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Browsing Tag: caminofrances
We arrived in Santiago de Compostela yesterday and successfully received our Compostela certificate from the pilgrim office. We’re done with hostels now (woo-hoo!) and have very nice rooms a few steps from the cathedral. We’ve crossed paths with pilgrim friends and already had a few goodbyes as everyone goes on their way…
We’ve arrived in O Pedrouzo. Tomorrow we’ll walk the final 19 km into Santiago. Today we self-medicated along the trail with ibuprofen and chocolate, making frequent stops to rest achy feet…
The walking days are long, but full of beauty. This pilgrim is too tired to post much…
Welcome to Galicia! Saw this on a store front. So true!! Very fragrant and lots of brown squishy stuff…
Monday morning Mary and I set off in the dark for the descent from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. Tristan needed to opt for a taxi again. Even Mary was wearing her sandals since her big toe was too swollen for her hiking shoes. We did have a good day though. Here’s a few photos…
I haven’t had good enough internet to upload photos for a few days. We’re still here; still walking. On Sunday we made it to O Cebreiro, albeit by taxi. Tristan and Mary have been having some foot issues and the extreme uphill and unfavorable weather forecast led us to take a taxi. It…
We had just a beautiful atmosphere at the Cruz de Ferro yesterday morning. The sunrise was brilliant and the pilgrims respectful. A few km from the cross we encountered a very unique hostel and hospitaleiro Tomás. We stopped to play with his kitten Carbonita. Tristan offered to have Carbonita join our pilgrimage but it…
Our visit to Astorga was lovely. Mary and I took the bus to cut short what would have been a 31km day, but Tristan walked the whole way. Our hostess Patrícia and her son Gabriel at the hostel Só por Hoje (“Just for today”) were lovely and welcoming. We had a lively pilgrim dinner…
On our way from Villar de Mazarife to Astorga, Wednesday. We’re headed for those mountains…
We left later than we should have after a sleepless night. It turns out that having a hostel window that overlooks the main thoroughfare in old León makes for a noisy night. I also accidentally gave the baggage transport company that is handling Mary’s suitcase transfer the wrong pick up address. Whoops! That…
The pilgrims have safely arrived in León, Spain…
After almost 2 years of planning and a one year delay, my dream of leading a small group of pilgrims from All Saints’ Episcopal Church looks like it will finally be realized. God-willing, 4 of us will set out for Spain in 19 days. We’ll be beginning our pilgrimage in the…
Today is Memorial Day. Yesterday during “Zoom” church we viewed a moving video tribute to friends and family of church members who lost their lives in service to out country. It was striking to read about the deaths of uncles, nephews and fathers of people I know. I don’t know of…
Well the unthinkable has happened and we are all living the Coronavirus nightmare. The Camino in Spain is shutdown as Spain fights its battle against infection and death. I’ve been monitoring the official pilgrim channels and blogs and it is hard to imagine how exactly the trails will be re-opened to pilgrims. They…
To bring or not to bring a sleeping bag. This is an important and personal question for any pilgrim looking to minimize the weight of their pack. The quick answer depends entirely on the season you plan to walk. If you are walking in winter, spring, or even in May, I would definitely recommend a…
Research and preparation for your Camino de Santiago will go a long way to making your trek more enjoyable and stress free once you’re on your way. I’ve put together a few points of opinion and advice for the 4 most important gear choice below…
Three films and books to inspire your Camino journey…
“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land…
It’s been a month now since we got home from Spain and I am still processing what the experience meant to me…
Tuesday we took an excursion to the Galician coast to reach the final pilgrim towns that we didn’t have time to walk to. It takes an extra 3 or 4 days to walk to Muxia (where legend says the Virgen of the Boat appeared to Santiago and convinced him to stay in Galicia…
Today we are treating ourselves to a stay in the grand Parador Hotel – Hostal Reis Catolicos, built in the 15th century as a pilgrim shelter. It has 4 cloisters, beautiful vaulted ceilings, tapestries (and bathtubs…
We made it all the way to Santiago yesterday instead of stopping in O Predrouzo after the designated 22 km stage. We arrived in Pedrouzo around 11:30, had some lunch, and decided we were just so close to the end of the Camino that we didn’t want to spend a day twiddling…
A Bucolic Setting We have now walked around 730km with approximately 40 to go. Tonight we are staying in a renovated historic pilgrim hospital in Ribadiso. The river made for a lovely, cold foot soak that we pilgrims really enjoyed. A cow even joined us on our side of the river. Tonight we are being…
We had another fog-shrouded day, becoming a beautiful sunny afternoon. We’ve had some super neat mornings over the last 2 days with a full moon lighting our way through the dark and fog before sunrise…
Spending the night in Portomarin, a pilgrim town that was relocated when a reservoir drowned its original location. Only 4 days of walking left.  …
We are enjoying our days walking through Galicia. The land is green and hilly and we are spending more time along wooded routes. The villages are pretty tiny, with small herds of cows and sheep. There are lots of smallish gardens of kale and other cruciferous vegetables and some late tomatoes…
Some photos from our ascent to O Cebreiro yesterday and then descent down the mountains again today. Yesterday was quite the cardio workout! Somebody described it as being like climbing over the alps from The Sound of Music. The weather has been quite warm too. The views from the top were amazing and we spent…
A beautiful day hiking through hilly vineyards once again. This region is rather wild and Rich was disappointed to see the grapes have mostly been harvested already. Mountains are all around us. We are spending the night in Villafranca prior to a really long climb back into the mountains tomorrow. Rich had “soused trout…
We began our stage today in Foncebadon, a mountain village with a single unpaved street. We delayed leaving until 7:20 so as not to do too much mountain climbing in the dark, only to discover we were in the midst of very dense fog. It was pretty cool…
Yesterday was a long, hot stage to get to Astorga, a town with Roman roots. We were too tired to write, so today I’ll combine two days…