Month: September 2024

Depart Time: 9:20 Temp: 53F RH: 80%

Walked: 3.0 mi. Camino 2024: 157 mi.

After sleeping in a bit this morning we left Casa Mansilla to walk to the bus station to have breakfast and then catch a 10:32 bus to Leon.

We had a number of tasks we wanted to complete before checking in to our room in Leon today around 2:00:

• (1) Catch bus to Leon
• (2) Buy bus ticket to Hospital de Órbigo
• (3) Get our routine breakfast
• (4) Find Apple store
• (5) Get Jim’s watch fixed
• (6) Check the Castro store for shorts and rain poncho for Jim.

Two buses passed us on the way to the station. We didn’t know what to expect since our 10:32 bus was supposed to be the only one going to Leon this morning. Jim walked quickly to the first of the two buses that were now parked at the station and asked the driver if he was going to Leon. When the driver said “si”, we put our packs in the luggage compartment, paid the 1.95€ fare and quickly found a seat as the bus pulled out of the station.

The 30 minute ride to Leon passed quickly as we chatted with a retired British (Oxford) couple who were walking the Camino for the second time and were skipping the walk into Leon, like us. They said, jokingly, not to tell anyone and we promised to both Greg and his wife that we would’t tell anyone.

As we got off the bus at the new Leon bus station, Jan, from Poland, asked for directions to the Leon Catedral.

We pointed him in the right direction and then searched for a place to buy a ticket for our planned Saturday morning ride to Hospital de Orbigo.

Normally, we would know how to make the purchase, but the entire station has been reconfigured from what we remembered from our visit last year. We found an official looking gentleman who led us to a beautiful kiosk and held our hand as we checked the Saturday morning schedules then bought the correct tickets.

We walked to a familiar breakfast stop, Cafe Luna, just a short walk from the bus station and on the way to our next task,

After our routine breakfast, we walked across the Puente de Los Leones, over the Rio Bernesga and used the Google Maps App to locate the nearest Apple Store.

During our walk into Hornillos in the rain, Jim’s Apple watch decided to unpair itself from his Iphone. Since that time, Jim hasn’t been able to measure his sleep quality and some of the data we keep for each of our walks. Jim has been unable to correct it himself and we thought if we could walk into an Apple reseller, we could maybe get some help.

We headed for the closest reseller store and luckily found a nice young technician just waiting to help us.

Mario walked Jim through the process and a mere 10 minutes later Jim and his Apple watch and Iphone were simpatico once again.

We were beginning to feel very good about accomplishing our task list with 5 out of 6 already done and it was only noon.

We ambled through the busy area approaching the Catedral, lively with tourists, pilgrims and locals on a beautiful sunny day in the high 60’s.

We found a stone wall just waiting for two pilgrims to sit upon and enjoyed the passersby and the extraordinary variety of architectural displays around us.

A lady who was also admiring the wonder of the city, overheard us and asked if we were Americans, too. As we chatted she indicated this was her first Camino and she was doing it alone and when she found out we were Camino ” veterans” we answered several of her questions about what was ahead. Her name was Linda and she was Charlotte, NC! After a brief photo session, she went on to check out the Catedral and we said our Buen Caminos.

As the stone wall began to get harder, we began our amble again, in the direction of the Castro store, a favorite vendor of pilgrim needs and wants.

Jim’s rain poncho no longer repells water, in fact during the rain shower walking into Hontanas, the inside of the poncho was wetter than the outside! So he’s been looking for a replacement. The Altus brand, unique to Spain, is a leader and he wants to replace his 10 year old Altus with a new one that is water repellent.

Jim also bought a pair of hiking shorts here in 2014 and they are his favorite. He has been looking for the same brand, same design in his size for the past 3 years on Amazon and in a multitude of stores all over the planet, including here with no success.

So, we spent a few minutes and Jim no only found an Altus poncho in his size, the last one in inventory but he also found THE shorts, also the only pair in his size.

With our last task completed in a spectacular way, we walked on to our hostal to check on our room.

It was 1:00 and our room would be another hour before being ready (Checkout time was 1:00!) We said, “no problem, we could go to lunch then come back”. Ivan, the hostal owner, suggested a restaurant a block or so away that was likely to offer a “menu of the day” to our liking and agreed to text us as soon as our room was cleaned.

It was a good recommendation for lunch and we’ll likely go back for another meal tomorrow.

We love our room. Since we’ll be here for two nights before moving on, we share more about it tomorrow.

Today was a very enjoyable and satisfying day on Camino 2024.

Depart Time: 7:45. Temp: 44F RH: 95%

Walked: 5.9 mi. Camino 2024: 154 mi.

Linda still had her doubts, but when she woke up at 7:00, she said “lets don’t talk about it, just get going”. And so we did.

At the 5 mile mark we walked into El Rancho Ranero.

All the other places to stop on nearby streets were taking Wednesday off, except this one small Grocery store. The owner had coffee and croissants and a restroom and chairs, a bench and few tables… meeting all our needs!

To reward her good business sense and her loyalty to pilgrims, we encourage you to stop here on your next Camino!

Linda made the five miles to El Burgo Ranero by literally putting one foot in front of the other and felt good about her progress and this morning’s accomplishment.

We have made a habit the last two Caminos to skip the next 13kms to Reliegos via taxi. A Tesla taxi, we might add.

Today, we decided to terminate our walk for today, reward our recovery process and opt for a 19kms ride in the same Tesla taxi to Mansilla de las Mulas, our destination for the night.

The taxi dropped us off at the Mansilla bus station, where we checked the bus schedule to Leon for tomorrow.

Since 2022, we have skipped the walk along and on a busy highway to Villarente, then through the highly industrial environment along the rest of the Camino into Leon. After doing the walk on two of our first three Caminos, we decided it took away from our otherwise positive experience with Leon.

After leaving the bus station, we walked to a nearby bar/albergue for a late breakfast and to wait until checkin at 1:00.

On the way to breakfast, we stopped at Iglesia de Santa María.

We hung out at the Bar/Albergue Jardin del Camino, having a late breakfast and waiting in the comfortable dining area until our host texted us that our room was ready at 12:35, earlier than the normal checkin.

We stayed at La Casa de Mansilla last year and decided it deserved a repeat. It’s an apartment mostly frequented by tourists and not pilgrims.

It fits our needs perfectly for Camino 2024 because we can continue our recovery process by preparing our own meals and have the space to rest and relax conducive to our needs.

For example we prepared chicken noodle soup for our main meal, something not readily offered in the local eateries and our eating times are not restricted to eatery schedules. We purchased meal fixings in a nearby grocery story when we arrived and prepared them in our kitchen.

Today has been another good day with getting back on our feet again and living in a nice environment that supports our continued recovery.

Depart Time: 11:00 Temp: 52F RH: 65%

Walked: 1 mi. Camino 2024: 148 mi.

We both slept well and Linda is much improved with respect to the bug symptoms, and her appetite was improved enough for a light breakfast.

She’s still quite weak and a normal walk today might be pushing too much, too soon. So, it’s a taxi to Bercianos and an extra day to let both our bodies catch up a little more.

The normal checkout time for Albergue San Juan is 11:30, so we’ll take advantage of that to enjoy a leisurely morning before getting the taxi for the ride to La Perala albergue in Bercianos.

A taxi took us to Bercianos in 15 minutes, saving us a 9 mile walk. We walked into La Perala for the 4th time, since 2019, and no sooner sat down in the lobby than the owner’s son, looked at us, recognized us immediately and said “Welcome back “. Then, in Spanish, “I’ll check on your room” and 2 minutes later he handed us the key and said we’ll do the checkin later! Wow! Talk about being treated like family, it was more like Welcome, HOME.

Along with more downtime, Linda had a light lunch/dinner, confirming her rapid recovery. Maybe the Camino’s curing power helped some too?

As Linda began feeling stronger, we took a short half-mile walk into the village of Bercianos and back, helping her to gain confidence she is getting back her strength.

The staff has checked on us throughout the day to confirm we’re doing ok. The word of our situation had gotten here ahead of us, as the same family owns and operates both Los Templarios and La Perala and their concern for us has been heartwarming and very reassuring.

Taking a off day today has made a big difference and we’re planning to get back on the “way” in the morning. We’re essentially still on our original schedule, having used the unplanned taxis the past two days with the only effect being knocking 17 miles off what we had originally planned to walk… a de minimis impact on Camino 2024.

Depart Time: 11:00 Temp: 51F RH: 90%

Walked: 2 mi. Camino 2024: 147 mi.

So, last night Linda developed an upset stomach and had a similar experience to what Jim experienced two nights ago. Maybe we got a GI bug (<24hr) instead our of previous guesses. By early this morning she was over the trauma part, but was weak and had a headache, but no fever… much like Jim’s experience.

The new plan for the day is to extend the albergue normal checkout time from 8:30 to 11:00, allowing Linda to rest and sleep instead of attempting to walk, as we might have done on previous Caminos.

Extending a checkout time for any albergue on the Camino can disrupt cleaning crew operations, adversely affecting the overall operations for receiving new pilgrims. We are extremely grateful for the support and generosity of the owner of Albergue de los Templarios.

We called for a taxi to take us from the albergue to our reserved Hostal in Sahagún at 11:00 with the hope be able to checkin before its regular 12:00 checkin time. This will allow Linda to get settled in her new environment, continuing our R&R strategy, enabling her body the maximum healing time, so she can safely rejoin the Camino ASAP.

Today will also be another opportunity to experience the healing powers of the Camino itself… something we have observed and experienced firsthand in the past.

The taxi picked us up on time and took us to our Hostal in Sahagún, 9 miles away but only 10 minutes in the taxi. We were able to checkin shortly after arriving and Linda has been resting and sleeping all day. She doesn’t have much of an appetite but is keeping hydrated with water and tea, nibbled on some crackers and had a banana.

As our drama was unfolding earlier this morning, the daughter-in-law of the Los Templarios albergue owner told Linda, as we waited for the taxi, that the “bug” we apparently have/had is running rampant around the area and that one day recently as many as 4 pilgrims at the albergue had it.

All albergues on the Camino, in particular the ones we have stayed in, have and maintain very strict protocols for sanitizing everything that we come in contact with, a positive outcome of the pandemic. The pandemic closed down the Camino completely along with their livelhoods for over a year… they take it very seriously.

While Linda was working on healing, Jim racked-up a couple of miles “walking” some errands which included: reloading our € stash at an ATM, visiting the nearby, small grocery market (closed for noon- 2:00 siesta) and a “Dia” a chain grocery store, where he spent time familiarizing himself with their inventory. And, subsequently, he selected a few items that might appeal to us for lunch/dinner in the sanctuary of our large, comfortable room. He also selected several tasty snacks “for-the-road” as both our appetites return to normal.

We’ll review our situation in the morning and decide whether to proceed on Camino 2024 to our next stop, via taxi, like today, or on foot.

Depart Time: 9:05 Temp: 53 F RH: 90%

Walked: 5.4 mi. Camino 2024: 145 mi.

To start today’s walk, we took a taxi from our hostal to Calzadilla de la Cueza where we began. This is the third time we have skipped this section. Carrion de los Condes is a couple of miles from Villalcázar and is followed by a 12 mile section of fields. No services of any kind, even water, are to be found. So after doing this section in 2015, ’17 and ’19, we’ve made it a non-issue and a more pleasant Camino.

This being our 5th visit to Albergue los Templarios, we knew all the routines and where everything was. Our receptionist was in training and we waited patiently as he explained and executed the various activities for the checkin, washing and hanging clothes, meal schedules, etc.

Our backpacks were waiting for us when we arrived so we became very efficient. By 3:00 all clothes were washed, hung out and dried, our lunch/dinner was complete and we were faced with nothing to do but rest and read and blog until bedtime.

We did have some chat time with Lisa (Maui & Las Vegas, Ron (Utah) and Ander (Sweden) during lunch and Jim had a very limited exchange with a gentleman from Brazil who knew about as much English as Jim’s Spanish.

All told, the walk was good, the revisit to one of our favorite albergues was positive as expected and we are rested for a longer walk tomorrow.

Depart Time: 7:55 Temp: 50 F RH: 90 %

Walked: 6.3 mi. Camino 2024: 140 mi.

Last night Jim had an upset stomach. We suspect something in the paella didn’t agree with him or maybe he was a little too zealous with eyes bigger than his stomach.

Bottom line, after being up most of the night, today he is not feeling so hot.

We still proceeded with our planned walk, which turned out to be a good idea as he’s feeling better but still not having any interest in food today.

The path we walked today easily met the expectations of Meseta naysayers. It was repetitive, boring and bleak.

Our day was dedicated to trying to accelerate Jim’s recovery with a minimal, bland diet and rest. By 8:00, our efforts and we suspect, some assistance from the Camino, itself, Jim seems pretty much back to normal.

We were able to enter the reception area of Hostal Infanta Doña Leonor upon our arrival at 11:45, but had to wait for an hour for our room to be ready. And, you guest it, no soft couch or glass of wine while we waited.

Buen Camino, y’all!