Month: August 2019

Walked today: 8.2 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 247.3 miles

It was still dark when the taxi dropped us off in Virgen del Camino, a suburb of León.

Basílica de la Virgen del Camino

We figured today would be an uneventful walk along a busy secondary road, fronting the autovia.

Well, it was, if you discount the older (older than us) fellow pilgrim who we encountered leaving Virgen del Camino and was trying to determine which direction to go of three choices. We didn’t understand his language but our version of Spanish/English seemed to help him out and he walked with us for a bit. He had previously done a pilgrimage to Rome and had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He was Russian and lives in Moscow. He was walking to Santiago, taking the bus to Finistere, walking back to Santiago, then working his way back home via train/plane. He was walking faster than we were, so we wished each other well and off he went.

So we had an interesting start for what we expected would be an uneventful day walking along the road. A few minutes later, Linda heard a strange noise behind us, said it sounded like the clomp, clomp of a horse. It was still hard to see, but she thought it looked like a horse had stopped in the path behind us. A few steps later a pilgrim walked past us, followed by very handsome looking horse carrying the pilgrim’s gear.

As the guy passed us, he didn’t say anything except, “he keeps following me”, in perfect English.

Interesting pilgrim entourage

The horse walked around us and once he was clear of us moved back into the path behind the guy he was following… much more safely and considerate than many of the cyclists we’ve encountered in the past few hundred miles!

We followed the pair through an underpass, and noticed for the first time, the horse’s flashing tail light, his clog like shoes with buckles and other than periodic piles of equestrian evidence observed along the way, we never saw them again.

We stopped in Valverde del la Virgen at a new store that we don’t remember seeing in 2017. It had a limited selection of items but did offer a small CCL and Santiago tarta (a Camino almond cake), which was homemade by the owner’s wife. Patronizing a new business on the Camino

We stopped for a brief breakfast, asked the owner to pass on our compliments to the “chef”, then moved onward.

We stopped at the next village, San Miguel del Camino and had a normal breakfast at a charming cafe.

The site of our second breakfast today… in San Miguel

We walked on, along the road, then the path took us away from the road a few feet (we could still hear the cars and trucks) to walk among some bodegas ( individually owned, wine cellars) for a few hundred yards …

interesting and some very old wine cellars

Back along the road

… then back along the road again.

We made one last stop at a hotel/truck stop/restaurant a mile from our destination, only to cool our feet a bit and get out of the ever increasing heat of the rising sun.

After the last mile into Villadangos del Páramo we arrived at Hostel Libertad (50€) and at 11:15 were checked in immediately.

Our double room with private bath is comfortable, clean and relatively new (late 20th century).

Chores detail: Since this is not an albergue, there was no clothesline or washing machine, so we washed and rinsed our sweaty/dirty stuff in the bathroom sink, wrung the water out by hand, then laid the wet clothes onto a dry towel and rolled the towel, squeezing it tightly, absorbing and extracting additional moisture, then hung the clothes on any hanger, doorknob, chair, tv, light fixture or window we could find and within a couple hours, everything (shirts, shorts, underwear, socks, etc.) was dry, clean and ready to wear tomorrow.

After doing our chores we had a meal in the hostal at 2:00 to serve as lunch/dinner, which is getting to be a habit.

Linda was served an unusual version of “minestrone soup” that was very delicious, but much more than she could possibly consume in a single meal.

And we sampled a Menćia wine for building a sampling base as we head into the Bierzo wine region over the next few days.

Veal for Linda, fish (Hake) for Jim

Overall, our uneventful day walking along the road turned out pretty well.

Walked today: 7.8 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 239.1 miles

The path out of Reliegos reminded us of yesterday.

Just before Manzilla de las Mulas we stopped at a favorite albergue/bar for breakfast.

Manzilla was once a Roman town, likely a stopping point on the Via Trajana. The city was fortified with walls in the 12th century and rebuilt in the subsequent two centuries. Today, more than half of the medieval walls remain, some as tall as 14m and as thick as 3m. It is possible to climb the stairway up into the rounded towers, and two of the original gates still stand.

As we left Manzilla the path changed to a much wider dirt road which fronted a secondary road toward León.

We soon lost our shade and got closer to the road until we finally were actually sharing the road with cars and trucks, some really big trucks.

After a brief break, walking through the woods, we crossed the Río Porma on a modern footbridge

adjacent to the Puente de Villarente, a bridge originally built by the Romans, and entered the town of Villarente (pop. 342).

In 2014 we spent the night here, in Albergue San Pelayo, and took a taxi to the other side of León to Virgen del Camino the next morning, then walked back into the city, then returned to Virgen del Camino to spend the night. In 2017 we walked into León, spent the night in Leon, then walked on through the city and spent the night in Virgin del Camino.

Today we split the difference, we took a taxi from here into León to Hostal San Martin (58€).

Our hotel is very centrally located just a few steps from the Catedral and other León landmarks.

We took a few photos, bought Jim some new walking shorts

and a haircut.

We spent a frustrating few minutes at the Orange mobile phone store trying to extend the time on our prepaid sim cards. We’ve still got service, but for how long is still not clear. Orange (a French company) seems to be trying to establish themselves in Spain by not speaking English or French and sending confusing text messages to prepaid sim card users as if they were regular customers. Their websites and texts are at best, confusing. We’ll struggle along with them until they shut us down again, to avoid paying the very unreasonably high Verizon international options, but next time we’ll definitely go with Movistar.

Here are some photos of León today.

Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro

After finally getting a light supper at 6 when no one offers a meal until after 8, we made up for it by overendulging in the Valor chocolate store…

… then returned to our room to sleep it off, or walk it off tomorrow morning,

Walked today: 8.5 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 231.3 miles

At 6:13 it was dark, so headlamps were called for.

Walking the Camino in the dark

We walked in the road for about an hour, the path to our left. (Didn’t want to step on a critter that assumed no self respecting pilgrims would be out at this hour)

We get into “walking-in-dark” mode whenever we’re facing a longer walk, especially one with no services along the way. Linda thinks it makes the walk easier. Jim agrees it seems easier, but only because he’s usually still asleep for the first few miles, which theoretically don’t count.

Walking in the road wasn’t a problem since there were no cars out either. We actually passed one pilgrim who had started sooner than us (if she walked slower than us, she’d have to start early!)

We no longer needed the headlamp at first light (duh), after nearly 2.5 miles under our belt.

We had the Camino to ourselves for the first 4 miles…

… and nothing behind us but the Sunrise.

And then we had to share it.

Our first pilgrims of the day at nearly 8:00

Our first scenery change came after walking in a straight line for nearly 7 miles.

This curve was a real event after the monotony of the first 7 miles.

Today’s walk was a little longer than average but not a difficult one.

We stopped for breakfast at the first bar on the edge of Reliegos (pop.237) then walked into the village to albergue Gil(35€).

We couldn’t checkin until noon, so we sat on a bench in the shade in a small park across the street and got a head start on the blog, checking mail, etc.

Gil (pronounced “hill”) is an albergue with one habitacion doble con baño, which is also outfitted as a handicapped room. It actually is good for us, because it is a larger room with a larger bathroom/shower. This is the third “handicapped” room we’ve been given so far. Maybe they’re trying to tell us something.

We had lunch at 2:00 in the albergue bar/restaurant. It was a routine meal of fried eggs, ham and potato fries, but a bit different as the fries were cubes instead of french cut and it was served on an unusual plate.

It’s our Camino go-to-meal for nutrition and comfort. It’s never available for breakfast, only lunch or dinner.

There’s not much to see in Reliegos of any significance. It was originally the Roman town of Palantia, at the convergence of three military roads and more recently was struck by a 38 lb meteor in 1947 and that’s about it.

So we just chilled for the afternoon and tried to nap, doubting any new meteors would strike before we were on our way in the morning.

Well, its 6:30 and we’re skipping dinner again. Eating mid-afternoon then chillin for a while does something to the appetite. I wonder if that will work back home?

That’s all for us today on the Camino Frances.

Walked today: 5.1 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 222.8 miles

We reached El Burgo Ranero at 9:15 and stopped at bar La Costa del Adobe and had breakfast in honor of Ken and Mandy who we met in 2017.

We both began blogging just before our respective Camino’s and Ken and Mandy found our blog and became followers. They commented on our blog that they were starting to walk two weeks after we were. We let them know that we were walking slower than most and that they might catch us. They followed our while on the Camino and realized they were in fact gaining on us, unbeknownst to us. They found us in a bar, having lunch, in Bercianos del Real Camino. It was an extraordinary rendezvous, since they were from South Africa!

Although we were staying in different albergues that night, we arranged to meet early the next morning in El Burgo Ranero for breakfast before going our separate ways.

We have continued to follow each other via our blogs. Since we last saw them, they have returned to Spain re-walking sections of Camino Frances as well as other Caminos.

Buen Camino, Ken and Mandy!

Our walk to El Burgo Ranero was similar to the day before, the pathway lined with trees along a lightly traveled paved road.

Today’s shorter walk will hopefully recharge our batteries for the next few days on our way into León.

We found our hotel shortly after an extended breakfast (4 CCL’s!) and were able to checkin shortly after 11:00. It’s the same hotel, El Peregrino (50€) and the same room as 2017. And we think the housekeeper/owner recognized us.

We have a deck just outside our room with a clothes line, so chores were easy, even though this is a small hostal (hotel), not an albergue.

About 2:30 we went back to our breakfast spot and had a delicious lunch (and probably supper).

Roasted veggies for Linda and chicken, spaghetti, salad for Jim

Late afternoon we visited a small grocery store (mercado) and got food for tomorrow morning’s walk.

That’s about it for today. We’re setting the alarm for 5:30 in the morning to get an early start on a tough walk.

Walked today: 5.9 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 217.7 miles

Walking out of Sahagún this morning, we passed this cross and walked over the Puente de Sahagún (background), built by the Romans but refurbished some 250 years ago.

The walk this morning was on dirt paths parallel to a busy two lane highway and later parallel to a much smaller, almost no-traffic secondary road.

Nice treelined path along the road

As we are getting closer to León, and the end of the Meseta many of the dirt paths are tree lined, which provides much needed shade if walking in the afternoon sun.

Most of these trees are a relatively new addition to the Camino Frances, probably planted over the past 30 years, coincident with the Camino de Santiago’s renewed popularity which began in the mid-1980’s.

If you follow the Camino on Google Earth you can see fuzzy smudges along the roads which are shadows of the trees which shade the Way.

Today’s route splits a couple of miles from Sahagún into a route with no facilities and though a bit shorter, no place to stop for the night without walking nearly 10 miles. The second route, which is the original Camino route, has places to stop. Bet you can guess which route we took.

But our guide directions were not the best and we almost took the wrong turn. We actually did for a 100 yards or so, but were waved down by a local lady out for her morning walk. Frantically and in excited, but very clear and concise Spanish, no doubt, she explained that someone had painted over the arrow marking our route.

Like the Pied Piper, we and by now, another 5 or 6 pilgrims followed our leader until we reached the correct turn off.

We all thanked her profusely to her repeated, ” de nada’s” as she continued along her morning walk.

An hour later, apparently on her return trip, we each greeted her again like an old friend, thankful that she had made our morning much less of an unwanted adventure.

Treelined path, nice shade as we head under train track

Walking up to Albergue La Perala, we were not surprised at its similarity to Albergue los Templarios, where we stayed two nights ago.

They are both owned and run by the same family. La Perala was opened in 2017 and Los Templarios was opened in 2006. They both are well run, great places to stay, very customer oriented and competitively priced (38€).

It was only 9:45 when we arrived, but we were starved and ready for breakfast. We stretched it out for a half-hour or so before trying to checkin.

In the meantime, we chatted with a guy who we’ve seen from a distance and “buen Camino’d” a time or two, but not had an opportunity to talk. We had overheard him speaking English and were curious. It turns out his name is Timothy, he’s originally from Washington, currently lives in Burgos because he loves the Camino. He is developing an app for pilgrims to connect while walking the Camino, then maintain the connection via the app after returning home.

Our fellow pilgrim, Timothy, before he left to continue walking.

We had a salad for lunch, worked on the blog, machine washed and hung clothes out to dry in the sun (bone dry in 45 minutes), made reservations for the next week after planning our walks, and did some reading (Linda)…

Linda reading on a comfortable sofa in the albergue “zona de lectura”, reading zone… shhh!

Today was a relatively easy day after the longer than usual walks of the previous two days. We’ve never taken a day “off” while on the Camino, preferring to maintain some minimum activity each day so we don’t lose our momentum. Our 5.9 mile walk today and the 5 plus mile walk tomorrow is our way of avoiding what could have been a difficult 11 mile walk, by splitting it into two light days, but still making good progress toward Santiago.

Dinner was available in La Perala at 6:00 (earliest time so far on the Camino), another nice feature.

We had a routine two course dinner, nothing extraordinarily culinary to report, but certainly tasty, nutritious and enough to keep us going another day.

We finished the day with a hotly contested game of hand and foot. Results to be reported at a later date.

Walked today: 8.7 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 211.8 miles

It rained late yesterday afternoon and again during the night. A threatening sky greeted us this morning as we left the albergue making it appear darker than a typical 7:15.

After two miles we stopped at Moritinos (pop. 68) for a breakfast break. Just before arriving we passed a dirt mound with several entry points, apparently used as wine cellars.

We saw our first vineyard scarecrows this morning

and shortly after saw an engaging advertisement:

Walking on to the next village of San Nicolas del Real Camino (pop. 48), we stopped again for a second CCL.

We decided to stop at the first bar to get a look at the competition for the second. The first was actually pretty “cool” itself. We have actually stayed in San Nicolas, in 2014, and had drinks and food at bar #2 and we like #1 better.

It began to rain, finally, as we left Bar #1 and it was really pouring as we walked past Bar#2.

The rain continued for less than a half hour and was only a slight nuisance as we well prepared for it.

We were happy to see the buildings of Sahagún (pop. 2,820) after logging our seventh mile of the morning and beginning to feel a little tired with our second 8+ mile walk in two days.

When we walked up to our place for the night, Albergue Santa Cruz (20€), there were no signs of life and the sign on the door said open at 12:00.

It being only 11:15, we walked a few steps to an open bar and got drinks and shared a piece of cake (tarta)

While waiting, Jim took a few photos of nearby landmarks.

Marker indicating Sahagún as the halfway point of the Camino Frances ( in Spain)

At noon we walked back to the albergue and checked in.

The Albergue Santa Cruz is a Benedictine monestary that was opened for pilgrim use in 1968. The Marists began operating it in 2017.

Our double room with a private full bathroom is clean, basic and an inexpensive, safe place to stay on the Camino Frances. The usual hostal amenities, like soap, shampoo, towels, pillow cases and room key were not included and a single sheet, blanket, pillow and mattress were provided. We managed as we normally carry “backup” amenities, just in case.

In addition to most albergues, it also offers an evening communion service and individual spiritual care for pilgrims who wish it.

We opted for the late lunch/early dinner again, as the communal dinner in the albergue is at 8:00.

We are a little beyond the halfway point on the Camino Frances, because we started from SJPDP, not Roncesvalles. However, due to our “modified” Camino, thus far, we have skipped 30-40 miles, which explains why our total miles walked is less than half of 500 miles.