Halfway to Santiago

Day 13 Hornillos
Day14  Castrojeriz
Day 15 Fromista
Day 16 Carrion de Los Cones
Day 17 Moratinos
Day 18  Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos
Day 19 Mansilla de las Mulas

We just passed the halfway geographical point  in Sahagun. That means we have about 240 miles to go. We are excited and looking forward to the next two to three weeks.

New countries of fellow walkers we have recently met: Finland, Mexico, Sweden,Norway, and Denmark.

For the past few days we have been on what's called the Meseta (table). It is mostly flat with little ups or downs. Wheat fields predominate as far as you can see. It has been an agriculture area for over a thousand years  supplying grain for the  Roman Empire.  Today we have been walking on an ancient Roman road, although it seems just like a dirt road without many cars. Tomorrow we will walk on the most perfect stretch of Roman road left in Spain,  following in the footsteps of Emperor Augustus himself. Our next big town will be Leon, which has a grand cathedral like Burgos. We will spend some time there seeing the city, then enter the Galacia portion of the journey which will be more mountainous. On we go!

Some more of our favorite photos.  (Puente means bridge)

 Virgen del Puente (1000 year old church)

 Puente Romano leaving Sahagun.

  Yellow arrow on post to show us the way as the path stretches across the valley.

 It's a long road ahead to reach Santiago

  Entrance to old church, Santa Maria la Virgin Blanca, and beautiful rose window (below)

 

The Trail Continues

We are moving along through Spain and enjoying the path as we meet people from many different countries and try to understand languages we have never heard before.  It´s amazing how much you can say with your hands and body language.  Some days have been a little rough lately with the rain and mud but as we say, it comes with the walk.  Every day is an adventure and we awake with the realization that we will take what the day brings.  So far, we will have to recommend to all our readers to put it on your bucket list if your knees will allow it.  The photos below are a few of our favorite so far.  We will update it as we can find the time and internet.  

 Early church in Formista

 Bodagos (wine storage areas)

 Bill looking out over a beautiful scene with miles to go

 Not all days are bright and sunny. Ann with all rain gear and unbrella on a very muddy road

 Example of sleeping area with clothes drying on a line

 Ann looking out over a vista to take your breath away and starting to go down a grade of 18 %

Stork in huge nest on top of a church.  A fairly common sight

Walking along an irrigation canal near Fromista

Drying clothes along with solar water heaters and panels

The Camino Continues

For those of you who are following our progress on a map:
Day 7 Navarette
Day 8 Azofra
Day 9 Granon
Day 10 Villafranca Montes de Oca
Day 11 Cardenuela
Day 12 Burgos
Day 13 Hornillos Del Camino
Day 14 Castrojeriz

We meet people from all over the world.  Here is a list of countries so far:
France, Spain, Germany, England, Ireland, Hungary, Netherlands, Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Brazil, Finland, Mexico, and a scattering of folks from the USA.

By now we have fallen into a typical day.  We usually awake by the sounds of early hikers  packing their backpacks, around 6 a.m. By 6:30, we are up joining them. After getting our things together we will have breakfast of bread, marmelade, yogurt, and tea if a kitchen is available, finish our packing and start walking between 7 and 8 o'clock. We like to stop around 10 in the morning for a coffee con leche (milk) and a goodie. We then hike until noon and start looking for a store to buy something for our lunch. This usually will be bread , cheese, jam, some fruit, and a sweet item.  Our favorite place to eat is on the main plaza of a town or on a park bench along a river. The afternoon is again taken up with walking until 3 to 4 o'clock when we will look for a place to spend the night. On the Camino there are  Albergues where as many as 40-50 people will sleep in one or two rooms.  There are also smaller places run by private groups which offer more services. We shower and wash our clothes every other day, write in our journals and read a bit about the next day to see what we will be facing. In some of the Albergues, a communal meal will be offered where we all eat together at long tables. Otherwise we look for a restaurant that offers a Pilgrim Meal, a salad, main dish, dessert, bread, and wine or water for a set price. We sometimes join our old and new friends to make a simple meal if a kitchen is available. By 8:30, we are getting ready for bed and try to be putting in our ear plugs by 9 o'clock. We sleep well even in a room of snoring!

Day 7

We are staying at an Albergue in Navarrete, a historic Camino town. After walking 22 kilometers since 7am until 1pm, it is time to rest.

Crossed Roman Bridge, Puente la Reina.

Hiking path out of town.

Waking through town.

Getting wine from Fuente del Vino in Irache.

Church tower in Villamayor de Monjardin.

Flowers in same town.

Communal dinner with fellow hikers.

Started in rain this morning but stopped after a couple of hours. We are excited to meet people that we have gotten to know at the stopping places at night. Already we have made friends with some of them and shared our reasons for walking the Camino. More to come.

Photos from the Camino

Day 4 & 5.


Thought we would like to share some of our favorite photos with you.

Back up a few days. Here is Ann in the snow on our second day of walking.

Sign on building about the ancient route of the pilgrims.

Narrow street in Pamplona, where they run the bulls.

Old church in Pamplona.

Family from Germany.  Youngest pilgrim at 8 months.

Mother pulling child in chariot.

Spring flowers.

Pilgrim statue.

Sending from Villamayor de Monjardin.  All is well.

Off to a Rough Start

Off to a rough start.
Flying from Madrid, Spain to Toulouse, France, we were met by friends from Bolivia days. We drove to see their 300+ year old house and enjoyed a restful time as we relived our past and caught up on our present lives. The extra days gave Ann a little more time to deal with her shingles symptoms which are slow to go away. Our hosts drove us to the beginning of our Pilgrim hike as we explored beautiful southern France.

Arriving in our starting point of St Jean Pied de Port (name of town at the foot of mountain), we were disappointed to find rain, thick fog and a forecast of snow the next day for the mountain crossing. The path was closed to hikers as it was too dangerous. Our friends offered to take us to the next town, Roncesvalles which is in Spain, about 10 miles away to  avoid the snow. We decided that was the best course so we drove there, ate lunch and picked up our Pilgrim Certificate (Credencial del Peregrino) and started walking in the rain. Our first night is in a hostel run by a nice Basque lady named Anna. Tomorrow snow is forecast along with cold weather. We will take it day by day.

Day 2.       Started the day with a few snow flakes which turned into a sideways blowing snow storm. At noon it was almost over except for a cold wind. We grabbed a bite to eat in a small village and got to our albergue in Larrasoana around 4 pm. We are in a dorm type room on upper bunks with about 30 other people. After washing some clothes and a shower we bought some food for dinner, breakfast, lunch. Hopefully we will sleep well as the 12 miles we walked should be a good sedative. Tomorrow we will walk through Pamplona (famous for the running of the bulls).

1. Day 3.   Just walked through Pamplona today and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Have settled in an Albergue Sanjuanista run by the Knights of St. John of Malta.  Cold and windy but no rain or snow.

It's Travel Time

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The time has flown and Monday morning is almost here.  We are mostly ready to go, just a few last minute additions and more deletions from the backpack.  A goal was to get the backpack under 20 pounds and we are struggling, but hopeful we can accomplish that.

A wrinkle in the plans occurred last week when Ann developed shingles.  Yes, that's right, shingles, which presented itself with a blistering rash on her back (where the backpack goes) and pain to accompany the rash.  She started taking the anti-virus medication right away but the pain and rash has managed to hang on.  A visit to the Dr. resulted in more medication for the virus and anti-inflammatory drugs.  The pain is starting to wain a bit so we are hopeful she will be able to hike and carry the pack.  Time will tell. A message from her, "If you haven't gotten your shingles vaccine, head out the door right now to get it."

As you can see by our equipment on the bed and in the backpack, we are putting it all together.  If we have to make one more list or review someone else's list, we may go crazy, but that seems to be the name of the game.  In theory, every item should serve at least two purposes, and if it doesn't think hard and long about carrying it for 500 miles on your back.  It's a good guide but sometimes hard to follow through.

Like the pilgrim in the photo above, we are now ready to start walking.  Buen Camino!   Bill and Ann