Day 24

Gaudi building

We took an alternative route to our trusted Michelin guide today in order to avoid walking alongside a busy main road. So we are slightly off camino in Vilar de Mazarife. We took John Brierley's advice and it was a quieter route with less pilgrims. Fantastic wild flowers and manageable enough distance to really enjoy the walk.

Despite taking the road less travelled, we none the less still seem to have met up with lots if previous aquaintances. This is what is so bizarre and so special about this trip. Mo and I chose the Albergue with smaller rooms, less mod cons and more character and it has paid off. It is small scale but great ambience.

We met up with Bernt and his mate from Sweden and Kirsten from Sweden who loves Leonard Cohen and an Australian couple and Ruth from New Zealand is sharing our room. How did that happen? We all had aperitif together. Then we had dinner with new friends from Germany and Celine from France. What's nice about this place is that it is also full of ordinary Spanish people too so we are not in a camino ghetto.

Day 24

Jenny and the hospitalier at Hospital de Orbigo
on his Darth Vader outfit

The Albergue courtyard at Hospital de Orbigo

Puente de Orbigo - one of the oldest
and longest bridges in Spain dating from the 13th century

Mo, Ruth and Alain
(who has walked from Paris)

The lovely hospitalier francaise

We left the alburgue in Leon after a peaceful night´s sleep in a women only dorm. Why don´t other big alburgues do this? There were some women up at 5am chatting and setting off to be the first to get to the next Alburgue. We do not intend to join this. We will leave by 8am after a shower and breakfast.

A great walk on the alternative camino after a brief bus journey out of Leon. At last some texture to the countryside from the boring arable fields of the Meseta. Here there was broom and wild lavender, hills and an earth track. It felt like a walk worth doing.

Chose the ´funky´alburgue after 13km and found ourselves sharing a bedroom with Ruth again. Met up with Bernt and his friend Peter in the evening. Wine made it a jolly affair. See pics.

Day 23 Leon - ?

Nicole and Hajo

Just got the bus out if Leon at 8am after checking out the Gaudi building, Casa de Botines, the first monumental building to be constructed with private funds as a secular middle class statement.

Charged up the phone and connected to WiFi at the cafe El Peregrino while waiting for supermercado to open at 9.30am. We really should be more organised and stock up at night with food for the journey.

Feeling a tad guilty seeing pilgrims whom we shared a dorm with last evening who have slogged through the suburbs, leaving at 5am ( and waking us up!)

Borrowed the John Brierley book from Bernt for a few days. We met up with him yesterday and had peregrino menu together last night. Brierley says those who insist on walking every step of the way are to be commended but should examine their reasons.

Danny after treatment

Danny's foot!

Last night we met up again with 19 year old Danny from Altringham. Mo and I are desperate to mother him cos he is such a forlorn character, looks about 15 yrs and we first saw him in Puenta la Reina eating dry cornflakes out of the packet and we forced milk on him. Last night we got chatting and it turns out he set off from England with €200 and reckons to have €100 left. He said he had blisters so I offered him Compeed. When he took his smelly socks off he revealed feet in a helluva state. So we had to get the hospitalier to sort out some salt water for him. She got him to see a doctor who said his got Facshia Planta as well as all the blisters. Said he should rest but don't think he will. We bought him a new pair of socks with instructions to wash the others and keep changing. If we see him again we'll treat him to a meal cos he looks half starved now. He's worked his way through War and Peace while on the camino and reached the end last night.

Cathedral at Leon

Inside the cathedral

Day 22 Sahagun - Leon by train

The funky Albergue in Villar de Mazeriffe

So far so good. Great nights sleep at Hostal. Taking advantage of hotel's WiFi to report we are just about to have egg and bacon for breakfast - a first. It arrived with tomato purée instead of fried tomatoes but hey!

Cynthia and her German friend were also at the hostel. Cynthia plans to take a week off in Leon. She also took a few days off in Burgos because she lost her 'mojo' Mo hopes to find hers in Ponferrada!

We plan to take the train to Leon today. We don´t see the point of slogging alongside a busy motorway for lots of kms. Train was cheap, only 4 euros and soon landed in Leon. Spent the journey talking to a very tired and footsore couple, Nicole and ´Hoy´ They were planning to spend a night in a hostel to sleep and recover.

Day 21 Carrion de Los Conde - Sahagun

Dinner in Sahagun with Peter
and the lively Magdalena

Just had an interesting evening. Met up with Alain for aperitif who has walked every step of the way from Paris and refuses to take any buses or taxis. He has just developed blisters again, the first since Bordeaux and he is quite demoralised.

Had dinner with Peter, a very tall, able and intelligent German and his beautiful companion - Magdelena - see photos. They met on the camino and sometimes travel together, sometimes separately. He is grounded tomorrow by a local doctor due to the state of his legs. She is pushing on. She told us she was a psychologist working with disturbed children, an alcoholic and I think she said she had got the sack due to trying too hard and as a result of the shock is on the camino. So it goes.

Monastry at Carrion de Los Condes

Sad to report a really low day so far.  The Albergue last night was not a good experience. I was really scared of falling off the top bunk and caused much disruption by putting my matress on the floor in a confined space. Mo had a very disturbed night due to loads of loud snorers in the room.

Eureka - I see signs of life!

Then we did 17 km of straight flat boring walking. It was interminable! The only saving grace being that it was not hot today. That would have been insufferable.

There was one other saving grace, the red of the poppies and blue of the cornflowers stood against the soft green of the stray rye grass. The skylarks were in full voice and the camino bird that has sung to us on the hedge rows as we passed is in fact a -- skylark! His song is completely different from when he is in flight, so it has taken me until now to realise this! I am no bird watcher - Mo

Mo got bitten by something yesterday and her arm swelled up. By the time we reached Calzadilla it was hard and hot so we got a taxi to the nearest pharmacy in Sahagun for antihistamine tablets. 

Then we booked in at a Hostal (€40) to be sure to get some sleep tonight. 

We are now further ahead than anticipated and by the look of the camino walking alongside the main road when we were in the taxi, we havn't missed much.

There are high points and low points on this camino as in life and this is a low one - enough said!

The long and unwinding road!

On and on we go .....

Day 20 Fromista to Carrion de Los Condes 19km

Only 463 km to go!

The day was cooler than the intense heat of yesterday. We had a breeze blowing in our faces and the sun behind us. We didn´t experience the extreme heat and exhaustion of the previous day. Mo survived on lots of Ibroprofen. She lost her sunglasses at Fromista.She is now down to one small square of muslin as a towel. It´s difficult to keep track of your possessions when you are tired, hot and exhausted.

We walked alongside the road on a camino path for most of the day. The scenery remained green and arable with poppies and other wild flowers on the field banks. We picked wild rocket to try to supplement our diet.

Cafe life on arrival at Carrion de las Conde

The twins Jo and Sue at lunch spot - they are awaiting taxi cos feet giving out and can't walk further

Carrion de Los Condes proved a bigger town than we expected. We needed to find provisions for breakfast and a long stretch of the Meseta without water or provisions. We had run out of tea, that was serious! It took three shops to find black tea to get us up in the morning.

We met up with different people including Kirsten and Tomas who arrived late and struggled to find beds. We stayed at the parish Alburgue run by nuns who were warm and welcoming. There was a meeting at 6pm that Mo thought was compulsory and found herself joining in the singing and then discussion about why they were doing the camino. She was blessed by the nuns at the end of the meeting. The camino was equated with the difficulties to overcome in life and the need to walk in the light to find the path. What can we say!

The church at Villarcazar which is a national monument and the lunch spot where we got interviewed for Spanish TV - again!

Think it's a Rye crop

Day 19 Itero del Castillo - Fromista

It was another very hot day walking through the Meseta. Very little shade. Yesterday´s efforts seem to have exhausted us. We both found it hard work.

Picked up the impression from other pilgrims that spaces are getting harder to find places in the albergues and everyone is planning to stop at Fromista today.

We bumped into Ruth at Boadilla del Camino and although it was only 12.30pm she planned to stop and find a bed. Last night she couldn´t find anything and had to sleep on a floor somewhere.

We walked alongside the canal where there was an ambundance of bird life. We kept cool by dipping our sarongs in water and wearing them on our head and shoulders. Not elegant but needs must. It would have been nice to stop and simply watch the bird life but the camino has its own momentum. You seem to need to keep going to the day´s destination.

We arrived in Fromista really shattered and with hindsight should have headed for the municipal refuge but we messed around trying to find a smaller one that was closed. We thought about paying for a hostel but it was 45 euros for a room. The albergues are 5 euros per person. By the time we got to the main Albergue it was full. It was galling seeing the people we had just been walking with freshly showered and sitting in the garden while we were still homeless.

Previous acquaintance, Diane, showed up at this point and together we found another albergue which was suspiciously empty on account of no hot water!. But a very large Spanish man insisted that hot water would soon be available. By this time we were too hot and tired to walk further. Here we are I am having a hot shower and Mo is having a siesta in a dark corner.

The issue of where to stay may prove to be a bigger problem as more and more people join the camino. We had promised to treat ourselves to hotels once in a while but don´t want to do it all the time. Not only is it hugely expensive but you miss out a lot on the spirit of the camino by isolating yourself to a private room.

Day 18

We left the camino to find the Albergue San Nicholas in Itero del Castillos. It had been recommended by Yudit and by a shop keeper as the best Albergue on the camino. But it was not here . Instead we found the Municipal Albergue of this town and have ended up on our own, very private but a bit of a dump, reminiscent of the some of the worst French refuges. Pros and cons we have excellent WiFi access - it is the townhall after all. Housemartins nesting all over the building. But no proper food - we are sick of bocadillos. Saturday night and the only bar in town sells crisps and the like. So we have bought 2 bocadillos de jamon, a tin of pulpo and a tin of calmares - strangely they stock this, 2 bottles of juice for the morning and we don't where the next meal is coming from!

A very long hot dusty road today

Day18

Sheep en route

Day 18

Hannah and Dish (which he is!)

Day18

The cart again

Day 18

We passed through Castrojeriz, a popular stopover, but decided to push
on

Day 18

Coffee stop. We met up with Joanne and Sue, twins from England who we
first bumped into in Burgos

Day 18

VERY HOT crossing Meseta today but we did 24 km with our bags! Aren't
we getting good?

Day 18

Some people take their gear in a cart

Day 18 San Bol - Itero de la Castillo 24km

We had such a lovely time here. Yudit, the dedicated hostess made
Paella and provided wine for the 13 Pilgrims. The place is supposed to
sleep 12 but Yudit willingly gave up her bed to a young and very tired
Polish girl who showed up late. Yudit has the use of an Albergue car
and she slipped off to the nearest town to sleep. She was back here
before 7am to make breakfast for us. The place has no electricity so
we had breakfast around a round table by candle light.
Sent from my iPhone

Day 18

LeAving Yudit. How does she manage to be sooo nice to a different set
of pilgrims every night????

Candle lit breakfast

Paella eating

Yudit's Paella

Evening arrives at San Bol

Ruth, Else, Mo and Yudit, the hospitalier

Ruth stayed too!

Day 17

This is why we didn't leave

Day 17

Arriving at San Bol for lunch where we ended up staying for dinner and
spending the night

Day 17

Minimalist landscape of the Meseta

Day 17

See what I mean

Day 17

There are lots of large hAy stacks

Day 17

Someone abandoned their boots!

Day 17

We passed through Hornillas

Day 17

Meseta country now

Day 17 From Rabe

Day 16

Evening meal in Rabe - Swedish Kirsten and others

Day16

ALbergue in Rabe