We actually started early today. No more hot days for us. Mind you , the weather is much milder over this side of O’Cebreiro. The country is greener. The food is definitely tastier. The service so far seems better too. All in all things are looking up. We are getting closer to Santiago….
Category: Camino De Santiago
Day 40 O’Cebreiro to Triacastela – 21.86 descent 947m – Oh what a beautiful morning
What a beautiful way to wake up after all that heat! The village was literally in the clouds and we were loving it. We had breakfast up the hill and set off into Galicia. Rumour has it that they even play bagpipes here because they have very old Celtic roots! It was a nice quiet…
Day 39 Los Herrieras to O’Cebreiro – 9.19km ascent 679m Oh oh oh Cebereiro
“O’Cebreiro, don’t you cry for me I come from Los Herrieras with, and bandage on my knee!” Well, not really – just a bit of kinsiology tape actually. But I couldnt stop singing stupid songs in my head. We left a bit late knowing we weren’t going far and knowing it was a bit cooler….
Day 38 Villafranca to Las Herrerias 20.18km – 42 degrees over and out
Today we left late – actually normal by our standards – 9am. On the other side of town we stopped at the sign we were waiting for – 200km to Santiago – woo hoo! We were almost there. Well in Camino terms 200km is the downhill slide. Forget the fact that 90 percent of people…
Day 37 Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo – 23.31km – Feeling hot hot hot
It was going to be another hot day so we decided to leave early – by our standards anyway. So we left at 8am. Given that we had left early it didn’t seem necessary to rush so I stopped at another farmacia to see if they had strapping tape (it has now become a challenge)….
Day 35 – El Acebo to Ponferrada – 15.79km Ascent 184 Descent 760m – With hoards of students!
We actually left before someone this morning. Al from Kentucky as I recall – but he overtook us not far down the track. He had entertained me with his tale of not knowing how to open the door in the albergue room. He said “I have a masters degree and I cannot figure out how…
Day 34 Rabanel to El Acebo – 17.18km – 489m ascent 524 descent – A pool to end all pools
Ramon said goodbye to us this morning. He also asked for the Australian Flag for his flag garden. We were happy to donate and were the last to leave – what’s new? It’s nice not to feel rushed – actually the truth is I can barely walk to the bathroom in the morning at…
Day 33 Astorga to Rabanel – 21.04km You can call me Mary
My good friend Laura has asked me to include total distance travelled and I totally understand the interest there as we have been wondering too. I have tracked gps for each day with my phone – but I havent added it up. It requires arithmetic which is sadly lacking. I will one day find the…
Day 32 Leaving Hospital and going to Astorga – 21.04km – Leaving a new guru
This morning started late. We stayed around and at the last minute decided to send on our bags to Astorga as someone else already had theirs sitting there waiting. There was no point ruining our miraculous recovery straight away by lugging those things another 20k. We sat a bit longer and I had an…
Day 31 Leaving Jesus and going to Hospital – 15.5 km – Albergue Verde – where the grass is always greener
I am writing this post from the garden of Albergue Verde in Hospital Orbigo. Our host is playing the guitar in the living room as two of the others prepare food for tonights vegetarian meal. I have just had my legs and back massaged by Gael – a gifted Spanish masseuse who was trained mostly…
Day 30 Leon to Jesus’s place – Villar de Mazarife – 20km what a spectacular light show!
When I was younger my mother used to tell me I had my grandmothers feet. Not her own mother’s feet mind you, but the feet of dad’s mum. She must’ve had bad feet. Our grandmother on Dad’s side was a beautiful little Irish lady who was obviously very capable and had travelled to Australia by…
Day 28 and 29 Manzilla to Leon 21.2km
A couple of things about this blog have been bothering me lately. One is that I don’t have time to edit properly and there are still many spelling errors and typos (and grammatical problems) and, two is that we are not sharing the full experience as the wifi has been so bad (or nonexistent) in…
Day 27 El Burgo Ranero to Mansilla de las Mules 19.47km – Get your hands off my seat
As I started to write this post we were having a mid-hike break and I was sitting outside an albergue eating potato tortilla and sipping on the icy cold beer of my beloved. ZZ top were blaring La Grange out of the speakers. We had just walked almost 12 km across the Meseta without a…
Day 26 Sahagun to El Burgo Ranero 19.16 km – thats not a blister, this is a blister!
Leaving Sahagun was a pleasure because a) it was probably my least favourite stopover on the Camino and b) the Real Camino track was both well maintained and almost entirely covered in shade for the whole 19 km. It was also quiet and easy as it followed a local road parallel to a freeway but…
Day 25 Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahugun 21.98km – past halfway and going strong
Today was another cold day. Maybe we were just straight out lucky because the places that were meant to be the hottest and therefore hardest were actually a couple of the coldest days. The wind blowing across that Meseta is both spine chilling and refreshing when you are walking 20 k’s or so. We bid…
Day 24 Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza 17.5km
We awoke in our nice warm room and had breakfast downstairs before heading off. We decided that this was going to be another day where we would send on our pack. We had heard that the Meseta was one of the worse places to walk due to the lack of services between towns and due…
Day 23 Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de los Condes 27.02km
This was going to be a long day and sadly, even with my new shoes, the blisters on my heels refused to heal and husband had some problems too. It was either wait a day or send on our packs – we opted to pay 5 euro each and send our pack ahead 27 kilometres…
Day 22 Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino 19.96km
I had a grand plan today – I wanted to stay at the Hermitage of St Nicholas where there was no electricity and the Italian Monks washed your feet before a candlelit dinner. Husband on the other hand, had a distinct dislike of the idea of some stranger washing his feet and, even though we…
Day 21 Hornillas to Castrojeriz 22.31km I dont want to brag but…..
This day started well with our host driving us back to Hornillas. Enroute I was having a very in depth conversation with the lady in Spanish and my beloved husband was impressed. I learned that she was from Logrono and her husband was from around here. I complemented her staff Erica and Rodrigo from Brazil…
day 20 Burgos to Hornillos Del Camino 21.8 km
Damn it whole blogs are disappearing with bad wifi. None the less thank you all for reading and staying in touch – all likes and comments on WordPress are greatly appreciated and keep me motivated to keep writing and sharing a few photos. Frankly it keeps us both motivated to keep walking. Please excuse me…
Days 18 and 19 Burgos
Burgos is a place where a lot of pilgrims have a day off. For us it was a place to have two days off. Originally we planned only two nights (which meant one day rest) but the weather report suggested rain for both days and it felt like a cold winters day at home where…
Day 17 San Juan de Ortega to Burgos 27.11km
Leaving San Jaun de Ortega We finally decided it was necessary to send our packs on for the day. It cost 5 euro each and the van picks them up wherever you stay and then drops them off in the next big stop at wherever you tell it to. My leg was still swollen…
Belarado to San Juan de Ortega Day 17 25.66km 5.55am to 4.15pm
Left Belorado under moonlight knowing that we’ve been killing ourselves in the heat of the day. I put compeed on both feet in the hope of comfort – actually my blister was looking alot better but I thought the ankle was swollen and it may have been twisted through compensating for the blister. About 4…
Santo Domingo Calzado to Belgrado 22.28km Day 15 and Day 16
We tried to start early again today, headed out of town around 9.30am! Oh well all the serious hikers had gone at 4.30 or 5am and there was no way we going to catch up anyway. It was actually quite chilly so not such a bad time to leave anyway. Husband pulled his socks up…
Azofra to Santo Domingo 15.94km Day 14
After a night in such a great albergue the day is bound to be great. Azofra is an interesting town for two reasons really, one is the municipal albergue with the twin rooms and the foot pool and, the other is the tractors that drive down the main street. The bar and restaurant has seating…
Ventosa to Azofra 17.4 km Day 13 Walking with a spring in my step
I was actually as surprised as you will likely be when I tell you my beloved would not carry my pack again. Yes I know, we all thought it was the beginning of something big, however he awoke with a sore back as well as sore feet. He did however agree to take a couple…
Logrono to Ventosa (20.8km) The day my legs said “NO MORE!) day 12
When facetiming home this morning my brother in law asked how far we would walk today. I told him that if I walk anywhere the way my legs feel I may never walk again! So why on earth did we hit the 20km mark? We set off from Logrono too late as usual (9.30am) as…
Viana to Logrono 12 km A semi rest day (again) day 11
I know if we do 10km days all the way it will take us 80 days to reach Santiago. But, I tell you if we do 25 km days all the way we may not make it to Santiago. Full credit to those who can do more (and my beloved may well be one of…
Los Arcos to Viana (18kms) – my Mexican Yoda may not be real! Day 10
Leaving Los Arcos I realised that I need to do something more for the blister that had started on the big toe of my left foot (the one that wasnt operated on). Funnily enough, this blister had only occurred since I put new inserts in my boots. I had then put a bandaid and padding…
Running with the Bulls – Estella to Los arcos 24 km (long way round) day 9
It’s only supposed to be about 20kms between Estella and Los arcos but we preferred to walk that little bit extra today because it was nice and hot and frankly we weren’t sore enough yesterday. Not sure if anyone would believe that but would you believe we missed the free wine fountain and had to…
L town (Lorca to Estella) 12 km day 8
I know, it seems like we are fading now, only doing 12k’s. But frankly Estella was a necessary stop for two reasons – The first is that the albergue I had sent that darn bag to that we needed to post on to Santiago had lost it for a few hours. I spent these hours…
Uterga to the L town (Lorca) 21 kms day 7
At the pilgrims dinner in Uterga there was some discussion about where to go the next day. One of the Canadians was heading to the C town – so named because none of us could remember what it was called from one sentence to the next – probably because of the amount of red wine…
Pamplona – Uterga – 18.71km day 6 And we were supposed to be over the worst of it!
Sleep was well deserved and we were up early (well kind of) for an 8am departure. We didnt quite make 8am and wandered out of town at around 8.40am heading up to alto del perdon where the wrought iron pilgrim parade lines up across the mountain. This was a hard day. I know you probably…
Zubiri to Pamplona – In empathy with Slaves 22.57km days 4 and 5
Frankly I thought it was a miracle when I woke up and found I could walk again. Maybe thats what the camino is all about! Husband had a renewed sense of vigor and felt that today we could make it to Pamplona. I suggested that it would be best to just go half way –…
Roncenvalles to Zubiri 22.38km day 3- losing our vocabulary
We felt great today – after all we had completed the two hardest days of the whole Camino – or so we thought! It was 8 kilometres from St Jean to Orisson and 17 kilometres over the mountains to Ronsenvalles. We had crossed the Pyrenees from Spain to France – we had walked over the…
Saint Jean Pied de Port to Orisson 8km and to Roncenvalles 19.43 days 1 and 2
For those who have seen the movie “The Way” it seems quite romantic to arrive at the start of the camino by the old train with all the other pilgrims. Unfortunately the train isn’t running from Bayonne to St Jean at the moment. Apparently there was some landslide or something last November and repair work…
London town
Lets just say carrying backpacks through vast airports such as those in Dubai and London Heathrow is good practice for our 800 kilometre hike! We also carried our packs from Paddington Station through the streets that used to be so familiar to us when we lived in Bayswater twenty five years ago. Fortunately we were…
Ab Initio – from the beginning
You will know by now that a trip overseas for us should not be classified as a holiday, rather it should be considered an adventure. Furthermore you should know that this particular trip has special significance to us. Firstly, I had decided some time ago that in order to celebrate my 50th birthday I would…
To Flamenco or not to Flamenco? That is the question.
You may or may not recall that I dragged my beloved to a tango lesson in Buenos Aires and he was shaking in his shoes. It should be known that even after hiking dangerous inclines in the freezing winds of Patagonia, and diving with sea lions near to the orca hunting ground of Peninsula…