• PW and JKW's trips
  • Phil Woodford

Trip to Italy and Spain

Combined sightseeing, pilgrimage, and volunteer trip Read more
  • Trinidad de Arre

    March 3 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 48 °F

    We had a long walk today, but the weather was good. Phil walked for a few miles with a young Sergeant in the Dutch Army and compared notes from an old soldier to a new one.

    We paid a visit today yo a Convent that has an albergue where we might volunteer in the future. We were warmly welcomed offered coffee and given a tour of the church and albergue. It was a nice visit.

    Tonight we are just outside Pamplona at a very old and historic albergue. We just met the other guest who is German and invited him to share our supper. Tomorrow we will take a bus around a very steep hill with a rocky descent.
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  • Jumping ahead to avoid a hill

    March 4 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Tonight, we are in Urtega. Phil had a tough time with the slick and rocky descent at Zubiri, so we decided to take the bus ahead around the big hill called Alto del Perdon because it was also very rocky and dangerous coming down.

    The bus let us off one town away, and we walked about 30 minutes. The albergue agreed to keep our backpacks as we arrived very early. We walked about 6 miles round trip to see a famous chapel called Eunate. It has 8 sides and was built in the 12th century. The history is a little fuzzy. Some believe it was a Templars church. Others think it was another order of knights (knights of Santiago or knights of Jerusalem).

    It was beautiful walking weather, and many early spring trees were starting to bloom. No rain, and it was cool, but not cold.

    We are trying to figure out tomorrow.
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  • A mix up on towns

    March 5 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    We walked a little further than expected today. It was a lovely day fo4 walking. The sun was shining, and it was not windy. The temperature was cool.

    We had a good breakfast with a pilgrim from Italy at our albergue. We walked to the next large town of Puente la Reina or "Bridge of the Queen." There we stopped and had a big lunch because our place tonight does not do supper, and there is no store in the town.

    After lunch, we walked 5 km or about 3 miles to the town where we thought our beds would be, but it was the wrong town. Our place was another couple of miles further!

    The owner had an appt today in another town and won't be home until after 6 pm, so we had plenty of time to walk. The bar nearby is closed until 6 pm, so we are waiting in the town square until he gets back. Tomorrow, we walk to Estella. We served there in an albergue in 2019, so we know that town well!
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  • A rainy day

    March 6 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    We stayed last night in the home of a man who loves the Camino. However, he apparently does not love heating. It was the first night we were totally without heat, so we bundled up in our wool tights, socks, and shirts, crawled into our down sleeping bags and covered that up with a blanket our host provided. Once we were warmed up, we both slept pretty well. The water was also only warm, so I took a quick shower, and Phil skipped it altogether.

    This morning it was raining and cold. We found 2 coffee machines along the walk and finally around noon found an open bar for snacks and real coffee.

    We are staying tonight in an old mill that has been turned into an upscale albergue. Phil and I are sharing a room with a Spanish man and a younger Korean guy. There are several Australians here and others from Mexico, etc.

    We served in this town in 2019, so we knew where the stores were located. We bought a few groceries, and I made lemon chicken with some noodles. After breakfast tomorrow, we'll take a but to the next big town. It is supposed to rain the next 3 days and we have plenty of time to get to the albergue. No since being miserable when we can stay warm and dry.
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  • Travel day to Logroño

    March 7 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 54 °F

    We had a good evening at our albergue. There was a snorer in the bunk above me, but I had earplugs and my buff on my eyes to keep the automatic bathroom light from bothering me.

    After breakfast, we walked to the bus station and took the bus to Logroño. There were a few other pilgrims we recognized. The weather is cold and windy and there was some rain today so people are coming into Logroño which is a big town where they can hunker down, do laundry, and be a bit more comfortable until the weather improves.

    We stopped to visit the volunteer office for our organization today on the way to the hotel. It was good to meet Mayte and Marta in person.

    After we checked into the hotel, we went and had the big midday lunch again. I ordered what I thought was going to be bean soup, but it turned out to be tripe soup. It was good, but not something I would order again. Phil had ham and potatoes with fried eggs.

    After lunch, we took a short nap and then rode the city bus to the Decathlon Store, which is kind of like a European REI store. He has been having trouble with his backpack, so we bought one to load and try. If he doesn't like it, we can return it tomorrow.

    We'll try to do a tapas crawl tomorrow. Logroño has a famous tapas street where you order little plates and then move on to the next place. Not many photos today due to weather and travel.
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  • Tapas crawl in Logroño

    March 8 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 57 °F

    This morning, I washed our "evening clothes" at the laundromat. They don't get worn but a couple of hours each night and haven't been washed since Italy!

    Yesterday we went and bought Phil a new pack so he stayed back and worked on it while I washed clothes. He thinks he will keep it, so we'll donate his old pack before we leave Logroño at one of the albergues.

    After chores, we took the bus to Calle San Juan (St John Street). This is a very narrow pedestrian street with little bars and restaurants on either side. A man walking his dog told us it was a "locals" hangout, and the other popular Calle Laurel (Laurel Street) was more for tourists.

    We walked to the far end and stopped in places that looked good. In our first place, Phil had a grilled sausage sandwich, and I had a scallop grilled on the flat top. In our second place, we ordered the winners of the tapas contests in 2023 and 2024. Both were cooked to order while we waited. In our third place, Phil had a fried cod and pepper sandwich, and I had bread topped with pickled peppers and anchovies. At the 4th place, we had tacos. The 5th place had a bunch of Michelin Star stickers out front and was packed, so we elbowed our way up to the bar. I had "tears of ribs with rice in gravy". Phil had tempura fried cod and lobster on a stick.

    Our last stop was dessert. You could watch the pastry chef through a glass wall. Phil picked me out some kind of chocolate thing, and he had cheesecake made with cambebert cheese. We both had coffee.

    It was raining by the time we finished dessert, so we headed to a grocery store to get some provisions for the next two days. Then we ride the bus back.

    Sorry, but everything was so yummy that we forgot to take pictures of most of it, but I have posted what we did remember to snap before eating.

    Tomorrow, we will try to go to church since it is Sunday.
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  • Rest day 2 in Logroño

    March 9 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    This morning, we had the AC Hotel breakfast. A huge buffet spread with hot and cold items, fruit, pastries, cereal, but sorry Matthew, no biscuits (or gravy). Afterward, we walked to church at the Church of Santiago Real. On our way, we donated Phil's old pack at the albergue associated with the church.

    It was a nice service. Today's homily was about Christ being temped by Satan in the desert. There was a youth group visiting which sang for the congregation after the service.

    Then we walked back toward the hotel and stopped for lunch at the same place as 2 days ago. Lots of large, multigenerational families dining together. The waitress had to check to make sure there was room for us since we had no reservation. We were at a tiny table in a back room!

    Today, I actually chose the bean soup (not tripe by mistake as I did the other day). Then I had a stewed rabbit for my main course. We had apples for dessert. We cut up and split one and took the other with us for tomorrow's walk.

    Now we are at the laundromat again washing our walking clothes so we can start fresh tomorrow. I know it seems we talk about laundry a lot, but when you only have two outfits and 3 changes of undies, laundry is an important and necessary task.
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  • Navarette

    March 10 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 50 °F

    This morning , we took the bus across town and out near a park that is about halfway between Logroño and Navarette. There were a few tense moments as I tried to figure out the bus transfer from Bus 1 to Bus M1, but a nice lady pointed out the correct bus shelter for us.

    It was kind of a cool, dreary day, but not raining. We are walking now in Rioja, which is a state in Spain and also a well-known wine region.

    We passed the site of a 12th century pilgrim albergue. In the Middle Ages, they were often called hospitals because lots of pilgrims got sick on the journey.

    Tonight, we are staying at El Cantaro. The last syllable has an accent mark that I can't figure out with my phone. Anyway, a cantaro is some kind of water pitcher or clay jug.

    We are cleaning up, and then we'll walk around town a little. Tomorrow we walk to Najera.
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  • Najera

    March 11 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 52 °F

    We had a nice evening talking with a Spanish couple and a girl from Ukraine. We slept well.

    We were out walking by 8 am. It was cool but initially not raining. We stopped for a coffee in Ventosa and then walked on. We had sandwiches about halfway and it was time for the rain ponchos after that.

    In Najera, we have about 30 pilgrims total which is a lot for winter. Phil and I could volunteer here in the future as they are also run by volunteers.

    Tomorrow we go about 8 miles. We have a private room booked as there really isn't much open for pilgrims for the next 12 to 15 miles tomorrow.
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  • Alesenco

    March 12 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    Today, we are in a town a short distance from the Camino. It was too far to walk to some of the other towns, but this one was the right distance. It was a beautiful but chilly walk today.

    We are surrounded by vineyards here, and even in the cold, damp air, the farmers are out tending their vines in anticipation of spring.

    We also saw several chukars today. That is a game bird, smaller than a pheasant, but larger than a quail. We've seen some here other years, too, so the habitat must be good.

    Tomorrow, we walk to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The town is named after a saint who built roads and bridges for pilgrims on this route.

    It is supposed to be raining in the morning and might snow a little tomorrow night.
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  • Santo Domingo de la Calzada

    March 13 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    We have had a long, cold, wet day, but we are finally here! We are in a nice apartment for 2 nights.

    It was lightly raining when we left this morning, and we dropped pur ponchos over our packs. Soon, it was raining harder, so we put them on properly and wore them the rest of the day.

    Today's walk was muddy and hilly. We saw a lot of pilgrims, including one who had apparently adopted Phil's old pack in Logroño. We are glad the pack has a new owner . We also stopped at a golf course club house bar that was about halfway on the journey. It was packed with pilgrims, but not a golfer in sight in this rain!

    Phil's resting, and I am doing some washing (again). We have a nice kitchen, so I will go out in a little bit and get something to cook for supper.
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  • Rest day in Santo Domingo

    March 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    It's a quiet day for us. We are resting up and taking care of chores as we begin our volunteer work tomorrow. We are in a nice comfortable apartment with 2 bedrooms. It allows us to cook in instead of eating out.

    Today, we made appointments at a local salon for me to get a haircut and Phil to get his toenails trimmed. They could not work us in until 6:30 pm, though! In Spain, businesses often close in the middle of the day for a few hours, and workers often work until 7 or later. That means stores are often closed in the afternoon and then reopen in the evening.

    Tomorrow we will decide if we will walk to Grañón or take the bus. The weather has turned cold again, but as long as it isn't raining, we will probably walk.
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  • Grañón Handoff

    March 15 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 43 °F

    We walked about 4 miles to our albergue today. It was cold and spitting snow. We stopped for a Spanish Hamburgesa before heading to the church/albergue.

    Chose and Inaki are two Spanish men finishing their volunteer time. Chose will leave tonight and Inaki tomorrow.

    More about the albergue later. Phil and I are hearing of storms back home, and a report of 3 killed in our county.
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  • Hospitalero Day 1

    March 16 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

    Well, it's been a very interesting day. Two pilgrims got up and left before dawn. We said goodbye to our pilgrims and then met the new priest.

    We attended Mass, and then our mentor took us to a late lunch. When we came back, we had 20 pilgrims in the house!

    Right now, pilgrims are cooking supper. They have made a salad. We are going to have Spanish tortilla and a Spanish pilgrims have stepped in and taken charge. I can tell that they are worried that it won't be enough. Usually it is...we will see.

    Pilgrims are playing the guitar and the piano. It's a festive atmosphere.
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  • Hospitalero day 2

    March 17 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    We said goodbye to our 20 pilgrims and set into cleaning. We have already. Who knows how many we will eventually have tonight.

    We have a plumber coming tonight and there will be a 3 day project to update the showers. We hope we will have water. There another shower system downstairs, but it is less convenient. The priest will let us know what we are to do.Read more

  • Hospitalero Day 3

    March 18 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We ended up with 13 pilgrims last night. It was a festive atmosphere and a Spaniard, and a woman from the US teamed up to fix supper.

    When we prepare supper, we play festive music and there was dancing last night in the common room. Amazing you can walk 15 miles and still dance!

    It is still cold here today, and the plumbing repairs are ongoing. The fuel oil man just came, and we have to wait until at least 3 pm to use the showers downstairs. We have no water at all right now.

    Our repair volunteer took me to the grocery store today as he had to get some supplies in the nearby large town. We are stocked up, at least for now.
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  • Day 4

    March 19 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F

    10 pilgrims. It was cold, foggy, and rainy. One pilgrim is walking only with the clothes he has on. He refused extra socks. He does have a string bag with a blanket. It's a pilgrimage, not a vacation, and many of the other pilgrims really admired his tenacity.

    The repair work continues. We did get showers in the downstairs bathroom, and I cleaned those. We have water, but the convenient showers and bathrooms still are under construction and need to be cleaned up. It's a minor inconvenience, but it will result in much improved experiences for the future.

    We also had a film crew here today scouting. Phil and the priest showed them around. A bricklayer will come soon to repair leaking roof tiles. Don't know if that will happen on our watch or not, but it is all good.
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  • Day 5

    March 20 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    We had 8 pilgrims last night. One Italian was on his 17th Camino, and his buddy age 73 was on his first Camino! It was St Joseph's day, and our two younger Spaniards were asked to do readings at Mass. BTW, you can watch us online. The Mass is recorded and then available the next day.
    https://parroquiadegranon.es/
    Look under Misa and push the button that says "ver."

    Today, I am going to clean out the cleaning supply closet. It is a jumble of supplies, and it's hard to see what you have or need.

    We have at least one pilgrim on the way as he called last night on the albergue cell phone in the middle of Mass (oops!) to see if we were open.

    I'm going to town again tomorrow. Phil needs hearing aid batteries, and we need groceries and a charging cable for the head lamp.

    I am cooking some Garbanzo beans. Either we will use them tonight, or I will make hummus with them. It takes too long for them to cook for supper in the short time we have to prepare. I soaked them last night.
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  • Day 6

    March 21 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    We slept poorly. There was a storm last night with lots of wind and rain.

    We ended up with 12 pilgrims, plus one who was camping with his dog, who joined us for a shower, supper, Mass, and the Oracion meeting. The Italia s prepared supper. We had zucchini risotto, seared pork, salad and sautéed peppers.

    Today, another volunteer took me to town to shop. I got more hearing aid batteries for Phil, some new wash tubs, and groceries. We will probably have chicken for supper. So far only 3 pilgrims at 3 pm.
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  • Day 7

    March 22 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    We had 16 pilgrims last night. It was a group effort on supper with Italians, Americans, and Germans helping. We cooked and ate about 6 pounds of dry pasta, and most if it is all gone! We also baked some chicken, but 2 chickens allowed everyone only a small piece. That's the problem with not knowing how many exactly to expect. We also had salad with eggs, and everyone ate pasta until they were full. Only a tiny bit left.

    Here, if we want something baked, we have to take it to the bakery and pilgrims and then sing for their supper. Last night, we had Italian, German, and English songs. The baker puts funny outfits on the pilgrims who carry the food back. This year, it seems to be dance tutu's.

    I smashed a finger in the door last night when the wind caught it, and I took a tumble today while cleaning, but I was ok. Phil is losing his voice, so I am trying to get him to stop talking to save it. Easier said than done!
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  • Day 8

    March 23 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    We had only 5 pilgrims last night, so it was quieter. One young German woman and I cooked supper. She made a wonderful creamed vegetable dish, which we served over rice.

    I made the rice and cooked some chicken thighs for the meat eaters. Another pilgrim shared his chicken, potato, carrot dish, which he'd carried with him. We had salad and then yogurts gor dessert. A young Frenchman brought thyme, which he had harvested along the way and shared it with everyone, too.

    Phil's voice seems better today so hopefully he can resume his duties with the evening prayer service. I have done it the last 2 nights.

    We have Mass today at 12:30. The fiesta last night didn't seem too festive or at least we did not hear it. It was raining which may have kept some away.

    We will see haw many tonight. A week ago we had 20 pilgrims!
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  • Day 9 already

    March 24 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 48 °F

    We ended up with 8 pilgrims last night, although most arrived quite late. One came in at 7:30, although he called to let me know he was on the way. We have one already today. It's pretty much pouring down rain. Don't know if we'll get many more and if we do they will be cold and miserable. I am cooking up a stock pot of soup. I also made bread crumbs out of all the old bread with the food processor.

    Phil's really fighting some kind of virus. I sent him to the pharmacy, and he's lying down now. Seems like he always gets something when we are here. I have a twinge of a sore throat, but holding up ok.
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  • Day 10

    March 25 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Today is a local holiday in Grañón. Phil still isn't feeling great, but I walked a mile out to the chapel where they had a special Mass at 1 pm. The church was packed. Everything but the bar is closed early today.

    Last night, we had chicken schnitzel and creamed vegies in white wine with pasta. Salad and deviled eggs completed the meal. A Swiss firefighter and an American Mom teamed up to cook for 14 people.

    It was rainy and cold yesterday. Today, it's been better. We already have 4 pilgrims, and more are on the way.
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  • Day 12

    March 26 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We had a priest from the Ukraine stay with us last night. It was a little crazy as he came right at supper and wanted permission to do a Mass. Our local priest didn't respond to us right away, so we finally reached out to our mentor, Marina. She had another way to contact the priest, and he came right away to take the Ukrainian priest into the church.

    We had a couple of Spainish men cooking last night. One was a translator and the other a student. They .ade a pista, which is a vegetable stew of sorts and meatballs with sauce. VERY tasty. The kitchen was a bit of a disaster layer, but that's ok. Great fun!

    I went to the store today with the volunteer helper, Cesar, again. We spent almost 300 euros on food and supplies, but we are doing well with donations so far.

    We have 10 in the house so far, and I imagine we will get a few more.
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  • Day 13

    March 27 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    We had 12 last night, and the Italians cooked pasta with meat sauce and pasta and lentils in tomato sauce. Bread is an essential part of the Spanish meal, and we have a traditional bakery here in town. Susana and Chuchi have a bread business, but also make cakes and cookies.

    Phil goes to get the bread right before we eat supper, and often it is warm from the oven. It fills pilgrims up, and it tastes good.

    I have the sniffles now, too. Phil's on the mend, although we are both taking afternoon naps in shifts now the past few days. It's 1:30 here and no pilgrims yet, so we'll see what the afternoon brings.
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