Molinaseca to Cacabelos September 30, 2012

Today was so different from yesterday. Yesterday was about nature and today was about cities and towns. The majority of the path followed the road and finally we ended in vineyards.
Only 190k to go to Santiago. Walked 8k to Porferrado before the next coffee and orange juice. Porferrado is a large city that you can see from the pictures. The trail cut through the last third if the city. See photos.

One of the great things about the camino is the way the different cities handle the signs. Proferrado has style.

Past through that had a soccer game going on. This will make my granddaughter Claire happy.

Met up with Wolfgang from Germany. Brenda and I met him in Naverette. He helped Olga today with the pain in her shoulders.

Made to Cacabellos today one of the vino regions in Spain. They have started to harvest the grapes.

I say a Lambourgini today, never realizing they also make tractors.

Ended up in a great place in Cacabellos. Ate at a pizzeria and visited a park. I also found an ingenious way to hang laundry.

Rabanal to Molinaseca

Left this morning at about 7:30 after a coffee and orange juice. It’s cold this morning so have an extra layer on plus gloves. As we climb up and away we look back and we can see the lights of Astorga.
The terrain reminds me so much oh northern Arizona. We are traveling on many different surfaces. See pictureps.
This is the day we travel to Cruz de Ferro or the iron cross. I finally get to lace everyone sorrow on the pile of rocks. This was a very emotional experience for me and for many people at the cross. Unfortunately Olga was taking the photo of me and none of the came out. I took a picture of her and she emailed it so I will add it to the blog.,
One of the highlights of today was visiting a very little eclectic place where they did a ceremony honoring arch angel Michael and arch angel Raphael. They were dressed as knights Templar. You would never expect this by what the place looked like.
The climb up this mountain took one and half days and the down is a half a day. It was fairly steep in some places and very rocky. It was a blessing when we came into each town.

M

Astorga to Rabanal September 29, 2012

Left late today at about 10:00 am. Brenda left to the bus station and I left for Rabanal. The guide books say that this is a steep climb, but it is a 500 meter climb over 22k. It was a good walk with a small town every 5k. This really helps.

Our first town was reached much later than most pilgrims. The owner had a bad morning and had been mean to most of the pilgrims. When Olga and I arrived I think she was doing penance. She made us toast with roasted vegetables and olive oil. Wonderful!

One of the towns we past had a bar the looked like something out of the Mexican coast. It was right next to a cowboy bar.

Arrived in Rabanal about 4:00. The albergue was great with only 4 beds to a room. They actually did our laundry. This was great. Since Spain doesn’t usually serve dinner till 7:30 or 8:00 we actually found a bar that would fed us a warm meal and it was amazing. Pictures of the town follow.

Had a very special moment in this town as we were invited to the monks vespers. It was beautiful.

Moritinos to Sahagun, Leon, Astorga September 28, 2012

Our goal today is to walk the 10.5 k to Sahagun, take a train to Leon and s bus to Astorga. We started out after a very small breakfast and walked to Sahagun. The weather was misty. See photo.

We stopped at the first town for a coffee and took a picture of Barbara. We will be parting today. She has 2 weeks longer thAn we do and won’t need to cut out a portion of her trip. She was a lot of fun.

We came ion a church that is being renovated just across a bridge. There is also some interesting seating sculpture.
In Sahagin we visites The pharmacy, a bank and a market. Not much to ser ahíle epitome for oír traín.

We arrived in Leon just in time to catch the bus to Astorga. Leon will have to be another trip,
This leg of the camino runs right along the road. We didn’t really miss that much scenery except for the ancient bridge we crossed that has a jousting court to the left of the bridge.
Arrived in beautiful Astorga a walled city and took a taxi to our hotel. Astorga has a bishops house that was designed by Gaudi. Sorry my pictures don’t do it justice.

We met Olga friends from Norway and had pizza with them while waiting for the shops to open after siesta.

Brenda’s comment is that there are more pharmacies in Spain than anywhere in the world and we have visited all of them.

Brenda suffered with stomach problems all day and when we returned to our hotel she decided to return home. We called our travel insurance people and were told we would need a release from a dr for her to gets on a plain. We took a taxi to the emergency center and she got a shot and some stuff to drink and were told to come back in the morning with the insurance form for the dr to sign.
Brenda decided this morning to take the bus to Madrid and deal with changing her ticket at the airport. We parted and both began a different leg of our Camino journey. The good news is she felt much better this morning.

Carrion de Los Condes to Moritinos September 26, 2012

We went to the mass for the pilgrims last night that was an emotional experience. The nuns had the pilgrims come up after mass for a special blessing and gave each of us a star they had made. This town was one of the special places to remember.
Looking at the amount of days we have left we will need to cut out a few stages to get to Santiago by October 9th.
We met an English angel who just stopped by the albergue and hoped us with the remainder of the journey. We will walk to Sahagun tomorrow and take the train to Leon and then a bus to Astorga and then walk the remainder of the Camino. This is very upsetting to me but I know that we need to do it. I can always come back and give myself more time.
It was very cold when we started walking today. I think we will need to buy another layer of clothing in Leon. Not too much change in the countryside as you can see in the photos.

The town of Moratinos is a hobbit town with many earthen homes. See photos.

We went to a restaurant in one of the hills that didn’t look like much from the outside but was amazingly beautiful on the inside.

We had a funny thing happen to us today. A few days ago after Brenda got food poisoning, she purchased 4 cartons of yogurt and placed in the refrigerator of the hostel. She ate two of them and during the night the owners mother ate the other two. We have been unable to get any more and she really needs it. She asked the owner of this albergue for some and he said he would buy her some. On the way to the restaurant in the middle of the road was a carton of Greek yogurt, perfectly cold and not out of date. They say the camino provides!
Update; we had one of the best meals yet. Our hospitallers are Italian and really know how to cook. Our first course choose was bolanaise or pesto pasta; second course capraisie salad or pizza and dessert tiramisu. Sorry for spelling. We laughed and cried and had a wonderful time. We met our Asian Auckland friend Agnes, two French ladies and a Korean and with my phone translator we were able to communicte.

Formista to Carrion de Los Condes September 25, 2012

Today was a good day. Brenda and I did 18 km. Yes, she is back on the trail. Not much to take pictures of as we walked along the main highway. The path was the easiest we have ever walked. It seemed like there was a town every 4 km.
I took pictures of the path to give you an idea of the path.

We walked with the threat of rain all day but were blessed with gale force winds. The good news about wind is that the flies aren’t around. The only thing better today would have been if the wind was at our back, not a head wind. I took a picture of a tree to give you an example of the wind. The tree was a weeping willow.

The next town we came to had an interesting albergue, tepees and drainage ditch tubes fitted with mattresses. No we didn’t stay there although they had great coffee and music.

Just posted a few pics of the scenery we were passing through.

I thought this was interesting. Where new technology meets ancient ruin.

We see these sign post periodically. You can see it as we’re you have to go or how far we have come.

Arrived at our destination and couldn’t be happier. We are staying in a convent. See pictures of how sweet this is. It is a 90 bed convent.

We went to dinner in town and found one of our friends (Olga) and a new friend Barb.
We also met little red riding hood.

Itero del a Vega to Formista September 24, 2012

Walked alone today. The weather was about 20 degrees cooler because it rained last night. Very windy today and yesterday. The walk today was beautiful though. You will see from the pictures. We are heading into the Masseta. The vistas are stunning. At times you feel you are the only one out there.

Part of the walk today was along a canal. I crossed over it to walk into Formista.

Arrived at noon and the albergue didn’t open till one. Had a coke and chips with a lady from Santa Fe and another from England. We left and I found Brenda. She had checked into a hostel.
We visited two beautiful churches.

Itero update

First Brenda and I want to thank all of you for your responses to the blog. It really gives us a boost to hear from home, so thank you. Sorry about the photos. I think it happens when I don’t have wifi and I post as soon as I can locate wifi spot.
Now, for the update. When we arrived in Itero del a Vega we did the normal routine; shower, wash clothes, find something to eat. The albergue served a pilgrims menu all day, so we decided to eat early. One other couple was in the dining room seated next to us. Our salad was served and we ate it and then the fish course was served. Brenda said she felt like her blood sugar was dropping and then she went unconscious and started vomiting. The couple ran to get help and I tended to Brenda. She was out for about 5 seconds and came out of it and really started vomiting. I cleaned her up as much as possible and she laid down on the floor. The staff called the emergency doctor but it took 2 hrs for him to arrive because someone had had a heart attack.
By now our clothes were dry so she changed out of the messed up ones and one of the pilgrims helped her up the stairs and into bed. By the way this happened it really looked like food poisoning but we needed to be sure.
The good looking Spanish doctor arrived and after a thorough check up diagnosed food poisoning. His prescription was one lemon juiced, water, salt, sugar and baking soda. Mix it and drink slowly. He also gave her two pills to take when the vomiting stopped completely. Good news is, that she felt better this morning and took a taxi to our next location. She will probably walk on Tuesday.

Hantonas to Itero del a Vega

Had breakfast prior to leaving the albergue which may have been problem. I had the usual croissant, juice, coffee and fruit , and Brenda ordered eggs and bacon. We started out again in sandals as they worked well yesterday. I brought the boots for the mountain we were going to climb.
You can see the different surfaces we walked on today. We past
a beautiful ruin of the convent of San
Anton.
The hill was not bad and I feel they are getting easier to climb.
There have been all monuments to people who have die along the way here is a photo of a beautiful one.
On Sunday very few places are open. Fortunately a bar was open as we walked into Castrojeriz. They are a great find not only for the coffee and tortilla but for the banos.
I was able to enter the church and found it to be a museum. There was a miniature of the convent we past and a miniature of this church.

Burgos to Hontonas

We took a taxi to the outskirts of Burgos and started walking again. Me in my new sandals and Brenda in the sandals she bought from another pilgrim. Yes, Brenda is walking again. Yeah. We have 21 km ahead of us today and relatively flat. Walked with Francesco again today. I love listening to his philosophy. He can make you cry.
A beautiful sunrise this morning as you can see. We stopped at a bar in one of the towns along the way and had a tortilla and cafe con leche. The owner took a fresh tomato from his garden and sliced it and served it with olive oil and seasoning. He the have all the pilgrim who stopped there a metal of the virgin Mary. He also had a dog who was very good at begging.
We walked across mesas today that we’re very flat and had windmills a fields of sunflowers. This field looked like pilgrims marching back from Santiago.
Today’s journey wasn’t difficult it just seemed like they moved the town. I arrived and bought both of us a lemon fonta and waited for Brenda to arrive.
The albergue was amazing. We actually had a private room with bunk beds. We met a great group of people who have been traveling together since St John.
We sat in the courtyard, soaked our feet in an ancient foot bath and drank wine. This was the first time we had a communal dinner and it was great. This was one of our best evenings.