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A Camino to Remember

setembro - novembro 2023
We’re walking nearly 500 miles on the Camino Francés to Santiago! Leia mais
  • 42pegadas
  • 3países
  • 47dias
  • 552fotos
  • 1vídeos
  • 12,9kmilhas
  • 11,6kmilhas
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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    Dia 22

    Going to Carrión de los Condes

    9 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    Today we walked 19 km alongside the highway to get to Carrión de los Condes. It was relatively flat and mostly not too hot.

    We passed a shepherd on the way. His herding dog was a goofy German Shepherd puppy, maybe 4-5 months old. Needless to say the pup wasn’t much help! The sheep spilled out of their enclosure, onto the Camino, and onto the highway where they stopped all traffic!

    We have been wondering for days how the sunflowers here are harvested. Today we saw two fields of flowers being harvested. We still don’t know how the oil is extracted but at least we saw the lawnmower-like machines cutting down the spent plants.

    David started out pretty well and didn’t carry a pack today due to his messed up back and “tilt.” But as the day wore on he started moving slower and tilting more. When we got to our hotel I spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to get him a massage. Out here in the countryside it is not easy! But tomorrow we’re walking slowly to Ledigos. David’s not carrying a pack and will use poles. Then we’ll take a taxi from our albergue (hostel) to the next town where he has an appointment for a massage. Here’s to hoping it does the trick!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    54
    Dia 23

    Llegamos a Ledigos

    10 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F

    Today we left the place where we were staying in Carrión de Condes. We stayed in a restored monastery that’s been turned into a hotel. It was quite the foo-foo hotel! Dinner at the hotel restaurant was 35€ each! Yow! We went into the bar and had two cokes and a pizza each for 28€ total! Also, although the monastery was beautiful and stately, the whole place gave me the creeps. It had all these dark nooks and crannies and all these super quiet empty spaces, lots of violent religious art, and an odd smell. David thought it was great but it felt like a super haunted thousand year old building to me. They had a great breakfast though! So we were happy to have a hearty breakfast and get down the trail.

    Today we had a 17 km stretch right off the bat without any facilities so no bathroom, water refill points, or places to stop for coffee. Since David couldn’t carry a pack due to his sore back I carried water for two. It was heavy! But sure enough we drank almost a gallon of water between us.

    The trail was long and straight and went through farmland. I included a few pictures so you gave an idea of what we looked at all day. We both find this agricultural area pleasant and nice to walk through and looking at the different crops and farm equipment is interesting.

    We walked to a little Pueblo and bought a Coke and used the bathroom and then walked another 7 km (total was 25 km today) into Ledigos, a very little place with two albergues. We checked in and asked for help getting a taxi ride to Sahagún, 16 km away, so David could get a massage at the combination farmacia/sports massage place. I’m writing as I wait for him. The taxi driver, Fede, is coming back for us. He explained all the highway signs to us and told us all about the wildlife in the area. A lot of the animals have different names in Spain! A deer, for example, is called a “venado” in Mexico but here it’s called a “corzo.” Apparently there are lots of animals out there but we haven’t seen many yet! He also told us that storks here are really plentiful. We see their huge nests on churches. But he said all the storks picked up and left the area and no one knows why! Also there is a big bird of prey here that we saw but whose name I forgot, but like just about everywhere we saw the big fierce bird being messed with by a tiny bird. Just like what we see at home! Hawks being tormented by tiny birds!

    David didn’t carry a pack today (or yesterday) and he seems a lot better. No tilt today! I suggested he use poles even on flat land. He’s been doing exercises that our friend Cindy recommended, too. And now a sports massage! Hopefully he’s on the mend! So now that we have COVID and a sore back checked off, I think we’re done with Camino heath drama!!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    2113
    Dia 24

    Calzaldilla de los Hermanillos

    11 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ 🌙 48 °F

    Today we met an exciting milestone! We passed through Sahagún which is the unofficial midway point of the Camino Francés. So the actual mileage estimates are kind of varied for the Camino but most folks say it’s about 790 km (485 miles) long. Any distance marker of less than 395 km to Santiago means you’re on the “downhill side,” the second half. All of the distance markers were less than 395 km today! We’re having a great time but there’s something about seeing that we’ve made it more than half way to Santiago that really elevates the spirits!

    I don’t know how great the pictures are today as we were on a very flat section of Camino. It was allegedly 27 km from Ledigos where we woke up today to Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos. However, it was actually closer to 34 km! That’s over 21 miles! We were hungry in the town before Calzadilla de los Hermanos and the only thing open was a little mini store where
    the very nice lady made us a bocadillo (baguette sandwich) with ham and cheese on it. She was very friendly and we chatted a bit and I asked “So we must be pretty close to Calzadilla de los Hermanillos now, right?” And she said no, it’s 9 more kilometers straight out of town. So after we ate our lunch at a cute little park with a pond full of jumping frogs, we started the walk out of town. We didn’t see another soul on foot, in a car, or even in a tractor for over 6 miles. We started to say that maybe this is what it feels like to be
    The last two living people on the planet! The Camino splits in two a ways back and I guess most pilgrims went the other way because no other pilgrims were out on the Camino with us and although we later met two lovely Australian women at dinner, it seemed like we were the only guests at the casa rural where we are staying tonight. So odd after having dinner with about 40 other pilgrims last night and seeing them all on the first few hours of the Camino today!

    Tomorrow we are walking 23 km to Mansilla de las Mulas, our last destination in La Meseta, the section of agricultural plains. We’ll miss the Meseta! It’s quiet and lovely and so pretty! We’ll be walking into the biggest city on our Camino, León, the day after tomorrow.

    David’s back is improving quite a bit. No tilt and he doesn’t have much pain. He’s anxious to “do his part” carrying stuff but hopefully he can rest it a few more days!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    11
    Dia 25

    Mansilla de las Mulas

    12 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Today we walked another long rocky path. We are now in a little place called Mansilla de las Mulas. Our room in the casa rural is extremely pink! Like electric bubble gum pink! And has religious paintings on every wall. We’re glad they have a pilgrim’s dinner here at 7:00 so we can just chill. We’ll have breakfast here tomorrow and walk to the big city of Leon, which is only 18 km away.

    Today we watched a different phase of sunflower harvesting. The big mower cuts the stalks of sunflowers down and then mulches everything and then it goes over to a big trailer and puts all the mulch in there. Then they take the trailer to a processing plant.

    There are a lot of irrigated corn fields around here too. We crossed a big concrete canal today too but it wasn’t very full.

    Today’s walk was straight and simple. I’ll post a few pics so you can see! I don’t really get where FindPenguins gets the temperature info on the blog posts. It’s been hot almost every day since the Basque Country. Here in Mansilla de las Mulas today it was 86° when we arrived. Hot to be walking in without shade! But it’s forecast to possibly rain starting on Sunday. We’ll see!

    David carried a tiny backpack today with his sweater and beanie in it. He seems to be doing okay! And although I’m no longer giving off COVID cooties, I still have a cough but it’s not slowing me down. We had dinner with two very nice Australian women last night and one of them is taking taxis now because her feet are totally thrashed with blisters. We have been lucky! Our feet sometimes get sore on a long walk but neither of us has any blisters. I figure we’ve been hikers for so long that the skin on our feet is all calloused up!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    2
    Dia 26

    Into León

    13 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Today we had a fairly short walk (13 miles or so) into León. It’s a big city with a cathedral that we’re hoping to go see when it reopens this afternoon. If we get inside I’ll post some interior pictures!

    The walk itself was uneventful. My feet are a little sore from the previous days walking over really rocky trails. But it was completely fine. The different thing that happened today was that there were dark clouds on the horizon. It wasn’t warm at all. A couple hours into our walk, it started to rain. It didn’t rain a whole lot, but it rained on and off for the last few hours of our walk into the city. We put on our ponchos to keep our bodies dry but also to keep our backpacks dry.

    We had a weird experience. We went to our hotel, and the hotel receptionist told us that she had no record of our reservation. We booked through an agency back in May. Even though the agency had an email, confirming our reservation, the hotel wasn’t buying it. So we went to get something to eat, and the agency booked us a new hotel in the same area. I think the room is nicer and it even has a skylight! when we went to go pick up our bag in the old hotel to move it to the new hotel, the receptionist was talking, smack and trying to convince us that the agency screwed everything up and it was their fault. We just said OK yeah and went to our new hotel where they not only wanted to see us, but they also gave us a nice room.

    So assuming we get into the Cathedral today, I think our visit to Leon will be really nice! Tomorrow we are walking out of the city and off to some random town, where a taxi is supposed to pick us up and take us to our lodging, which is in another random town. I am definitely going to call in the morning and make sure that all of those ducks are in a row because being stuck in a random town with no lodging does not sound like a fun way to spend the evening .

    David’s back is much improved! We’re feeling great and getting excited every time we look at a mileage marker. Tomorrow we should be in the 200 km range! Although we’re having a wonderful time here in Spain, getting closer to our goal of reaching Santiago is really exciting!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    22
    Dia 27

    Into Villar de Mazarife

    14 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F

    We walked to Villar de Mazarife but the travel booking people had us catch a taxi from there to San Martin del Camino. We’re staying in a private room in an albergue.This albergue has a pool to soak your feet AND excitingly a washer and dryer! We are very excited!!! We’re sitting in the nice weather (rain yesterday, rain tomorrow, rain Tuesday-Friday next week) reading our phones having already done the Wordle, the Mini Crossword, and done Connections. We are at an albergue that serves dinner too so we don’t have to go out looking for food! Life is good!

    I’m putting pictures from last evening’s visit to the cathedral in León on this post. It was amazing! It always makes me wonder what medieval people thought of cathedrals! There were no big buildings at that time so cathedrals must have been mind-blowing.

    Today’s walk was pretty flat, though suburbs first and eventually through countryside. We saw some parachutes around a small airport near a little town called Chozas Abajo. Chozas are huts, usually thatched roof huts. Although we didn’t see any chozas, it seems like a funny name for a town with an airfield. The town was small, like maybe a couple hundred people max.

    So today we had a cool experience. Somehow I’m taking David’s hiking poles in and out of the sides of my pack, his floppy sun hat fell on the ground. When we discovered this we were bummed. That hat is goofy looking but it’s so helpful for hiking in the sun! And also if it’s just raining a bit it keeps the rain off his glasses. BUT! About an hour after we discovered the hat was lost, we took a break and saw this very striking, elegant woman we’ve crossed paths with many times. She wears billowy dresses and uses an old school walking stick. And when we saw her today we saw that David’s hat was hanging from her walking stick! So we finally had a chance to chat with her. She’s from France and said she just found his hat in the middle of the Camino. We gave her many merci bou coups for returning his hat! And then we saw her later in the village we walked to. A new friend!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    Dia 28

    Hospital de Óbrigos

    15 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    We had a short day today, only 15 km! We started where we left off yesterday at Villar de Mazarife. We stayed in a neighboring town and taxied back to where we stopped yesterday.

    It was expected to rain around 4:00 but actually started raining around 12:30 while we were still walking. But then we got to where we were headed fairly quickly so we only ended up hiking in ponchos for less than an hour.

    Today we learned a bit about water towers. The shape of water towers is different here, with many being shaped like funnels. Some are cylindrical or squared off but none are the shape of water towers in the US.

    When we arrived here our German friend Annette told us that the bridge into town is over a thousand years old and that they used to joust on the fields near the bridge. And when we arrived, as it is Sunday, there were people playing traditional music and doing traditional dances which was cool to watch!

    We’re chilling out in our room now until dinner at 6:30. I think we’re the only guests here! It’s Sunday and rainy so there’s not much to do. Tomorrow we’re going to Astorga and I’m hoping to get new shoes as mine are all beaten up and have lost their support around the heel which is giving me sore feet.    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    Dia 29

    Astorga! And Less than 300 km left!

    16 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Today we walked to Astorga. It is a lovely town with a cathedral and a building designed by Gaudi. And, maybe most importantly, a shoe store! I sad as it was to say goodbye to my previous shoes, the soles were completely torn up. They had to be replaced.

    We had a wonderful time at our previous location. Our hosts were completely lovely. Dolores, the woman who ran the lodging facility, was so lovely. She gave us and our new friend from Chile big hugs when we left this morning. We made friends with a wonderful woman from Chile. She walks faster than us, though, so I’m not sure if I’m going to see her anymore!

    Walk today was only 15 km. It was pleasant and through countryside. We arrived in Astorga fairly early. We went to a shoe store. They had the same brand of shoes I have been wearing but not the same model. They probably gave me a blister between my big toe and second toe! So I have been doctoring the blister and I relaced the shoes. Hopefully that will solve the problem and my shoe issues will no longer be a problem.

    We went to that which was lovely. We had an audio tour. It rained on us even though it wasn’t supposed to rain once we were here in town. Of course, we were not carrying our ponchos when we were out being tourists. All of the restaurants in town are closed because today is Monday. Not Sunday, but Monday. Apparently that’s a thing too! So we and all the other pilgrims in town are at a pizza place tonight. But Pizza is a good all purpose food!

    We were looking at a map for tomorrow, and we have a steady, uphill climb going to our next location, Rabanal. We were surprised to see that the day after tomorrow is the day we go to Cruz de Ferro where are we will be leaving our rocks on the big mound where everybody else leaves that rocks! It’s actually pretty exciting to have made it more than 2/3 of the way now!

    We were very excited when we saw a mileage marker that was 369 km. Unfortunately, about 5 km later we found a mileage marker that said we had 375 km to go! I think it just goes to show you that you can’t really trust those mileage markers! According to our guide book, we have 256 km to go!    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    5223
    Dia 30

    Rabanal de Camino

    17 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    This morning we left the city of Astorga. We met some lovely ladies at breakfast in the hotel where we were staying. They are staying in the hotel we are in tonight too and we had lunch with them. They are from New York.

    The walk was relatively smooth. We walked for a long time with a couple from Florida. That was very nice. The big challenge today what is the weather. It was rainy and windy and cold. We had to wear our ponchos for a good portion of today’s hike.

    When we arrived in Rabanal, we went down to what I think is the only place to eat in town. We usually either skip lunch or have just a sandwich. But this afternoon we had the pilgrims menu, which is two courses and dessert. David had some spaghetti and I had a good soup. Then David had some pork and I had some chicken both with fried potatoes. And ice cream for dessert. It was great!

    We came back to our room and are basically snuggling up because it’s cold and we are trying to dry out our wet clothing. This is the first time that the radiator has been turned on in a room where we’ve been staying. It’s kind of crazy to think that not that long ago we were dressing for very warm weather. We were slathering our bodies with sunscreen and still getting kind of sunburned. I was wearing my sleeveless dress and my Capri length leggings. Now it is cold and blustery. It’s pretty likely that there’s going to be a lot of this cold and rainy weather for the rest of our Camino.

    We’ve been watching the mileage markers and we have about 250 km left. It’s a little maddening because the mileage markers are super inconsistent.

    Tomorrow we are going to the Cruz de Ferro, which is a huge mound of rocks with a large oak pole that sticks out of them with a cross on top. Pilgrims leave a rock from their homeland as an act of forgiveness or remembrance or prayer. It is the highest point on the Camino and it is a high point spiritually on the Camino. I did a lot of research today to try to find out which part of the downhill is the one that is particularly slippery in wet weather. I think tomorrow will be an OK day to walk downhill but perhaps the next day is a day to catch a taxi for 10 km or so. I hope I am making the right call on this because nobody wants to get hurt.

    We are beginning to think about the end of our Camino, because we are getting close. We were saying today that we are getting to be habitual about stopping in churches on the way. We are having a blast, and we are beginning to miss being home a little bit.    Leia mais

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  • ViajanteA Camino to Remember
    2243122
    Dia 31

    El Acebo

    18 de outubro de 2023, Espanha ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Today we hit a big milestone. We had breakfast and headed up to the highest point on the Camino, the Cruz de Ferro. It’s a spot where pilgrims have left a rock from their homeland in a huge pile for centuries. We both left our rock along with our wishes. It was very touching.

    We are in beautiful country now. The hills are rounded and very green. There was mist and fog most of the day. It rained a bit but not enough to need our punches. Tomorrow the chance of rain is 90%.

    We were concerned about this steep downhill section that has a lot of rocks and a bad reputation. We just took it slowly and carefully using our poles. I think the people who were concerned about that on the Internet have probably never hiked in Yosemite! It really wasn’t a problem at all. Tomorrow is more of the same downhill with rocks for the first five or 6 km. Then we have a flat walk into a city of 65,000 people called Ponferrada.pepeople.    Leia mais

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