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The Camino

May - July 2023
The most amazing experience ever Read more
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  • TravelerThe Camino
    11
    Day 19

    More layered landscapes on the wonderful

    June 10, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Another perfect day of big skies, no rain and warm but not hot temperatures. Castrojeriz to Fromista.
    The Camino provided so many gifts today. More of my treasured layers landscapes, new birds (great reed warbler, stone chat), frogs, 11th century churches and a great vegan albérgue - tho this was at lunch time unfortunately still leaving me with a less than vegetarian evening meal.
    After a steep climb we passed another monastery albergue, this time run by the Italian Confraternity. Tiny and candlelit but not quite so ruined. Again I’d love to stay there if I am lucky enough to be able to walk again.
    Mostly flat earth paths today so easy walking - but totalling about 26 km. Amazingly didn’t feel tired at the end but I’m very tired now.
    Tiny albergue tonight (Vicus) in Fromista but we have our own room.
    Dinner with Sheryl and Janice - great company - food not so much but my fault as I chose wrong.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    1
    Day 20

    Fromista to San Zoilo - Sunday 11th June

    June 11, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    This will be a short entry as it’s very late, I’m very tired and we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow.
    Today started with a beautiful walk along a river - slightly longer than the regular route but avoiding the ‘senda’ which seems to be the Camino word for a path running right beside a road. Loads of birdsong and very loud front noises made it fun.
    We walked for this part of the day with Sheryl and Janice and I loved hearing all about life and landscapes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Stopped for coffee (very necessary) early at a little hotel that might be worth noting for future trips and then ate our breakfast at a table in a park a bit further on (our own yoghurts, nuts , fruits etc.
    at about 11.30 we came to the end of the river path and found another cafe at Villalcazar de Sirdo for coffee and delicious watermelon.
    Then came the trickiest part of the day - a long straight senda into Carrion los condes with looming storm approaching from behind us. Very hot and humid and my feet began to get sore so I was very relieved to get to the start of the town where I found a shady bench outside an hermita to change my shoes.
    The town was celebrating Corpus Christi and the street were decorated with rose petals for the parade which included the children who had taken their first communion in May.
    Ate tortilla at a very crowded bar in the square and then headed for our monastery hotel which is about a kilometre out of town.
    Getting clean felt great but I’m really struggling with a large insect bite on my shoulder which is quite swollen and very itchy. When we headed back into town later to join the nuns singing at the Santa Maria Albergue I found a pharmacy open and the pharmacist looked a bit worried and gave me hydrocortisone crème. Doesn’t seem to be working yet but I live in hope!
    After joining the nuns at 6 we went to mass at 7 and then hared back to the hotel for dinner at 8 (the earliest they do). Very very hungry but had a good actual vegetarian meal and feel better now - which is lucky as there’s nothing for 17km tomorrow when we start walking and we haven’t got much food left. Think I’ll be resorting to the energy bars finally! Still, at least my pack will the a bit lighter.
    Huge thunderstorm raging outside at the moment - second one today. We’ve been so fortunate not to get caught in the rain today. Hoping the same for tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 21

    Carrion los Condes to Terradillos de los

    June 12, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    A long quiet day - so I thought I’d write about some practicalities of the Camino.
    The day first: very long (or at least it felt like it), very hot after about 10am and very few services. Although the monastery hotel was great and very comfortable we had a strange moment when leaving as the cold water was running very warm in our room - not great for filling water bottles - so went downstairs to ask reception to fill them for us. But the water there was also warm - not just not cold but actually warm. Then filled from the pilgrim fuente outside the monastery and that was the same - something very weird going on with the water system.
    We had been warned that it would be 17km before we would be able to get anything - including water but in the end there was a brilliant, and very much appreciated by passing pilgrims, good truck with fab coffee and the best tomato toast.
    Then more coffee at a tiny town about 7km further on.
    It was a hard slog after that along a senda to Ledigos. Green juice at the hostel saved my life and it was great meeting up with Rachel again who is to be my companion on the lonely Via Romana for two days.
    Hostal is a bit grim but tolerable - I’ve been spoilt by my night at the monastery.
    Practicalities then: washing is done every day when we arrive using whatever is available. My stuff is almost entirely merino so I don’t really want to subject it to a community wash as I’m worried everything might shrink. Most people wash by hand in any soap that might be provided (none tonight), shower gel, shampoo or face wash. Seem to work okay most of the time. Then I dry stuff either outside - keeping a steely eye on the weather as we tend to have torrential downpours with thunder and lightning every afternoon from about 4. Alternatively I have an amazing travel clothes line which I can usually attach somewhere in the room and the stuff has always dried by the morning.
    Breakfast isn’t usually available by the time we need to leave (usually around 6.30) so we carry with us nuts and dried fruit and sometimes fresh fruit is we’ve found some, together with a slightly fermenting yoghurt that we’ve managed to find the previous day and not been able to refrigerate in our dorm room. This is, to be honest, a great breakfast and we’ve eaten in some wonderful places. It’s always a retired that the pack is a bit lighter afterwards.
    Will write about dinner tomorrow!!!    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 22

    Terradillos to Calzadilla de los Hermani

    June 13, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Half way!!
    Today I walked just over 30 km and on the way, at Sahagun, I received my half way certificate at the chapel of La Pelegrína.
    There has been every sort of weather today, sun, cloud, mist and a little rain, but I’m sitting on a terrace outside the hostal (room with Rachel tonight with sheets and towels!!) watching my washing dry - and squeezing the water out every so often to try to ensure it dries!
    The day was long but pretty flat - but I can now just see some mountains to the north which are, according to the guidebook, the Cordillera Cantábrica, an extension of the Pyrenees.
    We left at about 6.45 and reached Sahagun around 9.30. Coffee and wholemeal croissants were delicious and then a bit of a hiatus to try to find the chapel where they give the half way certificate.
    Today was weird in that after Sahagun I separated from Caroline, my constant companion of the last three weeks and headed for the Via Romana - a beautiful and very little travelled alternative route along an ancient Roman road. Other than in the shop in the tiny village where the two routes separate,, where we met a French pilgrim also stocking up on food, we saw no one until we arrived in Sahagun. Very empty countryside and with a storm threatening we were really pleased to arrive at our Albergue without getting too wet.
    It feels very different being in such a quiet place with very very few other pilgrims.
    After much needed and very successful clothes washing and drying we had a pilgrim meal with our four fellow guests Stephanie, another digital nomad originally from Germany, Dominic from France and Jane and Eric from Michigan US. It was so fascinating to meet more new people and to hear about their lives and their experiences on the Camino. I even got a really vegetarian meal! What a day!!    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 23

    Calzadilla to Mansilla de las Mulas - th

    June 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    As far as I could see there were only the six pilgrims at our Albergue Via Trajana walking the Via Romana today. And of them I only saw two, Stephanie the digital nomad originally from Germany and Dominic from France. Rachel and I had the road to ourselves - silent apart from birdsong.
    The road was not nearly as difficult as we had been led to believe. When we were walking on a Roman road earlier in the Camino it was made up of very large cobble stones but this was much smoother - I think better preserved as the top layer of smaller pebbles was mainly still there and in parts there was also a sandy layer making it smoother and softer on the feet.
    So it was another pretty long walk and, of course, very straight, but beautiful, deserted and quiet.
    We have had an amazing day of weather - no rain or thunderstorms for almost the first time on the Camino. The rain usually starts just after we arrive at our destination of the day but it is a pity that often we can’t sit out in the evenings. Today was different and it is still warm and sunny now.
    After arriving in Mansilla de las Mulas, Rachel and I found coffee and waited for the others to arrive. Sadly no iced coffee which was what I really needed - the caffeine but cold! But so good to sit down. Rachel was developing blisters and I was really tired.
    Unfortunately when the others arrived they had to get on the bus to Leon straight away as there wasn’t another one until 4 so I didn’t get to see them before they left.
    We found out today that Caroline has had a stomach upset - I felt terrible that I wasn’t with her and I’m amazed that she managed to walk after being sick all night. She was well looked after by Nick and Paul tho.
    So then I was on my own. I found some more cherries (the Spanish cherries are amazing - I’ve been buying them almost every day) and went to check in at my Albergue.
    Then went to find the swimming spot I had been promised. It was amazing. My first wild swim on the Camino and worth the wait. There was even a little beach to sit on.
    I really love Mansilla - it seems to be a friendly laid back town - and I’m pleased I chose to stay here rather than moving on to the city.
    Didn’t go out to eat tonight as thought it might be a bit weird on my own but I guess if I was lucky enough to be able to do this again I wouldn’t be guaranteed a companion so would have to get used to that!!
    Planning an early night - once I’ve found an audiobook for the walk along the road into Leon tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 24

    Mansilla de las Mulas to Leon - time to

    June 15, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Aimed to leave at 6.30 but snoozed my alarm for the first time and then could not fit everything into my rucksack so had to do a complete repack. I bought some cherries and nuts, seeds, yoghurts etc last night and they were just too big to fit in so had to abandon two yoghurts and an energy bar. Sad but very necessary. Even then had half a packet of rice cakes hanging off my pack in a dry bag.
    Finally left at about 7 expecting a horrible walk into Leon. I had been told that it would be 18 km literally on the hard shoulder of a busy A road and was definitely prepared for the worst.
    However, either people were hugely exaggerating or the route has been altered but there was only about 50m of walking with the traffic and the rest was on tracks - sometimes close to the road but never on it and often in what felt like the middle of the countryside - although so close to Leon.
    Stopped for coffee in Puente Villarente at what seemed to be a very popular local spot - and discovered the Leonaise tradition of giving tapas with the coffee - in this case a raisin croissant all for €1.40! Later spoke to one of the helpful policías who explained that this is the custom in the area of Leon - quite rare in Spain. I really appreciated the croissant with my coffee although I had brought my yoghurt, blueberries and seeds. I had to eat a second breakfast later as they were heavy and I was fed up with carrying them.
    Arrived in Leon having got a great view of the cathedral from the hill i approached on. As with any city, initially the outskirts were a bit dull, although I really find any city in Spain fascinating as I spend my time trying to read all the shop signs. But once I passed through the Puerta Monada it was fabulous. Winding streets, beautiful architecture and buzzing with life. A huge contrast to my much missed Meseta but wonderful too.
    Took my time reaching the cathedral by following the yellow arrows and then bumped into Caroline, Rachel and Mike on their way to the cathedral. I felt too hot and bothered and keen to get rid of my rucksack to join them so headed for the hotel, which is right by the cathedral.
    After cooling down a bit and doing a bit of washing, Caroline and I went to the Casa Botines, which is a Gaudi building and the Gaudi museum in Leon. I love Gaudi and it was a fascinating place including descriptions of his techniques (which including the importance of recycling, and sunlight and air in his buildings - which seemed very ahead of his time), rooms set up to look as they would have done when it was built and many rooms of paintings.
    The evening was a celebration of Nick’s 65th birthday. We joined him at the Patio and then went on to eat at an Italian style restaurant and a beautiful square which served huge pizzas.
    It was a long, busy and very enjoyable day but I’m exhausted now and looking forward to a lie in tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 25

    Another day without walking - but still

    June 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    A day in Leon. Marvellous city with so much to see. After having a coffee (with free breakfast) we went to the Church of San Isadore and the museum that hold its treasures.
    It’s a 10th century Romanesque church; simple and stunningly beautiful. The museum, which is housed in part of the church, has a library of ancient books including a complete bible dating back to the 10th century. There are original 12th century frescos and a chalice, the base of which dates from the 4th century and the gold and jewels embellishing it were added in the 12th century.
    There really was too much to take in and we were not allowed to take any photos but it will stay in my mind for a long time.
    I would really recommend visiting Leon.
    Close to San Isidore we found a lovely little vegetarian shop and restaurant where I had a juice and a vegan empanada - my first empanada as they are usually made with meat or tuna - and possibly my last as the guy in the shop said! Delicious.
    Then to the Correos to post excess kit to Santiago - it feels very good to get rid of stuff at the moment and am concerned about how I will feel when I get home - think I may be inclined to carrying on disposing as it’s amazing how little you need really, particularly when mainly dressed in merino!
    Now sitting at a cafe with an iced coffee (or coffee and ice as seems to be the thing here) before going to the cathedral. Does it get any better.
    Later: well it did. The cathedral is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to (for me just about equals the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona which brought me to tears). As soon as I went into the cathedral I was in tears - something about the delicacy of the architecture and the phenomenal stained glass. I have quite honestly never seen anything like it. I know Gaudi was very inspired by the cathedral and I can see so clearly that this is true. I was struck by everything really, but one thing in particular was the use of light and colour - warm colours on one side and cool on the other - echoed by Gaudi in The Sagrada Familia.
    Spent a long time there and later went to mass in the beautiful side chapel. Then treated myself to a hazelnut ice cream at Holy Cow - recommended by Happy Cow!
    Low point of the day, which worked out okay on the end. Was trying to find something to eat. This city does not open for food until 8.30pm. We tried about four places recommended on Happy Cow which were supposed to be open and either were closed or not serving food til later. Eventually returned to the hotel which has a bar and managed to persuade them to make a cheese sandwich- actually pretty good in the end but by them I was starving and I think anything would have done.
    Reason for the slight urgency was that when in the cathedral I had seen a poster advertising organ concerts in the cathedral. They only take place about every six weeks but there was one tonight - free and no tickets required. I was really keen to hear the organ as it is quite new and apparently very special.
    The concert started at 8.30 and was wonderful. The organist was from Bruges cathedral and he was playing with a disabled woman who plays the pan pipes. This might sound unusual but it was a beautiful concert. Because of her disability she can’t play a regular flute but has adapted flute music for the pan pipes and it was fantastic very accomplished playing. The organ was outstanding - I’m so grateful that I was able to hear it played.
    Late to bed given the need to get up early tomorrow morning but very much worth it. Sitting here with a face mask on (given to me by Rachel) so hoping I will look fab for my walk out of Leon tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 26

    Leon to Villar de Mararife - hot

    June 17, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    I was so sad to leave Leon. My favourite city so far. I find that when I am out in the middle of the countryside I can’t imagine walking into the city, or even a big town, but once I’m in the.city, and particularly if I’ve chosen to have a rest day, then I get anxious about leaving for a place where there are only limited options and few people.
    So after walking out of Leon, which was surprisingly quick, I was back in open country and tiny villages with populations of less than 100. I had expected hills after what I thought was the end of the Meseta, but in fact although there were a few gentle slopes, fundamentally I was still in the Meseta - flat plains of wheat and corn and big skies. But much hotter weather than we experienced in the Meseta.
    We stopped for coffee and toast at Le Virgin del Camino - which was not as romantic as it sounded - and then visited a very different church. The architecture was modern, brutalist, but, I thought, very beautiful. Instead of big windows there were almost no windows at all. Surprisingly this wasn’t awful but very moving - not sure I can really describe it. The alter was the only place of colour in the building and was lit, partly by a light well a bit like a chimney, from where light shone down just on this part of the interior.
    Moving on, in increasing heat, we walked to Oncina de La Valdoncina. Where we stopped again for a cold drink in a lovely Albergue with a cool, almost Moorish style interior courtyard.
    On again for the last stretch to Villar de Mazarife - a bit further than we had expected. Very hot walking but we just had to get there. Used Rachel’s Nordic walking technique to spur me along but was very relieved to arrive at our Albergue- San Antonio de Padua. We have a room with shared bathroom and are promised a vegetarian meal - very exciting! All very clean and quite quiet with a great washing line (these things really matter!!). I’m now sitting in the shady garden with a nice breeze blowing. More later.
    Wonderful vegetarian meal tonight with great company. Apart from Alan and Janet, veteran pilgrims (this is their 16th time) from Canada, everyone was new to us. Really enjoyed meeting Raul, a Spanish artist, and his son, Ben and Georgie from Australia and a family from Canada and the US - two brothers and the son and daughter of one of them, who started walking the Camino just before covid struck and had to get out quickly when the Spanish government declared a state of emergency. They have just started again in Leon.
    So good to meet some new pilgrims as most of our friends have either stopped or gone on ahead. Some of them will be at our yoga hostel !’(!) tomorrow evening. More of that tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 27

    Villar de Mazarife to Hospital de Orbigo

    June 18, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    A day of doors and cherries!
    A pretty short day and a fairly unremarkable walk along very straight roads. No stops until about 9km when we had coffee and met up with lots of old friends.
    There is a saying that ‘the Camino will provide’ and we heard about an example of this today from Ramona. Ramona is from Germany and is walking on her own. It’s her second Camino and she is clearly planning many more. She started walking at St Jean in a pair of Asics which soon proved hopeless and she was struggling with bad blisters. She met along the way with two American women, one of whom said she was carrying a pair of shoes she had never worn but really didn’t feel she needed. She offered them to Ramona who found that they fitted her perfectly and were completely comfortable, despite the blisters. They even marched her t shirt. What’s more, the woman wouldn’t take any money for them - and they are a brand new pair of ON’s (the shoes I wear and which I know are really expensive). The Camino certainly provided! (See picture of Ramona with her new shoes).
    We also met up with Anna and Cally who are staying at Albergue Verde with us tonight.
    It really was a short walk - only about 14k.- and we were at our Albergue by about 12.
    This is an amazing place. As I’m writing the most wonderful smells are coming out of the kitchen. We were greeted with a cup of herbal tea and sheets for the bed! It is a dormitory but sheets are a great luxury.
    We had bought a carton of gazpacho for our lunch and had this in the garden, where we met more of our fellow pilgrims. One, Jason, had picked cherries along the way (he had asked the owner’s permission!) and shared these with us and others - before realising that the tree in the garden of the Albergue was also heavy with cherries. We all picked some more - perfectly ripe and straight from the tree; what could be better.
    Then had a tedious but necessary planning session to ensure that we have some places to stay before we get to Samos, from where we are booked up.
    Later we have yoga at 5, sound therapy (!) at 6 and a vegan dinner at 7.30. For me, perfect.
    And about the doors - I just saw so many lovely ones today I had to photograph them.
    Am now in bed in my big dorm having had the most wonderful evening.
    It started with yoga in the yoga studio - what I should really be doing everyday after walking but never seem to get round to. Much more fun anyway with other people.
    And then… a special moment, very very special actually. In the same studio one of the friends of the Albergue gifted us a Tibetan singing bowl session. We all lay down in the circular space, head facing inwards, with instructions just to relax and not listen to the sounds but just let them wash over you.
    I can’t describe this experience - I can only say that I felt incredibly calm afterwards and when I told him how I felt and that I had been ill previously he gave me an extra one to one session. At dinner everyone seemed very quiet - the air of calm had reached us all I think.
    Best dinner on the Camino so far - totally vegan - beetroot hummus, lentil curry with loads of vegetables, salad, saffron rice, wholemeal bread and to finish a vegan cherry cake with cherries from the garden. It’s a donativo for dinner and it’s hard to over estimate how much this whole experience meant to me. I feel very calm and cared for and desperate for this to be only my ‘first’ Camino. I really hope I can stay well enough to do it again.
    So many good experiences. And sorry about the doors but they were very interesting!    Read more

  • TravelerThe Camino
    Day 28

    Hospital de Orbigo to Astorga

    June 19, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After dragging myself away from Albergue Verde felt like nothing would be the same -
    And it wasn’t really.
    Howver, a lovely walk with increasingly different scenery to our days on the Meseta. More undulating and greener, with more trees and less sky. Weather was mixed, cloudy but warm and then rain as we came into Astorga.
    First coffee was at Santibañez de Valdeiglesias - advised by Cally (from Albergue Verde) that the coffee wasn’t good, unfortunately listened to another guy who said it was fine. It really wasn’t - pretty i drinkable and very expensive.
    High point of the day, apart from the Palacio Gaudi in Astorga, was the donativo rest area run by David between Santibañez and St Justo. Wonderful fruit, and all sorts of other food as well as places to rest. I satisfied my craving for watermelon and also had a banana - just what I needed at that moment. A very generous place driven by love of the Camino.
    Then continued into st Justo, where I went into a farmacia to see if they could give me something to help with my wrist - think I was bitten by something in the garden last night and it has swollen up - a bit like my shoulder did previously. The stuff they gave me in Carrion de las Condes didn’t seem to be working - this farmacia advised something else. So I’m hoping, but it’s still fairly itchy and swollen at the moment.
    Into Astorga, in the rain, over a crazy bridge!
    Astorga seems a bit run down, very quiet and a bit dull.
    Our Albergue is clean but expensive for what it is and have just paid €17 for a plate. Of rice and beans - which seemed expensive. Basically back to 1970’s UK when vegetarians got the main course less the meat rather than an actual meal. It was fine but a bit boring, even when sliced up with loads of Tabasco. And I felt slightly cheated when we had to pay the same as the people eating loads of meat! But you win some, you lose some, and last night was a privilege, as was the donativo rest stop today, so I’m very happy.
    The highlight of Astorga for me is the Gaudi Palacio. Quite astonishing and I could have happily spent hours in there. Another weirdly emotional place for me - he seems to be an architect that has the power to move in an almost religious way - the chapel within the palace filled me with awe - I would come back to Astorga just to be there again.
    Something in the palace made me think of Healah from RAK, who I haven’t heard from for ages, so I WhatsApped her and she wrote back immediately - that too was a gift and very unexpected.
    Also good was meeting the other (all new) fellow pilgrims at dinner and having a drink with Bart (we met at Albergue Verde) in one of the squares.
    Need to go to sleep now as have to be up early to get to Rabanal to ensure we get places at the Confraternity hostel.    Read more

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