sidewalk cafe sipping a capucino and a coca cola and eating a tortilla de patata. (Nina, only the Nuns made one almost as good as yours). The Sisters had invited us to go have lunch at the Monastario at 2pm but we declined. It is an incredibly steep climb to the top of the hill to get there and we did not want to do it again later that day. Remember, they wanted us for breakfast at 9:30 am. We told the little Sor Esperanza that we wanted to leave at 7 the next day and she said she would leave the Chapel and come to unlock the numerous locks in order to let us out. She was there promptly at 7, with a great big bagged breakfast for us. We hated to leave, everyone there had been so nice to us. Our next stop will be Los Arcos, about 18 kms away. These roads are so bad, that with our backpack, we manage about 3 kms an hour including stops.