Jimandi

Walked today: 6.3mi. Camino’26: 188 mi.

With the meseta behind us, today we began the slow, steady climb toward the high point of the Camino Frances.

The trail passes through a region of the Maragato culture, centralized in about 40 villages around Astorga. This mysterious group is rumored to be descended from the Berbers of North Africa, who arrived with the Muslim conquest in the 8th century and later converted to Christianity. Maragato men traditionally worked as muleteers, mule drivers who transported goods (especially fish and gold) around the peninsula.

We found a seat at El Caminante Algergue/Restaurant, tired but not hurting from the walk and increasing temperature.

We ordered drinks and sent a message to Via Avis, requesting an early check in. It was only 9:37 a.m. and normally check in is 2:00 p.m. for the Hostal Rural (similar to a B&B in the U.S.).

After a cool drink and some time to rest off our feet, we received a response from Carlos, the owner, “your room is ready”.

We walked, not ran, the 100 remaining steps to Via Avis, exchanged greetings with Carlos, got the keys and settled in to an extraordinary room and property for the camino, or anywhere.

We always enjoy Via Avis… today was our 4th stay. Chores were accomplished with ease and the restful environment was renewing in its effect on our physical and mental wellbeing.

Another great day on the Camino Frances and Camino 2026.

Walked today: 10.2 mi. Camino’26: 182 mi.

What a difference a day makes!

At 5:34 we walked out of our albergue in the dark and found our way with the aid of headlamps until 1st light.

The initial walk of nearly a mile was on a dirt path through a grain field until it merged with the relatively wide, potentially safe shoulder of busy N-120. There was a narrow dirt path that was the “official” camino “road route” running along beside the shoulder, but was poorly maintained and very narrow/overgrown, so we stayed with the paved shoulder instead.

For the next 5 miles we got off the shoulder and walked on paved, frontage roads that paralleled the national highway, changing sides to stay on the paved path that was unused by any type of vehicle and today was also devoid of other pilgrims. We had it all to ourselves.

We traditionally stop at a gas station for breakfast and restrooms at the halfway point to St Justa de la Vega, but Linda said she never felt so good and suggested we go on to St Justa de la Vegas and Jim concurred.

After some 6.5 miles we reached the cross overlooking St Justa and Astorga in the distance beyond.

After successfully managing the steep descent into the village we stopped at Bar Oasis for breakfast after walking 7.5 miles.

We had a nice 20 minute rest and breakfast, the morning sun was still being subdued by some non-threatening clouds, allowing for near perfect walking conditions, so we continued on to Astorga, our planned destination for the day,

When we reached the top of the stairs, Linda spotted an inviting, empty bench for us to evaluate.

While running our test we noticed some unusual activity on the Plaza in front of Hotel Astur, our home for today & tonight.

The hotel restaurant on the Plaza was still closed, so we took possession of a table in the shade, with a view (of the Padel court.). Jim wandered off looking for drinks which could not be found at nearby closed bars (it being 10:45) and eventually found an open supermarket.

Jim returned with a full shopping bag of drinks, etc. and found Linda now deeply into the apparent Padel tournament and had decided who was gonna win. We began to embibe some of our purchases, when a nice young pilgrim approached us and asked if we had a knife. Jim dug into his day pack and pulled out his Swiss Army knife and offered it to Fritz, a pilgrim Germany.

When Fritz returned the knife, we chatted for a bit and he educated us on the game we were watching called Padel, which is becoming the most popular game in Europe, much like Pickleball is on the U.S. As he headed back to his table for lunch and to continue on the camino, Jim gave him one of our “Blog cards” asked him to contact us next time he was in South Carolina.

The Padel players were between sets and even though we were very early for the normal hotel check in time of 3:00, Jim walked to the lobby and identified himself and was informed that our room was ready. While checking in, the hotel computer system went down, so the receptionist gave us our room keys and said we could do the check in later.

So, by 11:30, we were in our second floor room, with a balcony, overlooking the Padel court with a dilemma. Do we rest, start our routine (showers, blog, etc) find a place to eat or watch the Padel tourney from our air conditioned room or balcony.

So, unlike yesterday, when things started going to pot and we didn’t have a lot of options … today everything went as good or better than expected. The Camino sometimes gives and sometimes takes away.

For the rest of the day, we actually did a bit of everything, including eating our main meal at 2:30 only a few steps from Hotel Exe Astur Plaza.

We hand washed a couple of dirty clothes items and hung them on a hanger in the room closet. They were bone dry in less than 2 hours. The air in Northern Spain is incredibly dry. We love it.

We talked about how we felt strong throughout today’s 10 mile walk and we both recovered quickly after we finished. It’s a really positive feeling for us, that the walks seem to be getting easier with each passing day regardless of the distance or difficulty in terrain.

Today was a really good one!

Buen Camino!

Walked today: 2.6 mi. Camino’26: 172 mi.

Today’s plan includes only short walking distances, but allows us to advance along the camino another 32 km (20 miles) via autobus.

Our bus is scheduled to depart at 11:30 this morning. After placing our backpacks (for transport) at the apartment pickup point at 8:00, we did a short reconnaissance walk near our apartment and found the usual breakfast choices closed on this Sunday morning.

Consequently, we returned to our apartment and decided to exit with our remaining belongings and walk to the bus station, planning to stop along the way for breakfast. (As a rule when we’re constrained by a schedule, we try to shift possible unforeseen delays to near the destination with respect to time and distance).

We walked the same route into Leon and to our apartment that we traveled yesterday, only in reverse.

Looking for a place for breakfast along the way, we were not surprised to find everything closed on this Sunday morning.

We finally stopped at… you guessed it? Cafe Duma just a few steps from the bus station.

Once at Cafe Duma we decided to hang out in the comfortable terrace for our 2+hour wait rather than at the bus station. So we relaxed and literally “ate away” the next 90 minutes.

We walked the final steps and found a seat at the bus station. Our bus, as usual, was on time so we settled in for the final 45 minute wait to “move on down the camino”.

As it turned out, the horse made it to the barn but never made it to our stall! Without going into the gruesome details, while we were trying to get on the wrong bus, our bus pulled out of the loading dock and left without us!

All our best made plans went downhill from there. The next bus required another 90 minute wait, with no assurance a seat would be available for both of us. So we gave up and walked outside to summon a taxi. A couple of minutes later we were on our way to Hospital de Órbigo in our 55€ taxi ride with 2, now worthless 4.30€ bus tickets in a trash can on the way out of the bus station.

Our taxi driver was pleasant enough, as best we could tell, as he spoke only just enough English to get us to our destination.

It took us a few minutes to get re-oriented to Hospital de Órbigo, since our last time to walk through the village was in 2019. Since then, we have walked an alternate route to avoid the village.

We found our albergue and expected to be checked in immediately. It was 12:50 and the check-in time was 12:00, but the note on the very securely locked door said check in time today was 1:00!

Meanwhile, it was 93F, but Linda found a shady bench in a park a few hundred yards away, with a breeze. It served as our command point until we understood our options and reestablished some level of control.

Jim walked back to the albergue as the door was opened at 1:20 and checked in. He was informed that the albergue only offered a vegan meal at 7:00 p.m.with an uncertain menu… (to go along with its rather rustic ambiance and state of repair). We decided to spare the depressing photos of this 70€/night property.

Sensing more downside, and before retrieving Linda from the bench, Jim further discovered that only 2 restaurants were serving food today and both were fully booked with local family reservations, it being Sunday afternoon.

So, Jim pleaded with the first restaurant for any seating we could use and was totally rejected. We went to the other restaurant that was just beginning to open and the owner said they had no lunch menu. Jim asked “What do you have?” to which he responded by handing Jim an a-la-carte menu. We immediately asked for a table and found a single table for two on the porch and sat down and within 5 minutes a waiter took our order.

Our meal was delicious and became our first positive experience in this crummy little excuse for a village that could do a much better job of supporting pilgrims walking the camino.

We walked back to our room just as our backpacks arrived, did our chores and made our plans to walk to Astorga in the morning before the 95F heat settles in.

Today was interesting, but on balance still a good day on the Camino Frances and was made extra special by Father’s Day greetings received via text this afternoon as Jim worked on today’s post.

Our wifi is very weak and intermittent, so if photos don’t make it or other distortions occur on your emailed version, apologies are offered in advance and a good version will ultimately be available on jimandi.blog.

Walked today: 7.2 mi. Camino’26: 169 mi.

Today was a very busy one. Just before the alarm went off at 5:30, Linda was awakened by a severe thunderstorm. (Jim usually sleeps through thunderstorms!). We proceeded with our plan to start walking at 6:00, ignoring the potential glitch in our plan to walk from Bercianos to Rancho Ranero, a distance of 5 miles.

All decked out in rain gear, defying Mother Nature to interfere, we walked out of La Perala in the dark in what we hoped was a diminishing shower. (Rain wasn’t in any of the forecasts when we went to bed last night.)

We walked nearly 4 miles not mentioning “rain”, occasionally looking over our shoulder and pretending the heavens were not about to open upon us. The wind began to pick up, a few big drops stung our bare arms and Linda panicked, quickly donning her rain gear again.

Jim, however, decided the best way to deal with the seemingly imminent deluge, was to ignore it, so he continued walking without putting his poncho back on.

We stopped at a traditional breakfast place, La Costa del Adobe, for our 9th visit. That’s 8 camino breakfasts and a delicious dinner in 2014, when we stayed in a nearby albergue with lousy food.

As we were finishing breakfast, Jim asked Mari to please call a taxi for us. She did and said he would arrive in 20 minutes. Jim had been eyeing a portion of yogurt topped with strawberries on the counter all through breakfast, so Linda and I shared it while we waited for the taxi and both agreed it was the best tasting food item so far for Camino 2026.

The taxi arrived and took us along the camino for 18km (11 miles) to Mansilla de las Mulas and delivered us to the bus station. We waited 12 minutes and the bus arrived. We boarded the bus, paid the driver the fare (€2 each) and relaxed for the 20km (12 miles) ride to the León Estacion de Autobus.

Before leaving the León bus station we purchased 2 tickets to Hospital de Orbigo for tomorrow morning.

We then walked to the nearby train station and purchased 2 train tickets from Santiago Compostela to Madrid for July 12.

We walked toward our apartment in León, stopping at Cafe Duma for at least our 10th time for a Zuma Naranja and shared a tortilla to rebuild our stamina for the remaining walk.

We walked on the bridge over the Río Bernesga and into León (pop. 150,000)

After we checked in to our suite, this busy day became routine again and around 2:00 we walked 2 blocks to a favorite eatery frequented by local families, especially on weekends. We discovered it two caminos ago and are becoming recognizable by the Tranches staff.

We ordered from the menu of the day but the highlight of the meal was dessert. Jim’s dark chocolate mousse was tasty. Linda’s lemon creme was extraordinary.

We accomplished a lot today and are continuing to get stronger as familiar walks seem to be less of a physical challenge than on previous caminos.

With the meseta behind us, the camino will take on a different look and new experiences in the days ahead.

Walked today: 6.2 mi. Camino’26: 162 mi.

When we placed our order for breakfast, Jesus (an owner and manager of La Perala and Núria’s husband) recognized Jim and shook his hand immediately with a big welcoming smile. He chatted with us briefly before tending to other pilgrims.

When we finished eating, Jesus returned to our table and asked if we would like access to our room immediately and said checkin could be done later. We said sure and took possession of our “home” at 9:25!

With access to our room, we could more easily rest from our walk and begin getting settled in until our transported backpacks were delivered.

Shortly after our backpacks arrived at 11:20, we had access to Linda’s barber tools and so we slipped outside to a lesser traveled area of the La Perala jardin and Linda went to work.

By 12:30 we were settled into our room, Jim had been coiffed, we had delivered a basket of our dirty clothes for washing and drying to the afternoon/evening manager, Manohar and we were eating ham and cheese croissants we prepared and brought with us from the breakfast supplies in the guest kitchen, before leaving our Sahagun accommodation this morning.

Manohar was attentive to our needs for the rest of our stay, including checking us in. He speaks very good English. He is originally from India and joined the La Perala staff 4 years ago. Our friendship has grown over time since he joined the staff, as we have stayed at La Perala on each of our last 6 caminos.

We had a light supper in the La Perala restaurant at 6:00. We both had a stewed chicken quarter and fries, local vino tinto and yogurt for dessert.

We finally checked in and settled our expenses for the visit and said our goodbyes.

Today was especially meaningful to us as we continue to renew our friendship with this kind and supportive camino family.

Walked today: 9.2 mi. Camino’26: 156 mi.

Albergue Terradillos was very quiet as we walked away at 5:42 this morning. We had a relatively long walk today and we started in the dark to reduce the heat we might encounter before arriving in Sahagún,

The Knights Templar were a medieval military order responsible for protecting pilgrims. While the order was popular and successful for almost 200 years, grand master Jacques de Molay was arrested in 1307 (on Friday the 13th, possibly the origin of this superstitious date) and burned at the stake for heresy and a variety of trumped-up charges. The order was disbanded in disgrace, though many think the charges had more to do with politics than any actual wrongdoing.

We walked on after Moratinos for another 1.5 miles and entered a favorite breakfast stop, Casa Barrunta, at the entrance of another small village, San Nícolas de Real Camino (pop. 48).

There was a line already formed by pilgrims at the bar. The couple behind us just happened to be our Austrailan pilgrim friends from two days ago in Villalcazar de Sirga, so we had a fun chat planning “shrimp on the barbie” for our next visit.

…but this is the “grande” version he got!

We waited for about 20 minutes on a soft, leather couch in the hostal reception area until our room was cleaned, then checked in at 10:20.

The walk today was longer than we like, but the early start mitigated the heat impact on us until the last half hour or so.

The rest of the day was spent on routines plus adding to our € stash via a convenient Santander ATM, replenishing our snack stash at a nearby mini-market and eating our main meal at a nearby bakery/bar/restaurant.

There are some ruins and relics in the town frequented by tourists and some pilgrims. In medieval times, Sahagún was second in the kingdom of León only to León city. King Alfonso VI was educated in Sahagún and sought refuge here while warring with his brother and richly rewarded the city when he emerged victorious.

The city thrived with a diverse populace including Muslims and Jews. Sahagún’s historic architecture illustrates the Romanesque-Mudéjar style, which incorporated Islamic decorative motifs and was built primarily out of brick rather than stone, which was not readily available.

We will walk through some of the historical structures on the way out of Sahagún tomorrow morning, but didn’t take time to look around today.

We will began the second half of the Camino 2026 tomorrow morning.