Monthly Archives: October 2017

Forty days and forty nights, that’s how long it takes to walk from St Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. If you wander around a bit on side trips, see the towns and museums along the … Continue reading →

My Mom, who is one of our avid blog readers, remarked that our pictures never have any other pilgrims in them, “are they on the Camino alone?” Well, I have never been very adept at getting things past my Mom … Continue reading →

Spain’s king, Felipe VI, is a worldly young man (49), and perhaps a calming influence on the escalating tensions between the prime minister of Spain and the president of Catalonia. The two latter elected officials are duking it out here … Continue reading →

After a month plus walking, John and I have a real rhythm that is not dominated by talk of how much “—–or —-” hurts. I know my backpack and it’s thin contents intimately; every piece of equipment has its place … Continue reading →

It is said that when Caesar was in Spain and saw the statue of Alexander the Great he wept. Supposedly this was because Alexander had accomplished so much before his death at 33, and Caesar was only a Roman official … Continue reading →

We are approaching the last 100 km…amazing! Tonight we are at a country albuergue and had a lovely dinner with a fellow from Spain. As it turns out, he is a kayak tour guide on the river Rio Mino. Two … Continue reading →

What’s a person who can speak 3 languages? Trilingual. What’s a person who can speak 2 languages? Bilingual. What’s a person who can speak 1 language? American. Haha.  The challenge and excitement of traveling is always enhanced by the translation … Continue reading →

What’s a person who can speak 3 languages? Trilingual. What’s a person who can speak 2 languages? Bilingual. What’s a person who can speak 1 language? American. Haha.  The challenge and excitement of traveling is always enhanced by the translation … Continue reading →

When we woke this morning in the tiny hamlet of Las Herrerias, we could smell smoke and the early morning sky was hazy. At breakfast, the bar tv was showing constant news of the fires in Vigo that had killed … Continue reading →

Spain’s population of 47 million may be decreasing back to 90’s levels of 40 million due to emigration and low birth rates after the long financial crisis. This is compared to 60+ million each in France and Italy, thus making … Continue reading →

Sadly, we departed Ponferrada this morning after a lovely three day visit with Steven and Bruno. However, the day held a pleasant surprise, Steven planned to join us in Cacabelos to hike about 10 km into Villafranca del Bierzo.  After … Continue reading →

Waking late and multiple coffees is an unusual Camino morning , but that’s the rule in Ponferrada. Bruno picked up the picnic empanadas and Steven drove us into the mountains for, you guessed it, more walking. Even on our zero … Continue reading →

So, you have to love a zero day! Sleep until a civilized 8:30 am, have more than one coffee, and no furious jamming of gear into a dusty backpack to beat the dawn pilgrim parade. No, we have fried churros … Continue reading →

Today we climbed from the small village of Rabanal, known for the red- haired Maragato culture with a curious custom of leaving their keys in the door to let people know that they were not at home, and their numerous … Continue reading →

Ok, not much happened today. We recovered nicely from any residual guilt feelings about hopping over Leon by bus and looked forward expectantly to a walking day. The morning desayuno was the typical cafe con leche, zumo de naranja, and … Continue reading →

Well, here we are 60km down the trail thanks to our guilty pleasure of a bus jump. After over 450 km of ceaseless walking, I found the elusive bus barn and we were magically transported to Astorga.  Originally this was … Continue reading →

We opted not to take the train out of Sahagun and continued walking. As John says, “that’s what we know how to do.” For the past two days, we have continued to discuss our priorities coupled with the time we … Continue reading →

I wanted to write about jamon iberico vs serano, and the concept of liberty in Spain, where they have just announced a referendum for independence by Catalonia by a 90% majority. This disturbs me on two levels: first because the … Continue reading →

A decision must be made. We have been hiking for 23 days (including 2 zero days) and have reached the half way point; about 408.7 km/253 miles. The problem; we only have 22 days left before we have to set … Continue reading →

Here we saw a command post of the Knights of Templar, a catholic military order established for the protection of pilgrims in the 11th century. They were the pope’s marines, the first wave in battle. After the original Knights of … Continue reading →