Laza 5 October

No accommodations in between, so I had to walk 35 km or 21 miles today. And it was spectacular scenery as I continue to walk up and down these mountains. It was only about 300 m  (900 ft) elevation gain today, but about 1000 m (3000 ft) elevation drop which sounds good, but the steep drop is harder on the feet and the knees. My feet are sore, tomorrow I will walk 23 km, but there is a 500 m elevation gain, followed by 300 m drop. I will let the photos show the rest of the story for today's walk.

It was very foggy and cool starting out this morning

Mountains

The reservoir below

Good thing Kathy was not driving this narrow mountain road with no guardrail. That is the construction of the Galician high speed rail in the distance.

More mountains

Even so most of the walk was on on two lane roads, I don't think more than five cars passed by in the last five hours of walking.

A Gudiña 4 October

A shorter walk at 26 km (16 miles), but with a 300 m elevation gain in about 5 km of the morning walk. It was beautiful mountain trails, steep and rocky, but quite scenic. At the high point of the pass, I walked into Galicia.

A few km into the descent, I passed a few walkers with light day packs, some with none at all. Then I passed a few more, then more and more. I finally figured out that I was walking past a group of "bus pilgrims". Eventually at one of the road crossings, there was a modern bus waiting for them, with all their luggage on board, so they could take their leisurely strolls in comfort. Thank goodness, they are not here in the albergue today, they would have overwhelmed this place. 

Not a great photo, but this is the trail on the way up

Marker showing I walked into Galicia

The familiar Galician waymarks. Initially they had brass plaques showing the distance to Santiago, but these have mostly been pried off and stolen.

I've said that Galicia is cows, corn, and eucalyptus. Well, shortly after the border I saw my first eucalyptus.

The bus pilgrims

And more of them

And the bus

Rough terrain on the last part of the walk.

Lubian 3 October

What a day! First, I very stupidly missed the yellow arrows and other waymarks out of Sanabria. I ended up walking about four km in the wrong direction, before I flagged down a driver and asked if I was going the right way. Once I knew I was wrong, I flagged down another driver in the opposite direction, who was nice enough to drive me back to Sanabria. An hour lost, but I picked up the correct path and was on my way to Lubian, making good time. Except, when I thought I was about four km out of Lubian, I ran into a detour from the construction of the Galician high speed rail project. This added another 4 or 5 km to the walk and I arrived at 2:45 in Lubian with Joe from Northern Ireland. Couldn't find the albergue, so we rented a room over the local bar/restaurant and both of us were tired and did not feel like more walking. I figured I must have walked a total of 21 or 22 miles. Plus, this is my last day in Castilla y León and it means walking over several mountain passes. Tomorrow will be the highest one on this walk.

All these four photos are walking out of Sanabria and up into the mountains. Lubian is in a little bit of a valley between two ranges, so there will be a steeper climb tomorrow. Still, these few mountains are not nearly as challenging as those on the Caminos Salvador, Norte, and Primitivo.

Puebla de Sanabria #2 2 October

Turns out that the old Town is on the high bluff overlooking the newer part of town that I am staying in. It has a fortress lots of churches and interestingly narrow and winding streets.

The view from the bottom of the hill where I am staying. By the way, this is still the Río Tera.

The view from the top

Another view from the top

The old church

An interesting down spout

Fountain in the town square

Puebla de Sanabria 2 October

19 miles today, no problems. Despite some bandaged toes, my feet, my legs, and my shoulders are feeling better every day. Only one ibuprofen today. After 6 hours of walking, I arrived in Pueblo de Sanabria about 2 pm and checked into the privately owned albergue here. What a difference from the municipal donativo albergues of the last week or so. Nice and spacious, good kitchen, included wifi, just much nicer and worth it(10 €). I am now composing this as I finish my mid afternoon menú del dia in the restaurant across the street, photos shown below. 

Tomorrow I will start the two day climb over the mountains and into Galicia. These will be a lot of elevation gain, but the distances will be manageable.

It is interesting that on this Camino, I am quite often asked, "¿Alemán? ¿Eres alemán? "(German? Are you German?) my answer is "Si soy alemán, pero yo nací en los Estados Unidos y también vivo alli" (Yes, I am German, but was born in the United States and also live there.). At my mid day day stop in Palacios de Sanabria for a café con leche, I was asked this question yet again. Wow!

This is a very typical view walking into a small village off the gravelled Camino path, with the church as the focal point of the village.

I have been eating well, but I keep pulling the belts of my pack tighter and tighter

The sopa de marisco (seafood soup) of my lunch today. This was different in this region as it also had noodles, more typical of the inland region of Castilla y Léon, where I still am.

Of course, a restaurant with the name, La Trucha ( The Trout), would feature that on the menu.

My favorite of the dessert choices, fresh Spanish melon.

Mombuey 1 October

16 miles today and the countryside is starting to change as we near Galicia. I made a midmorning coffee stop at a private albergue in Vilar de Farfón and the hospitelero said that there are distinct geological changes coming up in the next two days as I enter Galicia, such as changes in the rock formations, including more slate, which seems to be non existent farther south. Plus, the bars are now serving Estrella Galicia beer, which I like better than the Mahou commonly available farther south. I walked into Mombuey about 1:30 and was concerned whether the albergue would be opened, but the door was unlocked and no one was there, so I went in and showered then washed my clothes. As I compose my blog, I am eating a menú del dia down the street. Joe, the walker from Northern Ireland just walked in and will have a bocadillo and a beer.

The fertile valley of the Río Tera

Walking around the reservoir above the valley

The changing landscape. Lots of rocks, less trees here.

Walking into Mombuey, I saw my first slate covered building, which will become more and more common.

A good ensalada mixta for my primer plato, with lots of yummy tuna.

Calzadilla de Tera 30 September

Not much different to report today. I walked another 19 miles. Some of it was through the hilly scrubby oak forests and some was on beautifully irrigated farmland.

Our hospitelero last night really has an interest in the various pilgrimages to Santiago and even wrote several books, which he showed us. He also cooked a very good dinner of salad and a rice dish similar to paella with morcilla (blood sausage) in it. Plus he made breakfast for us in the morning. Such nice additions to the pilgrim experience are remembered. Tonight's albergue is a 6 bed one on the edge of town over the senior center. No kitchen, no hospitelero, but at least it has clean beds, showers, bathrooms, and a place to wash clothes.

The rice and morcilla dish

The 5 pilgrims in the albergue last night

Chopping silage in the nicely irrigated farmland along the Río Tera

Tabara 29 September

I took it a bit easier today at 15 miles to Tabara. I walked from one valley to another with a bit of mountainous area in between. I also crossed the Rio Esla and the beautiful bridge over it. I am now off the Via de la Plata and instead am walking the Camino Sanabres, which will take me mostly west through Orense. There is a lot of construction activity with a new freeway and a new high speed rail line to Galicia being built. This sometimes makes for long and/or difficult detours around or through these projects.

Yesterday, The freeway construction project that I had to find my own way across.

More country tracks today, good weather, no rain and relatively cool

The brief mountainous area

The bridge over the Rio Esla

Granja de Moreruela 28 September

Today was my last day on the Via de la Plata. It is in this village that the Camino splits into two routes. The Via de la Plata continues north to Astorga, where it intersects with the Camino Frances. This is the starting point for the Camino Sanabres, which starts out heading west to Orense and on to Santiago; this is the route that I will take.

I walked 23 miles today, 7 1/2 hours worth, in clear and fairly cool weather. I just added up the mileage for my 11 days of walking and it comes in at an even 200 miles for an average of 18.2 miles per day.

I promised a report on last night's pilgrim dinner. It was vegetarian and prepared by our Italian hospiteleras. The soup was the best- garbanzos, lentils, millet, along with carrots, broccoli and other vegetables and topped with cheese and bread. Main course was a cauliflower casserole, lettuce and carrot salad, for dessert, melon with pomegranate. The atmosphere was very nice in that albergue. By contrast tonight's is much more impersonal, no kitchen, no dining room, just the basics: beds, showers, bathrooms, and a place to wash clothes. Oh well, at least I found the city hall across the street has free wifi.

The vegetable soup

The dinner

A selfie of my mid trail snack , orange juice and tortilla

An old church on the wau

New highway construction always makes for London detours

Zamora 27 September

Today's 20 mile walk was at least off the highway and completely on lightly travelled farm tracks. They were harvesting sunflowers and grapes along the way as well as working the wheat and sunflower stubble and fertilizing for next year.

Arrived in Zamora just before the 2 pm opening of the albergue. It is donativo, but very well equipped, even with wifi and a clothes spinner. Two very friendly Italian hospiteleras. A donativo meal tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Who could ask for more. I will report later on the meals.

Those of you who are familiar with the small town of Zamora north of Woodland may wonder how it was named. Originally called Black's Station, it was soon renamed by Spanish immigrants to California to maintain a connection to their homeland.

The farm path from El Cubo to Zamora

More farm path

And one more farm path

A different design for the waymarks in this region

Walking into Zamora, the view from across the Rio Duero