Day 19 - Mansilla de las Mulas to León

A short day today...only 18.2 km, allowing me to get into León early to see what I hear is a great city. It's noticable that the meseta is ending as we're starting to get rolling hills. Nothing big, but after the completely flat meseta, it's a welcome change. I could see that they're building a new footbridge across a major highway that could very well be for El Camino and the crowds they're expecting for the Holy Year next year. Hopefully that's what it's for as the way into León seemed out of the way, taking us up the highest hill overlooking León right by radio and TV towers broadcasting to the cities (I actually think I could feel the microwaves affecting my pancreas). I will say that getting over the ridge of that hill and being able to see the city was a welcoming site. The beautiful cathedral was clearly visible. Sometimes seeing your goal is a blessing in disguise (another life lesson) as you have such anticipation of getting there that sometimes you'd rather just be there.

As soon as I got to the old part of town where the cathedral was, I could see and sense that the city had a great vibe, full of people walking around and just enjoying the wonderful weather. I decided to stick to the original plan and spend two days there, checking into the Hotel Paris (ironic) only a couple hundred yards from the Cathedral and right in the heart of it. Little did I know when I chose the place (based on location) that the hotel contained a spa and it was also for hotel guests! Saunas and hot tubs do no good on swollen feet, but they still felt wonderful on tired and weary muscles! For those staying in León for whatever reason, I highly suggest it. It was a nice hotel, a decent price, and in a perfect locaton.

As I was staying there on Friday and Saturday nights, I was able to take part in the nightlife, unlike my friends staying in the albergue, as it locked its doors at 9:30. There were several of us in hotels, so I wasn't alone. There were sooo many young people, just going bar to bar having a beer or glass of wine and the tapas that come with each drink in the evening. Then the locals had me experience a calimocho. It's half red wine (vino tinto) and Coca-Cola served in a large cup. It tastes better than it sounds, goes down like candy, and can pack quite a punch given its ease to drink! Sunday was a late and hard walk out of León after a late night on the town!

Temporary post...under the weather

Fear not, I'm on the mend now. But I've had a touch of the flu. I've still been walking. But taking the time and effort to find internet has not been a priority. Updates soon, I promise!

Day 18 - Bercianos de Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

The anticipation of getting to León and then to start climbing a mountain again is getting to me. I hear many great things about the city of León and plan to spend 2 days there exploring the sites and just taking in the culture and people of a Spanish city. Burgos and Logroño have inspired the extra day's stay. Also, I want to arrive in Santiago de Compostela on October 31st. That way, the pilgrim's mass I attend on the 1st will be on All Saints Day and they will pull out the botafumeiro. In English, we call it a thurible, the little incense cannister that is swung during certain times at mass. But apparently, the botafumeiro in Santiago is humongous, swinging across the entire transept of the church and requiring several people (thurifers) to hold on to the other end of the rope to swing it. I can't wait to see that! They pull it out for Holy Days and apparently when they get enough pilgrim donations, but that takes a fair amount. Given that it's not a Holy Year and not the high season for El Camino, I doubt we would get enough.

Day 17 - Terradillos de los Templarios to Bercianos de Real Camino

Today is more of the Meseta. Though the landscape can be dull at times, it offers a great time to think. It's also starting to get cold at night. The air is very dry here, so it can get cold quickly, but it can also warm up quickly once the sun comes up. As I walk, I've realized how a rollercoaster can be a metaphor for life...and some of you know how I love rollercoasters! Now I just have to enjoy the ride of life. When the walking is flat, I miss the mountains for their scenery and the nuances of climbing and descending them. When it's warm, I wish it were cool. When it's cool, I wish it were warm. Everything comes and goes. I just need to learn to roll with the punches.

One side note...a fellow pilgrim that I'd never seen before came up to me in the albergue and said: "I've read your blog."

"You have?"

"Yes, you used to have 'interesting' hair."

Yup...that was me. Guilty as charged. He found my blog either through a search or through a forum. But either way, if you read it again: Hi, Brian from Ireland!

Day 16 - Carrión de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios

I mentioned in the previous post how flat and boring the landscape can be. Today was a better example of it. The first 17.5 km were through NOTHING but wide open fields. There was not a single town or anything. It's trying to walk through that as it can feel very hopeless when you're feet are hurting, you're hungry, you've been walking for a few hours, and all you see in front of you is fields, all harvested, some already tilled, some still waiting for tilling. But like I said before, it's in these times that I think you can get the most contemplation done. I have hardly pulled out the camera the last few days as it would be generally the same picture, over and over.

On I walk.

Day 15 - Frómista to Carrión de los Condes

Today is a festival day (Fiesta Nacional de España) in Spain, meaning that nearly everything is closed. Despite that, I can't exactly take a day off. The landscape is still very, very flat and I expect nothing different for the next few days. In Carrión de los Condes, I stayed in a simple, yet nice albergue, run by nuns. I'm not sure what order they are from. I attended mass at the Church of Santa Maria next door, yet another amazingly beautiful church in Spain. I think it was because of the holiday that dinner was a little difficult to find. After mass, the only restaurant in town that seemed to serve a pilgrim's menu was completo, or full. So I went a few doors down to a bar, had a couple of cervezas with some other pilgrims, until I could get in for dinner. When I went back to the restaurant, the only spot was at a table with 3 French people, also pilgrims, who had not ordered yet. Two of them speak excellent English, but it was still fun to test the amount of French I remember from highschool and college!

On I walk.

Day 14 - Castrojeríz to Frómista

I'm in a part of Spain called the Meseta Central. They are high plains full of fertile (despite being rocky) fields. Unfortunately, when walking, this means it's boring! I do welcome the lack of incline as uphill is very tiring and downhill can be slow and hard on the knees. But the lack of scenery is getting annoying. It is beautiful. Just getting to be the same thing over and over. Once I've seen something on the Meseta, I see the same exact field for the next 5 kilometers! I welcome a change in landscape, but I will admit that the Meseta is offering me an incredible time to think.

Part of the reason I came on this trip was to become closer to God. What I've realized by walking through so much and varied land and by reflecting on my life, is that when you seek God, you don't usually find Him. He finds you when He wants to and when you need Him, even without asking. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but it's just a little observation and realization I've made about God in my life so far on this journey.

On I walk.

Day 13 - Rabé de las Calzadas to Castrojeríz

The walk today was dominated by mostly flat landscape with fields of mostly hay, from what my urban experience can tell. It's already been baled into these HUGE, well organized stacks over 50 feet long and over 25 feet tall! You can see the hay stacks from miles and miles away. There were some small rolling hills, nothing really outstanding or difficult. There was one neat part where the roadway I walked along actually went through the middle of the ruins of the Convent of San Anton, which was used from the 12th to 18th centuries. Only a few walls and arches still remain, including arches over the road.

Spain is a REALLY green country! And I'm not talking about plant life. I'm talking about caring about the earth and preventing global climate change. I've seen several wind farms, with enormous wind turbines to generate electricity. There have been a few under construction that I've seen. Every town, from the dumpsters that people put their household waste into, to the trashcans on lightpoles in the parks, are divided into several receptacles: paper products, glass, compostable, and other rubbish. I've only seen one incandescent lightbulb in Spain and guessing by its appearance, it's older than I am! It's nice to see that as a country, they are taking initiative to prevent the impact of it's citizens on dangerous and lasting changes to the earth and it's climate. We should follow such an example in the United States!

On I walk.

Day 12 - Burgos to Rabé de las Calzadas

After 40 km yesterday, today was a short walk: only 11 km. I needed to rest my poor tired and swollen feet. I stopped at an albergue, Ospidal-Albergue de Peregrinos Santa Marina y Santiago, run by a French lady and her Spanish husband. It was a little pricey based on everything so far (€23), but included dinner and breakfast. It also looked really small and that it might be very quiet. There was one room with an incredibly tall ceiling (and a 10m deep well in which you could see the water table below) that had nearly every square inch of the walls covered with either compostelas (about 40 of them) or other artifacts about El Camino. She and her husband have been walking El Camino for over 23 years each and she opened the albergue to welcome and care for pilgrims. For a while, I thought I'd be the only one there until a pair of Australians, mother and daughter, showed up after their first day of walking. The place ended up being really nice and worth the price. She also threaded my one blister I've gotten so far (knock on wood).

There was a bar in town where I went for lunch. I ordered one bocadilla and a beer and ended up getting 2 beers, a plate of home-grown tomatoes with olive oil, yogurt, cheese, and a medallion of the Virgin Mary. He spoke no English and I speak very, very little Spanish. But he was just so friendly and talkative. I gathered he's from Cuba orginally and has done the Inca Trail as well as El Camino. Just a really nice guy. All of the Spaniards I've encountered have been really, really friendly and helpful. I wish I knew more Spanish.

On I walk.

Day 11 - Villafranca Montes de Oca to Burgos

What a day! And by that, I mean what a LONG day! I walked over 40 km today in order to get to Burgos in one push. I don't think it was worth it. I stayed in a hotel that night (previously planned) to get a little me time...a bedroom with nobody else in it, a shower with hot water that I could use for more than 2 minutes before someone starts getting upset over how long I'm taking and how much hot water I'm using, and a real towel. After 40 km and wandering around the city center area for a bit just observing the Spanish people and the stores, I was exhausted. The next morning, my feet were literally swollen. If would be hard to tell if you didn't know what they normally looked like.

So apparently, in Spain, there aren't many Asians. I haven't seen but 4 or 5 that live in Spain. I have met 5 South Korean girls on El Camino (Seoul Sista's) and one American who lives in Madrid and teaches English (met him on El Camino as well). But ALL of the others that I've seen have been in these stores called "Bazars" that sell everything and everything that they sell is crammed onto shelves (and probably fell off a truck, quite honestly). I was in one the other day looking for a coin pouch since 1 and 2 Euro coins are so commonly used. Some lady started asking me something as if I worked there! "No hablo espanol. Yo no trabajo aqui." It was like that time that I wore a red shirt when I went to Target. I was asked not once, but twice, for help finding something. I actually was able to help one lady out.

Day 10 - Grañón to Villafranca Montes de Oca

The route today took me through Redecilla del Camino, Castildelgado, Viloria de la Rioja, Villamayor del Rio, Belorado, Tosantos, Villambistia, and Espinosa del Camino. The towns seem a little closer together now as I travel down mostly farm roads between fields. Again today, I put on some extra distance in order to make the walk to Burgos a breeze so that I would have time to kick around.

Last night, I stayed in the belltower of the 14th century church in Grañón. What an amazing place to stay (even though the bells rang all night from what I could tell). The dinner was a group dinner that was cooked by Marco and Martini, the recently married couple from Italy doing El Camino for their honeymoon. It was delicious. After dinner, the hospitalero (he only speaks Spanish) motioned me through a door marked "Do not enter." It turned out to be a back entrance to the choir loft of the church where the altar was lit and the old wooden seats built into the choir loft were surrounded by lit candles. Most of us ended up being rounded up there. No, it wasn´t the fabled annual sacrifice of a pilgrim (just kidding). It was an evening prayer. Another hospitalero was playing the guitar and singing hymns in Spanish. She (Marta) has an amazing voice. The whole experience was really amazing and so far the best albergue I've stayed at on El Camino.

Contrast this with the night before in Najera...somebody swiped my sunglasses off my bed while I was at dinner, the showers were frigid, and there were no toilet seats (yeah...I have no explanation for this one...but you try a power squat after walking for more than 30 km that day). This one and the one in the church were both donativo, or by donation only. Take a guess which place got the (much) bigger donation! Unfortunately for the place in Najera, it's a bad Catch-22. If it's bad, nobody gives money. But without money, they can't make it better (i.e. buy toilet seats!)

On I walk.

Day 9 - Najera to Grañón

Today was a long day (27 km), given that yesterday was over 30 km. Today, again, I went past the usual stop in order to a) enjoy a quieter albergue and b) enjoy a historic albergue. I'm staying in the church belltower in Grañón. Unfortunately, I think the bells ring every quarter hour all night long. But the building is older than dirt and really amazing. The stairs to get up to the sleeping area and the bathroom are a bit of a pain, however.

The walk today was long, going over gravel farm roads between fields of grapes, hay, and potatoes. There was very little shade and rolling hills, some of which were quite tiresome to climb and descend. I stopped in Santo Domingo de la Calzada for lunch and wanted to stop in the church. I heard it was beautiful and had two live chickens in it (based on some legend). Unfortunately, it was closed for siesta when I tried to see it, so I'll have to look it up on the internet when I have more time (i.e. when I'm not paying for it by the minute).

I'm busting ahead in order to try to have a shorter walk into Burgos in a few days. Since it's one of the bigger cities I'll go through, I wanted to get in earlier without being tired so that I could explore it a little, even if that's just sitting in the central square watching the locals go about their daily lives. The Spanish (and for the short time I was in France, the French) have been amazing hosts, helping us pilgrims out whenever we need it. The Irish lads got lost in Logroño and some lady stopped them, recognizing their backpacks and scallop shell symbols of a pilgrim, and walked them back to the correct path. The food here is amazing and way not good for me. If my PCP is reading this, ignore the next sentence: Everything is soooo salty and fatty...but soooooo good!

On I walk.

Day 8 - Logroño to Najera

Today was LONG: 30.7 kilometers. It was mostly uphill, but gently so...nothing as annoying as some of the earlier hills and mountain that I had to tackle. The first town I went through was Navarette, a quiet farming community. Leaving Navarette, I took a break outside of a cemetery just out of town. A local farmer gave me a bunch of grapes to eat. They were amazingly sweet and a welcome treat. The portico on the cemetery was originally on a 13th century pilgrim hospital, St. John of Acre, the ruins of which were on the opposite side of town as I entered Navarette. 13th century...the Americas weren't even discovered by Europeans yet! Walking in the shadow of history like this is an amazing and humbling experience.

It seems that El Camino takes us by the church in each town we go through. They are the highest and most visible point in each town, which means an uphill walk into each town. They have been worthwhile climbs. The churches are beautiful and easily outdate any churches in the United States. If possible, I try to go in, look at the even more amazing sights inside and leave a small donation. Pictures have been hard to come by as the lighting is dim and I dare not use my flash around such valuable things that old.

The other things I noticed today was that the waymarking for El Camino has been much poorer in the state of Rioja versus Navarra where I started. The signs were plentiful and obvious before. Now they are truly subtle: I often find myself looking for signs of other pilgrims: a cairn (too easy), bike tracks, or footprints. The yellow arrows are fewer and far between. Several people got lost today. With 30.7 km today, getting lost was problematic.

On I walk.

Day 7 - Torres del Rio to Logroño

I've learned that some people are trying to follow my progress on a map. http://www.caminomap.com/ is a great site for following me. It has a google map with my path already marked. Below the map is an "albergue" button...click it to remove all the beds from the map. Those are the places I can stay, but can get annoying to look at.

Today, I went from Torres del Rio to Logroño via the town of Viana. I got a late start and took my time since I put in extra distance the day before to get that luxury. The people starting in Los Arcos easily caught up with me (though they left at 6:30 am to do so). I was actually awake at 6:30 because two locals were outside my albergue with Spanish disco music cranked in their car with the windows open. As I soon discovered, they were waiting for the lady at the albergue to open the doors and the bar so they could hit on her. I walked downstairs for breakfast and they were drinking beers and talking to her. They tried to buy me a beer. No thanks.

Viana had a beautiful church, as all of them have been in Spain so far. Except in addition to the physical beauty, when I walked in the door, I immediately heard monks chanting. It was not a recording. Somewhere from the inner recesses of the church, there were monks chanting. It's not something often (ever?) witnessed in the United States. What an amazing experience to sit in the church taking time to reflect and play as monks chanted softly in the background.

Logroño is a pretty neat city with a vibrant Plaza del Mercado. It was Sunday, so everything was closed...which meant that getting anti-inflammatory cream for my knee was going to have to wait. But still, there were people milling around, enjoying a coffee or drink and their Sundays with friends and family. It seems the Spanish enjoy quite a relaxed lifestyle. Between 2 pm and 6pm, everything except bars are completely dead: siesta. I want a siesta. I think I´ll start taking them when I get back home.

On I walk.

Day 6 - Estella to Torres del Rio

Last night, I stayed at the parochial albergue. It had 2 rooms with about 16 beds (8 bunks) in each. Quarters were very tight, but I was with great friends and the Camino experience here was amazing. We all started cooking dinner together at about 6:30 under the guidance of the hospitalero (the volunteer who watches over the place for a 2 week stint), who, as luck would have it, is a professional chef. So at about 8, we had an amazing salad followed by a filling and carb-loading pasta dish. In the morning, we all had breakfast together. The cost? Donativo: whatever you want to give.

The walk today was long and difficult, covering 29 kilometers. It started with a climb, that was gleefully interrupted by the famous El Camino ¨wine fountain¨where you can get not only water, but also wine! It´s put there by the local winery. After peaking at Villamajor de Montjardin, the descent was steady and slow (i.e. not horrible on the knees), but through fields of olives, grapes, and hay...without any shade. The usual stop for today is at Los Arcos, but I decided to push on an extra 7 km or so in order to make tomorrow an easier day to Logroño, a bigger city. That way I might be able to experience it a little.

Tonight, I will sleep well. The other good thing about not being at a usual stop is that it´s much quieter in the albergue. Only 4 people so far and that´ll probably be it!

Day 5 - Puenta la Reina to Estella

Went to mass at the local church in Puente la Reina. The inside, like all the churches I´ve been able to go into, was absolutely beautiful! This church, the second in a little Spanish town, puts any church I´ve seen in the United States to shame, I´m sorry to say. After mass, the priest gathered the pilgrims together to give them a special blessing, something that is very common at masses along El Camino.

The day started with an early morning crossing of another great medieval bridge. Because it was dark, I´m not sure if the picture will come out or not. I put the camera on a park bench and did a long exposure. Hopefully it was still enough. Not a very eventful day or long day, something needed to rest my body.

This is the most painful thing I´ve ever done, but at the same time, already it´s the most amazing. It´s like crazy math: 2 + 2 = 5 for large values of 2. I can´t explain it very well.

Day 4 - Pamplona to Puenta la Reina

Today was a bit of a bear. Leaving Pamplona in the dark was a bit hard to find markings for The Way. Typically, marking are at every place where the path forks. Well, in the city of Pamplona, that´s every block! I luckily found my way out with only a one block detour. Once the sun started rising, I could see what was ahead...a 300 m climb to a ridge which had dozens of wind turbines visible from Pamplona. Ugh...more climbing. Without a walking companion, I didn´t want to drop my bag outside of a bar (cafe) in Pamplona, so I walked on without breakfast. At the top of the ridge, there was a roach coach with sandwiches, cold drinks, etc. I bought a large chorizo sandwich and washed it down with a real Coca Cola (real as in sugar, not high fructose corn syrup). It hit the spot. The descent was treacherous and painful on the feet given the pitch and the rocky path. I made it to Uterga and washed my feet in the cold water from a pilgrims´ fountain and put on some clean socks. On El Camino, sometimes it´s the simple things that make everything better. I walked on to Puenta la Reina, where I´m staying at an albergue run by the Padres Reperadores. It´s nice...it has internet (always pay) and a washer and dryer. For dinner, several of us just made pasta from ingredients we bought at the supermercado. I bought some bread. meat, and cheese for breakfast and lunch as well.

On I walk.

Day 3 - Larrasoana to Pamplona

The ¨schedule¨ has us walking from Larrasoana to Cizur Minor today. But some of us wanted to stop 4 km short of that in the city of Pamplona to kick around. So we only walked 15 km today. It was a pleasant walk and a needed relief for me seeing a ¨real¨city. We stayed in a former seminary that had great facilities including a washer and dryer for my clothes. Hand washing just isn´t the same thing. Plus, this was, I didn´t have to spend the next day walking around as a human clothesline with wet clothes hanging off my pack.

Many of you know how much I LOVE to eat. I´ve been eating pretty simply on this trip. I´ve been enjoying the daily sandwiches in the morning consisting of French bread, local ham, and sometimes queso (cheese). Lunch has been usually the same thing. Often breakfast involves a cafe con leche (a latte)...please don´t tell my doctor that I´ve been drinking unfiltered coffee! Dinner is usually a pilgrims menu (9-10 euros or so) where you have choices for each of three courses. For example, last night in Pamplona, for 10 euros, I started with an incredible Paella Mariscos (shrimp heads on), had a wonderful veal entree with french fries (I didn´t know that´s how the patatas would be served), and a flan for desert. Delicious. For that price, it included bottled water and the local wine - Tinto.

On I walk.

Day 2 - Roncesvalles to Larrasoana

This day was marked by descent to about 500 m from the nearly 950 m Roncesvalles is at. Downhill is hard to do when your knee hurt. Going uphill is just tiring, but downhill, you really have to watch your footing. Not wanting to bend your knee certainly doesn´t help. Oh well: on I walk.

I´ve met some interesting people along The Way. I was in the same albergue with Antoine, from Belgium, the first 2 nights. He´s walked all the way from Belgium! He´s been on the road 55 days, though he´s taken a break to go back and take his exams. He´s a masters student in anthropology working on a discertation about El Camino. He´s gone ahead as he´s a seasoned walker now. I hope he´s well.

There´s a wonderful sense of togetherness on El Camino. I can sense it already. When someone has a blister, we all come together, sharing needles, thread, iodine, anything needed to help the injured pilgrim. I´ve already gotten some mysterious crema some Spanish ladies gave me for my knee. It might have helped. It might have been the massive dose (800 mg) of ibuprofen I took. Either way, I walk better in spurts. It feels better when warmed up. Waking up is the worse.

On I walk.

Day 1 - St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

I miss-titled the original post. That was actually Day 0 as I hadn´t started walking yet.

So the weather was perfect...high in the 70s for crossing Route Napoleon. I started at about 10 before 7 am in the dark. I was able to find my way just fine. It was a slow and steady climb out of St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port. I stopped at Orisson to have breakfast and grab a sandwich for lunch. More steady climbing via a road until a point where I left the road and took a grassy pass over a shoulder. Several pilgrims had stopped there to watch nature at it´s finest: about 20-30 vultures fighting over a sheep that had just died within 10 minutes of my arrival. Previous to this point, the Way had been through open fields with grazing animals (sheep, cow, and horses) wandering unfenced along the road. Crossing that crest was a descent through the forests along a barbwire fence, which I believe was the Spanish-French border. I thought I was home free. WRONG. There was another steep climb up a rock road shortly after. In total, I climbed from 163 m to 1440 m at Col de Lepoeder. This was followed by a steep descent to 953 m to the town of Roncesvalles. It was about 27 km I had to walk and climb that day. Hard going for the first day.

Sometime during the day, I also injured my right leg, more specifically, my IT Band right at my knee. I don´t know what incident caused it specifically since it didn´t actually start hurting until dinner that night. I wasn´t able to move it, but it caused me no pain when kept still. It still hurts, but I´m moving on. I´ll make it, just a bit slower than everyone else.