Spain
Chozas de Arriba

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    • Day 20

      Chozas de Arriba

      May 9, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Muy agradable la gente de este pequeño pueblo. Se paran a preguntar y ayudar. Hasta el gato se venía conmigo (y eso que yo no suelo ser muy amigo de los gatos, prefiero a los perros)…. Y si pudiera me lo habría llevadoRead more

    • Day 25

      Leon (la Virgen del camino) to Hospital

      June 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

      An early start for what promises to be a long day however for various reasons we decided to get a head start by taking a taxi to the outskirts of Leon - a place called La Virgen del Camino. To be honest I was feeling very guilty about this loss of 7k but given that I walked over 32k today I think it was probably for the best. Regardless I have a bit of a swollen ankle. This doesn’t hurt at all and has benefited from the hammocks and the yoga room at Casa Verde where we are staying tonight but unfortunately something I need to keep an eye on. While we’re on the boring subject of injuries the left knee problem has disappeared completely which I’m very happy about.
      Cress and I took different routes today. I decided to take the longer one which avoids the roads and takes you right out into the countryside. I started walking around 6.45 having failed to find anywhere open for coffee in La Virgen del Camino. The temperature was an icy 7c with a strong wind right from the start. But a bright blue sky all day. The walk was immediately beautiful but my hands were so cold they were painful.
      Passed a couple of villages where nowhere was open and then finally came to Oncina de la Valdoncina where I recognised a place where Caroline and I had breakfast last year (outside, when it was 20c warmer!). Although it didn’t look open I took a chance and pushed the door and found that they were just about open. They were kind enough to give me a coffee (2 in the end) and some tortilla and I gradually warmed up.
      Continued on, seemed to be the only person in the world, until finally came across Ginnie and Scott from Oregon. They were walking roughly the same speed as me so we talked for a while.
      After leaving them Peter Jacob, a cyclist from Holland (who has cycled from Holland) stopped cycling and walked with me for a while. Interesting chat about his trip, people he has met and about The Peter way - a walking route from north to south Holland. Will be looking into this!
      I was ready for another break in Vilar de Mazarife but arrived a bit early and found the shop still shut. There talked for a while to an elderly lady, Conchita, who was very concerned that I had t got a coat. Explained that what I was wearing was all I had but I was warming up and would be fine.
      Wildlife today started with rabbits, continued with storks following the tractors and the whole time accompanied by the croaking of frogs from the ditch that ran along the right side of the path.
      I was walking for a long time but it was fairly level terrain and I was feeling very happy. Lots of time to myself interspersed with interesting conversations with people I will probably never see again. Camino life!
      Arrived at Casa Verde around 2.30. My favourite hostal (tho again had trouble finding it). Since arriving I’ve showered, done my washing, relaxed in a hammock, done some yoga and stretches in the yoga room and eaten a delicious vegetarian dinner prepared with ingredients from the garden here. Perfect.
      Only three of us here tonight - we have had a very Spanish speaking evening (good for my Spanish) with a woman from southern Spain with a very strong andaluz accent. So I could understand some but by no means all. It was an intersection evening. Don’t think we’ll see her again as she’s walking 40 k a day despite injuries.
      So tired now so hoping for an early night.
      Forgot to add that it was a day of doors- too many to add them all.
      And listen to the sound on the video - frogs croaking!
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    • Day 4

      Villar de Mazarife from León

      October 21, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

      First day walking. Decided to skip the long walk (4 miles) out of León on city streets. Shared a cab to the edge of the city with another pilgrim and have no regrets. Cloudy and windy, but no rain all day! Weather has definitely turned to fall. But that’s pretty much what I expected. I’m geared up for it, except for sleeping. I brought my sleeping bag liner instead of my sleeping bag, in order to keep weight down. I may live to regret that. Also didn’t bring my walking sticks. Mountain pass in a couple more days so we’ll get to see if that was the right choice also.

      Pretty uneventful walk, but hey, I’m back on the Camino!. Body is protesting and I stopped to stretch out on picnic tables and park benches whenever they were encountered. It went this way on the first Camino. Sadly, I neglected to buy anti-inflammatories yesterday. Now I’m in small villages and on the weekend, so nothing open until Monday.

      Staying at a nice alburge and had dinner there with a bunch of nice folks. Tomorrow will be 18 k if my bod holds up. They passed the anti-inflammatory hat for me at dinner, so I may survive the weekend.
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    • Day 41

      Oncina Valdoncina to Villar de Mazarife

      November 8, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

      Brrr!
      11 km (7 miles) - Total so far: 487 km (303 miles)

      Uh oh. We woke up to reports of snow on the Camino just a few days ahead of where we are now! On checking further, it looks like much colder weather than normal is forecast for the next two weeks. In fact, the predicted high temperatures for the next six days are lower than the average low temperatures. This means that the rain we anticipated when planning this trip is more likely to be snow. Hmm...this will require some investigation and comparison of options. The weather forecast for December has at least a week of good weather, so that’s one good thing. At any rate, we bundled up today and had a glorious walk along an alternate Camino route that again kept us from having to walk beside the trucks sprinting along the N-120.

      As we walked, we could see snow on all the mountains to the north of us.
      But with warm jackets, gloves, and buffs, we were able to be comfortable. The sun was a great companion all day, helping us ignore the cold wind. The alternate route to Villar de Mazarife was lovely. For the first time in many days, there were hills and trees. About halfway, we came to the village of Chozas de Abajo. Most of it looks like any other village we’ve been walking through, but coming around two different corners, we were surprised by a church bell tower that resembles a free-standing modernist sculpture and a water tower of the same genre.
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