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Camino de Santiago
  • Susan and Jim's Travels
  • Susan Halpin
Sep – Nov 2022

Camino de Santiago

A 61-day adventure by Susan and Jim's Travels & Susan Read more
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  • Camino de Santiago

    Leaving Logroño

    October 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    A pleasant walk out of the city. We managed to get out before the start of the Logroño International Marathon this morning, which is going to close many city streets.

    The walking/cycling infrastructure is excellent here, but today was special . The Camino follows a Bike Pedestrian Superhighway. Bikes on the left, walks and runners on the right. About 4 km to a reservoir and park. A popular destination on Sunday morning!

    A great start to the day!

    Added some shots of Logrono valleyas we climbed a ridge. Plus some parkland entertainment!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago
    1

    Sun AM Walk - Logrono to Navarette

    October 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Bright blue sky and warm temps were what we got today as we left Logrono. Many were out enjoying their Sun morning in the huge reservoir park we walked through. We saw a man playing a ukulele as he walked. There were also ducks, swans & lots of cyclists. It was hot walking, low 80 degree temps. We found some shade & had a picnic w cheese, ham, and croissants compliments of the hotel breakfast buffet. On our way into town through vineyards we met a guy who had been walking from Austria with a tent, and all his gear on a cart. We passed by a bull, a fence that people have used twigs and branches to make crosses, as well as Don Jacobo winery. We could see the steeple of the village church as we entered the village of Navarette. The church bells really do ring here. The inside of the church is beautiful.Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Navarrete

    October 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    A shorter walk today, about 13.5 kms from our hotel, to Hostel Villa de Navarrete.

    Only one ridge to climb today, then down to the next valley and a short climb up to the small hill town of Navarrete. Walked into town just after 1 PM.

    Met a Austrian man whole started walking in Austria, said his total trip will be over 3000 kilometers. He walks with his pack on a two wheeled cart, that clips onto a hip harness. He walked through some of the Alps with his setup. Today's ridge he described as a "bump"!

    Update:

    Added some photos of the inside of the Navarrete church!

    Then we had a beer with our friends Patsy and Kevin of Portland ME, and James, an Anglican Minister of the Church of Ireland of County Kildare, who is walking the Camino!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Rioja Vinyards on the way to Ventosa

    October 2, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Rest stop at a café in Ventosa. About 7 km of walking so far. 11km left to Najera.

    There are lots of vineyards in Rioja, who knew. Still some grapes left to harvest.

    Bright sunny day, temps about 60 now, will get up to the mid 80's this afternoon. We should get a whole week of this weather!Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Ventosa Hilltop Church

    October 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We walked up to the top of Ventosa's steep hill. The village church was locked up, but the views from the top were great. Back to the east, we can see Navarrete. To the west, Alto de San Anton, which we still need to climb.

    There was a weird sculpture up there that had a skull in it!

    One last final photo of the Church as we walked away from town.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Ventosa to Nájera

    October 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    The climb to Alto de San Anton was not difficult, and there was a long gradual descent to the river valley below. Mostly through more Rioja vineyards. Sue finally broke down and grabbed a bunch of grapes to eat. I told her the Nájera police arrested anybody entering town with blue or purple lips! :-)

    A long walk across the valley floor seemed to last forever, but we made it to our hostel for tonight!

    Be met a nice bicycle Pilgrim from Brazil and bumped into a couple cycling, with a friend driving their camper van, who met met a few days ago.

    Update: Rioja apparently has Frontons! And when we first walked up the street to our Hostel, I did not notice the sandstone cliff at the end of the street!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago
    4

    Arriving in Najera

    October 3, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    So I arrived in Najera with blue lips & sticky fingers. So far the "grape police" have not apprehended me in my undisclosed location 😇.I have not picked one single grape walking through the miles of vineyards on our Camino route. I believe strongly you shouldn't pick things that are not yours. Today was hot & I succumbed. Thanks Jim for ratting me out! However, the grapes were everything & more than I had hoped!

    Last night after I posted to our blog we had a lovely meal with our Camino friends in the restaurant of a 15th century hotel. Beautiful atmosphere & food was also delicious.
    Posada Ignatius https://posadaignatius.com/

    There is not a lot to say about our walk today. It was stunningly gorgeous and so many grapes 🍇 so little time...    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Azofra and Cirueña

    October 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    We walked out of Najera up a road through a gap in the cliffs, onto a wide open rolling plateau. Vineyards and fields that had been harvested already.

    Grapes are being picked and hauled away by tractors.

    We made a coffee stop in Azofra with Inger and Bengt from Sweden.

    After Azofra, we walked almost 6 miles to Cirueña for a lunch stop at Bar Jacobeo.

    This morning's terrain was wide open country, with few trees and no shade. Right now it is 75 degrees and no clouds. We are hot and thirsty. This must be a brutal walk in July and August!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Trekking to Santo Domingo

    October 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    15 miles today! When we left Najera this morning at 8AM the temp was 52 degrees. When we arrived at Santo Domingo this afternoon it was 85 degrees. We walked through many miles of vineyards during the first half of the day. Workers were harvesting the grapes and trimming the vines. It is hard work especially when it is hot. There is no shade at all. The workers could not have been more gracious to us. They came to the side of the road offering me grapes. (I had to decline as it was too early in the day for blue lips and sticky hands 🙃) Most of the roads we walked today were dusty & gravely. I was grateful that our walk was broken up by stops in 2 little towns along the way. It makes a huge difference to sit in the shade, drink something cold & have a chance to use the "water closet." This stretch of the Camino must have been brutally hot this summer! I was grateful that we even had a tiny breeze.On the last long stretch there was a handwritten sign three quarters of the way up that said " Cheer Up" we have cold drinks in 100 meters. Not only were there cold drinks to buy there was also a small shaded park to take a rest in!

    When we got into the old part of the city of Santa Domingo we toured the Cathedral and bell tower. There was a very informative audio offered. What an amazing collection of art and history!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Santo Domingo de la Calzada

    October 4, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We have reached our destination for today, another hot, sunny, exposed 5.6 kms over two small ridges, before climbing down to Santo Domingo.

    Apparently the empty fields around here were full of potatos.

    Our Hostel is taking siesta right now, so we have retreated into Café Vendaval's thick stone walls for cold beers until the Hostel opens!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    We have entered Castille y León region

    October 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    We have left La Rioja, and crossed into the Castillo y León région.

    We bumped into Bengt and Inger, from Sweden, as we left Santo Domingo. We all walked together and chatted for a quick 7kms to Granola. We had coffee together there, then parted ways as Sue and I stopped to see the village church.

    Then almost 4 km to the next village for a cold juice in Redecilla del Camino.

    Several more villages before we reach tonight's stop in Belorado.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Flora, Fauna, Art & Footprints

    October 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Today was a hard day in terms of walking. There weren't steep uphills or downhills, just monotonous trails that often times paralleled the highway. There were times I thought the road would never end. No shade, dusty, gravelly walking with miles of wheat fields. However, when I thought of the highlights of the day, I couldn't narrow it down to just 3 or 5, there were many more than that! So I guess it was a pretty darn good day!

    #1 Walking with Inga & Bengt (from Sweden) to our first rest stop in Granon and seeing the church there. In the church we met our Texas & North Carolina friends.

    #2 our second stop had a nice bar, I had the most delicious cherry juice. On our way out of the village French couple showed us a fig tree, and picked us a fresh fig to try. I discovered I've never had a fresh fig, only dried figs. Fresh ones are not nearly as sweet they are very soft & not chewy.

    #3 I learned what a chestnut tree looks like and saw a bunch of walnuts out drying in the sun.

    #4 We stopped for lunch & had a really good salad, homemade bread with delicious olive oil at our last stop. It was a kind of fancy place for such a small village. The restaurant had this baby crib full of cute baby dolls (a little weird, but cool) & we met Vince from Detroit. We walked & talked with him & it made the last hot, dusty leg into Belorado seem pretty short!

    #5 Our lodging in Belorado is this cool 1850's 3 story building decorated with Nicoraguan artifacts. The host Paul was happy to share the story of his house with us.

    #6 On many of the buildings here there are beautiful murals painted.

    #6 Lastly, on one of the streets we walked down tonight Martin Sheen & Emilio Estevez have their hand & footprints saved as part of the history here.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Walking to Belorado

    October 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The second part of today's walk was not the Camino's finest, much of it was a dirt track running parallel to and about 30 feet off a big national road. Always big trucks flying past.

    We did walk by an interesting field of dead, dried out sunflowers, it looked like a sunflower graveyard, in a cool way!

    Sunny, 80 degrees and little shade all afternoon. We past through 4 small villages, all a bit run down. Not much to write home about.

    Walked the last couple of KMs with Vince from Detroit.

    Arrived at our Pension, greeted by a Dutchman named Paul, who is very nice. Cleaned up and ready to walk around a bit, then some dinner.

    We have a short day planned for tomorrow 12km, after two 20+ kilometer days. We will take 3 days to walk the two longer 25 kilometer "standard" stages to Burgos.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Belorado evening

    October 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Walking around town, a visit to the church, scouting around for dinner spots.

    Our host Paul recommended the Pilgrim's meal at the local Albergue's restaurant (15€ for a starter, main course, desert and wine & water for the table). We ate with Tomas, from Black Forest region of Germany, Yona of the Faroe Islands. Great company.Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    Short Stretch of the Legs to Villafranco

    October 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Cooler temps & clouds for our short walk today. As we said "adios" to Belorado we saw more beautiful murals walking out of the village.

    We passed by a big field of sunflowers that must have been in full bloom & beautiful a month ago. There were a few sunflowers that were still yellow.

    The Camino led us through 3 tiny villages all was very quiet & no churches were open.

    The leaves are starting to change colors here. Mostly yellow, but it made me miss home a little bit.

    Our hotel is pretty cool, it has some pretty nice sitting areas and decorating. It also has a walnut tree. I've never seen a walnut tree before! We have had a full range of nightly accommodations from 1-step above camping with no towels or soap, to lovely, sort of fancy accomodations with shampoo & bath gel.

    Out hotel serves a Pilgrim meal for dinner tonight. There's not much here in the town so we will most likely have a chance to catch up with friends from Texas & the French couple who shared figs with us yesterday. We have seen many familiar faces this afternoon as we all had time to catch up with email & social media in the sunny sitting places that the Hotel San Anton Abad has provided.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    A short day, a slow day.

    October 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We started the day with a wonderful breakfast at Pension Casa Wasala.. Paul asked us last night if we like eggs for breakfast. Yes of course! The only eggs we have seen have been hardboiled. Today, scrambled eggs, thinly sliced Spanish ham, bread, jam and yogurt with fruit. And a big carafe of hot coffee and cream! Heaven!

    Then we set off at a leisurely pace, under overcast skies and cooler temperatures. Today would have been a good day for a 20+ kilometer walk, like the last two days. But only 12 kilometers planned for today.

    We passed through 3 little villages today, mostly closed for business. The second Villambistia had an open cafe. While walking Bengt and Inga caught up with us, and we all stopped for coffee and snacks. They hare are done walking in Burgos this Fall, and going home to Sweden in a couple of days. And since they are walking to the next town, we will not see them again. So we said goodbye when they set off. (We hope to see you again in our travels,)

    We continued our slow walk an arrived at our Hotel in Villafranca Montes de Oca just as the sun was coming out!

    .    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago
    2

    Chilling at Hotel San Anton Abad

    October 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We have walked around the tiny village of Villafranca Montes de Oca ( The Rio Oca flows down from the mountains through town) . Everything is closed for Siesta. At 5PM, the super mercado opens, and we will get a bottle of local wine.

    Update: Villafranca has a Jai Alai Fronton!

    Meanwhile we have found a small terrace with shade and sun to chill out. Two members of the staff just just us some walnuts, right out of the trees out back, to snack on.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    12k over Alto da la Pedraja

    October 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Today's big climb started right out the back door of our hotel. About 5k climbing to the top of a ridge list as 1100 meters above sea level (about 3600 feet I think!)

    We got to walk through a forest for the first time in over a week. Taking a late morning coffee break in San Juan de Ortega.Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    The Ups & Downs of Getting to Cardenuela

    October 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Yesterday, I didn't feel like I earned my nice, hot shower at the end of the day. Today I certainly did!

    Our day began at 8AM with climbing a long uphill & seeing the sun come up. It was so chilly we could see our breath. It ended at 4:30 after a steep & rocky climb in the hot sun into our final destination of Cardenuela. The large, cold beer in the frosted mug was the best beer I've ever tasted! In between we passed through 4 villages, visited 1 church, stopped at 2 cafes, enjoyed a peaceful woodland trail, had a group of high school students pass us, came upon 5 goats, walked along a hot & boring road, and saw a labarynth. There was much more, but I'm too tired to recall many more details!Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    12 or 13 kms to Cardenuela Riopico

    October 7, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    A long day for us, the official distance was 24 kilometers, but it felt longer. We got to our Albergue this afternoon at 4:30.

    We walked 4 km mostly through another shaded forest trail, the we emerged back into the sunny wheat, sunflower and potato fields.

    We had lunch in a beautiful village Ages!

    And we saw another pterodactyl nest in the church bell tower!

    After lunch we had 8 kilometers left through fields and an exposed ridge climb, before walking down the Rio Pico valley to our destination for tonight. Albergue Santa Fé.

    We had beers on the patio in with two Dutch women, who met while walking the Camino. Great conversation!

    Dinner at 7 PM, bed is probably not far behind!

    Tomorrow, we walk to the city of Burgos!    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago
    1

    Burgos

    October 8, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We had a relatively short uneventful walk into the city of Burgos this morning. Through a couple of small towns, with nothing open early Saturday morning.

    There are several "Camino" routes routes into the city, we chose the slightly longer river path. It was very nice dirt path next to the river. But it quickly grew into another Pedestrian/Cycling super-highway. About 6 kms of parallel cycling and walking jogging paths. Really cool.

    We got to the hotel too early, so we walked around old town a little bit. Saw a church just out side the city gate, which was preparing for a wedding. Listened to the musicians practicing.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago
    2

    Cardenuela to Burgos

    October 8, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today has felt like 3 different days to me.

    This morning we left Cardenuela before the sun was up around 8AM. It was cloudy & chilly, about 48 degrees. It was about 7 miles to Burgos, a big city with a very big cathedral. Much of our walk was along a river.

    We checked into our hotel around 1:30. Couldn't believe our luck, we needed to do laundry &;found a laundromat with an outdoor cafe next to it! We had a beer in the sun as our laundry finished. We saw a bride & groom having their wedding pics taken with the Cathedral in the background. We enjoyed getting to know the old city for the rest of the the afternoon. It is crowded with soccer fans here as there is big match tonight. We took lots of pics of the Cathedral and some interesting statues.

    The city is bustling right now like it's the middle of the day even though it's 9:30 PM. The statues & fountains are illuminated making it very beautiful.    Read more

  • Camino de Santiago

    More Burgos

    October 8, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    A late afternoon stroll...

    We walked up to a lookout below the Castillo de Burgos, the only place to get a full view of the Cathedral. The stairs were long and steep for our tired legs.

    We saw another pterodactyl nest!

    We walked through a gat out of the Old City and over a bridge, Puenta Santa Maria. We had dinner at a Beer Hall on the south side of the river.    Read more

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