Blogs from León, Castile & León, Spain, Europe - page 6

It´s been some time since our last entry back in Burgos. We arrived in El Burgo Ranero at midday in hot sunshine. The weather has certainly taken a turn for the better, and we´re having to make sure that we get all our walking out of the way before lunch because it gets unbearably hot in the afternoons. Anyway I´ll give you the day to day happenings after we left Burgos. Before that, Happy 30th Birthday to Alice (niece) for May 3rd. Happy 1st Birthday to Johnnie (great-nephew) for May 7th and Happy Birthdays to Annie (sister) and to Howard (Madeleine´s brother-in-law) for May 13th! Mon May 7th Burgos - Hornillos 27Kms As we left Burgos the "Super Moon" was still shining brightly and we saw loads of storks nesting on the church towers. The walk ... read more

SEE TEXT IN ENGLISH BELOW 28-29 mayo 2011 Este fin de semana fui con montañeros al Bierzo, una zona que desconozco casi por completo. El sábado hicimos una ruta por la sierra de Gistredo, al norte de la comarca, y el domingo por los Ancares, ya el límite con Galicia, la esquina noroeste de toda la región de Castilla y León. A la Sierra de Gistredo ni la había oído mentar nunca antes de venir. Ya en plena cordillera cantábrica, zona húmeda y nubosa, y con las cumbres más altas de la comarca, de más de 2.100 metros de altura. Nada más entrar en el Bierzo por el puerto de Manzanal, se levanta la sierra de Gistredo al norte, con poco bosque y mucho matorral. Junto al río Boeza se encuentra el pueblo de Colinas del ... read more

So Leon was the place I decided to propose. I thought about Ponferrada, but the timing never seemed right. Melissa wanted to see the cathedral since she had been sleeping when I checked it out the day before, so I agreed to go with her. The cathedral is easily the greatest building I've ever been in. It's vaulted stone ceiling soars to hundreds of feet, and the walls are almost covered in Stained Glass. The effect is amazing, as the walls are awash in light but the floor and walking area is gloomy. Melissa and I did the tour of the cathedral museum (more Jesus and an incredibly creepy statue of death). As we were leaving the cathedral we went to the front of it and were looking down on the altar, this is where I ... read more

Today we said good-bye to our rural retreat in Ubiarco, within view of the Bay of Biscay. The nearest settlement of any note is the 11th century town of Santillina del Mar. The coastal area is very much like the East Otago coastline of New Zealand between Waitati and Waikouaiti. During our stay we met a German couple at the hotel. They visit the area at least twice a year and were very helpful in giving good advice for places to visit. A good study of the road map showed there were several toll roads to detour around, and detour them we did, much to the annoyance of Miss GPS. From Ubiarco to Oviedo we did not need the GPS so she was tucked up in the glove box. The early part of the drive was ... read more

We passed the half way point today. Only 380 km left to walk! Weather was "difficult" yesterday (we shouldn´t complain about it but rather learn to appreciate it)! anyway, we were glad to reach the hostel which was welcoming and friendly. We´re trying to upload a video we took but it's very slow so apologies now if it doesn´t work. We took a day off 2 days ago- unplanned but feeling quite under the weather. Both of us used the extra time to sleep and relax. It seemed to work. Nous avons franchi la moitie de la distance, enfin ou deja! Il y a des jours c'est deja et d'autres jours c'est enfin. Nous avons pris une journee de repos il y a deux jours. Nous avons dormi une bonne partie de la journee, le temps ... read more