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Camino de Santiago

March - July 2018
A 152-day adventure by Barb and Alan Read more
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  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    313111
    Day 117

    Estella

    June 26, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    We started walking at 5:00 am this morning to beat the heat again, which meant we left in the dark. The best part of doing that is watching the sun rise and the warm colors of light that spread over the landscape. We were blessed with just that when the skies lightened showing us a gorgeous view of Cirauqui on its hill in the distance as we walked towards it.

    We weaved our way through three towns on hills today, and during that time ran into and/or walked with different people who we have been walking with over the last weeks. We walked by olive trees, wheat fields and vineyards, and even along an old Román road.

    I struggled at the end today, and at one point an old man with s cane was going faster than me. 😳
    But, we finally arrived in Estella. Estella is almost 1000 years old!!! So mind boggling to me when I look at the old buildings and try to imagine how it was back then.

    Our place tonight (Agora Hostel) is great! Everything seems brand new. We are the only ones on our floor, and our beds are in little cubicles . Very tired now....tomorrow we go to Los Arcos.    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    353211
    Day 118

    Los Arcos

    June 27, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We left Estella around 6 am after a great night’s sleep. We had gone to the store last night to get some bananas, snack bars and salty chips to carry today. Yesterday, I didn’t eat enough, and I wanted to not make that mistake again. We motored out of town with another group of young women. We got to a spot where we could go left or right, and we all went right, so we missed seeing the wine fountain. 🙁 We talked to this Irish guy later today, and he said that it was not open this morning when he went by, so that made me feel better.

    We stopped in Azquata for breakfast, and noticed, as we were leaving, that we were in quite a bubble of pilgrims today. We hoped that Los Arcos had enough beds.

    We spent most of today walking by farmland-vineyards, wheat fields, potatoes, and some family gardens. The family gardens are so perfectly tended to, and we have noticed how carefully they water each row or section. They do not waste any water at all!

    A surprising moment was when we came upon a food truck along the way with music playing. The guy running it had food, snacks, cold drinks - even had beer taps! We grabbed a cold drink and continued on. We used our lightweight reflective umbrellas for the first time today to keep the sun off of us. It made a huge difference compared to yesterday when we didn’t use them.

    We arrived at our place for tonight right as it opened. Within an hour it was booked full. Our friend, Anja, just barely got a bed at the municipal albergue when she arrived around 3:00. So glad she did, because she looked too tired to go on.

    We spent the evening in the plaza having some sangria/beer and watching the World Cup. They had a tv rolled out for the Korea vs Germany game. There were a lot of happy Koreans in our group when Korea won. 🙂 We ended our evening with a meal served by the family here, and then going to the church for a pilgrims blessing. The inside of the church was crazy amazing! It would take years to notice all of the details.

    Tonight, we are in a room with 3 bunk beds, and Alan is the only man, which hasn’t phased the Spanish women at all...They were trying to teach him some Spanish and then embarrassed him by saying he was handsome. 😂😂

    Tomorrow, we have a 17 mile day to Logroño where we are splurging on our own room with our own bathroom and air conditioning!! Woohoo!!    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    31
    Day 119

    Logroño

    June 28, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    We have officially walked 100 miles now!!! We left just before daybreak and enjoyed a much cooler morning as we left Los Arcos behind. Today’s walk took us up and over many hills which gave our legs quite a workout. We are definitely in wine country now with vineyards next to us much of the way. We left the Navarra province of Spain and entered the La Rioja, which is a province and autonomous community in northern Spain with a renowned local wine industry.

    A wonderful part of doing the Camino is getting to know all of the people who are walking around the same speed as us. There is a group of us who seem to be staying in the same towns. Each morning all of us leave at different times and throughout the our walk we catch some, get passed by others, and it seems we all meet up during breaks and at the end. We had an enjoyable break in Viana today with Joshua (from San Francisco) Adam and his mom (from Slovenia), Noel (from Austin, Texas), and the four Spanish women we shared a room with. Noel used the street in front of the cafe to teach Adam the Cupid Shuffle to the delight of all of us. 🙂

    We felt great walking today until we had about 4 miles to go. Man! My feet got tired at the end. We ended up walking 18 miles by the time we got to our room, BUT we have our OWN room AND our OWN bathroom 🚽. 🙂👍🏻The bonus is it is also air conditioned, and we are enjoying that as we prepare our packs for tomorrow.

    Our routine each day is pretty simple now:
    1. Walk
    2. Get our beds
    3. Take a shower
    4. Wash clothes by hand then hang to dry
    5. Check out town/surroundings
    6. Eat (sometimes eating is first before checking things out)
    7. Buys snacks for next day’s hike
    8. Gather dry clothes
    9. Get backpacks ready to go for next day
    10. Go to bed 🛏 (add pictures and write about the day before sleeping)
    11. Repeat

    Tonight, we walked through Logroño ‘s beautiful cathedral...each church we go in seems to get more amazing. Logroño is quite large compared to most places we have stopped, and besides the plaza and cathedral, we won’t be able to really see much. Rest and sleep are more important. We plan to go all the way to Nájera tomorrow...another 17-18 miles.

    Nothing major bothering our bodies so far. Alan has a foot that bothers him mainly in the morning...Seems to be a nerve thing, we think. Some of the others in our group have been dealing with blisters. I hope we continue to avoid them.    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    111
    Day 120

    Najera

    June 29, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 75 °F

    We walked another 18 miles through vineyards today to Nájera. When we got into town, the woman at the market told us it was Fiesta San Pedro. We got to witness the most amazing celebration by a town I have ever seen! The Spanish people know how to celebrate! I added a small video snippet of some of it. Such a happy and joyous time.

    We met up with our Camino friends this evening to eat outside at a bar, but the the skies opened up with thunderstorms, and so the town people in the bar brought us inside and treated us like family...good times!

    Another “feel good” moment for today: We were getting tired as we crested our last climb today, but we were greeted by a wonderful man playing a guitar. It lifted our spirits 🙂. This same man (we found out later) left all of his guitars and other instruments and ran down the trail for 10 minutes to give a woman her money belt she had left behind. She shared with us how she cried with gratitude because she had $500 euros in it. She said she will never forget it.

    Tomorrow is a little bit shorter day, and I am sure my feet will be happy about that. We are going to Santo Domingo.    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    51
    Day 121

    Santo Domingo de la Calzada

    June 30, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 73 °F

    The town celebration went on until the wee hours of the morning, and the music and revelry kept me awake. It was like reliving my college days with AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Queen and Van Halen songs blaring 😂😂 So, when Alan woke me up this morning, I really wished I could sleep longer...my brain kept saying, “just a little while longer, you don’t have to get up.”

    But, no...we had to get going. We left early again, not to beat the heat, but to beat the thundershowers this afternoon. We didn’t want to get caught in a deluge like some of our group did yesterday.

    Today’s walk was about 13 miles, so that felt nice compared to our 18 milers the last two days 🙂 I woke up while walking in the cool morning air and enjoyed the landscape changing from vineyards to wheat fields. I kept telling Alan it looked like the Pullman area and the Palouse...beautiful rolling hills with wheat with a slight breeze blowing through. The difference being the red poppies. I can’t get enough of them 🙂

    I also enjoyed visiting with our fellow hikers today. The ebb and flow of the walk meant at times you walk with one person and then you are with others. I also spent some time walking alone while Alan walked ahead with Andy (from England). They share a common love of the same music and sped off discussing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mud Honey and who knows what else 🙂.

    What I didn’t enjoy, today, was my left shoulder tightening up on me, then my middle back. “How can my pack seem heavier today?” I kept asking myself 😬 I have gone through it more than once thinking maybe I would find something hiding in there I could toss, but no 😂😂. I barely have anything, and for sure can’t get rid of any of it.

    The albergue we are in tonight is very nice with a huge lounge area to enjoy watching the World Cup. It’s fun watching the game with people from the countries who are playing. The French were quite pleased when their team won earlier today. Sleeping wise, I am on the top bunk again, and I can zip up there like an expert now. 🙂    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    11
    Day 122

    Belorado

    July 1, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    So...I had my dad on my mind today as it has been a year since he died. He really enjoyed hearing about our hiking adventures and seeing our pictures, plus he thought our plan to hike across Spain was pretty cool. To honor him, I have brought some of his ashes with me and thought when the time was right, I would let him go.

    Later on on this trek we will get to a place called Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). It is a cross on the Camino de Santiago where the tradition is to throw a stone, brought from the place of origin of the pilgrim, with his or her back to symbolize their journey. I have brought a rock from home to leave there, but maybe I’ll let dad go there, too...if I’m ready to let him go. We’ll see.

    Highlights from today’s walk:
    1. It wasn’t too hot ☀️
    2. Beautiful rolling hills of wheat
    3. You can buy mini shampoo from a vending machine 😂
    4. Watching Spain vs Russia soccer match with the local people
    5. Hiking 10 miles by 10 am again
    6. Our albergue- it is a great place. Yummy food and even a pool
    6. Alan and I miraculously having a room to ourselves- yay!
    7. The group of people we are with. 🙂
    8. Being able to FaceTime mom ❤️

    We have 15 miles to do tomorrow and then about 17 the next day going into Burgos where we have made a reservation at a hotel...and we’re excited for that!    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    Day 123

    Agés

    July 2, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

    The cooler weather today made for pleasant walking. We had a change of scenery and walked through miles of oak and pine forests. My back was better today. I did some stretching with my poles (thanks,Candi 🙂), Alan took a few things from my pack for a bit plus gave me some back rubs on our breaks, and we bought some ibuprofen cream which works great. Hopefully, it continues to be fine.

    Our first plan was to stop in San Juan de Ortega today, but after a quick rest and snack, we continued on to Agés. We are glad we did because our whole crew is here. It was so relaxing sitting out under the umbrellas this afternoon visiting with them all. Our group consists of: 2 couples from Sweden, 3 people from Poland, 1 from Italy, 1 from Iran, 3 young women from Vermont, 1 young guy from Texas, 1 guy from Ireland, a couple from South Korea, and us with ages ranging from 18 to 65. They are a great group of people. Sadly, some of them will be leaving us after Burgos (where we will be tomorrow), and that will be hard. 😕

    Many of us have booked nice hotel rooms in Burgos, though, which we are very happy about! We are ready for a little pampering and REAL TOWELS! 🙂 The topic of doing a rest day came up, but Alan and I are feeling great, so we have decided to not do a rest day yet.

    We have walked 163 miles now, after the 16 miles we did today, and we have around 14 or 15 miles tomorrow to get to Burgos.    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    Day 124

    Burgos #1

    July 3, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

    We arrived in Burgos today. 🙂 Remember when I said we were not going to take a rest day? Well, we changed our minds. Once we got to our hotel room, we realized how tired our bodies were. Plus, this way we get to stick with our group and spend some more time with those who are leaving to go back home...and get to see some of the amazing sites in this city that we will probably never get to see again.

    So...Both Alan and I plan on touring the inside of the cathedral tomorrow, visiting the museum, and maybe checking out the castle. All of that will happen after we sleep in a bit instead of getting up at 5 am. 🙂

    Here are a few pics and video from today    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    1
    Day 125

    Burgos #2

    July 4, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    It felt so good to sleep in a bit this morning! Our bodies needed it. We explored a little this morning by touring the Cathedral - oh my goodness! I couldn’t even begin to capture it all in pictures/video. Just looking up at the different domes was amazing, let alone the paintings, tapestries, and sculptures. It’s hard to comprehend how long it must have taken to complete the different works of art. We also got to see some fiesta celebration with a parade of the giants and big heads. They are in one of the video snippets and a picture I added here.

    This afternoon we went to the Museum of Evolution which houses some of the oldest evidence of human life on our planet- another “wow” experience. The castle didn’t make the list today, because we decided to do what the Spanish do and had a siesta. Everything pretty much closes down from 2:00 until 5:00 or later, so why not rest ourselves 🙂.
    Restaurants don’t really open up for dinner until 8:00 or later which is a schedule that we are not used to.

    I thought I would attach a picture of my Pilgrim Credential today. This is what we need to stay in the different pilgrim albergues along the way. We have to have it stamped each day, and then during the last 100 kilometers it must be stamped twice a day as proof of our journey. Cafes, churches, and other places also have stamps. Once we get to Santiago de Compostela, we will show our Pilgrim Credential and then receive a certificate of our journey. That seems like it will take forever, since we have only gone 180 miles and we still have 320 to go 😳.

    Tonight we had a goodbye dinner for four of our people who are heading back home. We are sad to see them leave 😕...such good people. But, on a happy note - I met another fellow WSU Cougar and his wife who are walking the Camino. GO COUGS!!! They had dinner with us tonight and we hope to see them along the way.

    Tomorrow, we head to Hornillos 🙂    Read more

  • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
    11313
    Day 126

    Hornillos del Camino

    July 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    July 5th

    Today, we entered the Meseta (the flat plains on the plateau of central Spain) which is the section between Burgos and Astorga. The weather was perfect -not hot and there was a breeze that kept us cool the whole way to Hornillos del Camino. We will be on the Meseta for a few days. No shade, so we are hoping it stays cooler like today, otherwise we will break out the umbrellas ☂ for shade.

    Our albergue is very nice and welcoming with a lot of nice people staying here. Alan and I have our own room with twin beds 🛏. Yay for not having a top bunk!!! For dinner, the owners of the albergue made a huge paella dish for us with bread, salad, lots of wine 🍷and dessert. It was so good!

    The WiFi is horrible here, so not sure when this will upload. Tomorrow we continue on to Castrojeriz - another 13 miles. After tomorrow we will have gone 206 miles 😀.    Read more

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