El Camino de Santiago

september - oktober 2024
  • Bron Plaskowski
Et 40-dags eventyr af Bron Læs mere
  • Bron Plaskowski

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  • Spanien Spanien
  • Frankrig Frankrig
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  • 656rejste miles
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  • 15kan lide
  • So many vines and so many ripe, sweet grapes.
    Just as the street lights ended, it was light enough to see where you were going.Different towns seem to like to have their own style of directional markers.A pilgrim service station.So much greener than southern Spain.Harvesting the grapes, like we have been doing most mornings😊.Josh is a big lad and if you fall off your bike you go down hard.A shelter from the summer heat of the day or maybe today's rain.Very trusting on two counts, one you pay for what you take and two no-one steals the donations boxYou certainly wouldn't miss this pilgrim hostel.There was a complementary bottle of wine, though the decanter said to me it needed to breathe, a lot.I'm not sure I would want to live in a little house at the bottom of a huge cliff.

    Back on the Road

    20. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Started in the dark this morning, with it getting just light enough as the street lights ended around two miles from the hotel. Today's surfaces were great and although we did just over 430m of climbing most of it was a manageable gradient. It did rain for an hour but that didn't seem to slow us down. We got into Najera just before 1pm, we were amazed how the time seemed to fly by today.

    About 4hrs in, Josh, who we'd met again yesterday afternoon, caught us on his bike and stopped for a chat. He had his left hand and knee bandaged, as less than an hour ago, he tried taking a photo whilst cycling and ended up hitting the deck quite hard. It seems as though there is no special protection for pilgrims! This was the last we will see of him as he will be in Leon in 5 days time, we will be there in 13 days time.

    This seems to be the first place we have stayed in that doesn't have a medieval background. Seems much more modern yet at the same time a bit run down.

    Logroño to Najera
    Distance: 17.61
    Time: 5hrs 54mins
    Speed: 3mph
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  • The photo doesn't do it justice, in the moment it was breathtaking.
    The start this morning was grey, damp and muggy.The prettiest house in Azorfa, the first village we went through.As the vineyards disappeared, a golf course sprung up.Outside Pamplona the sunflowers were 3ft tall as it was a windy area, here they're 7ft tall.We are getting there, slowly.The most unusual drinking fountain I have ever seen.It's thirsty work all this walking.The cathedral in Santo DomingoThe parador we are staying in tonightNot quite sure of the meaning of the design but a lovely window nonetheless.

    The Last of the Vineyards

    21. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It rained heavily overnight but by 07:40 it had stopped, leaving a misty, muggy morning. Though I think I prefer that to cold mornings, which are probably coming as we get into October.

    We had probably our last roadside grape breakfast this morning as the vineyards started to give way to larger fields of more traditional crops.

    About 10 miles in, just after the village Cirinuela, we went up a small rise and then suddenly in front of us the whole horizon opened up, a rolling patchwork of different fields, in several shades, at different angles and the Camino stretching out in front of us. It was as surprising as it was breathtaking, again the photos just don't do it justice.

    We got in at 12:15 and luckily our room was ready. So quickly got showered, changed and out to look around the town and something to eat before the heavens opened. The town of Santo Domingo was 1,000 years old in 2019.

    Today we are staying in a parador, which is a former convent or monastery converted into a hotel. We wanted to try one out to see what it was like. There are a number of these along the route and are apparently government owned. Though they are literally 10 times the price of a room in a dormitory, albeit we are only doing 4 dormitories. The first we did to see what it was like, the other three because there was nothing else available.

    Najera to Santa Domingo de la Calzada
    Distance: 13:58
    Time: 4hrs 24min
    Speed: 3.1 mph
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  • One constant are the sunflower fields.
    Our hotel looked better in the early morning than in the daylight.The smell from this pig farm carried for a good 10 mins.A church with the shell and directional arrow in stained glass.I bet he's been trying to escape for years.The point at which we left La Rioja, shame about the graffiti.Slimmer versions of me and Carol.A scarecrow for motorists, a sort of scarecar.I'd seen this place in a guide book, thinking you'd never miss that, not knowing we were staying here.Belorado does like a mural.Opposite the first one.Along side the first two.I've felt like that.Interesting how so many towns really take the Camino onboard.The Santa Maria in Belorado.

    Leaving La Rioja

    22. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    By 5 miles this morning we were officially out of the wine region of La Rioja and into the province of Burgos. Not only were there no grapes for breakfast but the blackberry bushes and the odd fig tree also seemed to have disappeared.

    We passed through six villages today when normally it's two or three. The advantage is that it breaks up the walk and there is the interest of passing though different places. The disadvantage is that almost every village is built in high ground and you have a climb up to get to them.

    This morning it was Carol's turn for her calf to tighten up, so we had to slow down from the pace we had been setting the last couple of days. However, we still got to our accommodation for 12:00. A quick shower, a tour of Belorado and then a pilgrims lunch, €14 each, for 3 courses and a bottle of wine between us.

    There was an outdoor area outside our accommodation where people were drinking as we returned from our lunch in town at around 15:30. From a distance it sounded rather rowdy, though as we got there we recognised some of the people making all the noise and before we knew it we were introduced to the rest of the group and were there for the next couple of hours.

    My only escape was that I'd booked a massage at 18:00, which probably save me from myself!

    Santo Domingo to Belorado
    Distance: 13.68 miles
    Time: 4hrs 43min
    Speed: 2.9 mph
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  • I was surprised how powerful my head torch was.
    I'm sure you don't really need that much stuff.A room with a view.We started down there and this was only halfway up.The forest had seemed such a quiet and tranquil place.Going down only to go back up to the trees on the horizon.An impromptu coffee stop at the top of the mountain.Not sure what this was about.The bells on the church reminds me of Central or South America.Dropping down in to Ages and our stop Atapuerca, a distant spot in the top right-hand corner.Just about every distance marker I've seen has been wrong.These are the first timber framed houses, I've seen on the trip.Apparently the site of the oldest human remains found in Europe.A mini Stonehenge.Might have taken a few more people to get that stone in there.

    A Day on Higher Ground

    23. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Another of those days where we couldn't get accommodation at the guide books suggested finishing point, San Juan. So we had to walk nearly an extra 4 miles to Atapuerca making this our longest walk so far.

    This was our 11th day of walking, so a third of the way to Santiago in days and just over in distance, at around 165 miles.

    First light is now not until 07:40, so got the head torch out for the first time today and set off at 07:00. It felt like the first two miles in the dark we got for free.

    After about 5km we saw an old boy ahead walking with what looked like a granny's shopping trolley attached to his waist, trailing behind him. It looked so awkward, jarring from one side to the other over the rough ground. He was stopping every few hundred metres, how he got up some of today's 20%+ climbs I don't know. I know there is supposed to be an element of suffering, but that is totally self inflicted. You can have your bags taken ahead for you for €7 a day. What he was doing was akin to self-flagellation.

    I knew we were staying in a hostel tonight but didn't realise we were in a room of 4. The other two were a Japanese bloke who didn't speak a word of English and an American woman. In fact there are only 4 nights out of 37 where we are sharing and this is the 3rd one. We had the communal 3 course evening meal, soup, pasta with slices of meat and then a custard dessert, it was all lovely.

    There were a dozen people round a large table, at our end were the American woman who was in our room, an Irish bloke and an English guy. As people drifted away after the meal the 5 of us hoovered up the remaining part bottles of wine, then opened a new one that was on the side and continued chatting till it was all gone. It was now 21:30, lights out is 22:00 in these places and I still had stuff to do like finish today's post!! Which I have now done with 5 mins to spare.

    Belorado to Atapuerca
    Distance: 19.43 miles
    Time: 6hrs 45min
    Speed: 2.9 mph
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  • The top of this morning's 167m climb.
    Flowerpot men and women, seem to be a thing in this area.Seen new train lines, new roads being built, planning must be a bit simpler here.The city gate leading to the cathedral square.The Santa Maria cathedral square.The queue for the free tickets to the cathedral, we came back 40 mins later, no queue at all.Even the wheels looked like they were made of silver.Seriously ornate.That must have took some time to paint.I hope this was an advert not the actual accommodation, but for €5 a room it might be!Courtyard within the cathedral groundsBird houses and directions, very useful trees.

    A Very Impressive Entrance

    24. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    The extra miles we did yesterday meant we only had about 13 miles to do today, hardly worth lacing our boots up!

    Since the first day we haven't been lower than around 400m above sea level. Though, since Logroño we have been steadily climbing each day. Yesterday we topped out at 1,150m and the start of today's walk was about 960m. So despite today's warm forecast it was jacket, hat and gloves for the first couple of hours or so.

    After a sharp climb over the first mile the rest of the day was a gentle downhill into Burgos. We walked part of the way with David, the English guy we had dinner with last night and then also an American couple for the last few miles.

    We took a slightly longer but more scenic route into Burgos, following the river Arlanzon through woods and parkland. The entrance into the old town was through a stunning city gate which brought you into a large square with the hugely impressive Santa Maria cathedral in front of you.

    I was impressed by the gate and the cathedral in 2024, so how must pilgrims in the middle ages have reacted. I can only imagine that witnessing such a sight for the first time would have strengthened their faith and their resolve to reach Santiago.

    We have a lovely little apartment for the next two nights, with washing machine! So after lunch, apart from a visit to the cathedral, free entry 16:30 - 18:30, only on Tuesdays, result. It was a quick wander around the local area, followed by 3 loads of washing. Not that we have that many clothes but we were governed by the number of radiators that we had to dry them on.

    Atapuerca to Burgos
    Distance: 13.07 miles
    Time: 4hrs 29mins
    Speed: 2.9 mph
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  • I liked the two images in one.
    Apparently, from the castle you can see for miles.This is the 2nd Camino dog I've seen, the first dog about the same size, was wearing saddle bags.This is how I'm starting to feel, in fact I quite fancy taking up knitting, instead.In retrospect I should have done the Camino from Plymouth, by boat!Most pilgrims do have more clothes on than this chapAt first I thought the walls of this pool were made from skulls.The yellow building on the right is definitely bowed.Not sure of the significance of the lion on the kings back, but it looks good.Another of the city gates, not quite as ornate though as yesterday's one we first came through.They do like a bull in Spain.Fortification for tomorrow.

    A Day Off in Burgos

    25. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We woke up about 9am this morning and as I laid there I felt like I could continue to do so for the rest of the day. It's really interesting how if you keep going you can keep going, but the moment you stop you wonder how on earth you managed it. Need to make the most of today's opportunity to recharge the batteries as the next one will be in Leon, in eight days time.

    The weather this morning was murky and drizzley. So we left it until 11am when it brightened a little before heading out to explore a little more of Burgos. We walked up to Burgos castle, which Wellington failed to take from the French, despite a 35 day siege, during the Peninsular War in 1812. However, it was shut for a refurb. There was a lovely panoramic view from there over the city. Though we never saw it because of the misty drizzle.

    With the weather taking a turn for the worse, we bought some food, cider and spent afternoon resting up in the apartment and watching some mindless stuff on amazon prime.

    By early evening it had dried and warmed up, so we found a lovely lounge bar, with comfy seats, easy music, good food and drinks. Then it was an early night for our first of eight early starts.

    P. S. The comfy seats are now a must, as with the weight I've lost so far I'm finding sitting on hard wooden or metal seats rather uncomfortable!
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  • The backdrop was almost like the northern lights for my best Rocky pose.
    Leaving Burgos there were numerous figures in this style.Carol liked like Harry Potter in the 20mph+ windsIt was a good day for flying a flag.A tiny village but they had gone to the effort and expense of a number of canvas wall coverings.Down the hill, through the town and straight back up the other hill, pretty easy way finding.The wind literally ripped through her rain cape.This was the sum total of San Bol.A cosy 10 bunk room and one loo for the whole place, fortunately there were only 4 of us.You wouldn't believe it was the same day.Written on the side of the hostel.The total population of San Bol for tonight.Didn't quite see the sunset but the sky was amazing.Reminded me of Tottenham Hotspur.Our cosy home for the night.Pretty breezy on the Maseta plateau, at about 950m.

    Population Zero

    26. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    Laying in bed this morning I could hear the wind blowing hard. The forecast was for 20mph+ winds and rain from 8am, unfortunately the forecast was correct. It rained more on than off and the wind was pretty constant. The first time we saw the sun all day was the moment we arrived at the hostel.

    We had left at 7am as we had an extra 3.5 miles today, as again there was no room at the suggested stop, Hornillos, a one horse town with a population of 70 people. So we spent the evening in San Bol, in the middle of the Maseta, population 0. The place consisted of one building, the municipal hostel, run by a lady who comes in at 2pm, books people in, cooks the communal meal, goes home and in the morning comes back and cleans, goes home then comes back in the afternoon and does it all again. The instruction before she left in the evening was for the last person leaving in the morning to lock up and put the key in the post box. A rather trusting set up.

    Only two other people decided to spend the night here, a 25 year old American lad and a 30ish year old Dutch girl. They knew each other having met at a previous hostel, she definitely had a thing for him though he seemed to play it pretty cool. So in lieu of much else to do, with no signal or WiFi, we spent the afternoon until dinner at 7pm drinking a few beers and getting to know each other, just like you used to do before the days of mobile phones.

    After dinner we climbed up the hillside to catch the sunset but the point at which you could see it just seemed to get further and further away. So we just took some photos from there against the backdrop of the setting sun, the light was amazing.

    Burgos to San Bol
    Distance: 16.5 miles
    Time: 5hrs 48min
    Speed: 2.8 mph
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  • The ceiling of this disused church is used as a backdrop for a film on the origins of the Camino.
    First time we dropped into a village and didn't have to take the steep path leading up to the ridge.There are a surprising number of Koreans doing the Camino.It was 11 degrees but felt colder.Every Spaniard's house actually is his castle.The ruins of the 14th century convent of San AntonThere was also a hostel within the ruins, in summer they allow people to sleep under the stars.A sliver of a view of some fantastic countryside.The cross is depicted like this in this area and the Castrojeriz castle ruins above.There's always another hill to climbEven San Miguel are cashing in on the Camino.For when one altar isn't enough.

    A Very Short Day

    27. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    With no mobile reception or WiFi, we had to resort to the old fashioned method of weather forecasting, sticking your head out the window. The wind has dropped significantly and there was broken cloud, so better than hoped for as originally it was supposed to be two days of high winds and rain.

    The two youngsters we shared the albergue with last night both have a very different approach to our scheduled days and our pre-booked accommodation. They tend to decide on the day how far they want to walk, where they want to stay, if they don't like the look of a village they just move on. They spend each night in dorms trying to keep the costs to a minimum. Sounds quite free and liberating, however, the certainty of a bed in a private room each night sounds more appealing to me.

    There were 4 places where we couldn't do that. Yesterday was our last night in a dorm and our best experience as there were only 4 of us in there. We were told that the previous night there were 11 people in that room and the hostel only has one toilet. I'm still shuddering at the thought of that.

    Today was our shortest walk for the whole trip, so even with a late start of 08:25 we were still done before 11:15. So we had a wander around town, visited a disused church where they showed a video projected onto the ceiling and had other videos and info about the Camino in medieval times. Entry for pilgrims was one euro and that was for both of us!

    So after a long, late lunch we had a couple of drinks back at our accommodation, a small beer and a red wine was 3 euros. I couldn't believe the price so had to have another round to make sure. We then just relaxed in our room, no chasing sunsets tonight.

    San Bol to Castrojeriz
    Distance: 8.21 miles
    Time: 2hrs 49mins
    Speed; 2.9 mph
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  • Pretty flat after a pretty steep decent.
    Yesterday's accommodation had an interesting way of storing walking poles that people had forgotten.Of course we had to climb up the hill, but it was the only real one of the day.The view from the top of the hill, we stayed the other side of that hill in the middle last night.That boot is done walking.The border between Burgos provence and Palencia province.The last bit of uphill today.One way of cooling off your blisters.A cruise on the canal looked quite enticing as the extra mile just went on and on.Maybe it was a loch once, but doesn't look like one anymore.You even get shells on your bed.The view from our bed, one of the town's 3 churches.

    A Solo Walk

    28. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    There was a huge drop in the wind today but also in the temperature, it was 3 degrees at 8am. I know it isn't southern Spain but certainly wasn't expecting these temperatures in September. Though by 9am it had shot up to 4 degrees. Although it was 5 degrees colder today it felt 10 degrees warmer with no wind and walking in the sun.

    This morning Carol wasn't feel well at all, so rather than setting off and then feeling even worse in the middle of nowhere we decided it would be better for her not to walk today. So at 10am which was check out time she took a ride to Formista.

    I left earlier at 08:30 to walk this leg on my own. Though in many ways I wasn't on my own, as I was soon passing lots of people we have met along the way. The one thing that was annoying was the distance for today in the guide book was almost a mile shorter than the actual distance. Not a lot really but when you've got your mind set on a certain distance that extra mile goes on for ages.

    Carol was feeling a lot better when I met up with her just before 1pm. However, as a precaution. we spent the rest of the day in the room relaxing.

    Castrojeriz to Fromista
    Distance: 16.44 miles
    Time: 4hrs 24mins
    Speed: 3.7mph
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  • All this walking is making us taller.
    Directional arrows come in all forms.Some form of irrigation system.Rather random.Must mean something to someone.Sarria is 100km from Santiago, and the minimum distance to qualify for having done a pilgrimage.Rehydration after today's walk, this was the first day you could sit out in t-shirt and shorts.The entrance to our accommodation today.One of the 5 churches for a population of around 2,200.A 2nd one.We are definitely getting closer, was 778km at the start.I know the feeling.This town's bespoke signage.

    Back on the Road Again

    29. september 2024, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    After an afternoon and evening of resting, hydrating and carbing up Carol felt a lot better this morning . With it being a shorter and flatter walk today she was keen to give it a go.

    Before we knew it we were back up to normal pace which was great and after a couple of miles were joined by a young German bloke, Nico, for the next 8 miles. The conversation was a great distraction for her and the miles just took care of themselves.

    It was a very unusual stage today, about 95% of the route was on a path alongside the road to Carrion. Which wasn't too bad as it was Sunday morning and I think the Spanish do like a lay in. There was an alternative greener route, but it was longer, so didn't fancy that today.

    After checking in just after 1pm we had a wander round a lively town centre, had lunch, did some laundry and then spent the rest of the day in the room for some more rest and recuperation.

    Fromista to Carrion de la Condes
    Distance: 11.66 miles
    Time: 3hrs 47mins
    Speed: 3.1 mph
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