Hospitalera Day 13 Part 2

Well, that was an adventure! Apparently all of Spain and part of Portugal was without electricity for about 17 hours! The rumours in our small village expanded on that, with speculation that power wasもっと詳しく
Hospitalera Day 14

Hallelujah! I was awakened at about 5:30 by the washing machine beeping that it was finished. The same machine that locked my clothes inside when the power went out.
During the night I woke up toもっと詳しく
Hospitalera Day 15

Soon you will see progress on my map, as I leave Rabanal and Gaucelmo on Sunday.
Yesterday we received two bicigrinos, who rode all the way from Leon in one day. That took me four days to walk, lol.もっと詳しく
Hospitalera Day 16

When Llew bought the beef last week he bought a lot, so we cooked the rest today. More or less the same beef 🥩 stew with potatoes. 🥔 Tasty.
Most days we have pilgrims arriving all afternoon.もっと詳しく
Hospitalera Day 17

It definitely more chilly today 🥶. If you ever volunteer here, bring warm clothes. And O’Keefe’s Working Hands lotion.
I got Diego to help with desayuno (breakfast) and té (tea) today. Heもっと詳しく
Hospitalera Day 18

This is it, our last day as volunteers at Refugio Gaucelmo! Our relief came by in the morning and helped us to clean. Then we had to count the money.
As I mentioned yesterday, there was a specialもっと詳しく
Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca

It felt really great to walk again today. While I really enjoyed being a hospitalera, I am super happy to be a pilgrim today.
This was the most difficult day of my trip so far. The morning startedもっと詳しく
Rabanal to Molinaseca Pt 2

The views were so amazing that I took a lot of photos.
Manjarin is an interesting place a bit past the Iron Cross. A man named Tomás used to live there, and said he was the last living Templarもっと詳しく
Rabanal to Molinaseca Pt 3

I think I’ll include the flower 🌺 photos here, though you can see many flowers along the trails already.
Also, the Relive video of the walk. Have a look at the elevation!
Molinaseca to Borrenes - Camino Invierno

I walked about 25 km today but it felt almost as hard as yesterday. I did make two errors which probably added an extra kilometre or two.
First, in Ponferrada, I thought the start of the Caminoもっと詳しく
Molinaseca to Borrenes Pt 2

Part 2 is from Ponferrada to one of the villages I walked through.
Along the trail was sort of tunnel called el Caléyon. It was associated with the Romans and their gold mining. More on thatもっと詳しく
Molinaseca to Borrenes Pt 3

Just a few more, plus my Relive videos.
You can see the shortcut I took. Seemed like a good idea but boy was it steep! I did save some kilometres though, so maybe okay.
We have a very niceもっと詳しく
Borrenes to Puente de Domingo Flórez

One of the reasons I wanted to walk the Camino Invierno was to see the Roman gold mines. Today was the day!
The first photo explains it, but basically the Romans destroyed the mountain by usingもっと詳しく
Borrenes to Puente de Domingo Pt 2

I only saw three pilgrims today and they were Canadian! From Montreal and Toronto. They were coming up the mountain when I was heading down. They didn’t have backpacks with them, and I’m not sureもっと詳しく
Puente de Domingo to Villamartin

Last night it was not a fiesta or a fight, but a football match on the television in the bar, right below my room. Once the game was over all was quiet.
Today’s walk was SO much easier. There wasもっと詳しく
Puente Domingo to Villamartin Pt 2

I wasn’t sure where I would stay tonight, I decided to see how things went. There was one town I considered but the location of the albergue wasn’t clear. So I walked on.
I stopped inもっと詳しく
Villamartin de Valdeorras to Soldón

The albergue was a little spooky last night, and I did have a couple of strange dreams. But I woke up ready to walk.
I started and finished the day next to the Rio Sil, but much of the time I wasもっと詳しく
Villamartin to Soldón Pt 2

I was walking through the tiny hillside town of Montefurado and noticed that the church was open. This is rare on the Camino Invierno so I took the time and went inside. A local lady showed me around.もっと詳しく
Short update

In case you were wondering about me, I am still walking in Spain. 🇪🇸
Yesterday and today I did not have wifi so haven’t posted. Today I will just do this post and no photos.
I stayed in aもっと詳しく
Soldón to A Pobra do Brollón

I walked 31 km today - more than I had planned, but I am blaming it on Michael from The Wise Pilgrim. He has a Camino Planner and according to my plan it was supposed to be 21 km. Either he made aもっと詳しく
Soldón to A Pobra Pt 2

This albergue is about ten times better than the one in Villamartin. It is clean, the Hospitalera was onsite, the beds were already made, the kitchen was modern and clean, and there was a washingもっと詳しく
A Pobra do Brollón to Monforte de Lemos

Pilgrim life is very sweet today! A short walk (14 km) with a big treat to follow! ❤️❤️
As rain was in the forecast I started with my poncho half ready for use, but it did not rain until muchもっと詳しく
A Pobra to Monforte Pt 2

Once I got back to the room I made use of the bathtub and had a lovely soak.
Then I had a chat with Greg before meeting with Claudius and Lise in the hotel bar for a cerveza con limón.
I alsoもっと詳しく
Monforte de Lemos to Diomondi

I left later than usual today - breakfast was included and I consider it my Mother’s Day brunch. Excellent breakfast, and I was on my way by 9 am.
But I took a wrong turn leaving the Parador. Downもっと詳しく
Diomondi to Vilaseco

It’s interesting when you go off-stage on the Camino Invierno (that is, not following John Brierly’s guidebook). At least for me that means being alone. When I was in Monforte de Lemos I saw lotsもっと詳しく
旅行者We had heard the "Outage" included parts of the South of France, with images of people walking away from "Stranded" TGVs (which are also electric)!
旅行者We were pretty lucky to be on the Camino, where people walk and often pay in cash.
旅行者Glad you are back online. Did the Rapture come up over candlelight last night?
旅行者I didn’t notice it 🥰