Kevin Esler

A 23km day in very fine weather and the way was quite flat, so a welcome change from yesterday’s more vertical ordeal.

Nothing was available for breakfast in Molinaseca as we left our room at 7:30 so we just marched straight for Ponferrada, 7km away, with dawn breaking along the way. The route avoided some extensive eastern suburbs by skirting the south edge of the town, often with houses on our right and open fields on our left. Along the way we noticed a pleasant scent coming from the vegetation we were passing: slightly peppery and a bit sweet. We’ve noticed it before in the morning walks. A fellow pilgrim thinks it may be wild fennel.

On arrival at the first bar in Ponferrada we stopped for a coffee and muffin. Also there was Saskia, a Dutch pilgrim we’d met at Ingo’s albergue a couple of days back. After coffee we followed the Camino right through town, admiring the castle as we passed by. On the far side of town we had a second installment of breakfast at a very peaceful bar near the church of Our Lady of Compostilla (not a typo). From there it was about 6km on streets and roads through various small settlements till we opted for a sandwich and cold drink at Camponaraya.

We finally got back on a dirt path as we exited that town and the final 6km was rather pleasant through some well treed undulating vineyards, some of the vines quite old.

The day had become quite warm so we sat down for a pre-checkin radler in the shade outside our hotel, the hotel Saint James Way. After getting settled and cleaned up we returned for another drink and discovered that Saskia was also staying here, as was a Danish couple who had also been at Ingo’s albergue, Penny and Frank.

We all got chatting and ended up dining together in the hotel restaurant. Penny and Frank are traveling with a very intelligent well trained little female dog called “Camino”, of the Papillon breed. She apparently walks all the way with them, and with the normal canine toing and froing, probably does twice the distance that her owners walk. Dogs of that breed are known for their long distance capabilities, Frank told us.

It turns out that Penny, when about 19, was a backpacker in Australia and had picked asparagus in Cowra, NSW to make some money while there. Likely we will meet them all again as we are all aiming to reach Santiago about the same time.Read more

With about 23km to cover today we rose early and walked out of Carrión by head torch a little after 7:00. It was pleasant walking in the cool 8 degrees C in the cloudless pre-dawn.

It wasn’t long before an issue John had experienced yesterday returned: an increasing involuntary lean to the left and slight muscle weakness. After 16km he called it a day at Calzadilla de La Cueza and caught a taxi to our albergue in Ledigos. Kevin walked the final few kilometers. The problem is almost certainly dehydration which will be easily fixed but some expert advice in Sahagún tomorrow should help.

One of the pleasures of the Camino is meeting and chatting with people from all over the world and encountering them again and again further along the Way. We are fortunate that the common language among the pilgrims is English. It is not commonly spoken by the Spanish people but they are very forgiving of our efforts.

The Meseta from Burgos to Leon (about 180km) is renowned for challenging pilgrims with its never ending featureless landscape. It is Spain’s wheat bowl with 40C+ temperatures in the summer. We found it less featureless and more interesting than some of the wheat growing areas of Australia. However the ever constant sun, even in the autumn has been wearing.Read more