We were up and out the door by 6am, heading for Las Herrerias. About an hour later we entered Pereje (or as someone with a spray can decided, Perexe). I missed Pradela completely and about an hour later we entered Trabadelo. Along the way we noticed a major highway on the hillside above us. About when we entered La Portela del Valcarce, we spotted a very nice, very modern Hotel, Hotel Valcarce, that was at an offramp from the highway. It looked like it had a cafeteria, so we checked it out, along with some other pilgrims. Sure enough, they served coffee and breakfast stuff, we went it. I had a napolitana and Manoli had some churros to go with her coffee. After breakfast, at about 10am, we entered La Portela del Valcarce. At first I ... read more

We started today thinking about the climb to the Cruz de Fiero and how rough it was going to be from Foncebadon. It turned out the worse parts, for sure, were from Rabanal del Camino and the vicious climb, and from the Cruz de Fiero downhill... I mean downhill. We left just after 6am, and for the next hour and a half, we climbed, and I mean climbed! It was brutal. When we reached Foncebadon, there was no discussion of whether we'd stop to take a break or not. We stopped in the first cafe/bar in town, and had coffees. Steeled for the next part, which was supposed to be so much worse, we started the climb. It turned out to be much less steep than the parts we'd already done that day. We were wondering ... read more

As usual we packed up and out the door of the albergue at 6am. We knew from the night before that Bar La Torre was open at 6am, so we stopped for breakfast. A couple hours later we passed through Villavante. An hour or so later we spotted Hospital de Orbigo for the big water tower and another half an hour we reached the famous bridge. The bridge and town were made famous by the knight Don Suero who after having his affections for Lady Leonor refuted, said he would confront any knight attempting to cross the bridge.... or something like that. We stopped on the other side of the bridge at the Hotel/Bar El Paso Honroso for breakfast and a nice view of the bridge while we ate. About 30 minutes later we passed through ... read more

We left Atapuerca a little after 6am, with quite a few others. After about an hour, we thought we saw Burgos way off in the valley. Shortly after that, we came upon Villaval, but it was just a tiny town with a few houses, and no cafes or bars. About a half an hour after that, we entered Cardenuela Pico, and I remembered the bus advertisement on the outskirts of town. It was for an albergue and cafe, the Bocateria. We, along with quite a few others, stopped there for breakfast. Another half an hour and we spotted Orbaneja Riopico, passing by Quintanilla Riopico. Get the similarity? All three towns were on the Rio Pico, or Pico River, so they named themselves after it. We entered and passed through Orbaneja Riopico and about an hour later ... read more

We left Granon before 6:30am because we had a 27 kilometer hike to Villafranca Montes de Oca. I'd already noticed how many towns we would pass through, so we didn't look in Granon for a place for breakfast. Turns out, that was a mistake. We had to pass through four towns before we found a bar that was open in the fifth town. About 20 minutes out of town, we got to the sign for Castile y Leon, showing we were entering a new province. Our first town was Redecilla del Camino, which we reached in just under an hour. It was a small but interesting town, with a nice plaza, but no bar or cafe. Next, we walked a lot beside the highway before reaching Castiledelgado. It had a quaint church, but again, no bar ... read more