Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Day 19: From Hospital de Orbigo to Rabanal del Camino. Who knew Astorga was so cool?

We both had a rough night last night.  Remember how much we liked the town where we were staying, Hospital de Orbigo?  Our modern albergue was on the street facing the river, and our room was on the ground floor.  The locals didn't feel like going to bed or lowering their voices until way into the wee hours!  We had a 4:45 wake up set, and we were both grumpy!

Opting not to talk loudly as we walked through the deserted town, we decided to take a slightly shorter route that ran alongside the main highway to the first town 11+ kilometers up the road.  Our thinking was this: why take the scenic route when the sun hasn't risen?  Why worry about traffic at 5 in the morning, and besides, this highway has one lane in each direction.

The sun rises, and we make good time.  We need to.  Our plan is to walk a day and half's worth in the guidebook so that we end up at the beginning of the mountain for tomorrow.  Anyway, after 11 hours, we come across this historic cross in the woods.  Among the markers along the Camino, you find crosses which were the original markers.  Some date back many centuries.

Eleven kilometers into the walk, a sign that coffee is in my future. (Outside San Justo de la Vega.)


Tina says "Come on, smile!"  I haven't had my coffee yet.  The nearby town is Justo de la Vega. Behind it the city of Astorga.

We walk into the little town of San Justo de la Vega, population 2,100.  It's a bedroom community outside the city of Astorga.  The main street is tired.  We spot an open bar called the Oasis, and go inside.  The clientele is old men and civil servants.  (It's only about 7:30 in the morning.)  I order two large cafes con leche and 2 raciónes de tortilla Española (Spanish omelet).  We receive the largest, most beautiful, tastiest omelet ever.  In addition to potato and onion, it had a hint of green and red pepper.  Wow... Tina couldn't finish hers.
Why I get up so early in the morning.

We next walked into the city of Astorga, a place I knew nothing about.  What a cool city!  We're going to spend some time here in the future.  The city dates back to the Romans.  Saint Francis of  Assisi stayed here when he walked the Camino.  Antoni Gaudi designed the Bishops residence next to the cathedral.  Today's population is only 12,000, but it is an incredibly cool city.
Roman ruins in the city center.  check out the mosaic floor at the upper right.
The Plaza de España featuring the old town hall.  The clock is struck by the figures of a man and a woman.
The archbishop's palace designed by Gaudi. Check out the arched doorways at the bottom right.
The front of the cathedral.

We went into the cathedral, but they were having mass, so no photos.  We lit a candle for Tina's mom, and continued our walk out of the city, vowing to return with more time.

About a kilometer out of town, there's a tiny hermitage that used to take care of pilgrims.  We refilled our water bottles here.  It's named Ecce Homo.  I couldn't stop thinking of Kevin Cline in "A Fish Called Wanda".

Tina approaching Ecce Homo.  You have to be prepared for anything.

We still had almost 20 kilometers to walk.  The countryside was changing.  As Tina mentioned, the wheat had changed to corn.  It has become hillier and we are walking towards mountains.  There are a lot of trees, first oaks, and later, pine trees.
Tina, trees, hills and mountains. (A little wheat is visible at the right.)
Our halfway point is the tiny town of Santa Catalina de Somoza.  This is a beautiful little town with a few cafes and hostals serving pilgrims.  The population is 50.  We saw a baby.  Make that 51.  The next town we passed, el Ganso, (the goose) had a population of even fewer.  These towns are dying.  The old stone houses are falling down.  It's a real shame.

Finally, we reached our destination, Rabanal del Camino.  Even though it's got the same vacant buildings as the preceding towns, this hip little place has a great vibe.  It's the last town before tomorrow's climb up the mountain.  We're at about 4,000 feet and tomorrow  will climb to 5,000 before descending to less than 2,000.  The descent is supposed to be a killer.  So everybody stays here.

A quiet part of the main street in Rabanal
The interior of the chapel at the monastery in town. Sitting here, I got all choked up.
Spotted on the wall of an abandoned house with no roof and only two walls.
This town could be as cool as Santa Fe, New Mexico if just a few things could come together.  Instead, it's on life support, thanks to the Camino.

We're staying at a great private albergue, which is absolutely full.  I got us a private room, so I'm typing at 10:30 but everybody else is asleep, including Tina.

Tomorrow's a big day.  Tina will let you know how it turns out.  Good night!

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Day 18: León to Hospital de Órbigo

We left León at a respectable 6:15 in the morning.  The weather is delightfully cool and we planned a reasonable 33 kilometer walk for the day.  No sooner had we started on our way than we were met by a Spanish pilgrim, Fernando, going the opposite way. He was lost. We walked with him to the outskirts of the city, and saw him throughout the day through rest stops and long stretches of highway.

It was a long trudge out of León. We passed lots of residential and industrial areas, and more underground bodegas!


Bodegas outside Leon
We had coffee in a beautiful cafe 8.5 kilometers into our walk in La Virgen de Camino. Then it was another 12.7 kilometers to our Coke break in the tiny village of Villadangos.

We're now out of the Meseta.  We have two long days of walking along highways and toward the mountains, before some arduous climbs up Mount Irago. Our views are mostly cornfields.  Vast stretches of corn spreading out in all directions.  And lots of local scrub brush and highways.


View from the road
Cornfields...and some sunflowers
Alongside the cornfields are long deep water channels.  Each farm has an allotment of water.  When it's that farmer's turn, the water is diverted to his fields and floods the whole field.  No need to irrigate: the water is channeled to you directly!  We saw the same system in place in the wine region in Argentina.  It works.

Our final resting spot for the day is Hospital de Órbigo, a historic town with a beautiful 13th century bridge that is the longest and best preserved medieval bridge in all of Spain.  It's arches carry you across the rio Órbigo via the "Passage of Honor", which dates back to the Holy Year 1434.  According to legend, a noble knight from Leon, scorned by a beautiful maiden, threw down his gauntlet and challenged any knight who dared to pass the bridge that he guarded.  After a month, the knight prevailed in withstanding 300 attacks and regained his honor.  This story is thought to be an inspiration for Cervantes Don Quixote

Puente de Orbigo
This town is lovely, and our albergue is modern and welcoming.  We walked 33 kilometers today.  We need to go a bit further tomorrow, to position ourselves well for our steep ascent up the mountain on Friday.


Monday, July 29, 2019

Day 17: A Day of Rest in Leon

We've already agreed that we're coming back to this city--and not by foot.

Calle Ancha (Wide Street) Where we had our morning coffee

After walking 120 kilometers in  three days, we really needed some down time.  Today started with temperatures in the 40's and the high was only 70.  Wow.  Just wow.

The historic center of Leon is beautiful.  It's surrounded by the remnants of a tall, wide Roman wall and is centered on its beautiful Gothic cathedral.  The Cathedral was built between 1205 and 1301, in an era when the city had all of 5,000 inhabitants.  The architects maximized the use of stained glass and minimized the use of stone--in direct contrast to the heaviness of the preceding Romanesque style.  So airy was the design that sections of it collapsed centuries later, requiring major restoration in the 19th century.

After coffee this morning, our first stop was the Cathedral and its adjoining museum.

The Cathedral as viewed from the attached museum's cloister


One of four rose windows


It's all glass: the largest collection of midieval glass in Europe

After touring the cathedral, we visited the attached cloister and museum.  It has an enormous collection of medieval art.  Usually, I don't have patience for this stuff, but the collection was exquisite and the items were incredibly intricate and well preserved.  The weirdest part was this: from the cloister, they unlocked a door to let us into the museum, unattended.  Then, they locked the door behind us, saying that they had TV cameras and would let us out when we were ready!

After this experience, we then walked over to la Casa de Botines, designed by Antoni Gaudi, the famous architect from Barcelona.  It houses a museum, but we didn't go inside.

La Casa de Botines

Right across the street from la Casa de Botines is the Palacio de los Guzmanes, an amazing building that's significant because it wasn't built with church or state funds.  It was the home of the wealthy Guzman family.

Palacio de los Guzmanes courtyard


A Random Knight off the Courtyard

From here, we walked over to the Basilica of San Isodoro, a famous church that is the source of much of the medieval artwork in the cathedral museum.  Attached to it is a palace, a cloister and a museum.  We toured that too.  This is a lot of museums in one day.  They didn't allow photos, but there were two amazing parts.  http://www.hotelrealcolegiata.com/museo/

One was a chalice, alleged to be the one from the Last Supper (Indiana Jones fans should be paying attention).  It was in use in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruralem from the 300's to the 1000's when it was looted by the Muslims and sent to Cairo.  It was later given by the sultan in the mid 1000's to a king of a region of Spain in gratitude for food aid received during a drought.  It's been in this place almost ever since, but now the simple stone cup is adorned with scads of gold and precious stones.

The other great part of this museum is a set of frescoes that adorn the Royal Pantheon.  They are beautifully preserved and never restored.  Having only been cleaned twice since the 1100's you can really appreciate the artistry and original colors of the era.  In the depiction of the Last Supper, you can see that same chalice.

We then walked over to the Parador where we wanted to stay.  It's the site of a former convent and hospital for pilgrims on their way to Santiago.  It's undergoing renovation.  We will resume our walk there tomorrow.

The Parador housed in the Convento de San Marcos


You've got to admit it: this is a beautiful city.  Next we walked back to the center and had lunch of roast lamb in a beautiful restaurant courtyard about a block from the Cathedral.  After lunch, a siesta.  As soon as I finish this blog post, we'll go out for tapas and then get some sleep. 

Statue of a pilgrim, shoes off, outside the parador.  Very typical pilgrim behavior.

Tomorrow, we're hitting the road at 6:00 AM.  The next phase is all through mountains, so there won't be as many kilometers per day--thank goodness!

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Day 16: El Burgo de Ranero to León

We made it to León!  Encouraged by our Camino friend Karin Flemström, we covered 180 kilometers of Meseta--from Burgos to León--in 5 days, versus the recommended 8-day pace.  To celebrate, we're spending an extra day in León tomorrow to relax and visit this beautiful provincial capital that we've never seen.

True to form, we woke up at 4:45 am and were out the door by 5:10 am this morning.  Unlike other days, it was really cold outside--in the low 40's!  We could see our breath from under the headlamps.  Bundled in fleeces and jackets, we trudged through the Meseta in the cold and dark, grateful for the chill and the lack of rain. We walked along a sensa, a walking path alongside the highway.  Only two cars passed us in two hours, and not for more than an hour into our walk!
Breakfast on the horizon

In the Meseta, the distances between towns can be really significant.  This morning was no exception.  The first town we passed (read: first chance for coffee!) was 13.1 kilometers away.  We made it there by 7:45 am.  We were a little worried that nothing would be open so early on a Sunday morning.  Thankfully, we found a lovely cafe right at the edge of town and enjoyed an early morning breakfast in the cool sunlight.  

Just as we were preparing to leave the cafe, our Camino friend Jeet passed by.  He, too, was looking for coffee but decided to go further on into town.  We followed him on the way.  We passed many bars and cafes but none were opened.  We finally figured out what was happening:  the shopkeepers were dividing the business and limiting the competition.  Some cafes, such as the one we visited, were open early and also closing early.  Other cafes opened later and stayed open late into the evening.  This way, the community could be served at all hours, and each establishment could have its share of the business.  We've been seeing the same phenomenon in town after town: one bar/cafe closes, just as the neighboring business opens.  It makes sense.

The next town we passed was heralded in the guidebook as a gem of a town.  It was also the ending destination for one of the Camino stages (full day trek).  We expected a wonderful, vibrant town.  Instead, we found a tiny but cute village with about two main roads and some cafes and albergues.  We had coffee and walked on.  Lesson learned: guidebooks can be deceiving.  The Camino route can be deceiving.  Sometimes, you're scheduled and routed in specific ways so that you pass certain businesses, shops, albergues, and such.  It matters to businesses which side of the road you're told to use; sometimes, they let you use either side (likely to appease the businesses there).  You can't trust the books too much.  Common sense has to prevail!


The last leg of today's journey was an 18 kilometer slog into León. Interestingly, the guidebook author John Brierly suggested that pilgrims consider taking a bus into town instead of walking the route (!).  We walked.  Most of the path was a sensa.  Given that today was Sunday, there were very few cars on the road, so traffic and noise were not an issue.  We walked along old Roman roads and crossed old Roman bridges.  It was a delightful walk.


Paco crossing the river adjacent to an old Roman bridge
The final stage of the walk was tedious. We walked a few kilometers through modern León, which was okay but we had no idea where the old town would begin.  So we kept following the arrows until we reached our destination: the Puerta Moneda and the old Roman walls of the historic city.  Our hotel is in the beautiful Plaza Mayor.  What a treat to be here, finally!


Old City Hall in Plaza Mayor, at Dusk
View of the 13th century Cathedral






Saturday, July 27, 2019

Day 15: Calzadillas de las Cuevas to El Burgo Ranero, Walking in the Rain

Tina's alarm went off at 4:45 AM this morning, and we were on the road by 5:30.  The Hostal was dark, and we walked through the lobby (again) with headlamps.  We let ourselves out and still managed to be fundamentally challenged finding our way out of a one horse town in the dark!

The forecast called for a high chance of rain for most of the day accompanied by very low temperatures.  Our plan was to walk 40.6 kilometers, taking advantage of the unseasonably cool temperatures and the flat topography.  There were no stars visible and no moon, so it had to be cloudy.

Well, within 15 minutes, it started to rain, so we put on these cheap plastic ponchos that we bought a few decades ago at the Smithsonian Institution and which embarrass our children to no end.  We walked in the dark, headlamps  peeking out from under ugly blue ponchos, 6.1 kilometers to the town of Ledigos, where we found an open bar full of people, largely pilgrims, having coffee, Bar La Morena.

It was like a scene from Star Wars or a Mad Max movie as we walked in, dressed in blue plastic bags, dripping wet, with lights on our foreheads.  People just stared at us.  It was hilarious.

La Meseta in the Rain
Everybody buys Camino Guide books written by a man named John Brierly, and according to him, the next town is supposed to be the culmination of Day 17.  It's called Terradillos de los Templares.  (Yes, that would be the Knights Templar for all of you Dan Brown fans.)  The problem is that it's a dump.  The previous town, Ledigos, or the next town would make great places to spend an evening.

The next town gets no coverage in the book.  It's named Moratinos, but it could be called the Shire.

Could those be Hobbitses?
No, they're 500+ year old Bodegas... but they could be Hobbit Holes
So, this area is today all wheat  and sunflowers, but 2,000 years ago, and in the times of the Romans, it was covered with vineyards.  The thing is, this soil has no native rocks of any kind.  It's just clay.  So, the locals carved these tunnels into the hillsides and did the entire winemaking process underground.  Clay vessels, amphorae, the works.  These subterranean storage spaces are called bodegas.

The bodegas we were looking at are over 500 years old and still contain tools and artifacts from that era.  Some are used today for vegetable storage and others as event spaces.  The thing is: they were carved out of these hills by the children of the town during the winter to give them something to do.  What a story!

We walked another 3 kilometers to the village of San Nicolas del Real Camino.  We sat in an outdoor cafe and had, not a Coca Cola, but another coffee to keep warm.  The longer you sit in a cafe, the more pilgrims you meet as they drop their packs and do the same thing you do.  We met a new college graduate from GWU who's going to be working in Holland in the fall and a girl from Ireland.  Tina got their names, but she's asleep, so you get the abridged version from me.

By this time, we'd noticed something interesting.  Because there is no indigenous stone in this area, everything's made from clay and straw (probably wheat straw.)  When you cover it with paint, it looks like a solid building.  When you stop maintaining it, it starts to melt into nothing.  These towns are a combination of new and well maintained buildings, and deteriorating shells that look like they're held together by horse poop.

The next city we walked through, Sahagun, was the poster child for this.  The guidebook said that it was a very famous and historic city except many of the most important buildings had melted away.  I'm not kidding.  It was also the worst waymarked city on the Camino.  We somehow found our way in one end and out the other, but we're convinced that we left lots of other pilgrims wandering aimlessly through its streets looking for yellow arrows.

Gluten Free Pit Stop
It was still raining, we had a long way to walk, so we continued heading West towards our destination.  Tina remarked that she was getting hungry (it was past noon) and that we should stop somewhere to eat some of the food we've been carrying for days.  (This is going to sound superstitious, but something we always repeated on the Portuguese Route four years ago was "The Camino provides.")  Within minutes, the rain stopped and we found a brand new picnic area next to the new high speed rail tracks.  We took off our shoes (very important) and snacked on chorizo and almonds.

Anyway, it was between 3 and 4 PM when we got to our destination, the tiny town of El Burgo Ranero (which sounds like a Spanish children's song...)  It's a nice little town, but there are entirely new streets and others where all the buildings are melting.  We've showered, done laundry, eaten dinner, and now Tina's asleep by 9 PM. (That's why I'm writing tonight.)

Tomorrow, our plan is to make it to Leon, the provincial capital.  We wanted to stay in the Parador, but it's being renovated.  I booked us a nice hotel instead.  I could sure use a back massage!

I learned something tonight.  Leon's name does not refer to a lion.  It was the garrison for Rome's seventh Legion.  "Leon" somehow refers to legion.  The roads we've traveled were all built by the Romans.  The stone that the roads were made out of was all carted in from elsewhere because there's none here, hundreds of thousands of tons of stone.

Whether we make it tomorrow is an open question.  These old people are getting pretty sore keeping up this pace--but no blisters!  (Ever since I got new, less bulky, socks, my feet have fully healed.)

We'll let you know how it turns out.  The alarm is set for 4:45 AM.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Day 14: From Boadilla to Calzadilla de la Cueza, 42 Km on our 33rd Anniversary



Okay, first things first: 33 years ago today, we were married in Royal Oak Michigan in front of a whole lot of relatives, many of whom are not with us today.  Somehow, we’re still ticking!  What a place to celebrate an anniversary!

I sat in the bar at the albergue last night until after 10 PM trying to upload Tina’s video on a painfully slow WiFi network for yesterday’s blog post.  Finally, I gave up and went to the bunk room.  I had a very important job: I had the bed in front of the window.

These bunk rooms can become a sauna.  The night before, in a perfectly nice, new albergue, we got almost no sleep because there was no cross ventilation and ten+ people sleeping in the same room.

Last night the room was bigger and the forecast called for overnight thunderstorms.  No rain overnight, but cool temperatures.  I did my job.  People slept--as did I.

We’d expected to make a later start, but with no overnight rain, we opted to start at 5:30 and to try to walk a full 42 kilometers, taking advantage of the forecasted cooler weather and flat terrain, to make it to Calzadilla de la Cueza, another small town on the Meseta.

A little more than an hour out, the first town we reached was Fromista.  What a cool town!  For starters, it had multiple places to eat  This is where we should have walked to yesterday.  We found a place to have breakfast, Bar Manchego, and while we were having our tortilla Española, our friend Jacob came walking along.  He joined us and we walked together for half of the day.

Fromista has one legitimate architectural gem, the church of San Martin, a beautifully restored Romanesque Church from 1066.  It’s stunning.  Romanesque churches can be pretty solid looking, with none of the fancy stonework of the later gothic churches.  This church, if you look closely, is adorned with all kinds of unique stone carvings.  It’s amazing.  People come by the busload to visit it.

La Iglesia de San Martin



During the first half of the day, the small towns came one after another, which was very cool.  The Camino paralleled the main highway, but early in the morning, it didn't matter.

Jacob and Paco on a decidedly less sexy part of the Camino.
We stopped for a Coke in the town of Villarmentero de Campos at an albergue which had tons of animals on the property, something we hadn't noticed when we dropped our packs and ordered.  Here's Tina making friends with some chickens.

No, there's nothing in this back pack for you!
We get out of this albergue, and get ready to continue the trek, but the Camino is blocked by sheep!  This town is just full of farm animals.

We were very lucky with the weather.  While the rest of Europe was setting record high temperatures, a front must have rolled through here.  Our high was forecast to be 70 F.  Our thought was: as long as it's not raining, and the terrain is flat, let's go as far as we can.

We arrived in the city of Carrion de Los Arcos.  This was supposed to be our stopping point.  It's the destination point on Day 16 of the guidebook that everybody uses.  We stopped in the 12th century Romanesque church Santa Maria del Camino, and lit three candles for Tina's family.
Santa Maria del Camino


Most of the people we knew were staying in this town, but with the weather so forgiving and the terrain so flat, we decided to go to the next town--despite the fact that it was 17 kilometers away.  The pilgrims we ran into kept reminding us of this--even though it was common knowledge.  (17 kilometers with no facilities and no potable water...)

So we decided to have a sandwich.  We found a bar, and I was able to get both a gluten free bocadillo and a gluten free beer.  I was psyched!

One happy man.
Seriously, this next piece has everybody psyched out.  There are 17 kilometers between Carillon and Calzadillas.  On a burning hot day, that sounds like death valley.  There is no potable water.  There are no phones.

Tina and I were each carrying close to 2 liters of water--and it wasn't a hot day.  What could go wrong?  About a kilometer out of town, the skies opened up and we got drenched with freezing cold rain.  Our shoes and socks were drenched.  Decision time: forge ahead and risk blisters or turn around and stay in a four star hotel for your anniversary.  I should stop the blog right here...

We forged on.

This is what 17 km of nothing looks like. 
Thanks to misleading signage, we thought we were making great time, but the last four kilometers took an eternity.  Here's the view of the little town where we're staying:

I know, it's like the last photo but with buildings. Trust me.  This is what heaven looks like.
We decided to book a double room in a Hostal instead of an albergue.  Hey!  It's our anniversary!  We had a lovely dinner in the Hostal's restaurant and I'm sitting in the bar, in the dark, finishing this blog.

Tomorrow's weather may be a carbon copy of today--but with more rain.  We're going to try to do something like 38 kilometers.  Our objective is to maximize the amount of time we get to spend in Leon.  Tina will let you know how things turn out!


Thursday, July 25, 2019

Day 13: Hontanas to Boadilla


It'is said that The Camino tests a pilgrim in three ways: the body, the soul, and the spirit.  The first stage tests the body; you need to cross the Pyrenees and climb many more hills and mountains along the way.  Your feet will ache.  The second part tests the soul. The Meseta’s seemingly endless expanses, with no shade and few way stations in between stops, can make the journey seem tedious and hopeless.  You need to persevere.  And finally, as road swells with  walkers who join only the last stretch to Santiago, The Camino tests your patience and goodwill.

We’re walking through the Meseta.  It’s beautiful and vast.  We walk by wheat, wheat, wheat, sunflowers, more wheat.  And wheat.  The Meseta is Spain’s High Plains.  It’s very fertile, desolate, mountainous, rocky, remote…lonely.

Today's the final day of the heat wave that’s been gripping Europe for days.  We left our albuergue at 5:15 am to beat the heat.  Before dawn, we passed Arco San Anton, the ruins of the ancient XIVth century Convento San Anton and now a basic albergue with no electricity.  It’s beautiful!

Arco San Anton at Dawn


We had coffee at a beautiful village called Castrojeriz.  Its centerpiece is the Iglesia Santa Maria del Manzano, again a XIVth century gem from the pilgrim road.  We were grateful for the gracious hospitality of Hostal El Manzano, which served generous slices of Spanish omelet and yummy cafes con leche.

Iglesia Santa Maria
Then we started the long climb our of the valley.  From the distance, we could see the ruins of an old castle.  We were met alongside the road by a local gentleman offering a “Sello” (stamp for our pilgrim passport) and a Tau charm.  The Tau is the symbol of the Antonine order, who are devoted to promoting the health and happiness of pilgrims on the road to Santiago.  The symbol has been adopted as one of the pilgrim symbols for The Camino.

The Tau Symbol for Pilgrims to Santiago

Walking out of the town, we came to a mesa.  We climbed up over a kilometer, at a 12% grade, to reach the high plain above the town.  It was an exhausting climb. Here’s a picture from the top.


The view from the top, into the sun.

And then we walked.  And walked.  This is the Meseta.  You just walk.  This video gives you an idea of what we saw, and will continue to see, as we walk.



As we were approaching the town of Itero de la Vega, where we hoped to have our Coca Cola break, we unexpectedly ran into our Camino friend Jacob, who we hadn't seen for over a week.  It was great to reunite with an old Camino buddy, and we continued our walk together to our resting place for the night: Boadilla. 


Jacob and Paco 
We started walking to our destination.  Suddenly, from our left side, a man came running at us calling out, "Give me your (walking) stick, give me your (walking) stick."  Startled, Paco handed him the pole, and the man ran toward the canal, smashing into the bushes.  Paco and Jacob followed suit.  Turns out, the man's dog jumped into the canal and couldn't get out.  The water was rushing too fast, and the dog had nothing to hang onto.  Jacob took charge, taking off his shoes and sloshing into the water to rescue the dog.  In the meantime, the second dog decided to jump into the canal too.  Luckily, he got out without further ado.  The man thanked us profusely, got in his car, and drove on--with the dogs running alongside the car!

Unfortunately, just about everything the guidebook said about Boadilla was wrong.  There aren't three restaurants...just one.  There's no store in which to buy food.  There's just about nothing.  Had we known, we wouldn't have picked this as a stopping point.  Oh well.


One of two rooms of bunk beds.  Two toilets and two showers.

In this large albergue, we reconnected with many other Camino friends: Mary and Jonas from the previous day, as well as Norbert, and Ana from Barcelona.   We met a new pilgrim, a 16-year-old South Korean named Seon Heon (pronounced Thon Hun, I think!)  There are many South Koreans on the Camino.  Apparently, a recent TV series highly promoted the walk and enticed many South Koreans to embark on this journey.  During our conversation, Seon Heon asked me how old I was.  I asked him to guess.  He said “39”.  I love this kid!

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Day 12: Burgos to Hontanas, Our First Taste of the Meseta

Yesterday afternoon in Burgos, we saw a young German couple looking quizzically at their guidebooks.  We showed them the detailed map we had received from the Tourist Office and helped them find their way to the Municipal Albergue.  Their names were Mary and Jonas, and they had just completed the same long walk we did the day before--only they looked a lot better than we did.

This morning, we left our hotel at 5:15 AM and walked alone through the streets of Burgos to rejoin the path of the Camino.  Following the Camino in a big city can be challenging because of the visual clutter.  Doing it in the dark can be even more challenging.  Today was no exception.  The good news: we didn't get lost.

Leaving a big city, we expected to run into other pilgrims or at least to see them ahead of us.  For some reason, we didn't see any for the longest time.  The sun rose at 6:30 as we were near the highways surrounding the city, and we couldn't spot anyone ahead of us or behind us.  It was weird.
A Stork Nest on top of the church steeple in Rabé de las Calzadas. The stork is sitting in the nest.

We stopped for coffee and tortilla Española (potato and onion omelet) in the town of Rabé de las Calzadas, a very cute and well maintained little town.  When we were getting ready to resume walking, lots of pilgrims started arriving.  We spoke to one and heard the most amazing story:  they had all stayed in the Municipal Albergue for the night.  In the morning, the staff didn't let anybody leave until 6:00 AM!  Some of them had gotten up at 4:00 to beat the heat.  We had a 45 minute head start--that's why we saw nobody.

Among the arriving pilgrims, were Mary and Jonas.

We pushed on.  The heavy rains the night before had cooled things off and left puddles in the normally dusty countryside.

The Meseta is beautiful, but vast.
 The Meseta isn't totally flat.  The terrain is between 800 and 900 meters above sea level. (2,600 to 3,000 feet.)  It's covered with... drum roll.... wheat.  As with some of the previous places we walked through, we noticed that the fields themselves were just as rocky as our path.  Check out this newly plowed field:

That's what I call rocky soil.  You could call it soily rocks.
 We stopped in a second town, Hornillos del Camino,  for the usual Coca Cola stop.  I'm no expert, but I think that the name means "little ovens".  I'm probably wrong.  It was 11:30 and they were calling people to mass by ringing the church bells.  I don't think anybody came, so they repeated this two more times.


Today's walk was 32 kilometers, 20 miles.  We felt good for most of it because of the effect of the rain and because of some refreshing breezes.  Towards the end, Tina's feet started  cramping, probably a residual effect of our preposterously long trip to Burgos.

Can you see the windmills in the background?



The final approach to Hontanas.
We finally got to our destination, the little town of Hontanas, at about 1 PM.  It was finally getting hot.  We'd picked an albergue at the entrance of the town, and were really pleased with the quality of the amenities.  (We each get an electrical outlet and a reading light!)

So they give us a room number and numbered bunk beds, and who do we find in the next two bunks?  Mary and Jonas.  That's what the Camino is like.


Hontanas is a classic pilgrim village.  Spaniards can't find it.  It exists to serve the Camino and has for hundreds of years.  The parish church is from the 14th century.

We showered, did laundry and then went out to lunch elsewhere in this little town, and something didn't agree with Tina,  so I get to write the blog today!  To tell you the truth, something we ate didn't agree with me either, but I wanted to write this!