Phil Merrell

I caught a local train out of Valencia this morning. Starting out passing miles and miles of orange orchards loaded with fruit. After a little while, we headed up into the mountains. Some beautiful canyons and countryside. I was supposed to get off at El Rebollar, but the train platform had another train, so they kept on going. I had to go to the next stop, get off, and wait for another train going southbound. The local train system is quite a bit different than the long haul trains! I finally got to El Rebollar and started walking in mid afternoon.

Thus started one of the sweetest walking stages I have done. The route went through vineyards, scrub land, pine forest, and a beautiful canyon at the end. None of it was jaw dropping spectacular, but it all fit together so nicely and represented the different Spanish environments so well. With the late start, I finished the walk into the town of Raquena in the dark, which I don’t like doing. But it was a really good day.

The Camino Frances is the famous main camino route that gets most of the traffic, but there are over 30 different pilgrimage routes in Spain. Most of the other routes like the Camino Raquena have very low numbers and much less infrastructure dedicated to pilgrims. There is a group of Spanish people who are strong supporters of this route. They go out and mark the route, identify cheaper places to stay, and give advice and assistance to pilgrims. They got grants and raised money to buy a house for an unmanned donativo albergue in Raquena. I got there late, so while there were plenty of beds, the only two beds with mattresses were already occupied. Full funding is still in process. I stayed and had dinner the two people had cooked before finding a hotel for the night.

I’ve come up into the mountains and it’s much colder here than on the coast.Read more