Month: September 2022

Walked Today: 7.4 mi / Camino2022: 228 mi

We arrived at El Tesin at 10:30 (we stayed here in 2019) and were told that our room would not be ready until noon. We were disappointed, but decided to just wait at a table on the terrace (road in front of the albergue). At noon we were invited in to check in and then escorted to our room.

We unpacked our stuff, Linda got a shower and Jim went down to the bar to get some drinks to have with our bocadillos that we carried from Santa Catalina.

This is where the day took a bizarre turn.

Language is always a potential issue on the Camino if your Spanish fluency is lacking. Jim ordered a orange drink for Linda and liter sized radler for himself (half beer and half carbonated lemon juice.

The owner started gathering glasses and dispensing drinks so fast that he was nearly finished before Jim could stop him. At that point, Jim didn’t have the heart to tell him that was not what he ordered (supposedly) and the owner insisted on carrying the drinks to our room on the second floor!

So Jim got to work on the liquid refreshment and our bocadillos.

A half- hour or so later there was a knock on our door. The owner asked Jim to come downstairs. Jim followed him downstairs and was confronted by the owner’s daughter, who had reservations responsibility for the albergue, who suggested that he did not have a reservation. Apparently, a group of pilgrims had just arrived and as they checked in, the albergue was one room short.

Jim has called for a reservation 8 or 9 days earlier and told they were reserving a room for us, which the daughter ultimately admitted, but apparently she planned to put us in an overflow property they also owned. She had not bothered to tell her dad this, so when he checked us in, he assigned us to our current room. The daughter was all flustered, especially when he said it was not his problem… which she reluctantly admitted.

The dad asked if we would change rooms and Jim, now, totally in control of the situation. said he would need to see the other room first and if it was acceptable we would consider moving. The father quickly offered to drive Jim a short distance in his car to see the other room, which actually was a choice between two vacant rooms.

Having seen both alternate rooms, Jim called Linda, who was still in possession of our original room, described the offerings and a decision was made to accept the nicer of the two rooms but with a shared bathroom… with two other rooms.

When Jim returned to El Tesin, a host of pilgrims had now accumulated in the bar and reception area and one pilgrim looked at Jim expectantly and gave the thumbs up with a questioning smile and Jim’s thumbs up response received a relief from the hopeful crowd and especially the daughter.

Jim said we’d get our stuff together and be ready in ten minutes for a ride back to our new room. As we left El Tesin, the father gave us a partial refund on our room because we no longer has an ensuite bathroom and the daughter offered us a free breakfast tomorrow at El Tesin.

We settled into our new room, Jim finally got his shower and then we headed out mid-afternoon to find our main meal for the day.

We happened on the restaurant attached to the hotel we stayed at in 2017, just before it closed for the break until dinner time (7:00). It was a very nice restaurant, excellent service and a delicious salad.

We stopped by the small church in the village, got a stamp for our credentials from the Benedictine priest who was manning the nearby church store, and walked back to our final room for the day (we hope!).

Walked Today: 5.8 mi / Camino2022: 221 mi

It was dark at 7 a.m. as we walked through Astorga. It was a chilly 50F and a slight breeze made it chillier! Street lights made headlamps unnecessary as we walked by the Hotel Gaudi (where we stayed in 2019), the Episcopal Palace ( designed and built by Gaudi and across the street from the hotel) and the Cathedral of Astorga , adjacent to the Episcopal Palace…. all somewhat visible in the dark.

Street lights followed us for nearly a half-mile outside the city and were replaced by natural light from first light and sunrise.

….. does that chair… look like a….barber chair?….

Has anyone noticed that as we have moved closer to Santiago, that Linda is developing a halo?

We spent the day hanging out in our quite unusual habitation, venturing downstairs to the albergue bar for lunch (pizza) and dinner (paella).

Today’s walk was very easy, especially when compared to yesterday’s. Tomorrow we continue up the mountain toward Cruz de Ferro, the highest point on the Camino Frances at 1505 meters (4918 ft).

Walked Today: 10.7 mi / Camino2022: 215 mi

At 7:25 we walked to the bus station, stopping for breakfast along the way.

We left the station at 9:15 and were let off at Hospital de Orbigo at 9:45, and began walking.

The Camino today was on frontage pavement road and dirt paths for most of the way, taking us out of the meseta. Thus, the terrain began to change, now including more wooded areas, more rolling hills and more mountains in the distance.

After walking 7 miles we were back on a dirt path which took us away from the highway and headed into San Justa de Vega.

After our 10.7 mile walk, we were pooped. But since it was late, 2:30, we checked in, took our stuff to our room and headed back out to have lunch… and to relax/recover with a tasty meal and glass(es) of wine!

We retreated to our room and recovered for the remaining afternoon.

Even though we has a long walk today without a significant break/rest along the way, we are pretty much recovered as the day comes to an end and we are physically and mentally ready to hit it again in the morning.

We took advantage of our off day by sleeping to 7:30, then walking toward the bus station, stopping along the way to get breakfast.

The bus station in being renovated, so a temporary area with ticket kiosks, rest rooms and small shops was enclosed at one end of the area where buses arrive and depart.

We were approached by an official but very nice young lady who answered all our questions in English and even gave us a bus schedule. She also showed us where our bus will be located when we board tomorrow morning!

For Camino2022, we want to by-pass walking through the western outskirts of Leon, which offer eight or so miles of city walking with traffic, inconsistent sidewalks, then highly industrial areas and then roadside paths or shoulder walking.

Based on our findings this morning, we will walk to the bus station tomorrow morning, leaving the hotel around 7:30 to arrive at a bar just a few steps from the station and have breakfast. Our bus to Hospital de Orbigo departs at 9:00 am from Leon and arrives at 9:33. We will purchase tickets for 6€ each from the driver when boarding the bus.

We will disembark just outside Hospital de Orbigo (where we stayed in 2015 and 2019) and will begin our walk for the day.

With our logistics planning done, we began working our way back toward our hotel, and as always, enjoying the beautiful new and old buildings that remarkably blend together so well throughout this nearly 2000 year old city.

We made stops along the way to buy a few items we anticipate we’ll need on the remaining weeks to Santiago. Items like a replacement belt that broke on Jim’s shorts, a long sleeve shirt that Jim forgot to pack, some warm tights for Linda, replacement batteries for our headlamps, etc.

We also needed to find and buy an additional credential for stamps to verify/prove that we walked the necessary distance to Santiago to earn a Compostela. The single credentials we started with won’t have enough space for all the stamps we will collect for our nearly 60 day journey.

We unloaded our purchases at our room, then walked across the plaza to have a pizza lunch at the Boccalino Hotel restaurant.

After lunch we visited the beautiful building we’ve been viewing from our room.

The basilica, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro was commissioned by Fernando I to house relics returned by Muslims after their defeat in the Reconquista.

The relics of San Isidoro of Seville (ca. 560-636) are housed in the basilica. Adjacent to the basilica is a museum and pantheon that includes the remains of 11 kings, 12 queens and a number of other princes, princesses, counts and other nobles. It also contains the chalice of Doña Urraca, the daughter of King Ferdinand I and Queen Sancha, the Holy Grail, reputed to be the goblet used by Christ at the Last Supper!

We pretty much chilled for the rest of the day.

In spite of our “day off” we still managed to walk another 4.5 miles today, around Leon, but not to be included in our total for Camino2022.

So tomorrow it’s back on the Camino for our final 180 miles to Santiago.

Walked Today: 4.1 mi / Camino2022: 204 mi.

The rain had stopped when we left our room and walked through one of the Manzilla de Las Mulas gates this morning, then rejoined the Camino.

The path ran parallel to a busy road and shortly became the shoulder of the busy road. Our plan today was to walk to the next village, Puente de Villarente, then get a taxi or bus into Leon. The path into Leon is not very interesting with multiple road crossings, industrial and highways, none adding much to the experience, so it seemed like a good section to skip.

A half mile short of our destination, we spotted a bus stop, occupied by two pilgrims. Jim walked over to them an inquired about the bus schedule. They replied, “the bus to Leon arrives in 10 minutes.

So, opportunistic pilgrims that we are, we joined our fellow opportunists and boarded the bus …

…and enjoyed our 15 minute ride into Leon (1.45€ each).

Walking into Leon (and out) has never been much fun but walking in and around the center of Leon is a pure delight. We really love this place.

We walked the 3/4 mile from the bus station to our hotel, grabbing breakfast along the the way. Our room was ready and we checked in immediately.

First item on the agenda was to go to Valor, a restaurant specializing in churros, Linda’s favorite. We also added some tasty sandwiches and called it lunch.

We chatted with two charming ladies from Holland who were with a group touring northern Spain. One of the ladies had walked the Camino 25 years ago.

We stretched out lunch with people-watching from our lunch table, then walked around re-famiarizing ourselves with landmarks and getting re-oriented after a 3 year absence.

The rest of the afternoon and evening included making reservations for the next few weeks, settling into our “habitación” for our two day stay in a most favorite Camino location.

We’re taking a break tomorrow, so no advancing on Camino2022, but we’ll give a brief report on whatever mischief we got into on one of our rare “days off” when walking the Camino.

Walked Today: 8.2 mi /Camino 2022: 200 mi

Even without alarms, our bodies are now on automatic to wake at 6:00 a.m.! So off we went into the dark, expecting rain at any minute, but not wearing our ponchos, yet.

We felt some light sprinkles just before entering Burgo Ranero… but they went away as we stepped into our “routine” breakfast stop, La Costa el Adobe.

Our first thoughts were remembering our breakfast rendezvous on September 5, 2017 with Ken and Mandy, special Camino friends from South Africa and fellow bloggers. They are planning a return to the Camino in 2023. A cafe con leche toast to you both and Buen Camino!

We called a taxi to take us to Reliegos. He arrived a half-hour later and we hopped into his car. We both were surprised when we saw the inside, which looked familiar.

We had a very nice chat for the next 12 miles as we covered a section of the Camino that we didn’t like too much and which dropped our total walk to just over 8 miles. The driver spoke very good English and we learned that he had lived in Texas and California. Jim asked if he had solar cells at home and he said yes, but not batteries… “generated his own electricity during the day and bought it during the night.” He charged us 18€ for the ride, a very quiet one, and wished us well as we put on our ponchos and began walking in the rain.

We continued for the next 3 miles walking in a light rain but comfortable and dry in our ponchos.

The rain we are experiencing is forecast to continue through tomorrow afternoon. It is the remnants of Hurricane Danielle which affected mostly the western coast of Portugal on September 11-12 with rain and strong winds. We are seeing rain and wind, but nothing approaching hurricane strength.

We arrived in Mansilla de Las Mulas just before noon and waited 30 minutes for our room to be ready.

We took the next several hours to find an open restaurant for our main meal, dodging showers in between, then settled back into our warm, dry room for the remainder of the day.