John's Camino

A Coruña, Madrid, and Home October 5, 6, 7

2011-10-07T19:56:00.001-07:00

My dinner at Galeon Rain on October 4: Zorza (ham with lots of paprika) and ensalada mixta.

Foggy A Coruna

Clearing up a bit in A Coruna

October 5 dinner at Galeon Raina: Tortilla, raxo, Albarino wine, ensalada mixta, and pimentos de Padron.

October 7

Here are my last few days:

A Coruña October 5

I was up just before 7 am for the 1/2 hour walk to the train station, buy my ticket, then a cup of coffee with tortilla and fresh bread. Yummy-who would want a sugary croissant when you can have a breakfast like that?

The train was fast, travelling at 100 miles an hour. It covered the 75 km in half an hour. This would have taken three days of walking on the Camino Inglés between the two cities.

I arrived in the city without knowing which direction the harbor and the old town were, but it seemed logical to headboth in the opposite direction of the rails and also downhill. Problems were the heavy fog obscurring any landmarks and too early for any information offices to be open. My instincts proved correct and I soon arrived in the port area. There is a maritime walk about 5 km long encircling much of the city and I followed it aroundd as the fog lifted. The walk included the Tower of Hercules a large lighthouse. The maritime walk and many ancillary walking, jogging, and bicycle paths are an integral, beautiful, and well used part of the city. Next, I wandered around the old part of the city, looking for the Iglesia Santiago. I had no map, but enjoyed bumbling around the narrow streets. I came across four other churches before I found the Santiago church. This is the start of the Camino Inglés and I duly noted the scallop shell directonal marker just outside the church. Next was the walk back to the train station for the mid afternoon train back. I think I must have walked 10-12 km. during my visit, plus another 10 km in Santiago. So still did a bunch more walking, though it was without a backpack. That evening back in Santiago, I looked around for Greg, but did not see him. Instead, I rab across Shirley, a Brit, who has lived in the US, Ecuador, and now south of Seville. We shared a dinner at Galeon Raina.

Madrid October 6

I took the Alsa Supra bus to Madrid, left 7 am and arrived 3 pm. By the time I took subway to Tirso de Molina and found a room at Pension Florida, the same place Marge and I were last year, it was 4 pm. I visited both the Prado and Sofia Reina museums as they were both free admission in the evening. Of course I had no time to view everything, just some of my favorites. That would be El Greco, Velasquez, Goya, and Bosch in the Prado and Picasso in the Sofia Reina.

October 7

My looooong flight home day. Up at 7:30 to repack, then take the subway to the airport-what a great transport system they have in Madrid. Check in and wait. 7 hour flight to Philadelphia then wait. 4 hour flight to Denver then wait. As I post this, I am waiting for my 2 1/2 hour flight to Sacramento. I've been up about 20 hours with no sleep, just dozed a little on the last flight. I'm ready to be home and go to bed!

Finisterra and the Finish of Our Caminos October 3

2011-10-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Rio Castro had to be crossed on these stone blocks before the bridge was completed last year.

How about this for a breakfast after the first 7 miles of the morning walk. Cafe con leche and one of the best tortilla ever. Nice sunny day and my ever present iTouch at my side to take advantage of the free wifi. This wasin the delightful village of Lires, halfway between Muxia and Finisterra.

After we finished walking, I took a photo of my Hammers trekking poles, After 800 plus miles on several caminos, I figured I ought to write a positive review on Amazon.

Six weeks of walking. 930 kilometers (575 miles) walked. Another 30 km today south along the Atlantic Ocean from Muxía to Finisterra. Finisterra is literally the "end of the world" and it is also the end of our walk. Today we were pilgrims, tomorrow tourists. Still, it feels good to know that we will not need to put on the packs tomorrow and walk for 5 or 6 hours.

Tomorrow morning, I will take a bus back to Santiago, then on to Madrid and home. Greg will stay here in Finisterra another night, then on to Segovia, then Madrid.

I will post photos but it may not be for another week or so.

Muxía October 2

2011-10-03T02:16:00.000-07:00

My sopa de marisco, seafood soup, wow!

Greg's rice salad

Legend has it that this is the sail from the Virgin's stone boat when she came to Muxia to tell St. James that everything was okay. Whatever.

Today was the final 22 km. stage to Muxía. The final half was reminiscent of the Camino Norte with lots of up and downs along the coast. Lots of eucalyptus and pine forest. After almost three weeks, it is nice to see the ocean again.

We arrived about 20 minutes before the albergue opened at 1 pm. Not only did we get our usual stamp from the albergue, but also a nice certificate, the "Muxiana", stating that we completed the walk from Santiago. Muxía is a fishing city, also nice beaches. It is across a bay from Camireñas, where Kathy has fond memories of eating pulpo a few years ago.

For our afternoon mrnú del día, I had a really good sopa de marisco, seafood soup, very much like ciopino, with seafood in a tomato base soup, followed by a whole fish of some kind, and two fresh pears for dessert. Oh, and we had pimentos de Padrón for an appetizer.

One more day of walking to Finisterra tomorrow, then we will become tourists.

Observation on tortilla, tapas, and albergues October 1

2011-10-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

We learned that sometimes tortilla does not mean that quiche-like concoction we have become used to. We ordered tortilla bocadillos for mid walk break yesterday and they were more like scrambled eggs in a sandwich. And I ordered tortilla con jamón today and it was scrambled eggs and ham. Wonder if this is a regional variation in this part of Galicia?

Also, the bartender brought us a delicious unasked for tapa with our wine and beer. Small cubes of beef wrapped with onion. They were raxos, something we had not tried before. A Galician specialty- I don't know what was in the sauce, but delicious, melt in your mouth flavor. Gotta try a whole plate of them next time!

Finally, an observation about our albergue for tonight. It is a new building and Galician government owned. It probably cost millions to build, is spacious and well designed, and also, very well laid out and functional. It is one of the nicest albergues ever and only 5€ per person. With 26 spaces, they could never pay for it if it was full every night. And we are the only two people here. Weird!

Dumbría October 1

2011-10-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

A beautiful cemetary in a small village.

The problem with crossing a bridge and a river is that you always will be going uphill afterwards!

A good example of an horreo, the raised granaries common in Galicia. The toadstool like stones are to keep the rats out.

Greg and I at the point where the camino splits to Finisterra or Muxia.

Another pretty easy day, 22 km of relatively gentle slopes. We walked past a lot of wind turbines, a resevoir, lots of dairy farms.

We got to the new albergue here in Dumbria about 12:30 but it does not open till 3 pm. The doors were not locked so we went in, found bunks, took showers and washed clothes. It is 1:20, so we will go out to try to find groceries, restaurant, and wifi, hopefully. And hope they won't mind that we let ourselves in early.

This building was just completed last year, very sleek and modern. It is very well designed and nice compared to most albergues.

As Maroñas September 30

2011-10-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

We are just coasting along with a few easy days, before the last difficult day, three days away. Today was about 22 km of mostly gentle slopes. Two more walking days until Muxia and the Atlantic Ocean.

This private albergue is just the right distance for walking, but there are no stores, etc. around here. Luckily they have a restaurant, but the menú del diá was a mediocre salad and breaded veal with a canned yogurt for dessert. They also had wifi but would not give a password, so John was not a happy boy about that. Oh well, hopefully better services tomorrow.

Negreira September 29

2011-09-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Looking back over Santiago and the cathedral as the sun rises on our walk.

The picturesque medieval bridge at Ponte Maceira.

El mejor!

Well, we got to sleep in just past 7 am, a good night's sleep without a bunch of people getting up at 5 am making noise. Although Greg said that I was snoring a couple of times. Sorry!

We walked out of Santiago and were soon out in the countryside. Our plan is to take a relatively easy four day walk to Muxia on the Atlantic Ocean, a total of 90 km or 55 miles. Then another day's walk to Finisterra. Today we walked about 22 km (13.5 miles) to Negeira. Much of it was through eucalyptus forest, some gravel path, but some paved road. We had rain showers for a while when we started, but they were light and required only a pack cover and hat. The sun is shining and it's nice and warm now.

We saw our Camino Primitivo friends one last time last night in Santiago. Most were headed back home today and back to work. We passed on the 9:30 pm dinner invitation- I'll bet they were celebrating till 3 am.

I was going to get a 4 euro Albarino wine for this evening's snacks, but Greg convinced me that we deserved the 12 euro Vina Pomal Reserva 2004. He was right, it was the best along with some olives, fresh bread, and aged blue cheese.

Santiago or Old Guys Rule! September 28

2011-09-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

This was our afternoon meal at Galeon Raina: ensalada mixta, tortilla, empanada de atun (tuna), pimentos de Padron, and calamari.

Greg and I in front of the cathedral.

Hospedaje San Roque where we stayed.

This bike pilgrim and her husband got a lot of attention in the cathedral square with their baby who was also a part of their camino.

We walked into Santiago this morning, after over four weeks of walking and over 800 km or 500 miles. Not bad for two old (69 and 62 years) guys! Just shows what positive attitude, proper equipment, good training regimen, and persistence can accomplish. Neither of us has any injuries or problems, besides maybe a little sore and tired, Greg is taking a nap while I write this up.

Today's walk started with light rain and we needed the raincoats the entire walk of 18 km or 11 miles. Tomorrow we will start the minimum four day, 120 km walk to Muxia and Finisterra.

We checked into an hospedaje (pension) about 11:30. After showers and clothes wash, it was off to the area around the cathedral to do sone exploring. Hunger soon got the best of us so we went to my all time favorite Spanish resstaurant, Cafeteria Galeon Raina. Our afternoon comida included a large ensalada mixta, pimentos de Padrón, calamares, empanadas de atún (tuna), and tortilla. Empanadas were great and the tortilla was the best ever-not overcooked so it was moist and flavorful. A couple glasses of Albariño wine helped, too. By the way, a few of the peppers were hot, but that happens. Eating that meal was like dying and going to heaven!

We are resting up now, but will be out again later. By the way, our Spanish friends have new names for us. Roboyohn for me because of my fast walking pace and Biutiful Boy for Greg because of his haircuts and beard trims.

Pedrouzo September 27

2011-09-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

First, I need to update you on last night. A group of fifteen of us who completed the Camino Primitivo got together yesterday afternoon in a bar to celebrate with gin and tonics. All were Spanish, except for Greg, I, Kristina, the Hungarian woman, and Ernst, the German man. We didn't get a lot of the conversation, but one of the Spanish women works as a multi-lingual interpreter, so that helped. All were much younger than Greg and I and I think they were surprised that we were able to complete the camino as well as we did, finishing more rapidly than them on many days. They called Greg and I the smiling men, they said we always had smiles on our faces. I told them in my poor Spanish that they spoke so rapidly that when we could not understand, we just smiled. Anyway, afterwards, we went back to the pulperia and had several plates of pulpo (octopus), shrimp in garlic, beef ribs with potatoes, and finally, boiled pigs ears with potatoes. We tried the pigs ears, but have to admit that Greg and I did not like them. They were kind of greasy and slippery without much taste. Anyway a good afternoon and evening to cap off the Camino Primitivo. We saw some of them on the walk today, but the group will only be together now in memories.

Walking today was like being in a cattle drive, with all the Camino Francés pilgrims, must be hundreds of them. And so many of them poorly prepared for long distance walking with swollen legs, bandaged feet, walking in flip flops, just limping slowly along. It was quite a contrast to the disciplined and experienced walkers we have encountered on the Norte and Primitivo.

Our walk today was 33 km or 20 miles, but the path was easy without any serious elevation changes. I think we will walk into Santiago tomorrow as it is only 18 km, then on the next day to Muxia and Finisterra. We are staying in a private albergue here tonight, the same one I stayed in two years ago, it has a bit more room than the public ones plus wifi.

Another contrast with the Camino Francés, is the number of older walkers such as us. Also many English and German speakers, plus many Asians. The Caminos Norte and Primitivo had primarily younger and Spanish speaking pilgrims.

Melide September 26

2011-09-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

Lots of wind generators (eolicos) in Spain. This area was not an exception. They are always on the ridges, where the wind is strongest.

Melide was like a mirage in the distance. We first saw it about 10 or 12 km away, but it seemed to take forever to walk there.

In Galicia, many of the camino markers also have the distance in kilometers to the cathedral in Santiago.

Greg's lunch of pulpo (octopus). I tried some, too, and it was delicious!

First, Happy Birthday, Matt!

Like a cattle drive here! Crazy lots of pilgrims! After more than four weeks of walking the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primtivo, we rarely saw more than 20 pilgrims in a whole day. We arrived at the 140 bed albergue in Melide and pilgrims all over. Greg counted at least 45 walking past in the hour our mid day meal took. It is like culture shock for us. By the way, we went to a pulperia and Greg had the best pulpo ever (I had a taste). We watched as they cooked it fresh, then covered in olive oil and paprika. I opted for the menu of the day, which included caldo gallego.

We did walk 29 km today or about 18 miles. From here, it should be pretty easy going, just lots of foot traffic.

I was in favor of taking the bus from here to A Coruña to walk the Camino Ingles, but Greg wants to finish this path into Santiago, Wednesday morning we should arrive. I think we will keep on walking right through Santiago to do the camino to Muxia and Finisterra.

Our little group had an interesting get together last night as our hospiteleria made a flaming Galician drink with 95% alcohol, sugar, orange, and who knows what else. After he doused the flames, we enjoyed it till it was gone.

San Ramon da Retorta September 25

2011-09-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just have to stop and wait for the cattle to walk by.

What to do on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of nowhere. I think the table speaks for itself. This is part of the Spanish bunch that we got to know. Greg is in the back on the left.

We had an easy 12 mile walk today, almost like a rest day. Tomorrow will be a longer and harder 18 miles. We are in a little village, in the middle of nowhere. No restaurant, but the albergue here has a take out menu that if you order yor meal by 1 pm, they run to Lugo, pick it up, and serve by 2:30. In the meantime, we visited with all the other pilgrims we have come to know, all Spanish speaking, except for the German man and Hungarian woman.

Tomorrow we will be in Melidé, which is where the Camino Primitivo meets the Camino Francés. It will be like joining a huge herd of driven cattle. We have been used to small albergues of capacity 10 - 20 persons. The albergue in Melidé has room for 130 people. On the bright side, Greg says he remembers a pulperia there that has a good octopus dinner for 8€.

We are still uncertain if we will take a bus from Melidé to A Coruna to walk the Camino Inglés or if we will just walk into Santiago then continue with the camino to Múxia then Finisterra.

Later, 7 pm: Very quiet here. I got tired of reading, so spent the last hour listening to Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

This looks to be a rundown, maybe abandoned country property, that the new owner is cleaning up and renovating as a new private albergue. Hope they make it. I, of course, would suggest adding wi-fi. But that's just me.

Lugo September 24

2011-09-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Public art in Castroverde. I thought having the water fountain pouring over the umbrella was clever.

A 30 km (18 mile) walk today, but only one steep uphill and downhill today. We are pretty much out of the mountains today, so the walk was fairly easy. Lugo is a large city and the only problem was that I had a hard time finding the albergue in the old part of the city. Greg and I mostly walked separately today, but both of us got lost at the end.

I finally had caldo gallego for my first dish at midday comida. Caldo Gallego is the regional soup with kale, potatoes, and ham hocks. Greg had a delicious paella.

Afterwards, we went to the cathedral. We asked the volunteer there if it was okay to take photos. He saw that we were pilgrims and offered to give us a personal tour of the various altars and other features of the cathedral, which dates from the 8th century. The tour lasted 45 minutes and was fabulous. Not the biggest cathedral in Spain, but one of the oldest with lots of interesting features, including one altar of the Virgin with the Large Eyes (Osos Grandes).

Back to the albergue, then grocery shopping for tomorrow. Afterwards, Greg and I went to a café on the main square with a German man and Hungarian woman for pulpo and beer (them) and a half bottle of Albariño wine (me). The pulpo (octopus) was the best I've had yet and the wine was fine, too. Gotta get this posted at the fee wifi that I found so I can gat back to the albergue before it locks the doors at 10 pm.

Cadávo de Baleira September 23

2011-09-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

25 km (15 mile) today and it included some steep up and down. Still, not too bad as we are getting used to this type of terrain. I had read before how difficult the Camino Primitivo is. It certainly is more difficult than the Camino Francés, which most people take. But I didn't think it was so hard, especially compared to the first stages of the Camino del Norte in Basque country. We will have two more mountainous days on the Primitivo before it ends on the Francés at Melidé, then two days on the Francés into Santiago. By the way the Camino Primitivo is the first and oldest of the caminos. It has been in existence since around the year 900.

Back at an albergue tonight- I like that. We have the same group of about 20 people that we have been with the last week or so, so stopping at the one cafe/bar late morning on the walk is getting to a real social occaision. As is this restaurant this afternoon, where over half of the pilgrims are gathered for the late afternoon meal.

A Fonsagrada September 22

2011-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

The slate marker telling us that we were entering Galicia."Camino de Santiago, Encuentro Asturias-Galicia"

A short while later there was a bar/cafe in the valley between two mountain peaks. We stopped for a cafe con leche and most of the other pilgrims we have come to know day after day also stopped here.

We walked out of Asturias and into Galicia today. All of a sudden all the place names are in Gallego rather than Spanish. It was a longer walk at 28 km (17 miles) and still a lot of elevation changes as we are not out of the mountains yet. According to the distance markers on the camino, we have 159 km (100 miles) to the cathedral in Santiago.

The albergue is over a mile out of the city, so we are staying in a pension here. It is more convenient than walking back and forth a few times in the afternoon and evening.

I keep tightening the hip belt on my backpack tighter and tighter. I am afraid I may run out of slack as I continue to lose weight walking. I am eating a lot, just this afternoon had pasta with tomato sauce, 2 1/2 pork chops, fries, bread, and wine.

Grandas de Salima September 21

2011-09-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Most mornings we started walking while it was still dark, It was not full daylight until 8-8:15 am.

Slate is a native building material in Galicia with many slate roofs. Here is a fence built of slate slabs.

Greg and I wnet to a really great ethnographic musem in Grandas de Salima. This is an enclosure built of rock and slate to keep bears out of the beehives.

And even a few old engines in the museum.

Today was an interesting walk as the terrain was different from that of the last few days. We started out with the usual dairy pastures as we climbed 250 m in the first 6 km. to arrive at a mountain ridge dotted with many wind turbines. From there it was a steep descent with a drop of 800 meters or 2500 feet in the next 7 km. Very hard on the knees. This was through mixed forest starting with pine at the higher elevations and descending through oak, birch, and chestnuts. The interesting thing was the clouds below us at the ridge, then walking through the cloud layer, and into the overcast conditions below. The overcast lasted most of the, but a wind picked up and it us mostly sunny now.

The bottom of the valley is a 35 km long resevoir (Embalse de Salima) and it's attendant dam and hydroelectric facility. We walked across the dam, then another ascent of 400 m in the last 6 km. Greg is now pretty well over his cold, so we both felt good today even though it was another difficult walk.

We were walking around town and looking for a place to eat when we ran across a German we had met several times over the past two weeks and also a Spaniard in his mid 60's who spent most of his life in South Africa and Canada. Had a mediocre lunch, but the conversation was interesting. The Spaniard left Spain at 16 years old so he would not have to be a soldier in Franco's army. He said the 1950's were known as the decade of famine because the country was so poor. He was in Spain visiting his sister but got bored with her and is now walking on his third camino.

Greg and I also went to the town's ethnographic museum. We were not expecting much, but there were a wealth of very well done displays depicting all aspects of Spanish rural life from the 1850's to the 1950's. It was very impressive and I got a lot of photos.

Anyway, the albergue here is decent, I have wifi from the bar down the street, and the supermercado opens at 4 pm. Life is good. Tomorrow we will walk from Asturias into Galicia.

Berducedo September 20

2011-09-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

It was a long steep climb, but here we are on the top.

And more up and down.

Up above the clouds in the valleys.

Another tough walk today. 18 km or 11 miles. The first 8 km were a continuous, sometimes steep, climb of 600 m. That put us at an elevation of almost 1200 m or 3600 ft. From there it was a steep decent, more climbing, then up and down for the rest of the day. We are crossing the Cordillera Cantabrica range. While not mostly as high as the Sierra Nevada, they are still steep. There are pine, oak, and eucalyptus forests and open pasture and farmland. Dairies rule here and it seems like Asturias supplies milk and dairy products to much of the rest of Spain. As I write, a cow just walked by on the street. Hmmm, I wonder if her owner knows what she is up to?

Berducedo is a little village with three bars, two of which are open, and none serves even sandwiches. Luckily one bar has a small grocery so Greg and I picked up fixings for pasta with meatballs and just cooked it. Not the greatest, but it will do. Also, no Internet here, so this posting will need to wait till later.

Pola de Allande September 19

2011-09-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is dairy country, even though mountainous, there is a lot of productive farmland.

Today's walk was a grueling one. It was only 26 km or about 16 miles. But thre were two steep 300-350 meter ascents and one steep 350 meter descent at the end. I stated walking at 8 am and arrived here at 1:30, so kept up a pretty good 5 km/hr or 3 mile/hr pace. I was the first to arrive at the albergue. I showered, washed clothes, then walked to the town center and tried to find Greg. Didn't see him, so had menú del diá at one of the hotel restaurants. Three bowls of a soup with potatoes and green beans, then salmon filet with potatoes and fresh sliced tomatoes, postre was cheescake drizzled with strawberry sauce, cup of coffe, red wine, and bread all for 10€. Delicioso!! Greg walked in just as I was finishing. Greg felt that he should take another rest day for his cold- so took a taxi here. Turned out he had just had mid day comida at the other hotel with two Spanish pilgrims who spoke English.
There are few English speakers here on the Camino Primitivo. In fact, for the past few days, Greg and I have been the only ones. Most are Spanish, plus a few French speakers. I guess I've had a chance to speak more Spanish, but can not say that I am improving much. Pero, estoy de tratando!

After a cool start to the day's walk (46 degrees), it stayed overcast all day, which was really very good walking weather. Now the sun is out and it is nice, probably in the upper 70's. Hopefully decent weather will prevail the next few days as we cross the mountains into Galicia. The next four days will be pretty strenuous with a lot of elevation change. Even in this town, there is no flat area. Everything is up and down on the hillsides.

Tineo September 18

2011-09-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the effects of the economic slowdown in Spain- A half finished freeway, with all work on it stopped.

The lattter half of our walk today was in the rain.

Tineo is not a flat city

The first two hours of walking today was a continuous upgrade of 500 km in 8 km of walking. Not all of it horribly steep but all of it up. And there was a cold wind blowing near the tops of the mountains. I guess there should have been a wind as all the eolicos (wind generator turbines) on the ridges were spinning. Our stop at a bar/café in La Espina was a welcome break for our morning pick-me-ups of café con leche and tortilla.

We were just back on the trail when a light drizzle started, so we stopped to put on our pack covers. Twenty minutes later, the rain increased to a steady shower, so another stop to take off the pack cover and cover up completely with the rain parka. It rained off and on for the rest of the walk and the parka never cane off again.

We also got our wish for country paths, which we were on for 95% of the walk. Only problem is that this is dairy country and all those country paths are also used to move the cattle. The wet ground and not much gravel made for muddy walking and our clothes were a mess when we arrived at the albergue around 2 pm. After a shower and clothes washing, we are feeling better, but the next problem will be drying those clothes in the still cool and damp conditions. It is just under 60 degrees right now.

We are not complaining. We knew that the northern and mountainous camino routes would be cooler and wetter. And so they are! We had an afternoon menu del dia at the hotel restaurant. It is now 4 pm and most people here are reading or relaxing, many including Greg are taking naps.

Salas September 17

2011-09-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

Signs like this help to keep us on track

Salas is a beautiful town in the mountains.

These colds really knocked us on our butts, but I think we are ready to get moving again. I walked 22 km or about 13 miles to Salas today. Greg took the bus there as he was still feeling the effects from his cold. We are both doing much better though and will continue walking tomorrow. Tomorrow will be 20 km with a 500 m elevation gain. I think we can handle it.

It is nice to be back in an albergue again. This is a relatively small one with 14 beds. We had our menu of the day at a close by restaurant: chicken noodle soup, then Greg had chicken and I had fish.

Grado September 16

2011-09-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Wet and Rainy Grado

I'm feeling pretty good now. Greg is still coughing a lot and feels a lack of energy, so we are staying another night here in Grado. We will see how he feels in the morning. Grado is a small city of not much historical import, so there is not much to do here besides walking up and down the streets, reading, or resting up. Boring to say the least. I am anxious to be walking again!!

Grado September 15

2011-09-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

The countryside between Oviedo and Grado

After I had a chance to view the photos of my newborn grandson, Henry John, we walked out of Oviedo. The suburbs were only a few km and soon we were on country lanes. We had some elevation change, but not too bad yet. We saw about 10 or 12 other pilgrims at various times during the day, so there seem to be many others choosing the Camino Primitivo.

We walked about 24 km (16 miles) to the city of Grado. It would have been 3 km beyond and a steep climb to the next albergue, we were tired, so decided to stay at a pension catering to pilgrims. Probably that was a good thing as it started to thunder and rain shortly after. I am feeling pretty good and pretty well over my cold, but Greg still has a cough, so we will have to decide in the morning if we will take another rest day. Our first plate at 2 pm comida was scrambled eggs with shrimp and other seafood items (yummy) and second plate was fish with potaoes and salad. When we can do it, the afternoon meals work out better than an 8 or 9 pm meal.

Photos!

2011-09-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to use a computer to download and post some photos to the different postings. Take a look!

Oviedo September 14

2011-09-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Cathedral in Oviedo

For those not already aware, there is great news! My daughter, Julia, just gave birth to a baby boy yesterday! Mother and son are doing fine. I hope to give them a call later today. I am a first time grandpa now.

We are resting up as much as possible today. We slept in past 8 am, almost unheard of for us. After our morning coffee, we viewed the cathedral. Not the biggest, but I think the retablos (the gilded facades behind the altars) are some of the best I've seen. Unfortunately, they were in the dark so it was difficult to fully appreciate them. Sorry, no photos since they were not allowed in the church.

We meandered around the old town streets for a while, many beautiful old buildings. There is a big festival coming up here on the 19th, "Diá de Americas" (to celebrate all that new world gold that went into those retablos?). Sound stages and vendor's booths are being set up all over, it looks like it will be a huge festival.

We have an option here to continue on the Camino del Norte or to do the Camino Primitivo, a little shorter, but higher mountains to cross. Even though elevation change is greater, it looks like the spacing of the stages may be better with most stages between 20 and 30 km and only one 31 km stage. We made the decision to take the Primitivo, hopefully that will work out okay.

We returned to our pension about noon and both of us had naps. I rarely take a nap, this is very unusual. I have the feeling that we are like two big batteries that the colds and the walking discharged beyond a comfortable margin. It is like we are storing up the energy to continue our pace of walking tomorrow and beyond.

We'll take off about 2 pm to post this blog, have our big meal of the day, and then phone calls and picture posting at the locutorio.

Oviedo September 13

2011-09-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

Gregs soup at lunch

We both slept poorly because of our colds. I started coughing so got some cough syrup this morning. We walked about 11 or 12 miles today, mostly on quiet country roads, only the last few miles were the usual large city dreary suburb apartments and industrial tracts.

We are going to take a two night stay here to rest up and try to shake these colds. We found a hostal near the cathedral. We went out about 2 pmfor our midday meal. Ensalada mixta, soup eitj ham, potatoes, and spinach, bacalao (white)fish, and almond torte for dessert. We are wandering around a little, then back to take naps. Sightseeing tomorrow.

Pola de Siero September 12

2011-09-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

This is the marker that the German pilgrim missed.

The pension last night was nice, but the disco music from the festival outside wasn't. Greg had more trouble sleeping than I. I think I was tired enough plus the non-caffeinated cold pill plus the Tylenol pm did the trick. Anyway, we were out of there at 8 and found a cafe at a hotel down the street that was opened for our morning tostada and café con leche. There were two British couples there trying to order a breakfast, not realizing that scrambled eggs are a sometimes dinner rather than breakfast item in Spain. They kept eyeing us and our backpacks, so I told them we off to Santiago as we left. There was also a German pilgrim who told Greg he was planning to take the coastal route to Gijón instead of the inland route to Oviedo as we were planning. We saw him about two hours later looking intently at his guide book. We had to inform him that he missed the markers at the split and had gone 3 km on the wrong route. "Zurück," he said and started walking back.

We ate lunch in Vega de Sariego at12:30. No sardines or calamari today. Today it was cheese and sausage in our sandwiches. Vega de Sariego was to be our original stopping point. But we decided to continue on 10 km more to Pola de Siero, which seems to be a suburb of Oviedo. We both felt fine on the walk, perhaps a bit more slow than usual. This way we have only 16 km instead of 27 into Oviedo tomorrow. Still cold symptoms but we are over the worst part. We got in about 3 pm and are staying in a very nice new albergue here that just opened last year. It's 4:30 and we are the only ones here so far. This place is not yet listed in most of the camino guides-is that why?

Bonus!! 9 pm
While grocery shopping this afternoon, I happened to find my favorite tempranillo wine, Viña Pomal from Haro in La Rioja region. Of course I bought it and Greg and I finished it off in the shade behind the albergue along with some dried nuts and olives stuffed with anchovies. A young (31 years old) Polish pilgrim helped us drink it. After walking 16 miles today, it was heavenly.

VIllaviciosa 11 September

2011-09-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

Greg woke up this morning pretty achy and I was just a bit better. He was talking about getting a bus to Oviedo and waiting for me to walk there. But we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday morning, so nothing was running. Not much else to do but start walking and see what happened. We had a. 25 km stage today with relatively less steepness than other stages. We took it slowly and kept walking steadily to reach the albergue around 12:45.

Unfotunately, there was a sign taped to the door "Cerrado-No agua" (Closed No water). Even though we were tired, we were still out in nowhereland so the only option was to hoof it to Villaviciosa, another 6 km down thr road. So we ended up walking 31 km or 19 miles today.

We both were fine on the walk, but are achy and tired tonight. I think most of the ache is from the colds, but some is the walking. On the plus side, my feet are doing well. No blisters at all. Big toenail is loose but secure for now, so I haven't lost any nails yet either. And my custom orthotics are a dream with next to no heel pain from my plantar fascitis. Thank you, Dr. Scarlett Kroenke, for a fitting job well done.

We are still on cold meds. In the farmacia yesterday, I looked carefully at the ingredient listings to make sure caffeine was not listed. Most of them had caffeine. Both of us took the new medications and both had a hard time falling asleep. I am certain caffeine was in it even though not listed. Why would they need to put caffeine in a cold med, anyway?

Villaviciosa has no albergue, so we are in a two bedroom shared bath pension tonight. I guess it is a bit easier with our colds, tomorrow hopefully back in an albergue. Tomorrow's stage will be about 16 km, but includes one ascent of 420 meters (1300 feet). Two more days to Oviedo. We are thinking of making a rest day there, but are afraid Big Puppy might catch up. We are still mad about catching his cold, even though he said he would pray for both of us. Like I said yesterday, I would rather find some Nyquil!

La Vega September 10

2011-09-11T01:42:00.001-07:00

The view from our room in La Vega

It was another shorter day due to our colds. 20 km or 12 miles. Also, Greg preferred to stay in a pension another night, so we found one in the little beach village of Vega. We can hear the surf and see the sandy beach from the open window of our room, like maybe in Hawaii. But it is a tourist area. It does not feel like the camino.

We stopped at a farmacia today to find a different and hopefully better cold medication. It is difficult to find one without caffeine in it. Why can't they just have Nyquil and Dayquil! My cold is not as bad today, but Greg is still feeling lousy. Hopefully with the rest of today for resting, we will be moving at a normal pace again tomorrow.

Nueva de Llanes September 9

2011-09-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

The festival in Llanes yesterday was the culmination of the two week festival of the Virgin. Quite spectacular with many people in folk costumes, parades, bands, marching, dancing and on and on. There were some fireworks, but at least the festivities didn't last until 5 in the morning like they did last year in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Remember that, Marge?

Today is day 16 of our camino. We are just past the halfway point to Santiago de Compostela, with just under 400 km or 250 miles to go. Nueva is between the cities of Llanes and Ribadesella.

Since both Greg and I now have full blown colds with sniffles and sneezes, we decided to take it easy for a few days. Today we only walked 20 km or 12 miles. Tomorrow we plan about a 16 km day, then we will ramp it up again. We are taking cold medication from the farmacia-not sure what's in it but it is helping. Also helping is that there were no really steep stages on today's walk. And a lot of it on dirt and gravel paths, too.

There is no albergue here, so we are treating ourselves to a room in a pension with private bath and shower. Luxury (compared to an albergue) for only 30€ a night. We both took naps this afternoon, so you nursies out there can stop worrying if we are taking care of ourselves.

Thankfully, Big Puppy decided to take a full day of rest in Llanes, so we were able to walk without having someone two steps behind all the
way. He was going to spend the day praying in the church there and was going to pray for Greg and I, too. He has 7 more weeks to find his
way to Santiago, so should be able to do it without us.

9 pm. I forgot to mention Greg's lunch of canned calamares ren su tinta (calamari in it's own ink). I tried some but continued with my usual sardines. For dinner tonight I had the fabadas asturianas, large white beans with blood sausage, chorizo, bacon, and ham.

Llanes September 8

2011-09-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Street dancers in folk costumes

Well, I guess we got our wish today for off roadway paths as at least 75% of our walk was on gravel and dirt. Some of it was along high ridges with great views of the ocean and the mountains. It reminds me much of Calfornia's north coast, but the colors are more vivid since it is not overcast and the vegetation is still green.

There was a festival going on as we walked into Llanes, a celebration of La Virgen de la Guía. Many school kids and adults in regional attire. The streets were packed for the parade. Now the restaurants are packed. It looks like stages are being set up for music this evening.

Greg and I went out this afternoon for my birthday to eat instead of this evening. I did have two glasses of a good Rioja wine and an ice cream cone to top it off. We also had calamari again.

We both seem to have caught Big Puppy's cold as we both have the sniffles. I am not happy about that.

Columbres September 7

2011-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Some of the spectacular scenrty we are enjoying.

After two long days of walking, we were hoping to keep it a bit shorter today. But the spacing of the albergues is such that we had to walk over 27 km (about 16 miles) today in order to have a shorter 22 km walk tomorrow. Today's walk was on some country tracks of dirt and gravel but still mostly on harder surfaces. Still, we were off the main highways for the most part, though we crossed the autopista (freeway) three times. The scenery was just as stunning with pastoral farm views (and, occaisionally, smells) plus vistas of the ocean and the mountains.

We finally ate the green bananas that I bought two days ago. They were semi ripe. Greg says not to buy any more bananas unless they are ripe. For our roadside lunch today, we had canned albondigas, the first time for this camino.

We walked past the road leading to Potes at the base of the Picos de Europa. Kathy and I spent a delightful night and two days there in 2005, even though I was afraid to take the aerial tram to the top. I also remember the white bean stew with five different kinds of ham and sausage in it. Yummy!

Shortly before our walk ended today, we left Cantabria and entered Asturias.

Comillas 6 September

2011-09-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

During the days walk

Calamari with our drinks

We walked 4 km into Santanilla del Mar, a nicely kept up city dating from medieval times. Then a 2 km walk to the Altamira museum, featuring cave art from 10,000-15000 years ago. Except it was not the real caves, just a replica inside the museum building. Disneyland eould have done a much better job. Afterwards, we tried to find a shortcut back to the camino, but I think we walked farther than if we had just gone back to Santillana. Oh well, I think we must have walked at least 27 km or over 16 miles today, arriving at the albergue in Comillas shortly before the 4 pm opening. We have walked about 340 km do far, with around 460 to go.

The weather today was good. The storm system passed and we had a nice sunny day. One thing I have found is that so much of the Camino del Norte is on asphalt. This is not only tedious but hard on the feet and legs. Even the parts off the main higway are mostly on asphalt or concrete roadways. We are seriously considering switching to thr Camino Primitivo at Oviedo, a difficult walk, but not as much roadway.

Big Puppy has a cold, hope we don't get it.

By the way, we got our first views of the Picos de Europa mountIn range today.

Greg and I had fried calamari with wine and beer before we found the library computer this afternoon. Later on, we had menu del diá-he had asparagus and sardines and I had ensalada mixta and croquetas de jamón.

Quevada 5 September

2011-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

After a nice breakfast with the other pilgrims, we started walking about 8 am under partly cloudy skies in a beautiful country setting. We intended to cover the 13 km to Somo along the beach. A light drizzle started, so out with the rain gear. We got to the next village and thought we found the path to the beach. Then it started pouring rain. Greg is the weatherman and he predicted clearing weather. He was wrong. I am the navigator,so when we came to an option point, I chose the wrong one. My excuse was the downpour, but instead of going to the beach, we were headed for the hills, then somehow ended up making a big circle to end up where we were 45 minutes earlier. I have no idea how it happened as I am rarely directionally challenged, but it happened this time. Anyway, once back on the highway, we decided to follow it all the way to Somo where there is a ferry acrross the bay to the largest city on the northern coast, Santander.

We walked up to the ferry just as it was leaving and were able to relax and enjoy the views on the way across. We arrived in the bustle of Santander at noon and stopped in the public market to have a quick llunch of ham tortilla. There was free wi fi so I was able to post yesterdays blog and one quick email.

Our plan now was to make our way to the bus or tain staion to see if we could find a way to the town of Mogro without having to walk there. There were three good reasons for doing this: 1) the walk out of Santander is many km of suburb and industrial tracts that are not scenic and not fun, 2) there is not an albergue that would be in convenient walking distance, and 3) to avoid a long 10 km detour, we would have to walk a dangerous and not recommended railroad bridge between Boo and Mogro. There was no local bus to Mogro, so we went to the train staion and saw the lineup of taxis. After checking the rates, we determined that splitting the cost of a taxi three ways would be a quick and cost effective means.

We had the driver drop us off in front of a supermarket so we could stock up on food for tomorrow (and a bottle of Campo Viejo for tonight). By 1:30, we were walking the camino again.

Now before any followers of this blog castigate us for taking a means of transport besides our feet, I want to point out that we walked another 17 km in the afternoon, arriving at Albergue Arco Iris just after 5 pm. We walked 30 km or about 18 miles today. So if we arrive in Santiago a little sooner than planned, we will just spent more time walking a different camino before heading home.

Arco Iris is another country albergue offering both dinner and breakfast. That was great, since we did not want to do any more walking. In fact, I think I wore out both Greg and Big Puppy today as they both went to bed before 9 pm and are snoring as I compose this posting. This is a 60 bed albergue, but there are only 4 of us here. By the way, the chicken noodle soup and patatas caseras were excellent.

Güemes 4 September

2011-09-05T03:14:00.000-07:00

Not much fun to walk in the rain!

The day started overcast like many of the past few mornings did. The walk started out pretty level out of Santoña and past a few seaside villages of mostly vacation and retirement homes. Then we started our climb of the day, the Alto de El Brusco, which is a steep hill separating two sandy beaches. It is less than 2 km between the beaches, but involves a steep ascent of 120 m. then a descent just as steep. It was drizzling slightly so we put our backpack covers on. Halfway up it started raining steadily and heavily. In minutes, the steep trail went from picturesque and scenic to muddy, slippery, and treachorous. There was no way to switch over to rain parkas for more protection, either. So we slogged our way up, hoping we would not slip over the edge into the ocean. The way down on the other side was no easier as the storm became more intense. Once we reached the other beach, it was a difficult walk through soft and wet sand. Shoes were soaking wet by this time and it was about another two km before we were able to find shelter in an open bar/café that had a covered terrace. I was able to change my socks and get some of the water out of my shoes, but my feet and shoes were wet for the rest of the walk. It kept raining for another two hours, but was not so bad after I was able to put on my rain parka and gaiters.

We found some cover in the courtyard of a church to eat lunch around 11 am. The overcast did not clear, but there was only a little drizzle the rest of the way. We continued on to the albergue near Güemes, completing the 25 km (18 miles) right at 2 pm.

What a welcome we received there! No sooner had we walked in, but they offered cool water, signed us in, and invited us to the most delicious meal we had yet. The first course was a beef and potato soup, delicately flavored with Spanish paprika. The second course was thin beef filets very flavorful, ensalada normal (lettuce, fresh onion, and tomatoes), and my favorite, fresh cooked peppers. The peppers were not Padrons, but more like the ones I grow in our garden. They were sauteed in olive oil and salt and done perfectly.

I hsve to say that this albergue is in the country over a kilometer from the village and there is not much in the village. So this is the reason meals are offered along with the lodging. There is an association of 70 volunteers who rins this albergue and there is no set chage for staying hete; it is all up to each personstayong here to donate an amount they want.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was devoted to individual activity- clothes washing, showers, reading, visiting. At 7:30, we had a meeting where they explained how the alberguecwas started by it's founder, then an explanation of the various route options for the next two days. Afterwards was a dinner with fish or garlic/egg soup and pasta.

This is the first night it has been cool and the dampness means our clothes and shoes are not dry yet.

Santoña 3 September

2011-09-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

Walking on the beach at Laredo. Hard packed sand is the best!

We walked farther than I thought we would today. Originaly we were going to walk 20 km to Laredo. Since most of the walk was on the N-634 highway, the walking went quickly even though it was tedious and hard on the feet, not to mention a bit dangerous from passing cars. Finally after about two and a half hours, we found a restaurant that had just opened in Liendo. That café con leche was good but even better were the egg and sausage sandwiches and the fresh hot tortilla that seemed to melt in your mouth. We had the regular potato tortilla, but they also had fresh fig tortilla. I kind of wish now that we had tried that!

We did reach Laredo, a resort city. It is located on a finger of land 5.5 km long with beach on both sides. Seems like many retirees and tourists staying here. We walked several km. on packed beach sand, which was nice after the hard pavement. After we got to the tip, we took a boat crossing to Santoña. There is some kind of a festival going on, lots if food and other booths. We walked through that and most of the town to the youth hostel for 8.8€, breakfast included, plus 5€ more for dinner. Not bad. Total walk for the day was 26 km or close to 16 miles.

Anyway, we are doing fine, including Big Puppy who keeps following us. He came over with a rosary instead of a guidebook. Now he is never more than two steps behind either Greg or I. I suppose he is afraid of getting lost. It's starting to creep me out.

Islares 2 September

2011-09-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

25 km today or about 16 miles. Some highway and some rustic country tracks with magnificent vistas of the sea. Also steep climbs and declines. The mountains here are right up to the sea in mant places.

We also went through the largish resort town of Castro Urdiales, which I thought was more picturesque than San Sebastian. Still there were rows of frying bodies lined up on the beach getting ever more brown, but that is my litle rant for today- getting a sunburn is not my idea of fun. I suppose we looked out of place with our packs, hiking boots, and floppy sun hats.

Shortly into our hike today we left the Basque state and are now walking in Cantabria. As I sit here writing this in late afternoon, it is partly sunny with the fog just starting to cover the tops of the mountain. Our weather has been good, usually around 80-85 degrees for a high. Sometimes a little humid in mid afternoon until a breeze starts blowing in off the sea.

Muskiz 1 September

2011-09-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

We walked about 17 miles today from the outskirts of Bilbao to Muskiz, a small seaside village between Bilbao and Castro Urdiales. It was a long walk but the albergue In Portugalete is closed for the year. Also this stage was not as steep as earlier stages. The Guggenheim was good, but we did not do much else in Bilbao as the albergue was nearly out of town.

We seem to have a mostly new group of walkers since some stopped and others just started. Greg got a cell phone today, but I think I will stick with the iTouch and take my chances with wi-fi.

I have a blood blister under my big toenail and the nail is loosening up, so it will come off in a week or two-at least it is not painful. Enough of the gory details.

Last night, there were only some small bars in the neighborhood, so we asked a local about the food. She marched us over to her favorite, saying "muy barato, muy barato" as she must have had us sized up as the cheap pilgrims that we are. Anyway, she stayed there with her friends and we had the best toasted ham and cheese sandwiches with fresh bread and a bottle of wine. We spent the afternoon here socializing with our new acquantances over a bottle of Viura wine and olives stuffed with anchovies. It is almost 8 pm, so we will soon go around the corner to sample the peregrino menu in this little town. We already made reservations at an albergue 26 km down the road for tomorrow night- Greg's new phone is proving to be quite useful.

Bilbao. 31 August

2011-09-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today is our day of rest. It was only an eight mile walk into Bilbao, still it was a 1000 foot elevation gain and dscent. Once we reached the river, we followed it around to the museum. We probably put in another few miles inside the museum, then about two miles walk out of the city center to the albergue.

This is our seventh walking day. We have covered about 160 km or 100 miles. Our goal is at least 100 miles per week, so we are right on track.

What can I say about the Guggenheim? One goes to it as much to see the building as to see the art. It is all curves and angles, nothing straight or perpendicular. To get an idea of it, google "Guggenheim Bilbao". I asked one of our fellow pilgrims, who happens to be an architect, how one even starts to design such a non-linear space. She said the joke among architects is that Gehry crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it on the table for his inspiration. It is indeed s marvel to look in any direction and wonder how they did it.

The art is very modern, mostly changing exhibits. Some pieces quite large and taking up entire rooms. I guess I don't understand how a pile of twisted metal studs or a plastic bucket half full of dried mortar is art- I can find that out in my junk pile. I suppose it is in the sales pitch and how you can convince someone else that a pile of old paint cans is "art".

Still, many of the works are quite stunning and thought provoking. And required much skill and imagination to make. If it makes you start thinking, is it art? Greg H?

Since it is our rest day, we are doing that right now (4 pm). It is too far to walk back into the city center so we will explore this neighborhood later, hopefully to find s grocery, a place to eat, and, if lucky, wi-fi to post this.

Lezama August 30

2011-08-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

14 miles today that was mostly on wooded trails and farm lanes, except for the last 2 miles of highway walking. I swear that this camino is 49% uphill, 49% downhill, and 2% level. It is very much harder than the Camino Frances or Portugues. Still, I think Greg and I are doing quite well. We plan to walk only 7 miles tomorrow to Bilbao. We want to have enough time at the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum where the building itself is as much a work of art as the art displayed there.

We had an interesting experience the other day in Deba. While waiting for the albergue to open, the two British brothers asked a policeman some questions in Spanish. After a perfunctory reply and their response of "Muchas gracias", he proceed to let them know that we were not in Spain, but in Basque country and taught them how to say thank you in Euskadi, the Basque language. Greg and I happenned to see him again 45 minutes later and wanted to ask him when the tourist office opened. I told Greg that he should try English, that at worst he would not understand. Greg did so and his reply was in perfect English and very courteously delivered. So one must be careful in this region. There is still much resentment against the Franco regime and even with the present government. All signs are in Euskadi, only sometimes are there dual signs with Spanish.

Gernika 29 August

2011-08-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

We just walked into Gernika about 3 pm. 17 miles today, seemed like lots more hills than the map profile showed. Hmmm. It seemed harder than yesterday, but maybe because I did not take any ibuprofen. We went to the youth hostel since there is no albergue here. They took us old guys, just charged more.

Greg and I walked around the city, saw the peace monument and the replica of the Picasso Guernica mural, a sporting goods store, and the grocery store. It is such a beautiful city. It is hard to imagine the shock of the people as the German bombers flew over the green hills in 1937.

Markina. 28 August

2011-08-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today's walk was steeper and longer than yesterday's, about 14 miles. But we both feel less sore. Maybe we are finally starting to get into better shape. The elevation change was about 1600 feet from our sea level start to the highest point. But the ascents and descents are so steep. Today's descent was muddy, too, to make it harder.

We ran across a church which had a few large boulders stacked on each other with an open place underneath fir the altar. No way could they have been moved there when the church was built hundrerds of years ago. The church was built around and over them. Probably was a pagan ceremonial site long before Christian times.

We are at the point in our journey that we are seeing many of the same fellow pilgrims during the walk and in the albergues and restaurants. Most people walk about the same distance each day, so you get into a group of people, some of which you may be with all the way to Santiago. Interesting group dynamics.

Found free wi fi outside the local library, so will take advantage and post this now.

Deba 27 August

2011-08-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

13 miles today but several steep ascents with descents just as steep. Elevation changes from sea level to 600 to 800 feet in a matter of a mile or so. The Spanish coast in this area is mountainous with a river coming through those mountains every few miles. As a result, the camino path is constantly a series of river crossings with mountain climbs between.

Our leg muscles, calves especially, are sore as we try to get ourselves fully into shape. Plus the downhill causes a lot of banging of the toes against the front of the shoe. My fourth toe on the right is getting sore and the nail is starting to discolor so I imagine that the nail will eventually fall off. Today's walk is rated medium difficult. Tomorrow's is about the same distance but with a high elevation of 1500 feet is rated highly difficult. Ugh!

After two days of sardine and cheese sanwiches for our lunches, we changed to fabadas asturianas (white beans with sausage and ham, Asturian style). They were good out of the can, but I suppose they would have been better if there was a way we could have heated them. Our dinners out have been menus del diá and fairly decent. I had fish both nights and an ensalada mixta with various seafoods including tuna and shrimp one night and a seafood paella the other.

We are resting up in the albergue now and plan to take the elevator down to the grocery store later. This town is so steep that there is a series of two outside elevators to take us from the albergue about 300 feet higher than and overlooking the city center and harbor. The views are fantastic.

It looked like it would rain midday and we felt a few drops. It is clear now without a cloud in the sky. I hope I can find someplace with wi-fi to post this today.

Zarautz 26 August

2011-08-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

First off, birthday congrats to Greg, who just turned 69 today. Happy birthday!

Our hospitelero turned lights on at 7 am and opened the windows to reveal strong winds and pouring rain. By the time we started walking half an hour later, the wind died down, but the rain continued another two hours before finally letting up. It was a bit of an irritation, but no real problem, as both of us have have good rain gear. It keeps our packs dry, but under that gear, we still get damp from the sweat generated by walking.

The first seven or eight km. got us into and through San Sebastian. By then the rain was over and we were on a nice country track paralleling the sea. Still a little muddy, but mainly lots of steep inclines up and down. We walked on this path most of the day, seeing only a few hikers and other pilgrims and some local farmers. Around 2 pm we reached the town of Orio and made a mid afternoon stop for cafe con leche with a retired German couple that we met during the day. From there it was another 7 km to Zarautz and into the albergue just after it opened at 4 pm.

After the usual shower and clothes washing, we walked down to the beach. It was oacked with people. That's where everyone in town was, sunbathing, youth basketball tournament, drinking in the beachside bars, even gathered around the dead whale that the storm washed in. They were measuring the thing and attaching a cable to pull it back out to sea. We checked out some restaurants for later and had a beer, but of course, none of them serve dinner until after 8, so we will be back later.

We walked a bit further today, about 18 or 19 miles, but by getting to Zarautz, we are back on my original schedule. Yes we are a bit sore and tired and keeping the ibuprofen manufacturer's busy, but nothing to complain about and loving the spectacular scenery.

Pasajes de San Juan

2011-08-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

The international bridge between Hendaye (France) and Irun (Spain), This was the start of our camino.

The view of Hendaye and Irun from the hills on the way back to San Sebastian.

One day of walking done and only 825 km to go.

The plan was to go to Irun today then walk back to San Sebastian, a distance of about 19 miles. Didn't quite make but I think we still did pretty good for a couple of old guys.

We did get a good 8 hours of sleep, so I think we are pretty much on Spanish time now. We had a two mile walk back to the bus station, only to find there were no buses to Irun until afternoon. So half a mile back to the train station and there was a train leaving in 20 minutes. We missed the Irun stop and ended up at the last station just over the border in France. So we started walking from there, back over the International Bridge, maybe an extra kilometer or so. After two or three km of Irun, it was out in the country and a very steep climb on Mount Jazkibel, actually the highest point of the trail along the Camino Norte, so that's good, I guess. The path was a stony dirt track with a few other hikers but no other pilgrims in sight. By the time we reached Pasajes, we had walked a total of 17 1/2 miles of lots of ups and downs. It was 4:30. We decided to stop at the albergue here, part of an old church high on the hill overlooking the inlet and harbor- a miilion dollar view from a donativo albergue. We were both getting a bit sore and tired and decided not to overdo it the first day.

The scenery and the views are fantastic. I am posting from my iTouch ad we are enjoying our first Spanish wine in a bar with wi-fi. Taking lots of photos and will post some when I can. We will walk back through San Sebastian tomorrow and on beyond. It looks like like Greg just fell asleep in his bar chair, so I better post and wake him up so we can find some dinner.

San Sebastian

2011-08-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

San Sebastian

Made it to Madrid a few hours late. Sat on the airplane in Philadelphia for three hours while they fixed the cabin pressurization. It was a long ten hours on the plane. But It worked okay since Greg arrived on his flight half an hour after mine. We took the subway downtown to the bus station. Now, we are on the way to San Sebastian on the northern coast.

This bus is cool with free wi-fi and it also included a ham and cheese sandwich and a drink. Passing through the meseta around Burgos is bringing bac memories of our Camino Frances pilgrimage in 2009. A lot of walkers would skip the high plains of the meseta, but I loved the wide open snd hilly, rocky farmland-the wheat has been harvested and the sunflowers are still a little green, along with the occaisional vineyard or cattle or hog operation.

After a 6 1/2 hour bus ride, we made it to San Sebastian on the northern coast. The bus had wi fi and lunch included. Tomorow we take another bus to the French border, then start walking west. Some of the terrain loks steep!

Set to go!

2011-08-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

Plane leaves tomorrow. I've been scrambling around the past few days to get all the things done that need to be done before I go. Now I am packed up and looking forward to doing some walking! I hope you will want to folllow my progress over the next 500 or so miles.

Getting ready for this year's camino

2011-07-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

I have been walking all year long, generally 5-7 mile walks near home along Cache Creek, Sacramento River, Yolo Bypass, and Ridge Cut Slough. Lately I am ramping it up a bit to do two ten mile walks and several shorter ones per week. I find that I am pretty consistently doing 16 1/2-17 minute miles, thus a ten mile walk takes right around 3 hours or a little less.

I will fly to Madrid on August 23, meeting up with Greg at the airport, then on by bus to San Sebastian to start our walk. I need to finalize my packing list and make sure I have all the items I plan on taking.

I posted my photos

2010-10-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

I finally got some photos posted. Take a look. I am already thinking of next year's camino. Tentative plans are to walk the 500 mile Camino Norte with my friend from Canada, Greg Christakos. The Camino Norte starts at the French border and the route is along the northern coast of Spain, passing through San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santander, and Gijon, eventually turning inland to Santiago.Keep tuned.

Home 1 October

2010-10-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

Between waiting in airports and time in the air, I finally got home at 11 pm last night. No problems just a long 26 hour day for me.

Travel plans went blooey again Madrid Sept 29

2010-09-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

The convention hotel in the middle of nowhere

Not much stuff to put in this fancy room

At least the lobby had an interesting sculpture

11 am: Well, the plane should have just taken off from Madrid, but here I am stuck in a fancy hotel.

I have been noticing posters and news stories the past few weeks about a countrywide general worker's strike for Sept 29, today. I had not paid much attention. Yesterday, I was not able to print my boarding pass, an ominous sign. I was up early and at the Metro by 6:45 am. Good thing since the subway trains were running at half speed. I guess that is part of the slowdown. At the airport, there were noisy strikers, lots of police, and no seemingly no flights in or out, just lots of frustrated travellers, including me. It was a 2 1/2 hour wait in the United ticket counter line and there were only 8 parties ahead of me. It generally took a long time to try to make new connections as no one was going to leave the airport today. Some passengers were being flown tomorrow to Frankfurt or Vienna, then on to the US. Surprisingly, they gave me exactly the same flight that I would have had today, just leaving tomorrow instead. So all in all,except for losing a day, it could have been much worse.

The airline is also paying for this fancy hotel room, which included shuttles from and to the airport, lunch buffet, dinner buffet, and breakfast buffet. Now the bad news. It is funny to see my little back pack in this massive room. It is close to the airport with not much around besides industrial buildings. Too far from a Metro stop and who knows if there are buses, so I don't think I will do any sightseeing today. Just waste a day sitting here. At least they have wifi and I have plenty of reading material on my I touch. I will go out and do some walking around later, but really would rather be on the way home.

3:30 pm: This hotel is like a massive convention center next to the airport. I walked around outside. The freeway is on one side with the airport on the far side of the freeway. This side there is nothing but the hotel and an industrial area as far as I could see when I was walking. No mercados, one little cafe/ bar, that is it. There is a pedestrian overpass on the freeway and a bus stop that I know would go down Avenida de America to the center of Madrid and freedom for a few hours. Even if I did try to go there, I do not know howmuch would be affected by the strike. And I just finished the delightful almuerzo buffet with such things as tuna, asparagus, peppers, seafood, croquetas, and on and on. I did not even have dessert, but went back for more of the good stuff. And this is going to be repeated again for dinner tonight. And all at United Airlines expense. There are still many other stranded airport travellers checking in. This place feels like a damned jail with really good food and wine and no place to go. I had my lunch with an Israeli couple and some Americans on a tour group. The Americans of course wondered if Spain was safe to travel alone after I told them about my walk.

Anyway, I will try to enjoy it for today and hopefully everything will work out for tomorrow.

Àvila Sept. 28

2010-09-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Views of the city walls of Avila

Just outside the walls I found the albergue, Avila is located on the Camino de Levante, which starts in Alicante

This photo was taken on the bus ride back to Madrid. North of Madrid are the imposing Sierra Guadarrama mountains. These mountains must be crossed on the Camino Madrid, between Madrid and Segovia.

Up at 7 to get ready to go to Avila today, which involved a ride on the Metro subway to the bus station, buy a bus ticket, then just enough time for cafe con leche before the bus left at 8:30. It should have been a 90 minute ride (about 70 miles), but took almost two hours due to stop and go Madrid rush hour traffic. Still there was plenty of time to inspect the best example of preserved and restored fortified city walls in Spain. Of course, the city long ago grew past the walls, but inside is a charming glimpse of how a fortress and city would be built in medieval times. The control of the city changed hands many times in 300 years during the reconquest of Spain by the Christians over the Moors. Avila is also the home base of St. Theresa, who almost beat out Santiago as the patron saint of Spain. The cathedral's back wall is part of the fortress walls. I toured the cathedral again and was not quite as impressed as when we saw it in 2006. It was still worth seeing, though.

For midday meal, I found the restaurant that Kathy and I ate at on that past trip. Kathy had judias verdes con jamón, green beans with ham, that she still talks about. So I did order that along with beef stew and a very good homemade flan for dessert. By then, it was time wander back to the bus station for the 3:15 bus back to Madrid.

I arrived back at my hostal shortly after 5 pm. A few last minute details to take care of including repacking my back pack for the airplane. I will take the Metro early in the morning to the airport. The trip was fun, but I am looking forward to getting home!

I will post lots of photos by this coming weekend.

Madrid Sept 27

2010-09-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Some views of the stunningly comtemporary cathedral in Madrid

An official function was happening next door at the Palacio Real

And of course you gotta clean up after all those horses!

The Retiro Park

This morning I walked to the modern Madrid cathedral, which I mentioned yesterday. It is built in a neo Gothic style with all the heavy columns and soaring arches of the older cathedrals. The interior, though, is refreshigly different with clean and simple modern lines, bold colorful designs, and bright, somewhat abstract but very recgnizable paintings and stained glass. I loved it and think they really got it right for a contemporary cathedral. I was able to take a lot of photos and hope to have them posted in a few days.

Afterwards, I checked into hostal #2, just north of Gran Via. In the afternoon, I took a walk along Gran Via and Alcala to the north end of Retiro, the large park in Madrid. I walked through the whole park, stopping in a few different spots to read my book. Afterwards, I went back to the Reina Sofia museum again to see what I missed last, plus to view the rest of it again. This museum has Picasso's most famous and moving work, Guernica.

I am still doing a lot of walking, 9 miles yesterday and 12 miles today. I plan to take the bus to Àvila tomorrow.

Madrid Sept 26

2010-09-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Interesting art of the Spanish Inquisition on the benches in the Plaza Mayor.

The marathon blocking the streets.

Madrid Sept 26

10:00 am: I took a short walk to the Puerta del Sol this morning then decided to walk up to the Gran Via area to find the hostal that we originally had reservations for our last two days in Spain (since we arrived 3 days early in Madrid, we had to stay in a different place those days). Tomorrow I will move, but the first location was actually better for the places I wanted to see, I now realize.

I noticed a lot of police actvity on both Sol and Gran Via. As I made my way back, I discovered I was on the wrong side of a huge marathon race in progress and could not cross the square at Sol for the hundreds of runners. Time to duck onto a cafe for a morning cafe con leche and watch the runners out of the window. And start writing today's blog. There is a group coming in one direction and continuing on to someplace else then they are headed through on the other side. Everyone but a few stragglers has passed the first direction, so in a bit the second direction should be light enough to continue on.

5:00: I continued on to the Plaza Mayor, similar to the one in Salamanca but not as large. From there on to the cathedral. This is the newest one I have seen started in the late 1800s and dedicated only in 1993. It is beside the Royal Palace, which is third in size only to Versailles and the Schönbrun. I had never seen it on previous visits, so it was time. And finally over to the Reina Sofia art museum before it closed at 2:30, again free admission today. After a walk back to the hostal, I had a menu of the day (paella mixta and fish) at the restaurant below the hostal.

A few things of note-

1. Madrid is easier to navigate as there are now many more and larger street signs and many streets are being converted to pedestrian mostly with limited vehicle access. According to Rick Steve, this is part of Madrid's bid for the Olympics, a failed bid for 2012, another bid for 2016.

2. The iPhone/itouch apps for Madrid and Salamanca are a total waste of money. The most useful one has been Rick Steve's guide on kindle fit itouch. It is the full print version on the itouch. I used his self guideed tour of the Royal Palace and of the art museums. Highly recommended and worth it.

3. Spain must be where all the cheesiest American t-shirts get sent when they can not sell them in the US. Almost every young Spanish male and many of the females have t-shirts in English, many of which no one who is "cool" in the US would be caught wearing.

Toledo Sept. 25

2010-09-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Alcazar in Toledo is not quite as imposing as Segovia's Alcazar.

The Rio Tejo from the city walls. This was a good place to build a fortress.

The view towards the cathedral from the library in the alcazar.

.1:30 pm: Marge met the shuttle at 6:45am to go to the airport. I slept a while longer then took the 9 am bus for the 50 minute ride to Toledo. Toledo used to be Spain's capitol, but it is surrounded on three sides by a river with limited expansion potential. In the 1500's, the king moved the cspitol to the small village of Madrid and the rest is history. The Catholic church in Spain is still headquartered in Toledo so that was yet another reason for the king to move to Madrid.

As I write this, I am sitting in the 8th floor of the city library which is in the top of the fortress, the Alcazar. In one form or another this has been a strategic military location for 2000 yeJars, most recently during the spanish Civil War in 1939, when Franco's army defended it. This Alcazar is not as imposing as the one in Segovia, but it has a great panoramic view of the cathedral and old town. It will make a good photo. The cathedral was equal or better than the one in Burgos. The cathedral has 18 El Greco paintings. The Museo Santa Cruz has some more but they operate on a free but hit and miss schedule and they were not available now for viewing.

9:30 pm: I finished my sightseeing in Toledo and caught the 4 pm bus back to Madrid. Lots of other tourists. And, yes Greg, cutlery of all types is one thing Toledo is famous for. There are many shops to buy knives, scissors, even swords and armour.

I thought it was a little known fact that the Madrid art museums are open in the evening with free admission. So I headed over to the Prado at 6. It is only a ten minute walk from the hostal that I am staying at. I was surprised to see a line of people longer than the Prado waiting to get in. But the line moved quickly so the wait was only ten minutes. I was able to see some of the paintings that I missed three weeks ago, plus revisit some of my favorites, El Greco, Velasquez, Rubens, Goya, Bosch, and more. Since tomorrow is Sunday, the Reine Sofia art museum will be free all day. Lots of Picasso there. After some morning sightseeing starting at the Puerte del Sol, I plan to go there. By the way, even though I am not officially walking anymore, my pedometer said I did walk a total of 12 1/2 miles today. More tomorrow.

Madrid Sept 24

2010-09-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

After an uneventful ride to Madrid this morning, we arrived shortly after noon, took the Metro to the stop closest to the hostal for which we have reservations for tomorrow night. We were able to get a room a day early and tomorrow I can switch to a single room for the next two nights. After a short break for email ( the hostal has free wifi), we took off for the Thyssen museum. I had forgotten how large the collection is, it is huge. Unfortunately many of the Impressionist paintings, including all the Monet's seem to be on loan to other museums. Marge will catch an airport shuttle outside the hostal at 6:45 tomorrow morning, so she is busy packing. I think I will take the bus to Toledo tomorrow and do some sightseeing there. It is supposed to have the finest cathedral in Spain. Since I have seen many of Spain's cathedrals already, I will give my opinion tomorrow.

Salamanca Sept 23

2010-09-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

The view from the Roman bridge of the cathedral.

Salamanca is on the Via de la Plata camino route, so there are waymarks through the city.

The new astronaut in the restoration outside the cathedral doors.

Can you find the astronaut in this distance shot?

Since we did not need to do any travelling today, we were able to sleep in until 8 am. Then a walk down to the river and the Roman bridge. Salamaca is on the ancient Roman road that they used to transfer the silver from the Galician mines back to Rome, hence the bridge. This is also one of the camino routes to Santiago, still being used by pilgrims today and known as the Via de la Plata ( the silver way or road). This camino starts in Sevilla, and if I remember correctly is about 1200 km long. I did find the waymarks (yellow arrows and scallop shells) between the puente romana and the cathedral.

Next was the visit to the cathedral which is actually two cathedrals joined together. The old cathedral is an early Romanesque style and the new cathedral is a mix of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance styles. An interesting sidelights is the carvings outside one of the entrances. When they were restored a few years ago, one of then was replaced with an astronaut. Why not?

We had a mid day meal close to the Plaza Mayor, one of the largest town squares in Spain. Our first course was a very good paella mixta with several kinds of shellfish. I had a grilled fish and Marge had a chicken breast cooked in carmelized orange for the second plate.

Marge decided to return to Sacramento early since her knee is still very painful and not getting much better. We made the arrangements this afternoon. We will travel to Madrid by bus tomorrow (Friday) and she will fly to Sacramento on Saturday morning. I will stay in Madrid, probably taking day trips to Avila and Toledo.

Salamanca

2010-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Most of today was spent riding the bus between Santiago and Salamanca. The bus stations are convenient and efficient. To figure out how to get places, I would Google the departure and destinations cities, find which bus companies served them, then access the timetables and costs. Then when we arrived at the station, I could buy the tickets and knew what time the bus would leave.

And Spanish highways are at least as modern (or more so) than the ones in the US.

Salamanca Sept 22

First to wrap up our stay in Santiago. After posting yesterday's blog in the early afternoon, we walked down towards the cathedral. Who should we run across but the Austrians, Chris and Gerhard. We agreed to meet them later for a drink. I wanted to get a last look at the inside of the cathedral and walked in on a Mass just as they were preparing to swing the botafumeiro. For those who have not heard of it, the botafumeiro is a large silver incense burner, at least 100 lbs. or more. They loaded it with hot coals, hoisted it up, and started swinging it in a large arc at least 100 yards end to end. It was glowing red from the fire and puffing incense all over. Quite a sight. I made a short video.

After letting Marge's knee rest up the rest of the afternoon, we met up wiith Chris and Gerhard. I had pimentos de Padrón again, probably for the time as we will leave Galicia soon. I also downloaded some travel guides for Salamanca, Toledo, and Madrid as we will need some tourist info for the next week.

Wednesday morning. Up at 6:30 to get ready, stop at a bar on the way to the bus station for cafè con leche y tostada, then wait for the bus. I am writing this for later posting as we are now riding on the bus for the 6 hour trip to Salamanca, which is northwest of Madrid, and fairly close to the Portuguese border.

Today is overcast. Tomorrow and Friday rain shorts are predicted by much is Spain, including Salamanca.

Later: 5 pm
We made it into Salamanca and found a pension on the edge of the old town. Kind of late today for sightseeing but we will have all day tomorrow.

Santiago Sept 21

2010-09-21T04:04:00.001-07:00

There are always street performers with a hat onthe ground for donations. These guys were singing opera and they were really good, obviouslywith some professional training.

Last night we made a big salad and I had lentils from the grocery store. Not very exciting, huh. This morning we took the bus back to Santiago and we will spend another night here before moving on. We already have our bus tickets for Salamanca, we will go there tomorrow.

Finisterra Sept 20

2010-09-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

On the way walking out to the cape

The fishing port in Finisterra

Okay, okay, this is no longer a pilgrim blog, but we will let you know what is happening. Today we left Santiago and took the three hour bus ride to Finisterra, the End of the World, on the Atlantic Ocean. The bus took us past some beautiful shoreline on the way. Finisterra is a quaint but active fishing town and tourist destination. As we stepped off the bus several locals met us to hawk their habitaciones (rooms) for the night.We settled on one lady who had a room with two beds with bathroom and shower down the hall for 20 Euro. It is a nice room with a large window. Since it was about 1:30 in the afternoon, we got some groceries and made the 2 mile hike up to the light house at the Cabo Finisterra. Still beautiful warm weather with a nice ocean breeze. It is an interesting contrast between the end of the Christian pilgrimage in Santiago and the ancient and pagan end of the world with all its sun worship ramifications at Finisterra. After walking back to town around 4:30, we found a cyber cafe where I am now posting.

End of our Camino

2010-09-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

8:30 pm Santiago

We returned to the cathedral around 2 pm. The noon Mass was over, but another one was going on. We were able to get inside but this one was standing room only, too. Things are really crazy crowded here, with it being Sunday during Holy Year and perfect tourist weather. Not too hot or cold and no rain. The lines for the compostela died down by late afternoon and it only took us an hour of waiting to get ours. At 7 pm, we met Gerhard and Chris and ate in the cafeteria that Kathy and I discovered last year. Here is our menu (and I took a photo too): Tortilla Española, shrimp in a garlic sauce, pimientos de Padrón, croquetas filled with cheese, and ensalada mixta with egg, tuna, asparagus, olives, onion, and pickles, plus a glass of albariño wine. It was heavenly and we were stuffed, all for 24€. the same meal would have been double the cost at Tapas in Sacramento and not nearly as good.

Now the bad news. While Marge's knee should have no permanent damage, she is still in a lot of pain and has difficulty walking around. So more long distance walking is not going to happen on this trip. Tomorow we will take the bus to Finisterra on the Atlantic Ocean. After that, we will sightsee for the next week. Perhaps A Coruña, Salamanca, Avila, before the last two days in Madrid.

Since we are no longer pilgrims this will be my last blog post until I am able to upload more photos, probably not until after we are home on Sept. 29. Thanks to all of you who cheered us on. I will continue to post our tourist itinerary as it happens.

Santiago de Compostela Sept 19

2010-09-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

Starting the morning's walk from the albergue at Teo

Walking into Santiago

The lineup waiting to see the tomb of Santiago

The impressive main entrance to the cathedral

We met up later with the Austrians and Germans

Another great meal: pimientos, croquetas, shrimp, and ensalada mixta. I forgot to take the photountil we were halfway through the meal, sorry.

1:30 pm

Marge went on to Santiago by bus yesterday and stayed in the Hostal Barbantes where Kathy and I stayed last year. My stay in Teó last night was quiet and uneventful with English speakers, only Spanish or German. Gerhard and Chris joined in with the German speakers and I read quite a bit of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. No Internet. We got an early start at 7:30 for the walk uphill into Santiago. We arrived at 10 am and I did find a room for tonight, then set off to find Marge, who was going to go to the noon mass. You would not believe the crowds. Probably three or four times as many as last year. They are now limiting access to the cathedral and also not allowing backpacks. The crowds were lined up in three lines for hundreds of meters in each line. And the line to get a compostela (certificate for completing the camino) is three hours long. I did not know if Marge was already inside. I did find a room for tonight and set off to find Marge, who was going to go to the noon mass. You would not believe the crowds. Probably three times as many as last year. They are limiting access to the church and not allowing backpacks. I did not know if Marge was already inside but after an hour of circling the cathedral I finally found her near the cafe where Kathy and I had breakfast with the Australian lady last year. Now Marge and I are relaxing with a cafe con leche and bocadillo in cafe with free wifi for customers. It is getting harder to find free wifi out on the street. Hopefully we can get inside the cathedral later.

Teó Sept 18

2010-09-19T04:03:00.000-07:00

Waymarks in a little village

Padron from across the river. This is where the famous pimientos de Padron originated and are still grown. It is about sea level in Padron, but Santiago is about 900 feet in elevation, so there will be some climbing ahead.

And peppers are indeed for sale.

.Teó

Today was a lot of walking, 30 km or about 19 miles, albergue to albergue. I left the others on their way to the bus at 7:30 am and I walked off in the other direction on the camino.

I was not sure if I would walk the 13 miles to Padrón or continue on to the next albergue beyond. Most of the walk was on quiet wooded paths away from but paralleling the train tracks, the N550 highway, and the A-9 autovia (freeway). I arrived in Padrón at 11 am, which was too early for the albergue there to open and too early to stop walking. I stopped in at the Igrexa Santiago for a few minutes, this is a church dedicated to Santiago. Then I decided to continue on to the small (24 places) albergue in Teó. I had a scare when I saw a group of maybe 16 or so walkers ahead. I figured that I better pass them if I wanted to have a bed tonight in the albergue. As I started passing them I noted that they had only day packs, one grandpa was pushing a baby stroller, there were kids and other old people, too. The mystery wad solved a kilometer or so later when I saw their tour bus at the three star hotel. Then I realized they were bus pilgrims on a short hike. I suppose the bus will take them tomorrow to about 1 or 2 kilometers from the cathedral so they can complete their "pilgrimage".

Anyway, I completed the remaining 11 km. in two hours and arrived at Teó albergue at 1 pm. Gerhard and Chris, the Austrian men, were, of course, already here. By the time I finished with shower and clothes washing, the place was deserted. It is out in the country with nothing close by so I walked around to see if they were at the bar or what. I walked farther and farther to finally discover the whole group coming back from the small mercado 2 km away. I went on to the market, too, then back. I added another 6 km onto my total for the day, making it 36 km or 23 miles. My leg muscles are tired from the walking, but no other walking problems. In fact, I have not taken an ibuprofen or used a band-aid in the last 5 days. It felt really good to do that much walking and at my own pace.

Chris cooked a spaghetti in the kitchen here, adding green olives, sardines, and mussels (mejillones) to the sauce. And despite what some of you are thinking, it was actually very good. No Internet here so I am writing this up for later posting. It is about 5 pm and everyone is relaxing. The hospitaleiro just showed up to sign us in. Chris got word by text message that Marge and Iris arrived this morning at the cathedral in Santiago. I do not know any more as I can not get any email message that Marge may have sent.

Happy birthday, Greg.

Caldas de Reis

2010-09-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

A photo of me with some pilgrim art

Directional sign for the long detour

And finally a little cafe for our morning cafe con leche!

Marge and Iris

Inside the albergue at Caldas de Reis

Today's walk should have been 12 miles, but ended up at around 15 miles due to detours for road construction. The two Austrian men and I walked together and got in around 2 pm. Marge and Iris, the Austrian girl, took the bus to arrive at 12:30. Iris may have a broken ankle bone and is flying home from Santiago to Vienna tomorrow to go to the hospital there. She can barely hobble around. There was also another Spanish woman here with her foot in a cast, so Marge is doing better than many others. She still has a lot of knee pain and is limiting her walking. We found out a lot about the Spanish medical system and it is mostly very positive. She very likely will not be billed for her emergency room treatment and only had to pay for her prescription.

We had an early dinner at 3 pm, a pilgrim menu next door. We ate with the thee Austrians and most of us had reya a la Gallega for our second plate. We asked and were told it was pescado (fish), but it was not that great and unlike any fish that I have ever eaten. I looked it up in my dictionary and figure that is was sting ray!

Tomorrow morning, Marge wil take the bus with the three Austrians. The men are going as far as Padrón, then will walk to Teo for the night and on into Santiago on Sunday. The women will take the bus to Santiago, then Iris will take a taxi to the airport and Marge a taxi to the cathedral to find a place to stay for the night. I will walk from here tomorrow to Padron then walk on Sunday into Santiago. No buses for me. After that we will be tourists.

The weather here in Spain has been delightfully in the 70's with no rain yet and none predicted for the next two days.

Pontevedra again Sept 16

2010-09-16T01:58:00.000-07:00

Marge and Iris, Pontevedra

Fish for sale in the public market. Why can't Raley's have a selection like this?

And a bridge in Pontevedra by my favorite Spanish architect, Calatrava. His designs are immediately recognizable and unique. He designed the Sundial bridge in Redding, California.

Afternoon in a sidewalk bar, Marge, Iris, Chris, Gerhard, and me. The Austrians liked teir beer, while we drank some good Albarino wine.

And the tapas were heavenly: gambas (shrimp), pimientos de Padron (Padron peppers), and pulpo (octopus). Yum-yum.

11 AM: Marge made it back just before closing time at the albergue last night. There are no blood clots, but lots of knee trauma from the uphill and downhill and unven surfaces of the camino. She will be fine but needs to restrict her walking for now. Her camino is over. We are spending another day in Pontevedra to rest her up some more, then may take the bus to Santiago tomorrow. I do not know yet if I will do some more walking. That is still an unknown to be determined later. We will keep you posted.

9 pm. Okay we have a plan and I think it is a good one. It was hatched at three different tapas bars and several glasses of vino albarino and many glasses of cerveza. The Austrian father, Gerhard, and 29 y.o. son, Chris, and the 29 y. o. Austrian woman also decided to take a rest day in Pontevedra. The son had spent six months a few years ago in this town finishing his diploma. The Austrian woman has extreme ankle pain and needs to take it easy with the walking. So tomorrow, Marge and Iris will walk back to the Estacion de Autobuses and take the bus to the next camino stop, Caldes de Reis. I will walk with Gerhard and his son and we will all meet up at the albergue there.

Our last bar stop was for tapas: pulpo, gambas, and pimientos de Padron (octopus, shrimp, and Padron peppers). All three were done to perfection and were delicious. The Austrians are die hard beer drinkers, but Marge and I had some differnet Albarino wines, all very good. Even Marges knee pain was much less after the wine. We are back on track, and the day of rest did everyone some good.

Pontevedra Sept 15

2010-09-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Some nice views of the sea between Redondela and Pontevedra

Waiting for the albergue to open

12:30 pm: I do not understand why there is such a mad rush to get up and walking. People were shuffling about shortly after 6 am. Marge and I waited till 6:45 and by the time I left to walk about 7:15, there were only a few of us left. Oh was not fully daylight until 8:30. The camino is not as well marked here in Spain, so one must search for the few yellow arrows with a flashlight. With today's 12 mile walk it was easy enough to arrive at the albergue well before the opening hour of 1 pm. I walked in about 11:30 to see Marge sitting on the sidewalk outside the locked gates. Her cab ride was uneventful and she has been able to rest her feet and legs so far. Her knee is very stiff and painful. As we sit here and wait , I am writing this and yesterday's blog posts.

3:30 pm: They opened the albergue a bit early so we signed in, found our assigned bunks, and I took a shower, washed clothes, and ate a snack. We were hoping that with the minimal amount of walking, that Marge's knees would be better. Not the case and now Marge could barely hobble around. We took a taxi to the emergency room of the hospital in Pontevedra. As I write this, they have examined Marge's knee. She is on an IV drip, they are doing blood tests and x rays.

8:15 pm
Marge will be fine. Just no more long distance walking for a few days. I went back to the albergue, needed to get groceries for tomorrow and so on. The ER was really busy and they still want to do an echo Doppler. She will take the taxi back when done. I am not sure what this will do to our plans. We need to evaluate that tomorrow.

Redondela Sept 14

2010-09-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

And we walked the bridge over the river

and into Spain

Santiago Matamoros, Saint James the Moor slayer

Santiago Peregrino, Saint James the pilgrim

Here's one for Greg, along the road close to the Vigo airport

It was a hot afternoon when we chanced on this country bar. The bar was closed, but the woman who owned it brought out several large bottles of water for no charge and let us cool off for a while. We walked with two German couples and the Austrians, Chris, Gerhard, and Iris

We had a very gregarious host at our evening meal in Redondela. Marge really liked him.

I was not able to find a computer or wifi at all yesterday so I will write this up now and post it when I can.

It was just a short walk to the Rio Miño. We walked across the bridge and into Spain. No passport check so we began the steep uphill climbto the Tui cathedral. It was built on the highest point in town. We went inside and looked around. The were statues of both Santiago Peregrino and Santiago Matamoros. Santiago is generally depicted as either the "pilgrim" or the "Moor slayer". Next was a stop for coffee with the German speaking group that we seem to be hanging with. Since the walk to Redondela was 19+ miles, and Marge has knee pain, and all the Germans are doing it too, we took a bus for about 8 miles from Tui to Mos. That way we escaped most of the industrial zone of Porriño. It was still a total walk of around 11 miles for the day.

Marge has a lot of pain in her knee, even with a knee bandage. I'm the evening she also had some lower leg and ankle swelling. So we have a plan for tomorrow in which she will skip to the next albergue by taxi and I will walk.

We finally found a pergrino menu at a restaurant and ate there with the German speakers. The owner was a real character which made the meal more enjoyable.

Valenca September 13

2010-09-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

The walls of the fortress in Valenca. Across the Rio Minho in the distance is Spain.

Chris and Gerhard enjoying a mid afternoon hamburger with beer.

After yesterday´s post, we bought a few groceries at a small mercado behind the bar then stopped at a restaurant on the way back for a so-so meal of grilled chicken, rice, and greasy French fries. Back at the albergue, we shared our bottle of vinho verde with two South African women staying here. They deliberately are walking without husbands because the husbands walk too fast! Marge was asleep by 7:30. I went to bed an hour later and we had plenty of quiet sleep to make up for the noisy night before.

Up at 7 am and walking by 7:45. It was a gentle climb (compared to that of yesterday) of 2.5 miles out of the valley of the Rio Couro and down into the valley of the Rio Minho. The rest of our twelve miles today was an easy walk into Valenca. The last few km were through the dreary suburbs and industrial area into the city.

The albergue just outside the old town does not open until 4 pm, so we went with the Austrian father and 29 y.o. son into the touristy old town, which is am impressivley old and large fort high overlooking the Rio Minho. However everything inside is very touristy, souvenir shops and tourist buses. Again many of the tourists stopped and stared at us and some took pictures, like we were some kind of geek sideshow. After wandering around for a while, we found some of the German and Austrian pilgrims at a bar, so we joined them for a while. I had a beer, Marge a cola, and shared a salad. We wandered back to the albergue, but still closed. I tried but could not find free wifi, so am posting this from a pay computer in another bar.

This is our last night in Portugal, tomorrow we walk across the bridge over the Minho and into Spain!

Rubiaes Sept 12

2010-09-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Beautiful country on the steepest climb yet.

Tending the flock

And it really did get much steeper!

Well, the music went non stop until 6 am. It was at least 1 km away, but you could clearly hear the words, even through earplugs. A lot of the songs were in English. Some kind of industrial grade techno-pop with a very heavy drum beat.

At 7 am, the smoke detector went off and would not stop, so we were walking by 7:30 and almost immediately out in the countryside. Today´s walk was shorter at 12 miles, but halfway into it, we had a steep climb with a 1000 foot elevation change in two miles of walking over some very rocky trails. ~Marge had a bit of a struggle on the steep slopes and constant uphill. She made it, but her leg is all scratched where she slipped once. I bumped my sore big toe twice, and it is throbbing now. That nail will come off for sure, but probably take another two weeks to do it.

We arrived at the albergue about 2 pm. It is hot here now that it is late afternoon, probably about 95 degrees. No internet at the albergue, no free wifi, but I did find a pay computer in the local bar a km down the road. We also checked out the three restaurants for tonight.

Ponte de Lima

2010-09-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of corn and wine grapes in the northern part of Portugal

Walking in Ponte de Lima, early afternoon

All of us pilgrims waiting for the albergue to open at 5 pm

Here is what the dormitory of the albergue looks like. The ceiling was too low for bunk beds. It was so hot this night, that Marge moved her mattress to the outside deck and slept there.

We did take part in the festival

Woke up at 7, then off walking by 7:50 am. Today's walk finally was mostly on wooded paths. The Portuguese countryside is very beautiful. We saw a lot of citrus and some banana trees, so the temperatues can't get too cold in the winter. The dirt on the paths was moist, so there was recent rain. The farm fields are mostly corn and right now they are cutting it for silage for livestock feed. There are also a lot of grapes, generally not whole vineyards, but grown on trellises on the edges of the fields. Also some apple and chestnut orchards. There is little irrigation. It looks like the summer rain is sufficient to grow crops here. The weather today is warm, probably about 90 degrees. With the moisture from the rain a few days ago, it is also bit humid, but nothing like the American Midwest or East coast.

We walked about 16 miles today and it was easier than yesterday with mostly downhill to the Rio Lima. About nine miles into the walk, we came onto a cafe/bar and small market which provided a welcome rest stop and food for a later lunch stop. I was going to be good and not get sardines, but I found some preserved in tomato sauce and couldn't resist. Marge did much better today. Of course we are both body tired, who wouldn't be after 50+ miles in three days. The first week is always the toughest to get yourself used to those distances day after day. So far, no blisters for either. My toenail is starting to turn purple on my big toe. It was the same nail that I lost last year, looks like it will happen again.

This weekend just happens to be the huge fall festival in Ponte de Lima. The albergue is through Ponte de Lima, then over the medieval bridge (ponte) on the far side of the Rio Lima. We had to make our way through at least 2 km of vendors and thousands and thousands of people. We made it across the bridge before 3 pm, but the albergue does not open till 5. Ugh!! So the group of pilgrims that we have come to know is now camped across the street on the shady side and waiting. In the meantime, the crowds keep walking past us and over the bridge to the Festival on the other side. It is really hilarious to see them look over our group, staring with disgust, then putting their noses in the air. Little kids pointing and looking up questioningly to their parents. I guess we must look like a motley, tired, and very odd group, like a pack of Gypsies or something. Anyway, while Marge guards the packs, I am off to see if I can find some free wi-fi to post this blog.

9 pm
Just to add on to the blog the rest of the day:
We did get in to the albergue about 5 pm, then the usual shower and clothes washing. Marge and I walked away from the town center to the supermercado that our hospitaleiro directed us to. We bought food for tomorrow, then decided to take our chances on the festival. We waded through the sea of humanity, back across the bridge, and into the center of the old town. Our dinner was cachuras (hot dogs laden with carrots, corn, lettuce, small fries, etc.). These were bought from a street vendor and were delicious. Marge bought some cookies from another vendor for dessert. The festival, like the festivals in Spain, was all encompassing. Everyone was there from babies, children, teenagers, old folks, and all seemed to be having a good time. We went into the cathedral off the main square and saw all the statues and flags that will be carried later in the procession. I have lots and lots of photos, hope some will turn out well. Our hospitalero warned us that the music (boom-boom, boom-boom) will go on all night and that at 1 am, the fireworks will start and sound like a war zone. Oh, us hard working peregrinos that will need to wake up at 7 am to hit the trail!!

Portela Sept 10

2010-09-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

This morning we had some woodland trail through the eucalyptis

These are the waymarks for following the camino. The yellow arrows are our direction towards Santiago. The red and white are also for the way to Santiago. The blue arrows are for the pilgrimage to Fatima. Fatima is between Porto and Lisbon, so at this point, the Fatima pilgrimage is the reverse of our pilgrimage, the Camino Portugues.

Mid afternoon, only a few km to go.

It is now mid day and we have walked about 10 miles into the city of Barcleos. Since I could not find any internet yesterday, I stopped at the Turismo office to see if there were any internet cafes in town, and they directed me to a free computer for visitors in the back room--nice! My feet and shoulders are sore, but I feel good otherwise. After lunch a mile or so back, Marge and I decided to split up for the rest of the day and meet up again tonight in the albergue at Portela. It is another 5 miles from where I am right now. I hope that works our okay. She is pretty tired and moving slowly, but should be on ahead by now with my computer stop.

The weather is great, about 80 degrees, almost too hot for walking. We are definitely sweating. The old parts of the towns are beautiful, the countryside is beautiful. I am taking lots of photos and hopefully can upload to the blog at some point. In the meantime, if you do a Google search on Camino Portugues, you will find some sites that have photos óf our route.

5 pm.: I caught up again with Marge on the other side of Barcellos, five miles from the end. We ended up being the last ones in the albergue. Marge was really very tired and hot. So I stayed with her the rest of the way. The last km one of the Germans came to see if another person who had not shown up was coming. Anyway, he ended up carried Marges pack the rest of the way and I helped her up the steps. She was really tired. Anyway, after a nap, shower, and more rest, she is revived and okay. Now she says that it was the smell of my sardines at lunch that put her over. Hmmm.
Anyway there is no mercado, but there is a restaurant across the street, so we will eat out tonight.

Rates Sept. 9

2010-09-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

The start of our camino in Maia

The narrow roads with little or no shoulder

This is the post for yesterday, September 9th. I was not able to find an internet connection last night, so here is the post that I wrote from my notes:

We were out of the pension in Porto by 8 am, had a cafe com leite at the cafe around the corner, then on to the Metro (light rail) for the 11 km ride to Maia in the northern suburbs. It is rarely fun to walk into or out of the larger cities, but the main reason for starting in Maia was beacuse it is over 17 miles from there to our destination, the albergue in San Pedro de Rates. That is plenty far to walk, especially on the first day out. We were walking by 9:15 and the first part was still through the industrial suburbs. Almost all of today´s walking was on a two lane highway with no shoulder. It was nerve wracking to have to worry all day about dodging a speeding car or truck. Only the last few miles were on a wooded trail away from traffic. So we finished up and arrived at the albergue about 3:30, pretty tired. After showering though, we felt better. The restaurant in town was not well recommended, so we got some pasta and sauce (and wine) at the local mercado and cooked our dinner. There were about twenty or so other pilgrims in the albergue, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, and a couple from Iowa. That woman from Iowasis on her 7th camino, the husband on his 4th.
Marge dumped her hair drier already. I wonder when the liquid sweetener and the third and fourth changes of clothing are going to go. But that is not my business!

Two tired pilgrims, Porto Sept 8

2010-09-08T05:52:00.000-07:00

Porto, on the Rio Duero is a very beautiful city.

We are two very tired pilgrims and have not started to walk yet. My inital notes were written at 11:35 pm last night, when we were finally on the correct, but delayed, bus to Porto. Yesterday afternoon was a leisurely wait after leaving the Prado, had a glass of wine in an outdoor cafe, then read for a while in the park. We had an early (by Spanish standards) dinner at 6 in a bar, very good tortilla bocadillos. Then we took the Metro to the bus station and waited for the 10 pm bus. Finally one got there going to Lisbon. We thought it was going to both Porto and Lisbon, but that was not the case. So we hurridely exited as it was leaving the station. Turns out the bus to Porto was very late, which we did not know, at the time. It is very difficult to get any decent information about the buses at the station. Asking at the ticket counter, the agent said there was a bus leaving for Porto from another bus staion at 11 pm. So we made a mad dash on the Metro to the other station and found that indeed there was supposed to be a bus to Porto at 11. We went to the platform and, lo and behold, there was the original bus to Lisbon, but nothing to Porto. At least this time we found there were some other people going on to Porto, so we were able to confirm they were waiting for the bus too. It showed up late at 11:30 and we were on our way. Marge and I both slept fitfully for the 6.5 hour ride. Then it was a two mile walk in the dark and drizzle to our pension. Luckily a local who was on the bus helped us find the way. We checked in to our reserved rooms at the pension at 7 am then retired to our separate rooms for much needed showers, naps, and clothes washing. Later on, we did a walking tour of the city and the waterfront of the Rio Duoro, Lots of other tourists. We visited the cathedral and got our pilgrim credentials stamped, so that we will be ready to start walking tomorrow morning. Believe me, we will get plenty of sleep tonight. We just finished a lunch of codfish with rice and guess what-- fresh pimentos de padron!

Travel plans went blooey on us

2010-09-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

We got into Washington Dulles half an hour early and things were right on track. Then we went past the boarding time of our Aer Lingus flight to Madrid and they finally announced the plane was broken down and they had to wait for a part to be flown in from Philadelphia. We finally got off the ground and 9 pm, 3.5 hours late. We made good time on the flight, but our connecting flight to Porto was 3.5 hours after our original scheduled arrival, so by the time we got through customs and baggage, it was 10 minutes later that our Porto flight. Rebooking by air would have been ridiculously expensive, so we decided to take the overnight bus from Madrid to Porto. That will keep us on track timewise, but we will be pretty tired and not much sightseeing time in Porto. However, we did go to the Prado museum in Madrid this afternoon. Right now, we´ll take it easy till our bus ride west later tonight.

And we are off!

2010-09-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Monday 6:40 am waiting in Sacramento airport, checked in, and ready to go.

Route Maps

2010-09-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

So those of you following the blogs can see just where we are going, here are some maps. The map above is that of Spain and Portugal. The area we will walk is in the upper left area of the map

In this enlarged view, the Camino Portugues is shown in purple dots, our route being from Porto to Santiago, about 10 or 11 days. The next stage will be the Camino Finisterra, from Santiago to Muxia and on to Finisterra, 4 days. The final stage, time permitting, will be from Ferrol (5 days) or A Coruna (3 days) back to Santiago.

Off on the Camino again - very soon

2010-08-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Many people who walk one camino turn into serial pilgrims who continue on additional ones. Whether that will happen to me, I do not know, but the lure of walking another is strong. So I am happy to report that I will be leaving for Spain and Portugal on September 6 to start my second camino.

This time I will have a walking partner, a friend of Kathy's, who is a 60 year old nurse, Marge Krouse. As you may remember I turned 60 just before my camino last year and will be 61 during this year's walk. We have both been doing training walks, both individually and together. Lately we have done two ten miles walks together per week, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We've been walking along the levees of Cache Creek, Cache Creek Settling Basin, Yolo Bypass, and the Ridge Cut Slough, all in the vicinity north and west of Woodland and up towards Knights Landing. Our ten mile walks generally take about three hours, which is a pretty good walking pace, especially since we walk with our loaded backpacks. Since it is mostly level, we can go faster, too. Once in Portugal and Spain, it will be slower going on the many up and downhill parts. The Sacramento Valley gets hot in the summer, so we start the walks around 7 am ending about 10 am. The training walks are important in getting ready for the day after days walks of up to 18 miles per day. Also they give us a chance to test our equipment. I have been trying to decide if I should take a new pair of shoes or use the same ones from last year (finally decided on the old ones). Initially Marge was going to use my backpack from last year, but quickly found out that the belts and straps were too long and it would not work properly. She ended up buying a new women's backpack at REI and it is working out much better.

Our final destination once again will be Santiago de Compostela, one of the traditional pilgrimage destinations since the Middle Ages. However, the route will be different than the one I took last year. We will first walk the Camino Potugues, which starts in Portugal and goes almost straight north to Santiago. We fly into Madrid, then fly on to Porto, which is where we will start walking. It is a ten or eleven day walk to Santiago, with most stages not being more than 12-14 miles so we should be able to get used to the daily walking without too many problems, hopefully. Once we reach Santiago, we are thinking of walking from there to the village of Muxia on the Atlantic coast, then down to Finisterra. Depending on the time remaining, we would also like to walk the Camino Ingles, which starts north of Santiago. That walk commences on the Bay of Biscay at either Ferrol or A Coruna, then back to Santiago.

Those are the tentative plans, but who knows exactly where or when we will be. I plan to write to this blog, every day, if possible, as I did last year. Being able to post it depends on my finding either a wi-fi signal for my Itouch or a computer connected to the internet in the towns we will be staying. I would like topost photos, too, but this is not possible with the Itouch, so I can't promise that I will be able to during the walk. I hope you will be able to follow our progress and comment on it if you would like. I intend to start the daily post on
September 6.

My Camino Photos are now on my Blog!

2009-11-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

I have finished loading the photos to my blog postings (well, almost - I still have to get the photos from the disposable camera developed- these will be photos of the walk from Santiago to Finisterra). Anyway, take a look and once again, I'm sorry that I could not post photos as I walked.

John

Back in the USA

2009-11-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Kathy and I arrived back home about 11:30pm California time after a 9 hour flight to Chicago and a 4 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco. Then 3 more hours by the time we got luggage, and the car, and a long detour north since the Bay Bridge was closed for repairs. It felt good to sleep in our own bed again.

Remember, I will post photos in a few days. Thanks, John

Segovia 2

2009-10-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

Looking to the main entrance of the Alcazar from the old town part of Segovia.

One view from the Alcazar.

The Roman aqueduct in Segovia. 20,000 large carved blocks and not a bit of mortar to hold it together.

Various views of the Alcazar from the path at the bottom of the hill that it is on.

Being the alert peregrino that I am, I picked up the waymarks for the camino from Madrid to Santiago, which passes through Segovia.

First, to finish last night, we did go to the concert, which was in a 12th century church, San Nicolas. The church seems to be converted to a concert hall. It had very good acoustics and an intimate setting. The young musicians were all from Segovia's conservatory of music, a flutist, guitarist, violist, and percussionist. Not bad for a free concert.

Today, we started our visit at the Alcazar. It started as a Moorish fortress, later used by the kings and queens of Spain as a retreat from Madrid. Quite different design and decoration from the Gothic and Renaissance churches. Lots of geometric designs and no statues or paintings, except for those added by the later Christian rulers. Over the top design with turrets, towers, moats, drawbridges, and all on a steep hill overlooking the entire countryside. This is the castle on which Walt Disney based his Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland.

Of course we had to see one last cathedral before we left. Segovia's cathedral was started in 1526 as a rebuild of the original cathedral which was destroyed. Not completed until 1768, it was the last Gothic style cathedral built in Spain.

After some yummy tortilla y pimiento bocadillos and wine in the Plaza Mayor, we saw some art exhibits, then back to our hostal for a little rest. One of the local specialties here is roast suckling pig (cochinilla).. The piece is about the size of a small half chicken and seems to about half of the little piglet. Anyway, I tried it for dinner. The meat was tender and tasty, but pretty fatty and salty. It was okay, just not a "must have again item". Sunday morning, we drive to Madrid and the long flight back home. I am not looking forward to the flight, but after seven weeks over here, it will be good to get back home again.

I promise to post a bunch of photos, but give me a few days to get caught up!

Segovia

2009-10-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

In the Sierra Ceberolla mountains, south of La Rioja.

Almost to Segovia, which is just northwest of Madrid. The much drier landscape here is quite a contrast to what we were used to in northern Spain.

We headed south out of the La Rioja and over the Rio Ebro. We meandered up the valley of the Rio Iregua to the Sierra Ceberolla mountains and it's national park. The trees were vividly changing color, mostly yellows and browns. South of this range is the province of Soria. This is wheat and rangeland country and very dry compared to farther north. Grocery stop in the capitol town, also called Soria.

Our lunch stop was to the west in El Burgo de Osma, a surprisingly small town for a cathedral. Of course, we stopped for a look at it, then had lunch at a local café. From there, it was southwest through more meseta like farmland, mostly wheat and sunflowers. If we would have gone straight west, we would have been in the Ribiera del Duero wine region, but decided to head on towards Segovia instead.

By 4 pm we arrived in Segovia. We went to the tourist information to get a city map and find about available accomodations. We found a close by room in a hostal and will stay here for the next two nights. Why Segovia? 1. We have never been here yet. 2. It has much to see, Roman aqueducts, Moorish castles, the ever present cathedral, and more. 3. It is only about 90 minutes from the airport, so will be convenient when we leave Spain on Sunday. Added bonus- We also found out there is a contemporary classical music concert in one of the old churches on both nights that we will also attend. More tomorrow.

La Guardia (La Rioja wine region)

2009-10-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Vineyards along the Rio Ebro.

Us.

Finally, an old steam engine.

La Rioja fall colors

This was the view from our hotel window.

From guest blogger Kathy:

We spent today meandering through the La Rioja, Spain's most well known premium wine region. Autumn in España is spectacular. The browns, reds, yellows, and oranges of the countless vineyards of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains and the Rio Ebro at the valley floor is fabulous. Along with quite a few medieval churches, castles, ermitas, and ancient villages sprinkled throughout, the effect is wonderful. The wineries and bodegas (cellars) are very modern and efficient. Napa and Sonoma Valleys, take notice!

We visited one winery with a modern museum that showcased both the production, history, and culture of winemaking. Both antique and modern equipment was displayed, including a steam engine and an IHC Titan tractor. We are spending the night in La Guardia, an ancient town on a hill with a 360 degree view of the valley. Before dinner, we will wander through the narrow streets of the old town, perhaps stopping at one if the many vinotecas (wine shops) before dinner.

More tomorrow from Segovia.

Nájera 2

2009-10-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

I liked the gargoyles on the outside of the Palencia cathedral.

The bishop's door, Palencia cathedral.

The carving on the pulpit in the Palencia cathedral.

More jamons for Kent

Today must have been cathedral day for us. We got an early (8 am) start on the 40 minute drive south (and off the camino track) to the medium size farming town of Palencia. The cathedral here was built over the original 7th century Visigothic church, of which some parts remain. Except for the main door, it is somewhat plain looking outside, but is one of the largest of the Castillian cathedrals at 130 meters long. The inside is a different story. From carved wood altarpiece panels, carved stone choir screen, and the carved oak pulpit, plus more, this is a grand cathedral for a smaller and relatively unknown town.

Next was an hour or so drive to Burgos and it's well known cathedral. Since I already covered this cathedral in earlier posts, there is no need now for further elaboration. Kathy and I went through it at midday, then ate lunch at a restaurant in the cathedral plaza.

Next another hour or so east to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. On this part of the drive, the pilgrim camino parralled the road that we took. We ended up in Santo Domingo about 4 but the cathedral did not open till 5 pm. We waited around, then viewed the cathedral, then drove on to another camino town that I previously stayed at, Nájera. We will spend the night at a hostal here, then on to the La Rioja wine region for tomorrow.

From guest blogger Kathy: What is the fascination with cathedrals? They are certainly not all the same. Each has it's own character, design, and strong points. John and I both read Pillars of the Earth and World without End since our last Spain visit fours years ago. It is interesting to see how these vast structures were built given the limited technologies of 600 to 1000 years ago.

Carrión 2

2009-10-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

Our picnic lunch in Hospital de Orbigo.

The Leon cathedral.

Another stained glass window in the Leon cathedral. It is hard to do them justice with a photo.

Kathy outside the Gnomes gift shop in Leon.

We were able to sleep in this morning and have a leisurely desayuno before returning to the cathedral and Gaudi designed bishop's palace in Astorga. We viewed the cathedral which has had much restoration work done. It is simple and a bit austere in the furnishings. But very imposing in it's construction. Kathy was impressed with the 100 year old, but very Gothic design of the bishop's palace. The stained glass and arches were especially impressive. From there we drove on to Hospital de Orbigo and it's several hundred meter long, multiple-arched bridge originally built in the 1300's. Kathy and I had our picnic lunch here today. Then it was on to the short drive to León. We saw the cathedral and it's magnificent stained glass. Kathy is off to find some souvenir magnets and stuff.

More later--Well, we drove on to Carrión, one of my stops a few weeks ago on my camino. It is about halfway between León and Burgos. Tomorrow a quick trip south to Palencia's cathedral, then on to Burgos and, hopefully, Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

Astorga 2

2009-10-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well today we backtracked across about 9 or so stages of the camino, crossing the Cantabrian mountain ranges at O´Cebreiro and Cruz de Ferro. We are now in Astorga, back in Castilla y León and out of Galicia. There are still lots of pilgrims out walking the camino even though it is almost November. The weather has cleared up and even though it was a cool start this afternoon is sunny and in the low 70´s. The little Peugot Diesel we are driving is a great little car, why can´t we have some like them in the USA? Guest blogger Kathy here; We had a nice little picnic lunch at Cruz de Ferro, munching on great Spanish bread, chorizo, cheeze, olives and John had sardines. YCCK! For desert, left over torte de Santiago from last night's dinner. The scenery was spectacular and just imagining John walking up that mountain was amazing!

We wanted to see the Gaudi designed bishop´s palace here this afternoon, but it is closed on Mondays. So we will wait around till 11 am tomorrow morning so Kathy can see it, too. It is definitely worth seeing and won´t really set us back too much time. It will then be about an hour´s drive to Leon, where we will also view the cathedral there tomorrow. We may still be able to see the cathedral here in Astorga this afternoon after 4 pm. And there is the old city to explore again and decide where to eat tonight among the large choice of restaurants.

Portomarin 2

2009-10-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

Acouple of photos of the botafumeiro at the Sunday Mass at the Santiago cathedral.

We stopped briefly in O Cebreiro. Galicia puts up markers every half Kilometer along the camino, with a countdown of the number of KM to Santiago.

We had a picnic lunch here at Cruz de Ferro. It sure looked different in daylight than the the first time I was here in the dark, early morning fog.

This one is for Kent-lots of jamons here.

Wow, it sure is nice to have a bathroom in the room- first time since I have been in Spain. Also we had a very good tapas dinner last night ( ensalada mixta, croquetas, jamon asada, and tortilla, unfortunately they were out of pimientos de Padrón). So far today, we had a liesurely breakfast, then watched preparations being made for a marathon race around the cathedral and old part of town. Right now, Kathy and I are sitting in the cathedral waiting for the mass to start. We got here early in order to get good seats. Fifteen minutes till it starts and already standing room only. Kathy was fascinated by the organ- we were sitting right underneath the pipes.

Later: We are on the road, backtracing the Camino. In Arzua right now at a free wifi that I remembered. Still lots of pilgrims and the weather is nice and sunny again. Not sure where we will stay yet tonight, maybe Palas de Rei or Portomarin.

Later yet: This is guest blogger Kathy. I really enjoyed our drive through Galicia today. The fields are so green, a nice contrast to California brown. We ended up staying tonight in Portomarin, a small pilgrim town. We just checked out the small village church, a huge contrast to all the gold and gilt of the Santiago cathedral. We are off to have dinner, I am hoping for caldo gallego, a soup `popular in this area. More tomorrow,

Santiago 3

2009-10-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I slept in late and did not leave the pension till 10 am. I went for a café con leche and just kind of waited around until i could check into the hotel and wait for Kathy to arrive from the airport. Never saw the sun yesterday. It was gray and drizzly/rainy all day and night and it looks like today will be the same.

Later- checked email and had one from K at Madrid airport saying she is waiting for her flight to Santiago.

Later yet- well Kathy arrived right on time, but tired. After resting a bit, it is 7 pm and we are going out to do some shopping then have dinner. At least the rain let up and the forecast is for clearing skies the next few days.

Santiago 2

2009-10-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

The view from the bus window. It rained all the way back to Santiago

I boarded the bus in Finisterra this morning for the 2 1/2 hour ride back to Santiago. It was a strange feeling to know that my pilgrim days are pretty much over. I am a tourist now. It also came with an emotional sense of relief to know that it is over and that, God willing, I was able to accomplish what I set out to do five and a half weeks ago. I am thankful and happy that I was able to do it. I met many interesting people along the way, most I do not know by name, some by first name and country only, and a few that I would like to stay in touch wih. I did not feel these emotional moments last Sunday when I finished the first part of the camino since I knew I would be walking for a few more days. Now that the walk is over, I feel the emotions but also am happy to be done.

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I had originally planned to walk today from Finisterra to Muxia, another fishing village on the Atlantic. It would have been a long day at 19 miles. After my short walk yesterday, I studied my guidebook to find that there is a river along the way to Muxia with no bridge. This river can be forded at low water, but in rainy season (which is now), one must take a three mile detour to the nearest bridge. 22 miles and possible rain did not sound very appealing, so I made the decision yesterday to return by bus to Santiago this morning. I was vindicated by the fact that today has been the rainiest day yet. There was a steady rain all the way from Finisterra and it is still drizzling this afternoon in Santiago. The bus trip back was beautiful with most of it along the coastline, even though it was cloudy and gray. I arrived at the bus station about 11 am, then walked the two miles to the mom and pop pension that I stayed at last Sunday. Got a room, then took off for the Museo del Peregrinos and the Museo de la Catedral before they closed at 1:30. Then back to the room for shower and laundry chores. I was not able to find an albariño, so I tried a verdejo from the Rueda region. It was Blume from the Pagos del Rey winery in Vallodolid. 3.55 euro a bottle and once again an excellent wine.

Kathy should be on her flight from San Francisco to Madrid by now, then another flight to Santiago. She should be getting here in about 24 hours (5 pm Saturday) and I can't wait to see her again after six long weeks. Anyway, keep following the blog as I will keep posting the adventures of John and Kathy over the next week. I don't know for sure yet where we will go or what we will see, no plans, so stay tuned!

Finisterra 2

2009-10-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

"The end of the world"

The sun was starting to come out on my walk back to the town of Finsterra

The fishing harbor at Finisterra

This morning I walked along the road out to Cabo (Cape) Finisterra, about 3 miles to the actual end of the earth, then back. I left at 9 am in the rain and it rained about half of the way out, a good downpour. When I got to the cape and the lighthouse, there was no one else out there. This is quite a contrast to 4 years ago in July when Kathy and I were here with crowds of people, souvenir sellers, and so on. Actually it was kind of nice to be here alone, with overcast and cloudy skies and rain off over the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.

I walked back along a different gravel road. There was no rain but a very strong wind coming off the water. By the time I was back in Finisterra, the sun was shining again. Since I could stay in the albergue only one night, I got a tip from another pilgrim about an elderly couple with roooms for rent for only 10 euro, so I heraded there first to get a nice place for the night. Afterwards, I walked the length of the long pier and looked at the sea, the fishing boats, and all the activity. I did buy a disposable camera after the fiasco with my real camera, so hopefully can get photos posted at some point after I return. I also tried another albariño, Legado del Conde, which was very good. I noticed a restaurant with a menu del dia that has pimientos de Padron, so that is where I am headed tonight.

I also decided not to walk the 18 miles to Muxia tomorrow. I will take the bus back to Santiago in the morning and relax and sightsee for a day until Kathy arrives on Saturday afternoon. 560 miles of walking in just over five weeks is enough for now. I am going to make the transition from pilgrim to tourist! It should not be too hard and my sore feet will thank me!!

Later: Just finished my dinner. I saw a German couple who I had met a few weeks ago and had been walking at about the same pace. A man from the Netherlands that they knew also joined us. So I had a chance to relearn some of the German that I have forgotten over the years. And I had pimientos de Padron-they were delightfully good! I also had fish and potatoes-a very good dinner. The weather this afternoon and evening was nice. Sunshine with some clouds in the sky. The restaurant was along the marina, so the views of the harbor and the hills were unmatched.

Finisterra

2009-10-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

18 miles of walking today. I had planned to stop at an albergue 5 miles back. I arrived at 1 pm and they did not open till 5 pm, plus there was no restaurant or store close by. Probably no internet either. So here I am in Finsterra and will walk out to the cape where the end of the world is tomorrow.

There were some rain showers during my walk but nothing too bad. I wore my rain poncho about a third of the time. I did not see a single walker till the last three miles. Much of the walk today was either from high bluffs overlooking the ocean or along the ocean. More tomorrow.

Olveiro

2009-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Wild brush country between Negreira and Finisterra

First glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean

This is the post for 20 October. I was not able to find any internet yesterday.

21 miles today. It was my longest distance walking yet. There were no good intermediate stopping points, except at about the halfway point. The camino here is very well marked and easy to follow, but much of it is on asphalt roads, which are harder on the feet and more dangerous.

It rained heavily one time today as I walked for about 30 minutes, showered a few other times, and actually had some sun the last part of the walk. Rain is predicted the next 4 days, but at least it is not raining the whole time.

Later: Olveiro is a small village of 200. No internet and barely one restaurant. The albergue is okay, but only one toilet and one shower each for the men and the women. The albergue is a restored farmhouse with walls two feet thick and two horreos (grain storage-look it u0p on Google). I finished my shower and laundry and am sitting in the kitchen with the thick stone walls. There is an open fireplace about 5 by 10 feet. I am looking out the narrow window at the rain, drinking a glass of red wine, reading my novel about Templars on my iPod Touch. There are flies all over, because the building next to us has pigs in it.Chickens and ducks down the street. Wow-Back to the real world in less than two weeks.

I failed to securely fasten one of the ties on my backpack this morning and 5 km down the trail realized that my GoLite windbreaker fell out. I did not want to backtrack to try and find it. I was hoping, but not expecting that a fellow walker would see it, and bring it to the albergue. And late this afternoon, one of the French men told me that someone had found it and was looking for its owner. 45 minutes later, the person who picked it up came looking and I was so happy to have it delivered as I will be needing it the rest of the trip. Most other pilgrims are very helpful in ways such as this.

Negreira

2009-10-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

The lush farmland along the way to Negreira

I had three guesses- Denny's, Middle Earth, and the end of the world. Hmm, end of the world is closest. I started walking this morning to Fisterra (Finisterra in English)-it literally means Land's End or end of the earth. Finisterra was the westernmost point of continental Europe and thought for thousands of years to be the end of the known world.

Fisterra is 60 miles west of Santiago and I walked the first 14 miles today. If time and weather permit, I plan to take four days to reach Fisterra, then another day (18 miles) to walk along the Atlanticcoast to another fishing village, Muxia. The weather may interfere as rain is forecast for the next four days, so I may cut it short if I start getting too wet.

While Santiago was the end of the camino for Christian pilgrims, Fisterra's connection is with it's pagan and Celtic past and was already known as the westernmost point centuries before Romans, Christians, Visigoths, and Moors swept through Spain. The pagan altar to the sun, Ars Solis, celebrated the sun's setting in the west, into the Tir-na-nóg, the Land of Eternal Youth.

So bear with me a few more days as I continue my walk to the ocean.

Santiago de Compostela!

2009-10-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Woke up a bit earlier at 6:30 so I could arrive in Santiago by late morning. After a cafe con leche grande from the bar across the street, it was walking by flashlight on wooded unpaved trails until daylight around 8:45 am. Then past the airport runway and Mount Gozo. This was where the medieval pilgrims got their first view of the cathedral, but with the growth of the city, it is now almost impossible to see from there. I did not see it until I was in the old part of the city, nearly another hour of walking through the suburbs. Eric twisted his ankle, so I came in alone, about 13 miles.

The albergues are all beyond the city center, so I had a pension in mind. As I neared, an older lady approached saying she had rooms for rent. I took a look and it was very nice for 20 euro-she and her husband were very friendly and accomodating.

Since it was only 11:30, I hustled right over to the cathedral for the pilgrim's mass. By the time I arrived it was standing room only with at least 1200 people in attendance. Of course, not all were pilgrims. The bishop and eight priest's said the mass, thenun with the beautiful voice sang, and the botafumeiro (a large incense burner) was swung. This was done in past times to cover up the smell of stinky peregrinos and I certainly was one myself today!

This cathedral and the mass definitely was lively and hectic with pilgrims taking pictures of the church, tourists taking pictures of pilgrims, and the local townfolk tolerating it all. Compared to the sterile museumlike cathedrals in Burgos and León and their no photo signs, this was an active, interesting, happening place. I picked up my compostela after mass so I now have my official notice that this pilgrimage is complete. It was also fun to remeet many of the fellow pilgrims that I had gotten toknow over the past few weeks.

It has been almost five weeks since I have been in a motor vehicle. I am happy to say that I travelled every step of the 500 miles on foot and carried my backpack every bit of it.

Arca

2009-10-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Only 13 miles from the cathedral in Santiago de Compstela now! Today's walk was only 11 miles. I arrived at noon. I would have liked to walk farther, but the next pension was 7 miles and the next albergue 9 miles. I may start a bit earlier tomorrow to try to be in S de C by 11 am. I am not sure if it will be a relief or a disappointment to finish. Is the pilgrimage the process of doing it or the act of completing it?

There was no fog or wind this morning when I started walking about 8 am. There was a light dusting of frost on some of the farm fields, though. Still, frost, fog, or wind is better than rain!

However, It does look like rain by Tuesday and Wednesday. How will that affect next week's plans? And what are next week's plans? I have not had any guesses yet. Come on!

I tried another albariño wine from the local supermercado this afternoon. It was made by Lembranzas for 4.75 euro. Also very good, but it would be nice to be able to chill it for a while first. Later on we shared a bottle of Campo Viejo tempranillo.

Later: Peter the German from Equador showed up tonight, also the young woman from Scotland, it has been about two weeks in Carrión since I last saw them. And Sean's friend Peter from Australia, who I thought was imaginery, actually does exist. I have seen him a few times on the trail in the past few days. Sean is at least one day ahead in Santiago already. I had dinner with a Canadian couple the past two nights. Thankfully there were always other people there too, but this woman is always bragging about how she's been hiking in Nepal or Peru or wherever. I swore after last night that I would avoid them from now on, but she is very insistent on joining in every group. Hopefully I can avoid them in Santiago.

Arzua

2009-10-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

The last picture, before I dropped and broke my camera. This is a photo of Greg and I in Melide.

A bit longer walk today, 18 miles, as I wanted to end in a larger town than the small village a few km back. There are now about 25 miles left to Santiago, two easy days. There was a net elevation loss of about 400 feet, but I crossed six river valleys (with rivers), so there was a constant up and down all day.

The weather is still good. No fog this morning, but a brisk and cool wind. This afternoon is sunny and breezy in the low 60's. Greg decided to stop earlier in the day in Melide and take it easier for a few days, one day longer into Santiago. Eric is still walking with me.

It is mid afternoon, nothing open till 5 pm, so I am relaxing here before I go out shopping for groceries later. I had one bit of bad luck today. I dropped my camera while it was on and I think it is broken beyond any hope. Not sure what I should do for the rest of the trip, it is only a week till Kathy will have hers here.

No guesses yet on what I am planning for the next week after I get to Santiago?

Palas do Rei

2009-10-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

A church and cemetary along the way.

16.2 miles to Palas do Rei. Fairly easy day and maybe I am getting used to this walking thing. Notice that the spelling changed to "do Rei" from "de Rey". The place names here are in Gallego, not Spanish. It was foggy and cool until about 11 am. Which made a good excuse to stop at a pathside bar for a cafè con leche grande about the time the fog was lifting (also had one before starting today's walk). Greg loaned me a pair of gloves that he was not using as my hands have been cold the past few mornings. That item was on my "maybe to bring" list but got crossed off. This time of year it should be on the "definitely bring" list.

After yesterday's disappointment with the wine, I tried again today. I found a very good 6 Euro Albariño, Miudiño, which we enjoyed with our afternoon pan y queso snack.

Unbelievably, the weather forecast for Santiago calls for no rain for the next 5 days, with lows of about 40 and high in the high 60's. Perfect walking weather. With 65 km to Santiago, I hope to arrive there on Sunday to complete this part of my pilgrimage. More details on what's coming up next week, but you have one guess what it will involve!

Portomarin

2009-10-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Many of the small fields in Galicia are bordered with rock fences.

Follow the yellow arrows!

Our afternoon cafe con leche stop at a bar/cafe enroute to Portomarin. The man and two women on the right are from the Faro Islands.

The Rio Mino.

At least my big toe is healing up!

14.2 miles to Portomarin today. Some up and downhill but nothing too strenuous. It was foggy and cold this morning but sunny and nice this afternoon. Portmarin is located on the Rio Miño, a huge river that flows through Portugal then out to the Atlantic. In this area, the river has been dammed for hydroelectric power. The entire town was moved to higher ground in the mid 1950's with only the church and one other building moved to higher ground.

Well we got away from the cheap vino tinto this afternoon. Greg bought a bottle of albariño at the supermercado. But it was oxidized and undrinkable, so I took it back. It was the only albariño so I got a different white wine, plus a Rioja tempranillo, some pulpo, mejillones (mussels), anchovy stuffed olives, and potato chips for our afternoon on the terrace overlooking the Miño here at the albergue. Life is good. The rest took off to explore the town while I decided to stay behind to write my blog.

I don't know if it was a good idea, but I took some pictures of my toe today.

Sarria

2009-10-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Benedictine monastery at Samos.

A typical farm cart that was pulled by oxen. These are all over Galicia at most farms. Of course, they are not used anymore, just on display as yard art.

I did take the longer more country route of 15.5 miles today. The optional route is closer to the original pilgrim route, but also right alongside the modern highway. The route I took is along country trails and small farm roads. There were other hiking trails in the area which made for a cofusing day to keep on the right track, but I managed to do it without backtracking. There were no small villages as on previous days. Instead there were groups of three or four farmhouses often with a very small church. These are typical of the Galician hill country and they are called caserios. I arrived in Sarria about 1:30 pm. It is getting cooler here at night now, down into the mid 40's. But daytime temps are still in the low 70's. And clear skies. I just checked the forecast and it is supposed to be no rain in Santiago through at least next Sunday, which is when I hope to arrive. That much nice weather is almost unheard of here.

It will be interesting to see if we get a bunch of new pilgrims on the camino tomorrow. Sarria to Santiago is the minimum required walk to receive a Compostela (the certificate the diocese in Santiago issues for completing the pilgrimage). But already this late in the season the albergues seem less crowded. with many open bunk beds. Hopefully for that reason the pilgrim traffic may be lessening. We will see.

Triacastela

2009-10-12T07:15:00.001-07:00

On the way up to O Cebreiro.

And we walked into Galicia.

More mountain ranges in the vicinity of O Cebreiro.

Lots of small scale cattle farms here in the hilly part of Galicia. This herd passed by as we were eating our lunch at the village fuente (fountain).

It does seem greener here in Galicia.

This is the real post for 12 Oct.

Galicia! A 5 km uphill climb (1300 foot elevation gain in 3 miles) put us over the summit at O'Cebreiro and into the province of Galicia. There was a bit more up and down before this afternoon´s final steep descent into Triacastela, a drop of 2000 feet in the last 6 miles. Altogether another 15.6 miles total walking today. We are out of the steepest mountains now. Even though there will be more up and downhill the next few days, the hardest part is over. As of tonight, there are abut 80 mles left to Santiago. The weather again today was gorgeous, around 70 degrees with the wind blowing during the day. Down here in Triacastela it must be close to 80 degrees this afternon, no wind. The mountains are all green from the recent rains. I walked today mostly with Erik and Greg, and saw Markos and many other people at various times during the day. We enjoyed some wine and beer at the local cafe after the shower and clothes washing chores. I also went to the tienda to buy some food for tomorrw, visited the local church, and will meet up with the others at 7 for our evening peregrino menu. Even though it is Monday, many shops are closed today as it is Christopher Columbus day, a national holiday in Spain. I think they will take any excuse for another national holiday!

Tomorrow it is on to Sarria, but need to decide about taking the longer scenic route or the highway route. I don´t think it will be a hard decision.

Later on: Shared peregino menu with Erik, Greg, Markos, Ian from Canada, and Klaus from Germany. Markos distills 200 liters of apple schnapps every year from his family´s orchard in Germany. He carried a flask of schnapps with him for the past month and tonight he shared it with all of us after dinner. It was very good and we appreciated the fact that he carried with him all these days!

La Faba

2009-10-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

You can see what a steep climb that it was out of Villafranca del Bierzo, which is in the background.

The steep hills around here were covered with chestnut trees. The chestnuts were being harvested as we passed by.

Our morning cafe con leche break at a village bar. I am eating my canned albdonigas (meatballs) for my breakfast. Markos is next to me.

Greg buying a walking stick after his trekking poles were stolen. The woman selling them would not budge on her price. Later, Greg found his poles and the person who had them readily gave them up-a long story.

Resting after a hard day's walk. From left to right, me, Erik from Denmark, Greg from Canada, and Markos from Germany.

It is a good life for dogs in this village. Actually, most of the larger dogs like these are used in herding cattle or sheep.

And the cats were just as excited to be here.

This post is for Oct. 11-I was not able to access the internet in the small village last night. Not much for a tienda, either, but we stocked up in a larger town this afternoon. At least there is a bar/restaurant for tonight's meal.

Walked 15.6 miles today (Oct 11), but there was a 1600 ft elevation gain and then a loss of the same amount within the first 6 miles. Also at the there was another 800 ft elevation gain in the last 3 miles. The walk was rather strenuous. Originally I had not planned to walk so far, but it felt pretty good except for the last 2 miles. Instead of walking solo, I walked with a group of three other guys the entire route. And even though it was strenuous, we did not cover the ground as quickly arriving at the albergue close to 3 pm. We did decide not to go all the way to O'Cebreiro, which would have been another 5 km of very strenuous climbing. The weather was about 80 degrees in late afternoon, almost too hot for walking. The hospitalero said it had rained the previous four days, but we had glorious weather today.

The people I walked with:
Erik (58 years old) from Denmark, who is on the camino to as he says decide if he wants to continue in his current relationship.
Markos (33 years old) from Germany, who graduated from the University of Munich in May with a Phd in mechanical engineering. He will start a job with MAN Industries in November working on a project designing Diesel engines for use in large scale portable power plants.
Greg (67 years old) from Canada, who is retired and an avid backpacker. He is on the camino to see if he can do it, is having no major problems, and, like me, is just happy to be alive and healthy enough to be doing the camino.

The albergue is run by a German group and the hospitalero is a German who speaks little English or Spanish. But he definitely communicated to us the fact that before we entered his building, we were to remove our boots and wash them with water and scrub them with a brush. And for good reason. We are in mountainous country with lots of cattle on the same trails, so there was a good reason for the shoe bath!

I am finding staying in the albergues to be no problem and there are some advantages. After a while one gets used to not having so much privacy. Sleeping has turned out to be no problem as the combination of a tired body, ear plugs, and tylenol pm solves any sleeping problems. Any lack of privacy is more than made up for by meeting interesting people from all over the world, simple things like a shared conversation, bottle of wine, cheese and olives, and so on. Most other peregrinos are very easy to talk to and get along with, generally with no complaints are are happy to be on the camino, even with sore feet, aching muscles, and the occasional bedbug bite (luckily I have not had any bed bug bites yet!) By the way, we've discovered Don Simon Vino Tinto, normally about 0.95 Euro ($1.40) sold in a box of 1 liter size!

Villafranca del Bierzo

2009-10-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

Two views of the camino path through the Bierzo wine growing area.

Villafranca del Bierzo has a lot of steep hills.

I decided to keep today's walk at 14 miles. My legs are still bit sore from yesterday's large amount of downhill walking. It may not seem like it, downhill walking is much harder on joints and muscles than uphill. Today's walk was some up and downhill, but we are still at a fairly low elevation. Tomorrow is the start of the climb to O'Cereibrio. I decided not to walk all the way to the top in one day. I will probably spread the next two stages into three days of walking instead of two.

Villafranca is a picturesque town built on steep hills. If one lived here, there would be no need for a gym workout. I saw the inside of three of the five churches. This was an important pilgrim town over the last ten centuries. Those who were too weak to continue on to Santiago were allowed to get their blessing here. There is also a thriving taxi business here that shuttles those modern day pilgrims who want to skip the hike up the hill. Or if you feel guilty about not walking, you can still walk, but the taxi will ferry your backpack so you don't have to carry it. But don't worry, I plan to walk the entire way with my backpack on my back the whole way.

Ponferrada

2009-10-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Last night's shrimp paella.

A photo of me at the Cruz de Ferro. It was cool and foggy.

The Cantabrian mountains.

Greg from Canada in the fortress.

The Templar fortress in Ponferrada.

Today there was a short climb to Cruz de Ferro, the highest point on the camino at 1505 m. From there it was mostly downhill for 17 miles to a low of 500 m. So today's walk was an elevation drop of about 3200 ft., more if you figure in the uphill parts which meant even more elevation drop. Tonight I am in Ponferrada, which is in a beautiful mountain valley in the Cantabrian range that separates the provinces of Castilla y Leon from Galicia. Still in Castilla y Leon, but tomorrow, I begin the ascent of the next mountain and two days later hope to be in O'Cerebrio, another summit of close to 1500 m, which is just inside Galicia. From Ponferrada it is 202 km to Santiago, so I have reached the 3/4 point.

Ponferrada is the hub of the Bierzo valley, which is renowned for its temperate microclimate in this mountain region. It is famous for the wines that are produced here.

I have to tell you about the pilgrim meal we had at the albergue in Foncebaden last night. The best meals seem to be in the smallest villages. This village had more goats, cats, dogs, and donkeys rambling though the unpaved streets than people. But the owners of the albergue cooked a paella topped with shrimp and the pan had to be three feet across. Along with the ensalada mixta, cheese and sausage plate, dessert, and wine, it was a heavenly treat for only 9 euro.

Julia, I met a German girl (31 yhears old) from Munich, who just completed her doctorate in biology and she is on the camino to try to decide what direction her career should take from here.

This afternoon I walked over to the Templar fortress here in town. It has been more than partially restored and quite interesting to visit. From the top of the fortress there is a 360 degree view of the entire valley and surrounding hills.