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It seems ages since we last had a chance to blog. Lots has happened and we´ve covered many more kilometres. We´re now in Galicia and are in Porto Marin. We´ve completed over 700 kms and have less than 100kms to go before we reach Santiago! I´ll give you a day by day account of all that has been happening since El Burgo Raneros.
Mon May 14th El Burgo Raneros - Mansilla de las Mulas 19.5 kms
Up at 6.15 and breakfasted across the road. Had a very pleasant walk in flat but pretty surroundings. We passed a bird reserve and I was amused by the rather ungainly antics of a stork waddling around in the shallows - a bit different from their graceful flight! Eventually we reached Mansilla de las Mulas and checked in at the albergue. It was very nice and the Hospitalera obviously had a great sense of humour as she came out with a saw and asked who would like their blisters dealt with!! She insisted that we all put our feet in bowls of water, salt and vinegar for 20 minutes. She said it was her grandmother´s remedy for sore feet! It certainly seemed to do the trick!
You´ll all be pleased to know that Monica and I decided to have an alcohol free day!
Tues May 15th Mansilla - Leon 19kms
I woke up feeloing pretty poorly. I seemed to have a dose of sinusitis and felt rather groggy and spaced out. I managed to walk as far as the very dangerous bridge at Villarente where there were lorries on both sides and no place for pilgrims to walk!! Monica and Pat (our Welsh friend and Camino sister) made an executive decision that I should take the bus for the remaining 10 kms into Leon! I decided that perhaps it was a good idea, and got to Leon in brilliant sunshine. I walked up to the Albergue via the pharmacy with a lady called Toni from New Zealand who was going to meet her Berlin based daughter in Leon and finish walking the Camino together. Armed with a decongestant and packet of Rennies, I got to the Albergue and booked us in. Luckily Monica and Pat had just arrived.
We had lunch in the restaurant just across the square and we were intending to have our long awaited bottle of Cava to celebrate our half way mark, but they didn´t have any!! We instead settled for a very nice bottle of white wine which seemed to do the trick!!
At 9.30 pm we went to the convent church for Compline and the pilgrim blessing. It was a much nicer service than the one back in Sahagun, with much more pilgrim participation. I slept far better that night, the cold remedy was obviously beginning to work.
Wed May 16th Day off in Leon!
We promised ourselves that at the halfway mark we would have a night in a parador, and so we booked into the Hostal San Marcos. They only had a "Junior suite" available for the 3 of us, but it was eminently acceptable! We visited the Cathedral in the morning. It was amazng and in particular, the stained glass. It´s built in the Gothic style and reminded me a lot of Chartres Cathedral in France. It was far less ornate than Burgos and appealed to me far more. We did some more sight-seeing and then repaired to our historical monument of a hotel, where we had a vey leisurely and enjoyable lunch! We wandered rond the cloisters of the hotel, which is the site of an old monastery. Through the ages it had evolved from a monastery to an asylum, to a stud farm and to a military barracks!
As we were relaxing in our room, a selection of hand made chocolates was delivered! We thought that this was an ideal opportunity to celebrate the half way stage. So, along with the chocs, we raided our mini-bar of the bottles of Cava, sat on our terrace and celebrated! Had an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant that night, just to round off our day of decadence!
Thurs May 17th Leon - St Martin del Camino 25 kms
After a wonderful breakfast at the San Marcos, it was back to reality! The walk out of Leon wasn´t particularly pleasant and took us uphill through endless industrial estates. We walked for miles along a Senda (gravel path) alongside the N120. It certainly took its toll on our feet. When we reached Villandangos we stopped for lunch and by this time my toes were really hurting! Think I´m about to lose yet another toe nail! Monica couldn´t eat any lunch and seems to be a bit off her food and Pat seems to be developing Tendonitis in her leg!
To cap it all, when we got to the Albergue, there was no water, so we couldn´t shower! Luckily the water came on about a couple of hours after we arrived. I don´t think that Pat is going to be able to walk tomorrow. She really needs to have her leg looked at. Monica seemed abit better by dinner time and was able to eat something. Not the best of days!
Fri May 18th San Martin - Astorga 26 kms
Pat managed to walk 7 kms to Hospital de Orbigo and then, wisely, took the bus to Astorga so she could book into the Medical Centre there. This town has one of the oldest and longest medieval bridges in Spain, dating from the 13th century, and built over an earlier Roman bridge. It´s famous for the Penso Honroso - a famous jousting tournament that took place in the Holy Year of 1433 when Don Suerode Quiñones took on any knight who dared topass over the bridge. He did this for a month until 300 lances had been broken! All this was because he had been spurned by a lady!! He then went on pilgrimage to Santiago!!
History lesson over! We went on without Pat and decided that, as we could stand the noise of the N120 no longer, we would take the slightly longer route to Astorga. It was a beautiful walk and so peaceful after what we´d been used to! As we approached Astorga from the high ground, we had superb views of the city and the snow-capped mountains beyond. We had the most contorted route into Astorga, I´m sure that the Camino route followed an extra 3 kms! We were exhausted by the time we reached the Albergue. Pat was already at the Albergue, having seen the doctor, who´d confirmed the Tendonitis and told her to rest up for at least 48 hours. She´s decided to stay over for a couple of days ivn Astorga and then take the bus to Ponferrada.
I´ve decided to have my pack transported to Rabanal tomorrow as I´ve been suffering with a bit of sciatica. I think the back pack has been pressing on the nerve. It´s also quite a climb up to Rabanal, so I think it´s a good idea.
We went to the Cathedral for a visit and to have our credencials stamped. Compared with the two cathedrals in Burgos and Leon , there wasn´t a great deal to see. Saw the Gaudi´house, which had been built as the bishop´s palace but he never lived there.
Sat May 19th Astorga - Rabanal 21kms.
It was avery odd feeling walking without my pack. I felt naked! I suppose that after 4 weeks you become very attached to your pack! Set off at 6.50am and were soon out of Astorga. We began the gentle climb up towards Rabanal and stopped for breakfast at a cafe run by a rather bizarre lady. There were a lot of pilgrims, including some rather loud young Americans and I don´t think that she could cope with the numbers! After increasingly odd behaviour, she suddenly decided to throw everyone out and close u'p shop! Luckily, we were already outside at a table having been fortunate enough to get served, so we at least were able to finish our breakfast in peace!
The walk into the mountains was beautiful and the scenery, after miles of flat topped Mesetas, was stunning. The track led through woodland and we saw dark blue flowers which we couldn´t identify as well as loads of wild pansies, white and pink heather and broom, as well as a host of ather wild flowers.
We reached Rabanal at mid-day and my backpack had arrived safely. I´ll use the same service tomorrow in order to give my shoulder a chance to recover. As we´re so much higher up here,(higher than Sca Fell Pike) the wind is very cold even though the sun is shining. We chatted to an elderly chap from Chicago named Don who´s 74 and is doing the Camino in stages. We went to Vespers in the monastery church where the monks sang in plain chant. At the later service of Compline they bless the stones which the pilgrims carry to the Iron Cross (Cruce Ferro) tomorrow near the highest point of the Camino which is nearly 5,000 feet high! We have Pat´s stone to put there as she won´t be with us. We´ll collect our stones en route tomorrow.
After dinner we went to bed, but were rudely awakened by a group of inebriated Italian cyclists, one of whom decided to take a flyng leap on to the top bunk and it promptly came crashing down onto the bottom bunk! Fortunately, the woman who should have been in the bottom bunk had just gone to the loo!! This caused such a furore in the dormitory that Monica took charge and bellowed in her best Spanish, "Silencio! Por favor!!". That seemed to have the required effect!
Sun May 20th Rabanal - El Acebo 16kms
Set off at 7am and walked steadily uphill and the views were breath-taking. We looked back over the area we had climbed and could see back as far as Leon in the far distance. We reached the Cruz de Ferro at 1,550 metres, where the peregrinos traditionally place stones. I had collected a piece of pure white quartz and a sprig of beautiful pink heather. I found the act of placing the stone and heather which I dedicated to Philippa, my parents and my parents in law, very moving and emotional.
Shortly after this, we reached the highest point on the Camino, much higher than we had been in the Pyrenees! We now began the steep descent into the Bierzo valley and again , had the most spectacular views. We could see the whole of Ponferrada and beyond to the mountains of Cebreiro. I certainly was glad of my stick for the steep descent. Monica, as usual, was bounding ahead. She always was sure-footed! We reached El Acebo at mid-day and booked into the Albergue, pleased to see that my pack had arrived.
It was very cold that afternoon so we had to have some wine before dinner to warm us up! We were joined by a woman from Massachussetts called Catherine who was walking with her 2 sons. We ended up having dinner with them, where more wine was drunk! We all seemed to sleep well that night. It must be the mountain air!!
Mon May 21st El Acebo - Ponferrada 18kms
For the last part of the descent we decided to go via the road into Ponferrada, as the path was even steeper! We probably ended up walking a couple of kms further, but it certainly was less stressful on the hips! We had a well-earned breakfast in Molinaseca.
We then walked on to Ponferrada and passed the 600 km mark. It seems incredible that we´ve got this far! The banks were full of wild fennel and bright red poppies. The Bierzo valley seems to have very rich, fertile soil. We had a message from Pat that she´d managed to book us into the Hotel del Castilo so we met her there. I had the most wonderfully relaxing bath!
We visited the BasilicaLa Virgen de la Encrina and took some photos. Monica began to feel unwell with sickness and diarrhoea. She ate hardly anything at dinner and she had an awful night.
Tues May 22nd Ponferrada - Cacabelos 15kms
Monica wasn´t at all well but she insisted that she wnted to stay in the hotel on her own and that Pat and I should go on ahead and she would get the bus to join us when she felt better! I felt terrible leaving her, but she was adamant! So Pat and I set off. Pat was experimenting with her leg after the rest, so we decided not to walk too far. We stopped at Cacabelos and no sooner had we done so than I had a call from Monica to say that she was on the bus to Villa Franca which was the next town on from where we had stopped! She said she would book into a hotel in Villa Franca and that she would meet us at breakfast time the following morning in Villa Franca. Needless to say I rang Monica on a regular basis to see how she was. Pat and I spent a quiet afternoon in Cacabelos.
Weds May 23rd Cacabelos - Pereje 13kms
Left early in order to get to Villa Franca to meet Monica and see how she was. Rang her at 8.15 when we were about half an hour away and said we would meet her in the Plaza Mayor. We duly met up with her. She was still quite feverish but insisted that she could manage to walk a little way up the valley. it was only as we were leaving that we realised that we had lost our copy Of Brierley´s Camino which has all the maps in it, plus Monica´s credencial which is a record of every place that we have passed through on the Camino! We were able to get her a new one, and fortunately, Pat has the same book so we still have the necessary information.
Monica still managed to walk more quickly than I, even though she was obviously running a temperature! She managed to walk 5 kms to Pereje, but was clearly not fit to go any further. We found a really nice albergue with proper (not bunk) beds! All Mon could do was to crawl into her sleeping bag and sleep!
After she woke, she managed a bit of mineral water and a tiny bit of soup, but she didn´t have a very good night.
Thurs May 24th Pereje - Las Herrerias 14kms
Up at 6am. Monica said she felt well enough to walk on and managed to eat a bit of breakfast. We walked up the valley and the day was beautiful. We kept stopping for drinks of water in order to keep Monica hydrated. We eventually reached Herrerias at lunch time and were all thankful to be stopping as the heat was intense! The albergue had the luxury of a washing machine, so we were able to get everything washed properly instead of having to hand wash! It was so hot that it was all dry within an hour! Monica said that she was beginning to feel a bit better and was even saying that she would carry her pack for tomorrow´s assault on O´Cebreiro! (Pat and I are sending our´s on!). We were all in bed for 9pm in order to be ready for the big climb out of the Bierzo valley and into Galicia, tomorrow.
Fri May 25th Herrerias - O´Cebreiro 8kms
It sounds like it´s very few kms but we had 2,000 feet of ascent to climb! Monica still weak and a bit feverish, but determined to go on! We decided to take it in easy stages and we aimed to be there as early as possible because of the heat. It was a steep, but beautiful climb. The really magnificent views bgan to reveal themselves vetween La Faba and Laguna de Castila when, looking back , we could see fold after fold of mountains on the other side of the Bierzo valley. We reached the end of Castile-Leon and entered Galicia. It is much more Celtic and rural than Castile-Leon. The weather was absolutely beautiful which is apparently unusual for Galicia as it has a much more Atlantic type climate. Between Laguna and O¨Cebreiro we saw wild orchids fennel and all sorts ofother wild flowers which we couldn´t identify.
The view from the top was breath-taking and we could see well into Galicia. It was like being on top of the world! We stopped at the O´Cebreiro Iglesia Santa Maria del Real which was absolutely beautiful in its simplicity. Uncharacteristically, I was drawn to light a candle which I dedicated to Phil and I had again, a very emotional moment. Monica had a similar experience as well as Pat. It seemed to be a very special place and from that time on, Monica began to feel better!
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Marian
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Keep going girls
Good to catch up on your travels again... I am marking A levels which must be finished to night.. Catch up soon.. lolmxx