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Published: October 2nd 2017
Geo: 42.5999, -5.57175
It's been a while since we've had a rest day and time to post, so a long one.
Thursday, 5/19 to Rabe de las Calzadas. On the road again after a rest day. My feet are doing a lot better, but we had a short, level walk today, only 12.6 kms. I hated leaving Burgos. It was such a beautiful town. The walk out of Burgos, like Logrono, was nice – through parks around the university. Staying at a nice place, good food, but over a bar that didn't close until 10, so noisy.
Friday, 5/20 to Hontanas. A month ago today we left Austin, spent a few days in Barcelona and started the Camino on April 26th. No foot pain today. Yay! We are on the Meseta now, which is central Spain's high plains. It's known to be hot, dry and boring. We found it to be none of those, but of course we are walking in May, with green fields and wildflowers, not in the heat of summer. Many pilgrims choose to skip over this part by bus or train. We may wind up doing that to gain some time, but not because we find it boring. There
are acres and acres of wheat fields now – no more vineyards. Although my feet were doing fine, coming in Hornillos del Camino my back started hurting terribly. Charlie says that my back is crooked when I walk. I think I've been favoring my right foot and knee so much that I'm all out of alignment. Sigh. We were still 5 km from our albergue when we got to San Bol. I expected it would be a village where we could rest and maybe even call a taxi, but it was just an albergue ½ km up a dirt road. I sat on the side of the road while Charlie headed to the albergue and talked the woman running it into driving us to Hontanas. 4 Germans that we've seen and talked with on and off for several days came by. Steffi has been very sympathetic and encouraging whenever we've talked, and she wanted to stay with me until Charlie returned. So sweet. She calls their group the Snails as they like to take their time and see the sights – they're possibly the only ones slower than us! At an ok albergue tonight, but on the 3rd floor. We
sat with 2 nice girls from the Ukraine for supper. Feeling discouraged. I need a chiropractor.
Saturday, 5/21 to Castrojeriz. A short day – only 9.5 kms. I seemed to straighten out some. The walking wasn't too difficult, but when we got to Castrojeriz it was a long slog into town. Why is our albergue always at the top of the hill or at the farthest point? Castrojeriz is a long narrow town on the side of a hill with castle ruins on top. I don't think we'll make the climb up to see them. Naturally the only Saturday vigil Mass was at the very beginning of town – a good 30 minute walk for my tired feet. No washing machine here or place to dry clothes.
Sunday, 5/22 to Boadilla del Camino. We left a little too late this morning. Ugh. A steady rain all morning, but worse was the constant strong wind. There was a long climb early on – and there at the top of the hill was an angel! A girl had set up with hot coffee and tea and other snacks for our cold and wet selves. The climb down was hard
on me. Lunch in Itero de la Vega was a treat – real American style bacon and eggs, and the bacon was actually cooked well! (I've had too many "bacons" that were wimpy limpy and not even close to crisp.) But we realized I would not make it another 8 km to our pre-booked albergue and had the owner call us a taxi. The 20 Euro cost for 8 km. was a ripoff, but I was too tired to care. We're in a hotel tonight. We had a good and fun supper at the albergue they also run. Beautiful gardens and great hospitality. Finally got our clothes washed!
Monday, 5/23 to Villamentero de Campos. We had a good breakfast and an interesting conversation with Eduardo, the really nice hippy looking proprietor who it turns out is a big fan of country music and was excited to learn that we were from Texas. He's always wanted to work on a ranch in Texas. From there we had a really nice walk along the Canal to Fromista. Had a café con leche break there, then walked on to Población de Campos for a microwaved pizza lunch (bleh). North of town we
took the “alternate route” instead of the path by the highway. That led us across fields and eventually along the river. It was a beautiful day – 39 degrees in the morning, up to 60 in the afternoon. We walked about 15.5 kms. - the longest we've walked in a while. In a very nice Casa Rural, but overpriced. We'll need to make it up with some 5 Euro bunk bed stays. Feeling slightly optimistic.
Tuesday, May 24th. Carrión de los Condes. A pretty good day for me, level, walking along the highway, a little rain. his is probably the earliest we've been to an albergue. We decided to stay at Santa Maria, a parochial albergue famous for the “singing nuns.” Since they take no reservations, we arrived early and got in line waiting for the albergue to open at 12. And it really is 5 Euro each for a bunk with 34 of your closest friends. But it was worth it. The nuns opened this albergue about 10 years ago to minister to pilgrims on the Camino – to come to where the people were, not waiting for the people to come to them.
A 6:00 there was a meeting of whoever wanted to attend. Everyone was asked to share their name, country and why they were doing the Camino. Then the nuns sang songs in different languages. There was a Mass later and a very nice pilgrims' blessing – the nicest we've experienced, with the priest calling us up to the altar, calling out countries where we were from, the nuns giving each pilgrim individually a blessing on the forehead, followed by a singing of salve regina. It was very moving. I thought of the tens of thousands of pilgrims who had been in this old and beautiful church and had also received their blessing.
Wednesday, May 25th to Moratinos. After a cold and sleepless night with the snorers we vowed to always try to have a private room, even if we have to share a bathroom. Some idiots wanting an early start turned on the lights at 4:45 am, followed by people complaining and lights off. The lights went on and off for the next hour and a half until we gave up and got out of bed at 6. We covered 29.2 kms. today. What??! Some enterprising Spanish family has a
horse-drawn carriage that they run from Carrion to Calzadilla de la Cueza (17 kms.). We debated whether we should do this. Was it cheating? Too Disney-ish (as some are complaining the Camino is becoming)? We gave in. We needed to make up some time and this looked like more fun than the bus. We and 6 others comprised the cheaters. As we passed by the walking pilgrims, we got stares of disbelief, some thumbs up, and some tut-tuts. Most laughed and took pictures of us passing. A German girl and her mother brought along a bottle of wine and some fancy pastries – wine before 10:00 am. We had a blast. We then walked 9 more kms. We're at another overpriced casa rural tonight (well, overpriced by Camino standards – 50 euro a night), but good food. We're still tired from last night's snorers and rude awakenings. I really like having a private room.
Thursday, May 26th to Sahagún. A short day, mostly flat. We had a lot of walking along the highway, but my feet did well – no pain at all. We're in a nice private hostel, but no food. We had a great “menu del
dia” down the street. We're overdue for a rest day.
Friday, May 27th to Bercianos del Real Camino. We got a late start. Went back to the same bar from the night before. The very sweet proprietress recognized us and when we left gave us little pins with the Sahagún gate on it. We debated taking the “alternate route” (the Brierly preferred route) out of Sahagún to avoid more highway walking but in the end chose not to. The second stage of the alternate route has no services for 15 km. – no coffee, no food, no water, no bathrooms, no taxis. The “new” route along a public road wasn't bad at all, certainly not as bad as we've heard – only 2 cars and 1 tractor passed by in the 2 hours we walked. There were wildflowers everywhere, benches every km. or so. It was actually a pleasant walk. We had hoped to take the bus from here into León. We desperately need some rest days, I need to see a chiropractor or physiotherapist, have business to catch up on and bills to pay at the end of the month. But, alas, no buses run on Saturday. We'll need
to catch the train in the next town.
Saturday, May 28th to Leon. After a late breakfast, we walked the 7.3 kms. to EL Burgo Ranero to catch a 5:20 pm train to Leon. We had a long lunch in a bar and got some helpful advice from the owner – like that the train station is a kilometer out of town, had no bar, was probably closed and we should check with the municipal albergue staff on the way to find out. He was right! So we headed to another bar, ordered a little and sat for 3 hours using the time to update this blog. Leon is a huge city – 129,000. We're in an albergue run by the Capuchins again. It's not as nice as the one we stayed in Estella, but convenient and cheap for a double room with bath.
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![The "New route"](http://photos.travelblog.net/376449/1000680/t/9651040-the-quot-new-route-quot-0.jpg "The "New route"")
Raul A. Gonzalez
non-member comment
Dora n I lovd reading it, awesome account of your week. I (Raul) got teary eyed with nostalgia reliving my 2015 Camino experience. Despite the pain, I would do it again. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I went on a 1 1/2 hr walk
on the golf course, left knee pain, got home pain shifted to right knee. It is all good. Looking forward to your next post. There are no cheaters on the Camino! All pilgrims do what they have to do, listen to your body an continue to live and enjoy the moment. With love, Raul & Dora