Camino de Santiago

Image result for image of the map of the camino de santiagoDete and I are seventy years old this year.  We decided  to celebrate, by walking the Camino de Santiago.  This is a 500 mile pilgrimage from St. Jean Pied-De-Port, France to Santiago, Spain.  Today is a day of preparation so I will also try to prepare you to follow along on our blog.  The posts will be continuous.  That means that you must scroll down each day to find the next days post.  I know this may be a little cumbersome for you followers.  Dete and I will share on face book when the blog is ready or you may sign up to follow us on the blog by typing your email in the place provided on the right hand side of the page.  You will then be notified by email each time we update the blog.

I hope that you will follow along, because I am sure this will be a very interesting adventure.

Our guide on the Camino.

No this is not a motorcycle trip, but who knows what may happen along the way.  Most of the time the posts will be in the past tense because I usually write it at the end of the day while reflecting on what the day was like.  There may be some days when we do not get to post because of a lack of internet or a lack of energy.

Today we are packing. It is quite a job for a 60 day or so journey, deciding how little we can get by with.  First of all we do not know how long it will take us.  We are planning loosely for about 60 days.  We hope to walk about 12 miles each day.  Our goal is to be back in Paris on Dete’s birthday which is October 28th.

We are trying to think of everything that we will need for the next couple of months and

Weight is important.

everything that we will not need.  It gets down to weight.  We have been told that we should not carry more than 10% of our weight. Our goal is less.  We heard from a new friend of ours (Jenny) that when she went, people were literally cutting the labels out of their clothes to reduce the weight.  No I am not laughing out loud yet, but maybe a little snicker inside. How much can a label weigh???? We also want to take some vitamins, we have heard preparation H to put on blisters, duct tape for repairs, how much underwear, needle and thread, snacks, all of these and more are things that we have to consider.  LESS WEIGHT is the goal. So we will be weighing things as we add them to the backpack and eliminating if necessary.

Our years of long motorcycle trips have helped prepare us for packing light.  However, this is at the next level.  Too much is bad, too little could also be bad.  We have had to do a lot of planning.  Of course we have had help.  A friend (Ben) gave us the book “A Pilgrim’s Guide to

Hard to decide what goes and what stays

the Camino de Santiago.  For this gift, we have become very grateful.  It is a guide that explains every turn, hill, cafe, distances, and costs.  It also gives us a packing plan.  This plan has been tweaked for our needs, but it has been a tremendous help.  As we go along, we will be able to tell if others plans work well for us and the mistakes we made.  It all begins tomorrow when a friend of ours from our motorcycle small group, Mike, takes us to the airport to fly WOW airlines to Paris.  Yes, it is a part of the adventure.  We had not heard of it before either, but it $1000 less to fly this no-frills airline. There are no snacks and you even have to buy your water—unless like us you will carry a water bottle.  We will also be tracking every penny we spend, so you will get to see how cheap we really are. That, too is part of the adventure. We decided a long time ago that you can do a few things the expensive way or we could do a lot of things the cheap way. Some people have said, ” I could never live that way”. And our thought is, well you won’t have the experience either. So let the adventure begin.

You may not want to look at the last part of the blog. It was written by me, Dereatha, for a specific purpose. I have several friends who are definitely going on this trip and other who are deciding if they want to go, so I am showing what is in my pack and how much each segment weighs.

My backpack weighs 3 pounds, my sleeping bag weighs 2 pounds, My rain gear weighs 1 pound, my clothes weigh 5 pounds, my toiletries weigh 2 pounds and my vitamins and supplements weigh 2 pounds, for a total of 15 pounds.

This is what I am taking (pictures available upon request). Most of this was suggested by a lady who has walked the path three times and she says she has narrowed it down to the necessities.

3 pair of socks with liners
1 pair of leggins
2 pairs of underwear
1 water bottle
Lightweight dress to put on after shower
2 pair shorts
2 short sleeve shirts or tanks
Large brim hat and sunglasses
Lightweight fleece jacket
flip flops for shower and after hiking
Large scarf to drape around you to go into temples
1 long pair of pants (zip off legs)
Quick-dry towel
Trail runner shoes
Wool gloves
Knee braces
Various first aid items and toiletries
Make-up
Sleep mask
1 long sleeve shirt

Day 1 Tuesday September 11, 2018

New hair fashion.

Dete got an early start this morning.  She got up at around 3:30 AM.  Not me, I slept late, got up at 4:55 AM.  We spent the morning doing our devotion and catching up on last minuet things.  We buzz cut my hair so that it would last as long as possible. We did some minor house cleaning, loaded the car, and of course went to Wal Mart.  We needed to get a wire for Dete’s portable charger.  Dete trimmed her toenails so that her toenails wouldn’t turn black and fall off.  Yes, we have been told that toenails fall off about a week after you get back home from the walk.  Can’t wait!!!

We met Mike at his house and we went to the Charlotte airport.  There was one glitch.  While standing in line waiting to check in our backpacks I realized that I had left my phone in the truck.  We scrambled to get in touch with Mike and he soon pulled up with the illusive phone.  I just couldn’t go two months without my phone, now could I.

We had an easy time going through security— no pulling shoes off, and no carry on luggage

Waiting for the plane in Charlotte

to amount to anything.  It took about five minutes.  So, we are on our way to New York.  There we will fly on WOW airlines to Iceland for a short layover and then to Paris.  We leave New York a little after midnight and we will arrive in Paris on Wednesday.

The lunch menu at the airport was chopped bar-b-que chicken and pulled pork.  Our sides were slaw and green beans.  It was about $8.00 cheaper to get the combination plate and split than buying two sandwiches.  It was very good.  We were surprised with the quality.  I know those of your who have followed our blogs before expect me to bargain.  So here it is.  I couldn’t ask for a discount so I asked the lady dipping the slaw to go a little heavy with it.  She smiled as she said, “I gotcha”.  I love people who have a good attitude on the job.

Not a drug deal, just our supplements.

Now the waiting starts.  We have about an hour and a half before we board our Delta flight to New York.    I may take a short nap here in my chair. Meanwhile, we are reminded that on this day, 9/11 seventeen years ago, many innocent people just like us boarded their last flight ever. We remember it well. We were teaching a class at Southwest High School in High Point when a teacher next door stuck her head in my room and said, “Turn you TV on.”  It forever changed us!! Life is so unpredictable. I called all my grandchildren this morning and told them if something happened to me I wanted them to remember that the last words out of my mouth was, I love you more than you will ever know.

We made the connecting flight to New York. Smooth sailing. We claimed our backpacks and

Waiting for the plane.

headed for directions to WOW airlines. Evidently this airline is not too popular because the guide did not have a clue what we were talking about. But after a phone call he steered us in the right direction. We were going to check our bags but found out we were too early. We have to wait until 9:30 to check in, so we went for dinner. We decided on Chinese so we could get some vegetables. From what we read there are not a lot of vegetables to eat along the Camino, so we are stocking up while we can. We have brought our vitamins and supplements to help us stay as healthy as possible. The food part will be a journey for

Waiting, working on the blog, and drinking some coffee.

us. We have no idea what is in store for us. We just hear there is a lot of bread, and we do not keep bread in our house. We eat bread sometimes when we eat at other’s houses. So we hope we will not be on a bread diet for 60 days.

Since we are not leaving on WOW until 12:30 in the morning, I got us a cup of coffee to help us stay awake. As far as the finances are concerned, we are going to try to stay on a budget of 57.99 euros a day, which is $50 in US money. We have heard this is possible—we will see. Today we are at 41.90 euros, so we are a little under budget. Now to go get the blog published.

Day 2 Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Flying on WOW.

Today we are flying to Iceland on WOW airlines. It is home based in Iceland. We had never heard of WOW until I started looking for flights. Of course, I try everything, Priceline, Kayak, Cheap Flying—everything before we book. When I saw WOW I was excited. I asked Dete, “Have you ever wanted to go to Iceland?”  Of course, her response to anything different is always the same. “Absolutely!!!!”, then followed by the question, “Why?”  When I told her were could save $1000, her response was even more positive. The fact that this would include no customer services, no food, no snacks and no water, (unless you pay)

Purple every where.

did not deter her. She knows that I hardly ever go anywhere without our healthy snacks—nuts and fruit. So, we booked it and here we are. We did not know that everything was purple—- the seats, the stewardess’s uniforms and even the outside of the plane.

While flying, we noticed out the window that there were a lot of snow covered mountains. Our first thought was that we were flying over Iceland, but then I remembered my geography teacher, Mrs. Rogers,

Iceland which we realized was Greenland.

saying, “In Iceland you see green and in Greenland you see ice. So, we were flying over Greenland. Our pictures just do not do it justice—it was beautiful. Sure enough, when we saw green we landed in Iceland –around 10:00. The name of the airport is Keflavic in Sandgerdi, Reykjanes. We had about an hour before we could board the next WOW to Paris, so we looked for breakfast/lunch. We are not sure what we are eating because we are so mixed up on our

$32.00 lunch. What were we thinking? Undoubtably we were not.

times. It is driving Dete crazy so she is texting her friends Tara, Tonia and Mickey to find out what time it is in the states. I finally added it to the time zones on my phone so she can know. But we eventually have to settle into the time zone we will be living in for two months.

Lunch was an experience. We settle on a sandwich—me a bacon/egg/avocado and Dete a barbeque chicken/tomato and a cup of coffee. The prices are listed in currencies—Euro, US, ISK. The cashier said ISK was the best deal,—-whatever that meant. So, we handed him the credit card and paid. Dete is keeping the financial spreadsheet, so she told me to ask him what that would be in US dollars. When he said $32, I heard a body hit the floor!!  No, just kidding, but she and I were in shock. We are going

Moving sidewalk tunnels in an open roofed area. Welcome to Star Wars Paris Airport.
Time for dinner in Paris.

to have to ask first from now on, if we are going to stay within budget. We were just thinking a light snack because we were really not that hungry, just sitting on an airplane all night. That one meal was just about our expenses for the day!!

We boarded WOW and headed to Paris. We arrived in Paris around 5:00 and headed out to find our hotel. We had to ride the train then look for the 2nd level where our hotel shuttle was picking us up.  While waiting for the shuttle, we met an American family who had been traveling in France for three weeks. After all the details of each other, they asked us for the blog address and said they wanted to follow along.  We got on the

Our dinner restaurant.

shuttle and arrived at our hotel. After we checked out our microscopic room, we went to ask the desk clerk if there was a café—outdoor

Dete had steak and green beans.

preferably—close to the hotel. She said yes and pointed us in the right direction. It was very good, a little restaurant nestled in the midst of a neighborhood of houses. Larry had spaghetti and I had a steak with green beans. Our nice dinner cost less than the sandwiches we had at lunch. Live and learn!!!

It is now after 9:00 and we are headed to bed shortly. We have to get up at 4:00 to catch a plane to Biarritz, France to catch a bus and then a train to the place our hike will begin.

Day 3  Thursday September 13, 2018

Breakfast at Starbucks.

We got up this morning at 4:00 because we had to be ready to ride the shuttle at 5:00 to go to the airport. We got to the airport and did all the necessary check-in things and had about an hour before we boarded Air France for Biarritz. While we were waiting, we had breakfast at Star Bucks.  It was the only place that took US dollars/credit cards. So we split a breakfast sandwich and each had a cup of coffee. At 7:30 we boarded our last plane for a while. Dereatha slept the entire hour and a half. This is how sleepy she was. The stewardess brought us a small lemon cake. I roused her up to see if she wanted one. She said yes, opened the package and took a bite, never really waking up.  When she woke up later, the bite

Walking to the bus station in Bayonne. Dete wanted to fish.

was still in her mouth. She had neither chewed it or swallowed it. Yes, we are suffering a little jet lag and can’t wait to get into the Camino routine.

Dete working on the blog.

We arrived at Biarritz and caught a bus to the train station, where we were going to ride to St-Jean Pied-De-Port.  When we got to the train station, we found out it was going to be delayed until 2:00 because they were working on the track. The man we talked to said that the bus would leave at 2:00 and would be cheaper. So, bus it was.  It was about an hour ride through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. We arrived at Saint Jean, and began to look for the Accueit pelerins (pilgrims office) to pick up  our passports for the Camino. We will get this stamped

Found some fruit for lunch while waiting on the bus.

along the way to prove that we actually traveled the Camino. We also picked up our shell to place on our backpack. This is the official sign that we are now Pilgrims.

Next we had to look for a place to stay. We went to the Municipal

Found a room.

Albergues to get a bed. We stood in a long line with other pilgrims. With about four people in front of us, they ran out of beds. We went to the next on the list and it too was full.  The third one would not open the door. After ten minutes of some words in some language we did not understand, we left. So, we start trying hotels, because it is getting late

Katia is the lady who helped us get a hotel room from her friend.

in the afternoon. The first one we went to was full. We found out that they are having a festival so there are lots and lots of tourists here who are not Pilgrims. Plus, it is a mountain tourist town.  We found a motel for 165 E a night—no way! The next motel we tried, she said 110E, so I asked if she had a pilgrim rate. No pilgrim rate, so off we go.  The next place, Hotel-Restaurant des Remparts, we try is full, but the lady at the desk said she had a friend who had a place we could stay. It was five miles away and only 65E. We say ok, and we jump in her car, making sure she could bring us back to town in the morning.

Hotel Restaurant Mendy

On the ride, I look at Dete and say, “Do you realize we just got in the car of a stranger”? What if this is a trap?  Oh well, people from the South are just trusting. We arrive at the motel and it is newly remodeled and fantastic. Dete is glorying in a big

Dete on the balcony of our room.

bathtub, a hairdryer, a bidet and a balcony off the bedroom. Now to go find something to find something to eat.

The restaurant at the hotel serves at 7:00 so we had a few minutes to walk around town. We were not

A French street near our hotel.

disappointed at the scenery, but what we were really excited about was the market we found to buy us some snacks to eat for lunch on the trail. We bought a

huge fig, two apples, a carrot and some goat cheese.  We then came back to the motel. Along the way we found a beautiful flower growing

Picking our lunch for tomorrow.

along the road.  Of course, when we got back to the restaurant we could read nothing on the menu. Dete looked up a few words on a translator app, and we avoided everything that said goat. We recognized the word omelet, so that is what we ordered. We both love

omelets and of course we had no idea what would be in it. As it turned

flowers along the street.

out it was full of mushrooms. It came with a salad and of course bread. Then we went back to the room to prepare ourselves for the trip

Cafe near our hotel.

tomorrow. Our original plan was to walk about five miles tomorrow to break ourselves in, because after all we are still recovering from the trip to Israel last week and jet lag on top of that, but to our surprise all the beds are full along the way, so we have to walk the whole fifteen miles straight up a mountain. I guess we will see what we are made of.  We might be staying two nights in the next town to recover. It is just one day at a time.

Day 4 (1) Friday September 14th.

St Jean Pied de Port to Burguete 15.6 miles

Today is the first day of our walk.  In the heading each day the number in parenthesis will be the number of days that we have been on the walk.  And the number not in parenthesis will be the number of days on the trip.

Just after leaving St. Jean.
More scenery just out of St. Jean. Enticing us up the mountain.

We got up at 5:00 AM so we would be ready to meet Katia to take us back to the beginning of the Camino. She arrived at 6:30 and we were off to her hotel. It was still dark, so we actually had to find the beginning of the trail by ourselves. They had a map saying we could take the high road or the low road. There was a man there who weighed about 300 pounds. He said, “I am taking the low road”, which is virtually a highway that goes around the mountain. At the end of the day Dete said, “We should have taken the low road” But that is not

More beauty on the Camino. You decide which one I mean.

really us—we want the whole experience! We started walking out of town, and it was a steep, climb, about a 45 degree angle. Dete said that she was already out of breath. I told her not to worry that our guide book said that going out of town was the hardest part—-He lied!!

Once we got on the trail, we were literally having a mountain top

Wow, just look at that.

experience. Words cannot express the beauty we saw.  We have pictures, but they do not do it justice. It was rolling pastures on the sides of mountains. Sheep, cows, pigs and horses were everywhere in unfenced pastures. So Dete was happy. There were sheep dogs that kept them in check, moving them

Watched this sheep dog work.

from pasture to pasture. It was incredible to watch. After a few miles we came upon a little café on the side of the mountain. I took Mr. Tennessee’s picture with two friends he had met along the way. I call him Mr. Tennessee because he is from Knoxville and has a sister who lives in Talbot, a town we used to live in. We stopped and I had a cup of coffee and Dete had a cup of

Mr. Tennessee (center – Casey), Connor, and friend.

tea.  We ate the fruit that we had bought the day before and then we moved on. We are still doing good at this point—excited and full of energy.

Then the mountain began to take its toll.  Everyone kept saying, I think the worst part is over—they were wrong. The rocky roads were the worst. Our feet would slip and bend and twist. We have great shoes, but just the constant beating of our feet against rocks and rough terrain just gets hard.  Just when we thought we couldn’t make it, we

Orisson Hostel and Cafe.

came upon the first Hostel. It was our plan to spend the first night here. We did not realize you had to make reservations at least four months before. That would have been perfect, then we would have had an

Dete visiting a horse that is free to roam.

easier day the next day. Live and learn. Of all the blogs we read, Youtube videos we watched no one ever said anything about reservations. In fact most things we read said they would not take reservation. I think they were talking about the albergues where all the bunk beds are. So on we go. We climb up 4200 feet in a distance of twelve miles, and what goes up must come down.  And coming down it was very steep about a 50 degree angle and every step was dodging boulders, and

Dete with her new friend. Does she like animals?

rocks of all sizes. This was brutal on our ankles and feet. I looked down at my feet and realized that I had brought the wrong shoes. I have been training off and on for a year breaking in my shoes. I have a pair of tennis shoes identical to my hiking boots except for a  little higher top. In my hast I had put on my tennis shoes instead. It took me four days to realize it. I’m glad the tennis shoes are comfortable, but I may need a new pair of shoes before this is over. These are virtually my work shoes. I guess it is old age.

You can’t believe the excitement we felt when we crossed into Spain. We had heard that this was the apex—wrong again. The

Crossing the border from France into Spain.

mountain just  kept going up. We tried to periodically rest, but the goal to just get to a bed would overcome us. Finally, we reached the apex and nearly cried for joy—-until we saw the decent!!  Dete had already

Sheep were everywhere.

had four major leg cramps that day and it took both of us to rub them out. We got a few strange looks from pilgrims and it was hard to explain to people who spoke no English, what we were doing.  The decent was straight down!!! I mean straight down!! We had to place our walking sticks between boulders to steady ourselves to keep from falling. We went down 1500 feet in three miles. We were hurting so bad. Of course, I never let Dete know how I really felt. It took all I had to encourage her. The last two miles this is what I heard screaming—I want a motel tonight!!! I want a full-sized bath tub to soak in!! I want to stay two nights!!! I don’t care what it costs—to

Climbs like this all day.

heck with a budget!!!  I just said, God help her!!  A little while later—“Did you get that?  A nice motel, bathtub, two nights—screw the budget!!!  So we get to Roncesvalles and see that it is not a town, just an albergue that sleeps 230. Dete sits down at a picnic table across the creek and says, “go get us a bed”. She is aching all over, so I comply. We see a girl camping by the creek and cooking her supper.  Looks peaceful.  Then we see a few more tents and realize why—-there are no beds. I walk back to the creek and break the news. We have at this time walked eleven and a half hours, and to say the least we are beat!!  The hostess told me that she would call us a cab to the next town that had beds. Of course, we are disappointed on two levels, no motel room and won’t have the experience of sleeping with 230 people. And, we are not getting to walk the entire way.

The trail down.

So we crawl into the cab with eight other people and head for a bed. Little did we know it was only a mile and half away.  We probably could have walked because we had an hour’s rest waiting for the cab. Dete and I talked about the fact that there were 230 people in that building. We knew 230 had not passed us on the trail. Come to find out, the Spanish people come there to start their journey, and skip the Pyrenees. I totally understand, but it was frustrating for those of us looking for beds.

We arrived at the albergue and slept in a room with 8 other people. Had a little fight between an Italian lady and a Chinese man.  She was UPSET because she thought he had gotten her friend’s bed.  I calmed the situation down a little by asking her what language she spoke. When

Loose hogs along the trail.

she said Italian, I started making gestures to her and said, “so that is why you are upset, the Italian is coming out”.  She started laughing and it was all over.  It was a very nice room—extra clean. It cost 22 Euros including a four- course dinner, with all the wine you could drink. The wine drinkers were very happy, especially Mr. Tennessee—he took a whole bottle with him!!

It was time to dress for bed.  Dete rubbed her magnesium/aloe oil on her feet and legs hoping to relieve some of the pain. With limited bathrooms with so many people, you learn to improvise. Dete changed into her sleeping clothes under a blanket.  Others were not that modest. Men were walking around in their bikini underwear and well, I won’t talk about the ladies.  We’ve learned to close our eyes. Lights went out and we slept soundly until 6:30.

Day 5 (2) Saturday 9/15/18

Burguete to Zubiri 13.6 miles total to date 29.2 miles

Getting started early.

Today we slept in until about 6:30 AM.  Yesterday was hard on our bodies so we took a little more time to let them heal.  Our thoughts were that today was going to be an easy walk since yesterday was the hardest on the Camino.  We pretty much got up with everyone in our room.   I did not set an alarm so we just woke up when people started making noise.

It was kind of hectic with everyone getting ready at the same time in a room full of bunk beds.  Dete got a little frustrated when a man kept getting in her way.  She thought he could have gotten on the other side of the bed where

Getting ready in an albergue is hectic.

there was no one getting ready.  You can expect anything in these places.  I turned around as I was getting ready and there was a young lady exposed from the waist up and she thought nothing of it.  I guess it is a European thing.  I just turned back the other way.  Yes I did!

After getting packed we went down stairs to get some coffee and they didn’t serve coffee.  So, we began walking.  We reached a small town in about 30 minutes and got coffee and toast (only choice).  When we left the café we soon were shocked to find another mountain waiting for us.  Up and down we went all day.  It wasn’t that bad at first.  But there was no scenery today.  Trees were on both sides of the trail and that is about all that there was

On the trail again.

to see.  Soon we passed through a village that had a supermarkedo.  There we bought some delicious cheese, 4 bananas to help with the leg cramps, and 2 boiled eggs.  We would eat these later in the day.

While walking the trail we came across some sweet blackberries and of course we ate along the way.  It wasn’t too far down the trail that we found plums laying all over a watering trough.  They were extraordinary.   That was about all the highlights for the day.  After that things went up and down in a very steep fashion.  We got extra tired and sore.  The last two miles were almost straight down on very uneven rocks.  Our ankles and knees took a beating.  I didn’t think that we would ever get to Zubiri.  Dete’s knee was really

Getting fruit and cheese.

giving her problems.  We hiked 12 ½ miles in 8 hours. We did a little better even with the terrain.

Finally we reached the bottom and went to the Municipal Albergue.  We got a bed for 8.00 Euros each.  We are in a room with 14 beds and they are full.  Dinner was at a small café filled with Pilgrims inside and outside.  We had a delicious salad, bowl of English peas and ham, white fish, apple crème pie, and coffee.  This cost us 12.00 E each.  We stayed there while we worked on the blog for yesterday and today.  While we ate I talked to Stephen a man I met on the trail yesterday.  He is from

Crossing a river.

Ireland.  I guess we are kin to each other somewhere way back.  This is the second time that he has walked the Camino.

After dinner we came back to the albergue to write today’s blog and

Our friend Stephen from Ireland.

get ready for a day on the trail tomorrow. We take one day at a time. We end everyday saying we are going to take a rest day, but we seem energized in the morning. Dete was a little freaked out about the communal bathrooms tonight. She did not play sports and does not know what it is like to take a shower with someone standing next to you. Luckily it was late and everyone else had showered. Then she had to brush her teeth standing next to a man brushing his teeth. Yes, the men’s showers are on the other side of the rooms and then you share sinks.  Every day is an experience. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Day 6 (3) Sunday September 16, 2018

Zubiri to Pamplona 14.5 miles.  Total to date 43.7 miles.

Rewarded with this view after a climb this morning.

We get up today around six. We are super excited today because we are walking to Pamplona, the town where they host the running of the bulls. I must say the Chinese Pilgrims are very prompt about getting up times. They start about five and try to be quiet, but after a while you

A little different type of walk today.

just get up with them. We start today with high hopes of the trail not being as bad. We are careful now to study elevation levels on each map. There is some going up and coming down, but nothing seems to be drastic. It is actually dark on the trail where we are walking. It was suggested that a head lamp would be great, but we skipped that purchase. Right out of town we had an incline with unsteady rocks. Normally it would have not been too difficult, but the fact that we

Spain

could not see where to place our walking sticks made it a little difficult.  All of a sudden I hear, “LAAAARRRRY”. I look around and Dete is on the ground. Luckily it was a downward incline so she did not have far to fall. She fell on her knee, but the way she landed her backpack took the brunt of the fall. She was fine, her ego just a little bruised, but no scratches, bruises or anything like that. I pulled her up and we never missed a beat. We next went through a grassy area leading up a small incline.

We always look for coffee in the morning, but towns just do not wake up like us, so we have to

Trail sights.

walk until we find something. Today it was especially long.  After walking for a few hours, still no coffee. We do have a Moringa drink every morning to give us some energy, but there is nothing like that morning cup of coffee. So, we decide to sit down and eat some goat cheese that we had brought and drink some water. We also eat a few blackberries along the path. This place is blackberry heaven. I wonder if

Just before entering the coffee cafe.

they harvest them?  I know the Pilgrims do. There are also lots and lots of figs—which we love, but they are not ripe yet. It was a great animal day for Dete. Cats and ducks today. On the walks we see lots of beauty in the form of art and flowers. It is hard to show it all.  We finally come up on a little restaurant and we have coffee and a spinach omelet—yum!!! Then we

flowers along the path.

just do a lot of walking along a highway and cobblestone pathways. We run into a guy from Oahu, Hawaii who had a skate board on the top of his pack.  He says he skates everywhere he can and a lot in the cities—it breaks up the walking. Along the  way we see little fruit/bread

Duck speaking spanish to Dete. Glad we don’t understand.

displays set up on the side of the road for folks to make a little money. We also see memorials and pictures of people who have died making the journey.

This is a very tiring day for us. I don’t know if it is the culmination of three days of hard walking, or the fact that our bodies need a rest, or the fact that we walked a lot faster today because of our excitement of getting to the big city of Pamplona where you can see the running of

Mr. Hawaii with his skateboard.

the bulls. It is a city of 200,000. Anyway, we literally dragged ourselves into town. When we got here we went to an albergue only to get someone to help us find a hotel. We are going to stay two nights to get our US dollars changed to euros, do our washing and send some WEIGHT home.  We are carrying way too much weight. At an albergue you can only stay one night, plus I wanted to get Dete a bathtub to soak in—and I plan to enjoy it too.

Home for 2 nights.

Once we got settled in, took a log hot bath, worked on the blog a little from yesterday, we dressed up (relatively speaking) and went to find something to eat.  The beauty of this city is amazing. It is a town of night life.  They do not even bring out the dinner menus until eight. If you eat earlier you have to go to a tapas bar and pick out what you want. It is already made and sitting on the bar, you just pick what you want. I have no idea what it

Running of the bulls street in Pamplona.

was made of, but it was some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. Most tapas restaurants we have been to in the states are very expensive and you only get maybe one bite. Here they are big and very inexpensive. All these little plates were only $14.

After walking around and listening to music, we head back to the room for a little “us” time. We are so busy with everything sometimes we do

Time for tapas food.

not take the time to really connect. We slowed down last night and just reflected on all that is going on and the wonderful experience we are having.

We will see what tomorrow brings with everything we have to do. It is hard when you don’t speak the language. Every little sentence is a chore with lots of hand gesturing and pantomiming. Dete and I talked about our foreign students that we taught in school and how difficult it must have been. The boys in particular wanted to drop out and just work. I think we understand that more now.

Day 7 (4) Monday September 17, 2018

Pamplona to Pamplona 8 miles.. Total to date 51.7 miles

My idea of running with the bulls.

Woke up this morning ready to go. I went down and got us a cup of coffee. I slept great last night after that tiring day, but Dete says she didn’t sleep very well because too much light was coming in the window. We later found that there were shades on the outside of the windows that we could have shut. We’ll shut them tonight. We got dressed and headed out to accomplish our three chores. We first went to the laundry. The plan was for Dete to wash/dry clothes and I would go to the bank. The laundry took about an hour and I was barely back. As it turned out, banks only do services for their customers. Now to find a

Bull fighting arena.

place that would change our money. We found a place called the El Corte Ingles. It was a department store with a customer service place for a variety of needs. You simply told them what your problem was and they were there to help—bill paying, problems, etc. It was a welcoming sight. We have tried for several days to get this money changed. We mostly use a credit card, but some places—especially on the trail will not take credit cards. After we got the laundry done and our money it was time to go back to the room and make decisions about what to ship back.

We had some great advice about how to pack and had done what we thought was a really great job. Jenny, our friend who has traveled the Camino and was on our Israel trip gave us

Is this what happens to the bulls after the bull fight?

more advice and we actually went home and deleted items. But we still had too much weight. There were some heavy things that we wore to the airport that we ended up carrying later on, so what our weight showed at home was really not accurate. Long story short, we ended up sending home about fifteen pounds, including our sleeping bags. We have discovered a sleep sack.  The albergues we are sleeping in provide disposable sheets and pillow cases for the mattresses, so the beds are clean. The weather is so warm that we are not even getting in our bags at night. We figure if it gets cold we will sleep in our clothes inside the sack. We will see how this works out. We just know we cannot keep carrying this much “stuff” every day. I don’t think our backs can take it. So, then we had to find a post office to get a box and see what procedure we have to follow to

Action in the plaza.

get it shipped. Finding anything in this huge town with a tremendous language barrier is a huge undertaking. Can’t tell you how many times we have said today, “Do you speak English? When they say yes, we have literally hugged them. These three jobs have taken us all day. And to top it all off, the shops close at 1:30-5:00 for siesta time. Dete smiled and told one guy that seemed kind of lazy. He laughed and asked where she was from. When she told him he just smiled and said, “Different culture.”  How does that work—you go to work at 10:00, get off at 1:30, go home? Come back at 5;30 and work to 8:00?  No wonder they don’t start serving dinner in restaurants until 8:00. I would have a hard time adjusting to that. But it meant the post office did not close until 8:30 and we had time to pack everything up and go back before we ate dinner. It took us all day to accomplish all this. I did manage to squeeze in an hour or so nap while Dete grieved over the things she was sending home.

Our Hotel awaits. Time for rest before a big hike tomorrow.

Dinner was at an outdoor café. We would love living here because we love sitting out side and listening to music while we eat. We were not very hungry so we ordered an appetizer of fried squid to split, a salad to split and a hamburger. Little did we know that all that was a big amount. We are used to servings in the US, but in Spain they take their eating seriously. However, we have noticed that it is very rare that you ever see any of them overweight, and the place is full of bakeries and bread shops. They just walk down the street carrying big loaves of bread. Well, we did see six very overweight people standing in line at Burger King!!  How sad is that?

After dinner we went back to the room to do the blog and get packed and ready for tomorrow. Can’t wait to pick up our backpacks tomorrow and see the difference.

Day 8 (5) Tuesday September 18, 2018

Pamplona to Uterga 10.5 miles. Total to date 62.2 miles

We found the way.

When we got up this morning Dete and I had a come to Jesus meeting.  We decided that we were going too fast on this trip trying to keep up with the people that we started with.  We need to slow down and enjoy the moment.  So keep that in mind as you read this post.

I was a little uneasy when we started out today.  We were up at 6:00

Barbara, Dete, and Judy reunited.

AM, and we left the hotel at around 7:15.   I was a little uneasy about finding the Camino trail.  With all of the walking that we did yesterday, we never did see the Camino shell that marks the way.  I could not visualize the directions or find it on the map.  Internet could not help.  So I listened to Dereatha, you know when all else fails listen to your wife.  That is sooooo hard to admit.  Yesterday, while at the laundromat, she met a man from New Mexico.  She asked if he was on the Camino and he answered yes.  He was also taking a day off of the trail.  She asked him how to get to the trail and he told her to go straight down the street by the laundromat.  So, I obeyed like a good husband.  She and the man were

Dete is sampling the sunflower seeds.

correct.  It was right down that street.  As we entered the narrow street we immediately saw other pilgrims with their backpacks, trekking poles, and shells.  And there the trail marker was right there where we had been last night and didn’t see it.

It was going to take a while to walk across the city of Pamplona, so when we spotted a small bakery, we got a cup of coffee, and a pastry.  There we ate our banana and took our vitamins.  When we left the bakery as we crossed the street to rejoin the trail we spotted Barbara and Judy, our friends from the first day.  We have crossed paths every day several times.  When we decided to stay an extra day in Pamplona we were afraid that we wouldn’t see any of our new friends again since we would be a day behind them.

After some hugs, we all walked together for most of the day, and the girls shared stories all the

Snack time. ummmmm good.

way.  This is one of the benefits of the Camino.  You meet a lot of good people, and share a very special part of life. They are both retired teachers, so we have a lot in common. Even though there are some that are ahead of us, and we will never see them again, we are glad that we are slowing down.

We walked about 3 miles until we got out of Pamplona.  After the city we got on a path that was a steep climb through beautiful scenery, wind turbines, and very special views of Pamplona.  It is amazing how the walk takes place.  You see things out in front of you that become

Looking back at Pomplona.

goals.  After a while you reach your goal and when you look back you see where you were and how far you have come.  At that point you pick a new goal where you see the trail crossing a mountain, or entering a town.  You eventually reach that goal and so it goes.

One such goal was the mountain summit called Alto del Perdon.  There

Time for some refreshment after a hard climb.

was some iron sculptures of medieval pilgrims with the inscription, ”Where the way of the wind crosses the way of the stars.”  While we were climbing to this goal we stopped at Zariquiegui.   It is a small village

Taking a break with beautiful scenery and some watermelon.

where we got some coffee, a pastry, an apple, and a large date and almond cookie.  Yes, we do eat a lot.  Our bodies are using a lot of energy climbing these mountains.  At this point we had walked about six and a half miles.  When we had almost reached the top, I spotted a fruit stand.  Dete was a little behind me, and had not seen it.  I met her with a piece of watermelon and she gasped with delight.  This is her favorite fruit. It was a fruit stand by donation only. We donated a lot because we ended up eating three pieces of watermelon, a piece of pineapple, a fig and a plum.  We get so hungry for fruit. They had a little table set up with two chairs to sit down and enjoy the view.  This is the kind of thing that captures Dete—the special effects.

Wrought iron sculptures at the top of the mountain.

While on top of Perdon, we could see several small villages ahead, and down the mountain.  We knew that we would probably stop at one of these, we just weren’t sure which one.  It was very steep going down the mountain to obtain the next goal.  Even though it was steep it was not as dangerous as on some other days.

When we were nearing the village of Uterga, we crossed paths with a

Kilt wearing Scottish acquaintances.

couple of men from Scotland.  One of them was wearing a kilt.  Of course, Dete had to get a picture with them.  Uterga was the choice of residence for tonight.  We got a bunk bed and dinner for 23 Euros each.  While sitting outside eating lunch, Barbara and Judy walked up and had a seat with us.  Dete gave them her fries.

Where we bedded down for the night.

They got something to drink and we ate our hamburgers.  They said their good byes and we all knew that we may never see each other again.  However, they have our blog and we have theirs.

A shower was the ticket, and then I worked on the blog.  Dete went to

Dinner with friends.

the bed room and took a little rest.  Dinner followed and was delicious.  We shared it with 10 other people at our table.  They were from California, St. Croix, Denmark, and Michigan.  It will soon be time for bed but first I must finish today’s post.

Today we walked a total of about 10 miles with a very steep climb and decent. The total for the trip so far is about 52 miles.

Day 9 (6) Wednesday September 19, 2018

Uterga to Cirauqui 8.6 miles. Total to date 70.8 miles

A lot of snails along the trail.
On the trail early today.

This morning we left the albergue at 7:30 AM.  The walk was very gentle for the most part.  We walked across rolling hills, through farm land, vineyards, and villages.  We only encountered one steep hill that lasted about ¾ of a mile.  Not too bad compared to previous days.

We walked about four miles before entering the village of Puente La Reina.  A small village of about 2,500 people.  There we ate breakfast at the Hotel Jakue.  We had some coffee and two bacon (I think) sandwiches.  The food and coffee were very good. The rest was just what we needed.  We listened to some worship music while we ate, and were very refreshed when we started to walk again.

Strolling through the town Puenta Reina.

The town was very interesting to walk through.  The streets were narrow and there were several markets.  We bought some grapes, a peach, and cashews for break time and lunch.  The walk from Puente La Reina to Cirauqui was very interesting.  Half way between the two towns was the town of Maneru.  The town was asleep.  There were no restrooms, and someone we know and love anointed the town with something that sounded very much like the name of the town.  I will leave that up to your imagination.  (Right beside the road between houses and no photos please.)

We walked through vineyards of grapes.  They were ripe for the picking.  Yes, you guessed

Dete feasting on figs.

right, we picked as we walked.  They were very refreshing.  This is wine country, and it is plentiful.  We also picked figs along the way.  They were so sweet that it was like eating sugar.  This was a very interesting walk to say the least.  It will be one leg of the way that will be remembered.

So many grapes and only one of her.

When we entered Cirauqui, it was like stepping back into a medieval village.  It is built on a hill with very narrow streets.  It was like stepping back in time.  We needed a break, but we couldn’t find a bar/restaurant.  We gave up and continued walking to the edge of town.  We stopped to remember what we decided yesterday. (Stop, and smell the roses).  Finding out that there was going to be a celebration in the square today, made the decision easy.  So, we went back into town and got a couple of beds at the Albergue Maralotx for the price

Our albergue for the evening.

of 12 Euros each.  We also ordered dinner for 12 Euros each.  This gave us time for an early shower and time to wash and dry clothes on the line.  It also gave us time to finish up a post on the blog.

Tonight we ate dinner in the basement of the albergue.  This was a 400 year old wine cellar.  They actually made the wine upstairs in the reception area.  The owner of the albergue said that all the wine that they serve at dinner was made in this village.

All of the vegetables that we were served tonight were organic and

Dinner friends.

from the host family’s garden.  The first course was lentil soup.  All of us at our table were amazed at how good lentil soup could be.  After the soup we were served a beautiful garden salad.  The main course was a fish stew.  I never could understand the name of the fish, but it was caught locally that day.  Fish stew did not sound too good to me, so I loaded up on soup and salad.  The fish stew was surprisingly good.  I had two helpings of everything.  I guess that my body is saying, “I need food if you are going to walk across Spain”.  After the main course we were served vanilla custard.  Now that was really good.

Princess at the festival.

The treat for the day was that after dinner we were able to attend the fiesta / festival.  It was the last night of an eight day celebration, and they were having fun.  The musicians were professional, and it was about a 10 hour show.  I can’t explain how good the performers were.  Now you have to realize that this is a town of 500 people.  I think that the neighboring town also joined in, but it was only about the same size.  They played music and sang almost all night.  I only woke up when they stopped.  The silence got my attention.

Day 10 (7) Thursday September 20,2018

Cirauqui to Estella 9 miles.  Total to date 80.7 miles

Early start with a beautiful sunrise.

They partied all night.  The band quit playing at 4 o’clock this

Breakfast at the Bar El Molino Cafe.

morning.  That woke me up.  Then the disco music started and at 6:00 AM they were still singing and talking.  Oh well, we wanted to take in the spirit of the places that we visit.  It was a wonderful experience.

Our walk began at about 6:45 this morning.  It was still dark, but we used a small flash light to light up the path.  After Dete fell the other morning in the dark, I thought that we should use the light.  A lady from Ireland called it a torch.  We covered a lot of ground early.  But as the day went on, the hotter it got and the slower we became.  There were several hills, but they weren’t too bad in comparison to what we have navigated in the past week.

Entrance to cafe,

We spotted a small café along the path at around 8:00 AM.  The door was open and a man was walking out the door.  I asked if he had coffee and he responded with “si”.  It was an old house or grinding mill that had been converted.  It was made of stone and the mill stone was in the entrance hall.  When you got inside it was very modern.  However, the adventure had just begun.  They (the man and his wife?) did not speak any English and several more pilgrims arrived shortly after we did.  The lady finally understood that I wanted two coffees Americano and an egg, ham, and potatoes breakfast.  She was very gracious as we worked it out, and she even tried to teach me some Spanish with a smile.

Then the crowd hit the door.  The smile disappeared, and the fangs came out.  Just let me

Someone must have had a pack that too heavy.

say we were there about an hour as they tried to sort out all the orders and fill them.  It all worked out and it was just a part of the trip.

There wasn’t a lot to write about today except that the path was narrow and not as scenic as other days.  It was more of a day walking to get to a destination. We did see a lot of beautiful architecture. One

Six of the 12 disciple sculptures in an old church in Estella.

particular church had all the twelve disciples carved out of stone on the front of the church.  Finally, we reached Estella.  As we entered the city we noticed a very unusual river.  Part of it fell off to the side and created another stream.  I don’t mean it branched off in another direction.  I mean it fell off the main river.

The walk out of the old part of the city to the new was hot and tiring.  It was up hill and the map was not very clear.  We got off track (lost) but soon found our way with a little help from a nice man in the parking lot of a grocery store.  He showed me by walking around behind the store with me

The river that falls off into another stream.

and pointed out a hidden walk way that led up to the albergue.  We walked all the way through the town of Estella to the outskirts on the other side.  The name of the area is Ayegui and the albergue is named San Cipriano de Ayegui. They have about 80 beds.  Dete and I are the only two beds in our room.  There are five in each of the other two rooms making a total of 12.  Definitely not very crowded. A lot of people start with the first albergue to check for rooms and go through the list until they find one. We decided to walk to the last one before we checked. We knew it was early and there were probably rooms. We were right.   We have gotten out of the designated stages for each day.

Eating with the locals tonight.

For dinner we went out to find a restaurant.  The one in our albergue

Home for tonight.

was shut down because of a broken pipe or the chef had cut off some fingers. Our translations are not too good.  I couldn’t be sure about the explanation.  All the restaurants started serving at 8:00 PM so went looking for another option.  We found a little supermarkedo.  They made us a ham and cheese with tomato sandwich that was big enough for the two of us to share.  We gathered up some bread, cheese, candy bar, and water for lunch tomorrow.  You have to feed your tired body on the trail or you just run out of gas.

When we returned to our room we worked on the blog and got organized to be ready for tomorrow.  All of our electronics are charged and packing is mostly done.

Day 11 (8) Friday September 21, 2018

Estella to Los Arcos 13.5 miles.  Total to date 93.5 miles

Scenery from the cool morning walk.

The walk started about 6:45 due to the fact it is getting hotter every day.  Today is also going to be through open farm land without shade for long distances.  This will be the longest walk in several days.  We have been warned to take adequate water because there is not much available on the way.

We started walking in the dark again using our torch for light.  I don’t

A tribute to the Navara state pest. The Snail.

like leaving in the dark because it is easy to miss the way markers.  That is just what we did.  I don’t know how, but we got off the trail for about a mile I guess.  But we knew that we would cross it eventually, and we did.

We walked up on a café in the village of Azqueta, where we got coffee and a quiche made with cheese, eggs, and potatoes.  I also bought us four boiled eggs for later.  This was also served with bread.  The stop gave us a time to rest as well as feed the muscles.

A little breakfast at cafe Azketako in Azqueta.

All morning I had been slightly dizzy.  I knew that I only needed food.  For some reason this was a morning when the body did not want to go walking.  I don’t know why but I was stiff and tired.  But, after the breakfast break, I felt fine, and full of energy.

We walked through farm land and vineyards for most of the day.  It

A little trail diversion.

was hot, dry, and dusty on the trail.  As the day progressed, we began to feel the toll of the heat.  Energy was dragging, and we began to get in a hurry to get to Los Arcos.  Well really we wanted to get to Café Movil.  There was supposed to be an albergue there, but we didn’t see anything.  We did find a café and got another cup of coffee and visited with a lady from Austria.  Then, all of a sudden, there appeared Mr. Hawaii.  His name is Joel.  He is the young man who is carrying a skateboard.  We were then energized again, and ready for the trail.

Right out of town we pass some vineyards.  They were loaded with grapes for which we were thankful.  They hung in huge clusters and were sweet and very juicy.  Did you ask how we know what they tasted like?  Well we helped our selves while we walked.  Isn’t that

A field of asparagus.

what we were supposed to do?  Surely, they planted the first row for the pilgrims walking along beside the vines and the second row for the birds, and the rest for themselves.  That was our understanding of the way things were designed. Besides, it was a tremendous diversion to the fact that we were walking, and walking, and walking.

The scenery was not a help today.  It was somewhat monotonous.  There were very few trees that offered any shade.  The hills were rolling, and occasionally steep.  So, anything that got our attention, helped to pass the time, and the miles.  We did pass a cistern that was dug deep with many

Modern day cistern.

steps down to the water.  We saw ruins like this in Israel a couple of weeks ago.  This cistern was in current use.

We finally gave up on finding an albergue closer than Los Arcos.  A food truck with tables and shade showed up along the side of the trail.  I asked the lady where we were and she said six kilometers to Los Arcos.  OK, If that is the way, then that is the way.  We ate a ham

Shared food at the albergue.

and cheese sandwich and away we went.

For several days we have on occasions smelled a sweet smell like licorice.  Today Dete picked a little piece of a plant and it smelled like licorice.  So, being Dete, she tasted it.  Sure enough it tasted like sweet, mild licorice.  We continued to sample the natural offerings along the way.  We ate figs, blackberries, an apple, licorice plant, and a green olive (yuk).

Finally we walked into Los Arcos.  We found la Fuente Albergue.  It is an Austrian owned albergue.  It has a foot soaking trough, massage, washer and dryer, kitchen where you can cook and share, a patio, dining room, and an old timey wringer type dryer.  We showered, washed our clothes, dried them by rolling them

Our friend Joel from Hawaii, got a new hat today.

through the wringer, and then we ate.  We dinned on the boiled eggs, bread from last night, cheese from last night, date almond bar, chocolate almond bar, and then a surprise!!!!

In the albergues people sometime cook and set out the leftovers for others to share.  Today there was a shrimp, clam and rice dish with a tomato – based sauce.  We also ate some of it.  There was also a pasta, cheese and squash casserole.  All of this was very good.

Dinner on the square.

Tonight we will go out for a salad, or something light.  In – the – mean – time, I am working on the blog.

Suppertime was supposed to be simple—a salad.  But the atmosphere grabs you. The restaurants are just so special. There are only four in this town and they are all in the church square. People are coming and going to Mass as we eat. We have a salad, a pizza and

watermelon I bought from a supermacado.  What a special time.

Day 12 (9) Saturday September 22, 2018

Los Arcos to Logrono 18 miles.  Total to date 111.5 miles.

Beginning a long day with breakfast.

In the heading today I added a number in parentheses to give the actual number of days on the walk.  Today is a special day in that we broke the 100 mile mark.

We did not get as early of a start as normal today.  The day is already breaking as we leave the albergue.  We did not need the torch to find our way this morning.  We only went a few blocks to the town square where we sat down to a good breakfast.  Then, we were on the way to Logrono, a city of 155,000 people.  We were a little concerned about

It is early and already hot without shade.

the possibility of getting a bed there.  The word was that there is a wine festival there and a lot of people are in town for the festival.  A possibility was to stay about half way there in the town of Viana.  Well we will see how tired we are when we arrive there.

The path today was hard.  A lot of sun, temperatures in the nineties, very dry, and little shade.  We were baked out.  The terrain was pretty easy, except there were a few steep hills to go over, but not too bad.  Our bodies are getting used to the walking, and we are getting stronger.  It has become a way of life.  We wouldn’t change it for anything.

We passed through a lot of vineyards today and we ate a lot of grapes.  This was a source of

Yes! grapes for nourishment.

fluids, since the grapes are very juicy.  They are also a source off good vitamins.  The ground was a hard clay and occasional pavement.  Again, shade was at a premium.

Before reaching Viana, we crossed paths with a couple of people who couldn’t believe that we were walking at the pace that we have been keeping.  Some of them have seen us for several days and we are keeping up with them and even passing them on some of the steep uphill climbs.  One lady said to me after a steep climb, “I can’t believe

How do you stack big bales of hay this high?

that you two are doing as good as you are, I am 43, and you keep passing me.”  Well we do get passed going down the steep hill, because we have to be more careful.  At our age we can’t afford to slip, fall, and roll down the hill.

Another young man that we met has walked the entire Appalachian trail, and takes every chance that he gets to do long distance hikes.  So here he was walking the Camino de Santiago.  He is a pastor in a

Primitive vineyard beehive observations hut.

church organization that gives him a three month sabbatical every three years.  This works out well for his long- distance hikes.  His wife is to join him in a week for the rest of the walk.  He kept saying to us that we are an inspiration to him.  He was stopping in Viana and we were going on to Lograno.

I really can’t explain why we didn’t stop in Viana, except that we just wanted to do the 18 miles. We were there by 11:00 and it just seemed

Spraying olive trees.

foolish to stop that soon   You know, it was there, and it was a challenge.  Some day we are going to have to give up on these challenges.  It was about another 6 miles to Lograno, and we felt pretty good, so away we went.

The way was pretty secluded.  We only saw a very few pilgrims.  I

scenery from the wine country.

guess most of them decided it was too hot to continue. But let’s face it, we are used to hot in the south. They probably made a good choice.  I could tell that we were getting dehydrated, because our mouths were staying dry.  Even after we drank we were still thirsty.  Our feet started getting very hot.  The ground was very hot so our shoes got very hot and we got very

Street scene in Viana

hot.  Do you get the idea?  In other words, we made a bad decision and there was nothing that we could do except to keep walking.  Each step seemed to get harder and harder to take and finally we saw Lograno.  It was in the distance and it seemed like forever before we finally got to it.  The last mile or so was on pavement and it was hot.  But we finally made it.

Again, this stage of the walk was through wine country.  We saw

Break time.

several remains of huts made of stone.  We did not know what they were.  We assumed that they were storm shelters from years gone by.  However, I latter found out that they were stone “beehive” wine observation huts.  I guess that men would watch over the vineyards to work them and protect them from thieves.  Not sure of the purpose, but that makes since to me.  They were up on hills overlooking the vineyards.

When we got into Lograno, we discovered that the albergues were

Finally in Lograno.

full.  That didn’t bother us, because we had decided to stay in a hotel and rest an extra day.  The first hotel was full and they said that all the hotels were full.  So, we started looking at albergues for a bed.  No luck at the first one, and they told us that we would have to go to the far end of town to find one.  Well I think that is what the man said.  Traci Wilson, we sure could use you sometimes to translate for us.

After we left the albergue, I spotted a hotel just around the corner.  We thought that it probably wouldn’t do any good to ask there.  Well why not, we are standing right in the doorway.  We found that they did have a vacancy and it is located right off of the square.  Yes, the price was high for us.  They said that it was because of the festival and so few rooms available in town.  I could not budge her on the rate.  It was either pay it or keep walking, and we were done with the walking.

Nice hotel room.

The room is very nice and as I said it is very close to the square.  So after a shower, and a quick rest, we went out for dinner.  Most restaurants didn’t start serving until later and we were

We have to keep reminding ourselves that we are walking the streets of Spain.

hungry.  So we went into a tapas restaurant and ate a fantastic hamburger and papas fritas (fries).  We then stopped on our way back to the hotel and had

a desert and coffee.

At around 1:00 AM I had to strong muscle cramps, one in each leg about one hour apart.  I thought that the muscle was going to pop it was so strong.  Dete rubbed some magnesium gel with aloe on my feet and legs and the pain soon stopped.  The rest of the night went without incident and we ended up with a good night’s sleep.

Day 13 (10) Sunday September 23, 2018

Logrono to Logrono 1.5 miles.  Total to date 113 miles.

Bread section of breakfast.

This morning we did not wake up until 8:00 AM.  When we got out of the bed we were still pretty stiff. But that passed quickly as we

Dete’s plate.

dressed and went downstairs to our breakfast.  This hotel presented a breakfast for kings.  I mean it was very eye appealing as well as way above satisfactory.  It was spread out over three rooms and had fruit for decoration on every serving platter.

We helped ourselves to fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, scrambled eggs, ham/bacon, breads, cheeses, melons, pineapple, kiwi, pastries, bread, yogurt, granola, and soy milk.  I am sure that we had

Resting while working on the blog.

some other things, but I can’t remember it all.  Dete also made us some ham and cheese sandwiches on croissants for lunch.  She also got us an orange and a peach.  This hotel was rather expensive but it is way up on the scale of nice.

This was a day of rest for us after breakfast.  We came back to the

Church on line.

room and got back in the bed.  There I worked on the blog and she worked on our budget and her facebook posts about our trip.  Our friend Ben Miles had sent us a way to put in pictures on the blog so that the reader could click on them and they would be their regular size so that they can be seen better.  He uses the same program that we use so he was familiar with that

Cathedral at the city squarel

process.  I hope that it makes it more enjoyable for each of you.  Thank you, Ben for the help.  Since I had some extra time today, I went back and edited all the pictures.

After eating the nice lunch that Dete made, we watched the live worship service of  Church of the Highlands on line.  It is amazing what technology can do now.  Afterwards we went out

Decorated roundabout.

and walked around town for a little while. We went to the same place we went to last night for a hamburger, but they don’t start hot meals until 7:00,

so we decided to eat tapas for dinner.  We aren’t sure what we were eating, but is was good.  Then we stopped at an ice cream shop and

Time for some ice cream.

enjoyed a small desert.  The lady that checked us in at the hotel had suggested that we try it.  She said that it was rated as the best in all of Spain.  It was very tasty.

We then came back to the room and I am writing the blog for today.  We are beginning to turn our attention to the walk tomorrow.  We are

Not sure what this was.

getting our clothes ready, packing what we had washed in the shower yesterday, and planning how far we are going to go tomorrow.  It looks like about an eight to ten mile day.  We are still getting over the last few days so we will take it easy tomorrow.  The good news is that the weather is supposed to change tomorrow.  The forecast is for the low seventies and partly cloudy.  That is a good 20 degrees cooler than what we have been used to.  I might even zip the legs back onto my pants.  Well,  we will see how it all works out.

Day 14 (11) Monday September 24, 2018

Logrono to Navarrete 8 miles.  Total to date 121 miles.

Statue dedicated to our leaving Lograno.

The alarm went off at 5:30 this morning.  No, I do not know why I set

Spanish squirrel refused our offering of hard bread.

it for so early.  I knew that we were not going very far today, and I did it anyway.  In fact, we got ready to go before going downstairs here at the hotel to eat breakfast.  There we found that nothing was ready.  They did not open until 7:00 AM.  So, we had some time to kill.  We did finally eat another wonderful breakfast, but not before a little incident.  When I tried to make coffee with the espresso machine, there were no buttons lit to let me know how to begin to make my selection.  Being the person that doesn’t ask how to do things, I just put my finger on the only thing that did have a light.  It was just a tiny light.  But when I touched it, something happened.  Water started pouring out of the two openings where coffee usually pours.  Then the water changed to steam.  My cup started to over fill and I told Dete to go

Dete had to feed the ducks.

get help.  I placed another cup under the steam and water and it filled.  An employee of the hotel came and shrieked, “what is happening?”  I just smiled and pointed to the machine.  She smiled and said that it was in cleaning mode.

We eventually got some coffee and enjoyed our breakfast before leaving the hotel.  They were probably glad to see us go.  We had had an experience with the lights in the room the day before.  I had never seen such technology.  There was an apparatus by the door on the wall similar to the lock on the door.  You know, the one you put the card in to unlock the door.  Well you had to put the key card in the slot before the air

Getting bananas at a refreshment stand on the way.

conditioner and lights would come on.  There were no switches on the wall.  There was a panel of switches by the bed.  You could turn everything on and off from that point.  It took quiet a while, but eventually I got to where I could get the job done— sometimes.  Enough said about my technological deficiencies.

We had anticipated that after a day of rest our bodies would have been ready to go.  But not so; we did not seem to have any energy this morning.  I guess that the 18-mile day was still telling on us.  We struggled with very easy terrain.  The temperature was in the upper 60’s and it was cloudy.  So, there were no excuses.  It was just one of those times when it just didn’t seem like we could get anywhere.  We walked and walked and

Workers harvesting grapes. The one in red through us two bunches.

it seemed like we could never get away from Logrono.  I have decided that I just do not like the big cities.  Logrono is a city with 155,000 people.  It takes a long time to walk across a city that large.

We did get to Navarrete, only to find that the albergue didn’t open until one in the afternoon.  We had about 45 minutes to wait, so we ate our lunch that Dete had made this morning.  We had ham and cheese croissants, a peach, a banana, some grapes, and a muffin, and the banana we bought at a stand along the way this morning.  There was no price, it was just a donation.  The grapes were thrown to us by a worker who was harvesting them.  They were just going to work

Part of our harvest.

when we were passing.  He yelled the greeting, “buen camino” to us.  And I yelled back, “buen raisins”.  He then smiled and cut us two clusters and pitched them to me.  They were out of this world sweet and juicy.  We have been wondering when they were going to harvest them.  Now we know the answer to that question.

We are now in the albergue Navarrete Centro.  The rate was 7.00 Euros each.  The budget is doing pretty good today.  We will only

Tapas choices. Point, pay, and eat.

have to add supper to that, and we have no idea what that might be.  There are some restaurant/bars around, but they do not open until 8:30 PM.  We would really like to eat a little earlier than that.  We have both had a nap, and are feeling a little more refreshed.  I think that we may feel a little bit better tomorrow.

Dete has had a little incident.  We believe that she has been bitten twice on the face by a spider.  There are two red swollen, splotches on

Where we ate supper.

her lower cheek.  We are keeping an eye on it, but no ambulance yet.  You know we believe in letting your body heal itself.  She has researched, her and Siri, and found that aloe is good for it. We have been looking for a plant along

Antonyo served us. He reminded me of Ricey, my grandad.

the way.  In past days, we have seen numerous plants, but none today.  She thought that she had spotted one, but it turned out just to be a cactus.  We will keep you updated.

We had dinner at a little café, called Bar Departivo, that served tapas.

Teens that helped us find desert.

I don’t know what all we ate, but I do know some of it.  We had some yellow rice with some veggies in it, pork skewers, fried sliced eggplant, fried red tomato slices on bread, vegetable medley chopped up, crab salad with smoked salmon on top, fried cod.  Yea we were hungry. This is Spanish fast food—you just point and they put it on a plate for you.  It was very good.

We then went for a walk searching for some pastries.  We ran into some teenagers who could understand some English.  The four of them tried to tell us where a panderia (bakery) was located.  After that failed the girl said, “Follow us”.  They took us to two that were not

View from our Albergue window.

open yet.  I guess that they were still

People dete met from Georgia and Mississippi.

enjoying their siesta.  The teens then took us to a supermarket, and said, “all is not lost”.  We bought some good light pastries filled with chocolate and other stuff.

We took our pastries back to the café and Antonyo made us some coffee.  I asked for café americano, and he told me that we were in Spain so the coffee was Spanish coffee not American coffee and laughed.  I am putting out the blog at his café now, because the albergue WIFI is awful.

As soon as I am finished, we will go back to the albergue and go to bed.

Day 15 (12) Tuesday September 25, 2018

Navarrete to Azofra 14 miles.  Total to date 135 miles

A little nourishment to begin a day on the Camino.

People began to stir early the morning.  We left the albergue and walked a short distance to the square where we found a small café open.  We ate a very adequate breakfast.  We had two fried eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, a slab of toast, and café ameriano.  It was not only adequate, it was also very good.  I don’t know why,  but we both have

gathering pears for lunch.

a lot of energy.  Yesterday morning we were both very sluggish.  We like the feel of today better.

We left the café a about 7:30 AM.  Our steps were quick and crisp.  We are ready to walk the Camino.  After about 2 miles we walked up on a food truck.  We added a little more fuel to the bodies.  We ate a banana, a pastry filled with chocolate, and another café americano.  When we were finished eating, we came to a way marker that said we should turn left.  I remembered that the book had mentioned that sometimes due to the bad economy,

Red clay region. Locally made pottery.

small towns pointed the way to their towns.  I thought that this might be the case so we got out the map book and found that we should go straight.  This decision saved us about an hour.

Today we met a couple and spent some time walking with them.  His name was Jes (pronounced Yes).  He was from Finland.  He was walking with Katrina from Austria.  She is actually from Germany, but lives in Austria.  They have been walking together every since Jes’s wife let him of at the airport, and they met there.  I don’t think that

food truck snack.

Dete would approve of me walking everyday with another woman if she wasn’t with me.  Oh well we all are wired differently I guess.

We saw a lot of vineyards today with the best looking grapes that we have seen.  They are big and juicy and sweet.  They are preparing for the harvest, by trimming the poorer clusters.  Once again we helped ourselves along our walk.  After about 10 miles we arrived in the out skirts of Najera.  There was a picnic area waiting for us.  Lunch today was some bacon and bread left over from breakfast, two fresh pears that we picked up under

Way marker along the way.

a pear tree, an apple that we have had since we stayed at the hotel, and some cheese that we have had for several days.  We ate it all and now we have nothing to eat in our packs.

After lunch, we said goodbye to Katrina and Jes.  We have not seen them since.  While walking through Najera, we looked to see if could spot the restaurant where the girl who worked as the receptionist at the hotel in Lograno, had told us to eat.  This is the town where she lived and she recommended it to us when we checked out Monday morning.

This was our goal for today, but after ten miles we still had a lot of

Navarette is in sight.

energy and decided to walk on to Azofra.  We made it through town without getting lost even a little.  A very steep hill welcomed us back to the trail.  We are both glad that we didn’t stay in Najera and have to face this hill early in the morning.  We walk through an area that reminded us of out west.  We saw red clay formations that reminded us of Utah and New Mexico on a very small scale.  The afternoon was a very barren trail.  We had rolling hills to walk over and the temperature became hot.  All morning it was very cool.  In fact we wore our jackets for the first couple of miles.  Things do change when you are out in the weather day after day.

Scenery between Lograno and Navarette.

We finally saw a cathedral in the distance and anticipated Azofra.  Our steps were getting slower and shorter.  The heat and absence of shade was beginning to take it’s toll.  People were coming up behind us and we were a little afraid that the albergue might fill up if they passed.  I began to walk faster and they began to walk faster.  We were now walking along the narrow streets, and I could hear the behind me.  I knew that they were trying to pass me.  I had decided to

A rough and steep section of the trail today.

leave Dete and go faster.  The lady in the group behind us took the challenge and left her husband to try and catch me.  I sinced the move and countered with a burst of speed of my own.  I saw the turn up ahead and beat her to it.  I then saw the albergue and heard her almost running.  My heart is pounding as I recap the race.  I darted in the gate

Our room tonight.

triumphantly got to the desk first to find that they had plenty of rooms.  However, I did get a disgusting look from her as I paid for our beds.

This Albergue is the Albergue Azofra Municipal.  It has 60 beds.  There are two beds in each little room, so tonight we are alone in our own room.  It is nice.  We have showered, washed and hung up our

The vegetable stew was delicious as was the rest.

dirty clothes, and I am now in the large reception area writing the post for today.  Showering was an experience.  The men and women use the same room with showers and toilets.  The woman that I beat to the albergue was showering at the same time we were.  When I walked into the shower room, Dete told me to get into the shower now!!! She said that the woman told her that if I came I would just see her naked.    So Dete and I showered together.  While in the shower the other lady got out and told someone that if she was seen it wouldn’t be anything that hadn’t been seen before. We waited until she left before we got out of the shower.   Finally we found good internet at the restaurant where we ate the pilgrim’s meal.  We had grilled veal with French fries, vegetable stew and flan with whipped cream. This always includes bread and wine or water. It is cheaper to serve wine here than water. Any wonder with all the grapes we pass every day?

Day 16 (13) Wednesday September 26, 2018

Azofra to Granon 14 miles.  Total to date 149 miles

Breakfast at cafe Seville.

It was nice getting up in our own room this morning.  We were able to turn on the lights and get everything together instead of doing it

Dete found and cleaned a sugar beet. Delicious!!!

in a dorm with people sleeping.  Then we have to do it in the dark.  We knew that the café where we had supper last night opened at 6:00 am so we set our alarm for 5:30.

Breakfast was very good.  We had two fried eggs, two slices of bacon, a piece of bread toasted, and some coffee.  We have noticed that the people who work at the cafés really brighten up when you tell them how good the food is.  They also are very thankful for any tip.  We filled our water bottles at a fountain outside the café and we were off and walking.

A long walk through farmland.

Last evening my left hip was hurting something awful.  I had twisted and jarred it on the trail about mid afternoon and it got worse as we traveled.  Dete rubbed some magnesium oil on it and it felt better.  I was sort of worried about it for today’s walk.  While lying in the bed last night I remembered that I did not get my pilgrim credential stamped at supper.  That is very important.  We are supposed to get two stamps each day.  This is so that you can verify that you have walked the entire way, so that you can get your certificate of completion.  If you know anything about Dereatha, you know she must have the certificate of completion.  So up I go to the café to get

Stream along the path.

it stamped and dated.  All of that to say that my hip hurt like crazy when I got out of bed, but it got looser as I walked to the café.  That gave me some hope that I would be able to go on it today.

The hip was very sore to begin the walk.  I was limping like a baby, but it did loosen up some as we walked.  It looked like it was going to be a rough day.  Finally, Dete said, “We didn’t pray for your hip this morning”.   We prayed and after about 50 yards the pain was gone.  It got my attention if I twisted wrong, but overall, I was free from pain.  Only after a rest, it got stiff, and had to loosen up in a few steps.  It was so much better than what it started out to be.  I give the praise to the living God who is with us.  He is Immanuel.

Lunch time at a cafe in Santo Domingo.

There were no towns awake (only one) and no food trucks for the first ten miles of the walk.  It was a long walk without a second cup of coffee.  However, Dete did find a field of sugar beets when we stopped for a banana.  She had walked around some bushes for a bush stop (trail restroom break).  She noticed a huge turnip on top of the ground.  Well after peeling it and rinsing it off we discovered that

Dete found her a pig in Santo Domingo.

it was sweet.  There were some young pilgrim ladies who were passing as she sliced it and they asked if they could have a bite.  The consensus was that it was a very big sugar beet.  We pulled up another one, put it in our pack, and will eat it at a later time.

When we reached Santo Domingo De Calzada a fairly large city of about 6,600, we ate tacos but not like tacos we are used to eating.  They were filled with chunks of vegetables and meat.  They were not spicy at all.  We knew that we still had about 4 miles to go so we got

Today we saw fields of patatas, sunflower, and beets.

back on the trial.

The wind had picked up and it was blowing hard from our backs.  This helped us walk.  The land was farm land and we saw tractors pulling trailers of potatoes.  A young man walked with us who was an employee from REI.  We told him how we appreciated the expertise that they offer and their customer service.  When he walked up behind us he began the conversation by saying that we were using

Ready for a night out.

REI equipment.  He worked at the flagship store in Seattle, Washington.

While leaving Santo Domingo, Dete spotted a pot- bellied pig and had to have a picture.  Sarah our granddaughter also has a pet pig.  This made us a little homesick. This pig however, was huge—probably weighed 300 pounds, not like our little Roxy who weighs about 50-60 pounds. She was very friendly and let Dete pet her.  Finally, when we topped a hill, we saw a town with red roofs in the distance.  We knew that was our destination.  Granon only has a population of 290.  It is very

Doorway entries to some of the houses.

small, and we had trouble getting into an albergue.  We walked around town and asked, and several places were full.  Someone finally told us about a place as you go out of town.  It was El Cuarel.  They had a room with a big bed for two people for 28 Euros.  They also had supper for 7 Euros each and breakfast for 3 Euros each. Dete was ecstatic—two nights in a row with a private bedroom and also a suite—sofa, table and large bathroom.  She misses me at night Awwwwww!!!   So we coughed up the Euros and got a shower, washed our clothes and Dete dried her hair outside in the sun and wind in about 30 minutes.  The clothes dried very fast also.  Supper

The wind is brutal on hair. You ought to see mine.

will be served at 7:00.  We will be there. But first, we must go and get a stamp in town.

Dinner began at 6:59. As usual we were early and got them started early.  We ate with six other pilgrims.  While talking about the day we found out that the reason that there were not enough beds in town in the main albergue is because it was closed for the day.  It is connected to the church and they were doing some renovations.

Dinner was very good as usual.  We had a chicken and vegetable egg

First course of tonight’s meal.

drop soup, chicken and fries, and ice cream (vanilla).  The company was very pleasant, especially a man from

The courtyard out of our door.

Ireland whom we have talked to several times.  People just keep showing up in different places. As soon as we ate, we headed for the room. It is blog time and we are cherishing our sleep time each night in the private rooms. It is hard to get to sleep before ten—at “lights out” time in the alburges, because people are getting settled in bed. In our own room we can go to bed early. Tonight we hope to be in bed between 8:30 and 9:00.

Day 17 (14) Thursday September 27, 2018

Granon to Tosantos 13 miles.  Total to date 162 miles

View leaving Granon this morning.

We did not get into a hurry this morning.  Breakfast was on our own.  They had cereal, bread, coffee, and juice.  A couple from Sweden was

The morning was overcast and cool, the afternoon was sunny and hot.

in the kitchen when we were and they were making fresh coffee.  The unique thing about them is that they were eating sardines that they had brought with them.

We began the walk at 7:45 this morning.  It was cool and overcast.  We were so invigorated with the

A big art work along the way. A little sign said take 15 steps and look over your left shoulder.

cool weather that we were walking fast.  My hip was much better.  After a while there was no pain at all.  The walk today was not interesting.  We experienced long stretches of trail through fresh plowed farm land.  We just talked and thought about getting to our destination.

After about 2 ½ miles we got to a little town called Redecilla del Camino.  There was a café that was open so we had to stop.  We got

Beds on the floor tonight.

another cup of coffee, an egg casserole sandwich, and a ham sandwich that we saved for lunch.  Our first destination was Belorado, and we arrived there at lunch time.  There was a picnic table as we entered the town.  We broke out the ham sandwich, some goat cheese, two granola bars, sugar beets, and two bananas.  Of course, we drank water.  This was refreshing and restful.  The walk through

this small old town was very pleasant.  We passed people that we have met waiting on the albergues to open.  They normally start opening by around 1:00 PM.  We were not very tired so we decided to keep going to the

Preparing the communal meal.

second choice for the day.

We arrived in Tosantos around 1:30 PM.  We found the albergue San Francisco.  This is a Franciscan run albergue.  It is very unique.  It is an old house that at one time was used as a hospital for the pilgrims who passed this way back in history.  It is not a hospital as we know it, with doctors and nurses, it is a hospital for healing oneself. The beds are mattresses on the FLOOR.  They have no WIFI.  They recommend that you just rest.

While we were checking in we saw Joel, from Hawaii.  You remember the young man with the skateboard.  He shared with me his story and it was very interesting.

He lives in Oahu. We were there on our 50th anniversary, a beautiful place.  After talking about it for a few minutes, I asked him how long he had been at the albergue.  He said that he got there yesterday and would be there until next Thursday. He was here to

Dete is mincing peppers.

volunteer. This is the whole story that I did not know about yesterday, so I changed the whole blog to

tell……the rest of the story.

Joel, I know you said you would read the blog, so feel free to comment if I do not get everything exactly right.

Joel was diagnosed with cancer and the diagnosis was very bleak. Rather than go the

conventional medical route with all the treatments, he decided to put his affairs in order. He withdrew his retirement investments and set out to walk the Camino. When he got to Toscano (this was 162 miles for us), which includes the alburge, San Francisco de Asis, Hospital De Peregrinos, he was very, very sick. This alburge is very different from any others. You pay by donation.

Ready to eat.

When you pay, you have the option to leave a prayer request. Joel’s request was for healing. Each night after dinner, you can voluntarily go to the prayer room to pray for the requests that were left there yesterday. They keep the requests for about 20 days which is the average time that it takes to get to Santiago from here.  Then the priest keeps the requests for a year and they celebrate the answer to all the prayers. Since Joel was so sick, they allowed him to stay at the albergue for a week to just rest. He took advantage of this opportunity for his body to get stronger. But he got much more than that. He said he felt himself getting better every day, and by the end of the week he was totally healed. He talked about how the week changed his attitude from one of sorrow to happiness, and what an important step that was in restoring his body to health. Now he is back this year to celebrate his healing and to volunteer his services to clean, interpret for pilgrims, clean bathrooms,—anywhere he is needed.

So we got to experience in one night what Joel got to experience every night for a week. The albergue furnished the food for our dinner meal,

Soup begin every meal, and tonight it is patata soup.

but we had to prepare the meal. There are around 25 people here, so we all

peeled potatoes, cut up onions, peppers, garlic and sausage. This was for some of the best potato (patata) soup I have ever tasted. We also cut up lettuce and tomatoes for salad and had fresh loaves of bread and apples and peaches for dessert. After prayer time we washed the dishes. Eating and singing with everyone at supper was something special. Dete will share the video with you on facebook.

Prayer time was so unique. We stooped through a small opening in to an upper room in an attic. Inside was some benches and prayer cards separated by languages. After singing a hymn–

Entering the prayer room.

-in English believe it or not, the prayer cards from the day before were passed out. Each person read requests from their language. Of course we could not understand the other languages, but as soon as they were read, we all said AMEN. The cards that we read in English were very touching—breast cancer, other illnesses and then things like wanting forgiveness for being selfish, forgiving other, wanting forgiveness

Franciscan pastor passing out prayer request of previous pilgrims.

from others–very personal things that people were going through in their personal lives. It was all very humbling. An experience that I will never forget–something that we shared with people from all over the world. And of course we saw the power of prayer in the life of Joel. How inspiring is that.

After prayer time we all go back to the kitchen and clean up. In the meantime, Dete spots two mattresses lying in the hall outside our door. She asked Joel if they were going to be used and he said “no”. She gets me to help her put them under our mats, so we have very comfortable beds on the floor.  In the morning we have coffee, toast, and jelly and are on the road again. Once again there was no charge.

Day 18 (15) Friday September 28, 2018

Tosantos to San Juan de Ortega 12.2 miles.  Total to date 174.2 miles

Yesterday was a very special day in Tosantos.  It was the end of our second week on the

Breakfast before walking out.

Camino.  That means that today is the beginning of the third week.  The first part of the day was very easy.  We began with a simple breakfast of coffee, hard bread, and jelly.  Cookies were also available.  After breakfast we hugged Joel good bye.  We will probably never see him again, but we had a special bond and I hope that we can stay in contact.  He said that he was going to follow the blog.

We got some sustenance in the small town of Villafranca.  It only has

Saying goodbye to Joel, he is a very special young man.

a population of 200 people.  I was beginning to get the shakes.  That signals me to get some food.  We had a Spanish hotdog on hard bread, and a ham and cheese on hard bread, and water.  We had very little protein yesterday, so we rebooted today.  And we did need it.  We also got some fruit there at a small market.  We have never thought about the need for certain foods like we do on this walk.

As soon as we walked out of town, we started up a mountain.  For about the next 2 ½ miles every step was a step up.  We just kept going, and going up.  We dug our toes in to the ground and pushed with our poles.  Finally, we reached the top.  There we unzipped the legs of our pants, and went to shorts.  We then had one steep decline and then back up.  At last we were on level ground.

Packing his cart for the day. You see it all.

The rest of the walk was sort of plain.  Trees on both side of a wide path.  The path was far enough away from the trees that there was very little shade.  The concern was that by the time we reached San Juan there would be no beds.  This kept us walking pretty fast.  You get the feeling that everyone has an eye on each other to see who you can beat to the goal.

We met Jes (Yes) and Katrina again just outside of San Juan.  I found out that he has pastored the same Lutheran church for 25 years.  He

Scenery along the way.

gets six weeks leave every year.  Last year his wife and son walked the entire Camino.  There son was bored and was not doing well in school.  He is an eighth grader.  His teacher heard that his mother was going on the Camino, and she suggested that she take their son.  He went and they bonded.  He changed and is doing great this year.

Jes decided that he would walk the Camino for about three weeks just to see what it is like.  We got to the Albergue together and they had plenty of beds.  After a shower, washing some clothes, and trying to catch up yesterday’s

A long hot dusty walk.

blog, I felt a lot better.  The internet is not good enough to download

Thankfully there is no full sign on the door.

the pictures on the post.  So, I will once again put the story on without pictures.

All that is left today is supper, bringing in the clothes (hopefully dry), and going to bed.  The clothes are not dry, so Dete is trying to come up with a plan for the evening to dry them.  Supper was good once again.  We had pasta with tomato sauce, pork tenderloin, fries, and yogurt.  Now it is time to get some rest.

Day 19 (16) Saturday September 29, 2018

San Juan de Ortega to Burgos 17.2 miles.  Total to date 191.4 miles

Special cafe for breakfast.

Today we started our walk in the dark.  We left at about 7:00 AM.  We knew that we had a long way to go in order to get to Burgos.  The terrain was not too bad.  We only had one steep mountain to negotiate and the rest was either level or slightly downhill.  The albergue did not serve breakfast nor did the bar/café next door.  So

Cafe decorated well even in the bano.

we had nothing to hold us back from beginning the walk.

After walking a little over 2 miles we got to the little town of Ages.  There we found the nicest little café.  We ate breakfast, and had coffee.  But, the most interesting thing about the café was the décor.  Someone was very

Dete feeding the Kitties.

good with indoor and outdoor decorating.  The kittens added the finishing touch for Dete.  She was able to feed them part of her breakfast.  Yes, she is a softie when it comes to animals.  This was a very special part of our day.

Things proceeded with a lot of heat and sunshine as the day progressed.  Cool during the morning with pleasant walking.  We ran into several of our walking buddies.  I had kind of a bathroom

At the top of the mountain a man’s dog refused to go any further.

emergency at the next café along the way and there we met Shannon, David, Frank, Jim and Jane.  When I reentered the picture they all asked if I was ok.  I responded with, “I am now”.  Whoa, that was a close call.  Jane was not smiling, because she had been waiting on me to get out of the “bano”.  We walked off and on the rest of the day with Shannon and Frank.

For some reason Dete and I did not drink much water during the day.  We had a lot of opportunities to fill our water bottles, but we kept saving it for when we didn’t have any available.  We won’t make that mistake again.  We had lunch at Orbaneja which was our last opportunity before entering the suburbs of Burgos.  We bought a sandwich and coffee.  We also ate a granola bar, banana, and peach that we were carrying with us.

We could see Burgos in the distance, but it was about 10 miles away.

Then the tough part of the day began.  The large cities are the toughest.  We could see the city, but it took a lot of walking to get to the outskirts of the town.  When we got close we had to walk around the edge of the airport.  We walked around three sides of it.  Airports are huge.  The sun and heat were taking its toll.  We stopped at a tunnel to get out of the sun.  When we looked back we saw Frank and Shannon heading our way.  We had separated at an option point.  They had gone one way and we had gone the other.  I thought that we had made a mistake, but I guess that we didn’t since they were behind us.  They were all going to stay in hotels, and spend an extra

Shade is just ahead.

day to rest.  We decided to do the same.

I knew that for some reason I was getting weaker and weaker, but I didn’t say anything.  Shannon had called ahead to see if her hotel had a room for us.  They did so she asked them to hold it for us.  It seemed like forever before we finally arrived at the hotel.  The host made it a point to let Shannon know that the reservation that she made was for last night.  Oops.  He made his point by saying, “Americanos” and smiling.  He gave us our rooms and it was time for a rest.  Our feet were very tired since we had walked over 17 miles.  I was freezing so I laid

Downtown Burgos.

down while Dete showered.  I covered up with a blanket and shivered.  I knew something was wrong.  My face felt very hot to me, but I figured that I was just blistered.  When she finished, I jumped in the shower and just stood under hot water, but still could not get warm.  I knew one of three things was wrong.  I either was dehydrated, food poisoning, or had gotten bug from the water.  I figured that it was dehydration, so I began drinking glass after glass of water.

We went to supper at a café around the corner from the hotel and ate tapas.  We can’t

My date for dinner. How does she do it? Looks this good after walking 17 miles carrying a pack.

believe how inexpensive their food is.  We had eight tapas choices, and water for less than 13 Euros.  I was still very cold when we got back to the room.  So, I continued to drink more water.  Dete gave me a very good rub down for where my hip had been bothering me.  She used coconut oil with Pan Away essential oil.  It felt so good.  She has been doing this pretty often and it has been producing very good results.  I went to sleep around 8:00 PM.  Every time I woke up I drank more water.  At some point in the night, I woke up sweating, and I knew that the fever had broken.  When I woke up this morning, I had my energy back and I felt good.  From now on, we will drink more than enough water.  This was a good lesson, because we enter the desert on Monday.

Day 20 (17) Sunday September 30, 2018

Burgos to Burgos 2 miles.  Total to date 193.4 miles

Breakfast

Today has been a very slow day.  It has been a day set aside for rest and recovery. After drinking water last night, all during the night, I felt much better. I was not cold anymore and the fever was gone. It is very deceiving when you are on the trail. We usually associate being thirsty with being hot, and on the trail we are rarely what you would call hot. It gets very warm at times, but there is usually a nice breeze blowing and the walk is very comfortable. But I need to be reminded

Morning walk

of the instructions that we received the day we got our passport. The lady said, no drinky, no pee-ie, and no pee-ie, you get sick, you get sick, you go home. Well, there you go!!!

We did not get up until about 8:30. We headed to the café around the corner to eat breakfast.  They said that all they had was toast.  But shortly some sandwiches made with bacon and fried eggs appeared.  I immediately asked for two of them so we got them and the toast and coffee.

Morning walk.

We took a short walk into town and bought some deodorant and bananas.  We then came back to the hotel where I completed yesterdays post.  We attempted to watch a church service on line, but fell asleep while watching.  We will catch it later.

After a short nap, we dressed and went for dinner. We took a short walk back into town and ate dinner. Yes we had tapas again. We really do like them, but there is another reason we get them at night. No restaurant serves dinner until 8:00. That is true all over Spain. That is

Our laundry drying hanging out of the window.

just not the American way and we have not adjusted to the Spanish way. That is why we like it when the albergues serve meals, because they start serving around 6:30. They know us pilgrims need a good night’s rest and lights are out at 10:00 each night. Some lock the doors. Others will let you in, but you cannot turn on any lights. You can use your phone or a flashlight.

Our dinner.

We got back from dinner, folded all our clean clothes and got them packed for the trip tomorrow, and finished our on-line church service. It was great today on “How to deal with difficult people”  We added another water bottle to our packs for tomorrow because we are going across a desert.

DAY 21 (18) Monday October 1, 2018

Burgos to Hornillos del Camino 13.6 miles.  Total to date 207 miles

Cold, windy, and cloudy leaving Burgos.

We set the alarm for six o’clock. We felt sure we would actually wake up before then because we were going to bed at eight thirty and that would be nine and a half hours sleep. We rarely, if ever sleep that long. But we did. We were awakened by the alarm. We were well rested. Our body is beginning to talk to us more about what we need and we are beginning to listen. The lack of water experience is teaching us a lesson.

We set out around 7:30—in the dark, but it was not dark enough for a flashlight. This is always a time when we wonder what the weather will be, because the clouds in the sky are dark and look like rain clouds. It would not be the end of the world if it did rain. We have rain suits, but it is not something we look forward to. Not only is it dark but it is very cold. I am all bundled up with a coat because I do not want to get chilled like I did a few

This is why we ask you to pray for our feet. The Camino takes it’s toll.

days ago. Dete, on the other hand is in her shorts and lightweight shirt. She says she has so much more energy when she walks in the cold. I believe her. I usually walk ahead, but in the morning, she is leading the pack.

Our normal practice is to walk a ways, and find a place to get a cup of coffee. This is usually within a few minutes to maybe an hour.  But today it was quite different. We walked for about six-seven miles to a little town Tardajos. This was nearly half our journey for today!!!!  It was a welcoming sight because we are very hungry and needing a pack break. We ordered a full breakfast. It was delicious, and very filling. Just as we were leaving, some of our trail buddies

After 6 or 7 miles, this looked very good, and it was.

arrived. It is always so much fun to see familiar faces. So interesting because everyone is on their own journey and you never know if they are going to stop at the next town or keep going. So all along the way there are mini-reunions with those we have come to love. We were here nearly an hour. After the breakfast, the scenery began to change.

We were told that the scenery today would be bleak and monotonous. We have a small hill to climb and then we are walking across part of the Meseta today. It is farmland on both sides of the road with no trees for shade. Some call it a desert

A view of the Meseta.

, and we pictured a desert as we know it—hot and dry. It is anything but hot and with all the mountains in the distance, it is anything but bleak. Now if you compare it to all the grape vineyards and fruit trees that we have passed it may seem a little boring, but Dete and I have learned that every type of scenery is beauty in its own right. God designed everything beautiful.

We were walking along and came upon a small chapel. It was beautiful inside and out. We went inside and enjoyed the beautiful music that was being played. It was so serene and welcoming. We enjoyed a few minutes of this before we moved on to find a bed.

A special small church with a good atmosphere for a personal time with God.

After coming down off the Meseta (plateau), it was not long until we were seeing rooftops in the next town, Hornillos del Camino where we will be spending the night. Those roofs usually put a spring in our step just anticipating what is coming up next. Just before we reached the town, we met a lady on a bicycle with a basket carrying grapes. She stopped us and told us about her restaurant—The Green Tree. She gave us information about their services—5 – star food, music and if we want to—be a part of a blessing by the priest. She was so sweet

A reminder for us all at the Green Tree.

and did such a great presentation, we knew we would be at her restaurant.

After we settled into the albergue, had baths, we headed out to find The Green Tree. It was a little way out of town, so we began to see her marketing technique, otherwise the pilgrims might stop and eat at a restaurant closer in. We had lunch with her—a salad and hummus with bread.  She was right!! It was five – star food.  After eating we headed back to the albergue to get some rest before dinner.

Charlie and the owner Emma singing.

We worked on the blog and took a nap.  When we woke up we were refreshed and ready to go out and enjoy dinner with new friends.  We didn’t know who they would be, but we did know that we would enjoy meeting them.  Dinner on the Camino is a very social time.

We went back to the Green Tree.  We were seated with Lynn and Treavor from the UK.  We had interesting conversation and learned that they also were teachers and are retired.  They have a motor home and enjoy traveling around Europe.

The entertainment was by a musician from Ireland named Charlie.  He played a

Our main course at dinner.

guitar and sang.  He sang some songs that he had written, and some that were popular songs.  He sang Wagon Wheel which made us thing of our granddaughters.  The cheerleaders sing that full volume sometimes.  It doesn’t take much to make us think of them.  There was a huge crowd at the pub and everyone was having a good time.  We ate tomato, pepper, and pumpkin soup as our first course.  Secondly, we had chili con carney with rice and diced cucumbers. For desert we had cheese cake with grapes in it.  It was different, but it was excellent.  When we get home we are going to start experimenting with some different dishes.

It got pretty late and we went back to the albergue to get a good nights rest.

DAY 22 (19) Tuesday October 2, 2018

Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz 13 miles.  Total to date 220 miles

Early morning on the trail is beautiful.

Today we began with breakfast at the Albergue  Hornillos Municipal.  We had granola, toast and jelly, and coffee.  This town only has a population of 70 people.  Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to walk out of the town.  We left at 7:45 and the sun was just beginning to make the sky a little bit light.  In just a few minutes the sky behind us showed a beautiful sunrise.  We couldn’t help but stop and take some pictures.

The walk today was in very cool temperatures.  The sky was perfectly clear and

Meseta (plateau) scenery.

the wind began to blow shortly after daylight.  We walked in jackets most of the morning.  When we would think that we could take them off, the wind would blow harder and it would get colder.  Finally, Dete took hers off, but I kept mine on for a while longer.  Of course, she accused me of being old and cold natured.  I don’t know about that, I just know that it was too cold to take of my jacket.

Entering Hontanas for a rest and snack.

We saw some beautiful scenery, and some ruins of historical places.  I wish that I had paid more attention in history classes.  Those lessons didn’t mean anything to me then, but they would mean a great deal now.  The Camino is a path that was taken in early history, and there are a lot of stories that go with what happened along this path.

After walking for about 6 ½ miles we got to the town of Hontanas.  There we sat outside of a café, and ate a snack.  We had a sandwich on hard bread sliced open and filled with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and boiled egg.  We also ate a banana each from yesterday, and we had a coffee each.  After visiting with some of our friends and resting for about thirty minutes we got back to the path.

In the morning the path was on top of the plateau, called the Meseta.  After our break we waked a

Scenery in the afternoon.
Dete found her some buddies.

narrow path along the side of a mountain.  The scenery was spectacular.  The colors of the fields contrast sharply with each other.  A lot of hay fields have been cut and the hay was being hauled away.  We also saw where sunflower seeds had been cut and harvested.  The sunflowers are used for gasoline, animal feed, and oil.

After walking another 3 ½ miles we entered the area called San Anton.  This is where some 14th century ruins are located.  This was a rock convent.  The road

passes under some arches.  Just after we passed the ruins we heard music.  It was a open air café.  We

Watermelon break in San Anton.

got watermelon for two.  The man running the café said that his name was Angel.  He also said not the kind with wings.  He said that they are perfect and that he is not.  I know the feeling.

It wasn’t long and we saw our destination in the

Going out for Pizza.

distance.  We walked through town with Norman a friend from Australia.  He stopped off at his hotel and we continued through town.  We found the Albergue San Esteban.  Our beds cost us 5 Euros each.  It is really a nice place.  Plenty of room, hardwood floors, nice bunks, showers, and toilets. Dete was pleased and surprised—they had hair dryers. What more can you ask for?  The receptionist made soup and offered us some.  It was delicious.  Soup is a staple.  It was during the time of the pilgrims of the past, and it is today.  We look forward to the soup every day.

After showers, washing clothes, hanging them out, and finishing yesterdays post, we went to a nearby café and had olives, pizza, and water and tea.  Norman, from Australia, stopped by for a while.  He had hiked to the top of a hill to visit a castle ruin. We returned to the albergue to write today’s post and prepare for bed.

DAY 23 (20) Wednesday October 3, 2018

Castrojeriz to Formista 16 miles.  Total to date 236 miles

You mean this is the biggest piece of toast you have?

Breakfast at the albergue this morning was for a donation.  We had bread, jelly, and coffee.  Not anything special, but the price was right.  We were able to eat, pack, and get on the trail by 7:30.

Right out of the gate we climb over 3000 feet in a distance of about ¾ of a mile.

Daylight revealed this hill in our path.

We made this climb with our friends Jes and Katharina.  It was steep, but with all of the walking we have done and all of the climbs that we have made it was not very difficult.  The only problem— it kind of sucked the morning energy out of us.  After the uphill, we had a steep downhill.  This was not too difficult because they had cemented the path and there were no rocks on it.  That was the easy part of the day.  This day was

Dete is celebrating reaching the top of the hill with Katarina and Yes.

tough.  From the title, you see we walked 16 miles.  I would describe it as sun, and an incessant wind.  The wind blew at about 25 to 30 miles per hour all day after we crossed the mountain.  I am just glad that it didn’t face us.  Instead it blew from our right just behind us.  It was also very dry.  All of this robed us of our strength.  Being able to walk with our friends, made the climb much easier.  Jes and I talked about having a relationship with God.  A couple of days earlier we had talked about a relationship versus a religion.  He wanted to know more about this, so that was our conversation this morning.  The time passed very fast.

The scenery changed several times during the walk.  Of course, at first it was mountainous.  It then changed to flat and barren cut hayfields.  Later this

It looks like a long trail to me.

afternoon it changed to beet fields, and then to a walk along a canal.  All of this except the mountain section was in the wind.

We reached the town of Itero de la Vega at around 10:30.   We purchased some coffee, and spent a little time with our friends while we rested and caught our breaths—-this after walking about 6 ½ miles.  We then walked another 5 plus miles to the town of Boadilla del Camino.  By this time, we were needing some fuel.  We got two egg and potato tortillas which are like a quiche.  We also had a piece of cake for some quick energy.  Earlier this morning, after the mountain, we ate some grapes and a piece of chocolate that Dete bought us yesterday afternoon along with some bread from breakfast, and some cheese that we have been carrying for a few days.

In the yard behind the cafe.

If you remember from an earlier blog there was a dog that refused to go after climbing a mountain.  Well when we reached Boadilla, our bodies sort of acted that way.  They cried out that we had gone far enough.  Needless to say, we did not listen.  We forced ourselves to keep going.

When we left town, we soon picked up a canal.  We were dragging.  There was a sign that said that we could ride a canal boat, but there wasn’t one at the pier.  That would have been a real test.  We were also passed by a group of people riding horses earlier.  Dete said, “We could have ridden horses today”.  I responded that my rear end and my knees couldn’t handle it.

We also found a path that went through the edge of a hay field that was very easy on our feet.  The path had been very rocky all day.  Our feet were getting pretty tired and sore.  I noticed that the horse tracks

Come on Kari Rice, you and Sunny Bunny could do the Camino.

left the path and followed a path in the field so I led us that way.  I knew that the person leading the horses would put them on the best path for their feet.  It was soft, and sandy.  Our feet shouted for joy.

Back to the canal path.  It was a beautiful walk, but we were so exhausted, that we couldn’t enjoy it.  We only looked at the next step.  Finally, I saw a red tile roof in the distance.  And yes, it was Fromista.  We crossed the canal on a narrow foot bridge and walked into town following the Camino arrows.  Then the arrows disappeared.  We asked a couple of people how to find the Municipal Albergue,

As we entered Boadilla, we were greeted by a shepherd and his flock.

and they could not tell us.  We then spotted a lady riding a bike, and we flagged her down and ask if she could help us.  She said that she could and she got off of her bike and led us to a street, where she pointed out how to get there.  We then went straight to it and were assigned to a room that only had two top bunks left.  Somehow, we were moved to a room where we could have the same bunk and Dete could have the bottom bunk.  She will have to feel you in on how that happened.

We showered, washed our unmentionable ones, but not unshowable ones.  We

Canal boat at the wrong end of the canal.

have seen people in their underwear a lot.  I began typing the blog and Dete went shopping and found her three scarves to change her nighttime outfit.  She does all this to look good for me. She loves the prices over here. Three scarves were only $11.

We are

Canal crossing into Formista.

going next door to eat the pilgrim meal.  First, I am going to put on my long sleeve shirt.  After sun and wind, we get chilled in the evening.

Dinner was the Peregrino meal.  We had vegetable cream soup, and for the main

course Dete had chicken and salad and I had Lasagna with meat.  We didn’t eat a desert tonight.  But, we did go to a supermarkado and got some snacks for in the morning.  We got a peach, two oranges since we both have runny noses, and a granola bar each.  We also got a piece of cake at a neighboring café to take with us tomorrow.

DAY 24 (21) Thursday October 4, 2018

Formista to Carrion de los Condes 12 miles.  Total to date 248 miles

Dete feeding her friends,

Today finished the third week on the Camino.  This day was an easy walk, but it was hard on us.  We had not recovered from yesterday.  The day began with breakfast just a block away from our albergue.  They only had a small selection.  We ended up getting coffee, a huge doughnut, and a ham and cheese croissant.

As we walked out of town it was still dark but a pair of walkers with a light were up ahead of us.  We followed since we did not have assurance as

I’m not kidding, you pay to sleep here.

to which way to go.  Being in the dark, we could not see “the way” marks.  Soon the pair stopped in front of us, and began to stretch.  I don’t think that they were sure of the way either.  They were just letting someone pass who might know where to go.  We soon saw a marker on the road and knew that we were on our way.

We took an alternate route to stay off of the highway.  But we soon decided that the highway route was

better for us.  We just cut across a field on a dirt farm road and it lead right up to the main Camino path.  All of this has become second nature to us now and

anyone getting ideas for a new motel chain.

seems very normal.

It wasn’t long before we entered the little town of Villarmentero de Campos.  We were pooped by this time already.  We sat outside at a table in the yard.  We had a coffee each and the snacks that we had bought last night.  We had oranges, cake, bananas, nuts, and two granola bars.  The food was good, but the rest was better.  This was a very unusual place.  There were beds to rent, but in odd places.  They were in Tee-Pees, cement culverts, big barrels, small cottages and

“The way” for today.

such.  The yard had donkeys, huge ducks, and sheep walking around.  Of course this was a real treat for Dereatha.

When we left, the road began to go upward.  It was not a steep climb, it was just constant.  Keep in mind that we were tired when we left this morning.  Every step was up.  I measured the grade with my phone and it was between 3 degrees and 8 degrees.  The hard part was that you could see that it just kept going up.  When you rounded a curve, you saw that it went up some more.  Finally, after about 5 miles of going up we topped the hill and saw rooftops ahead.

Albergue Santa Maria, is our home for the night.

When we got into town, I left Dete at a café to rest, while I searched for a place to stay.  We finally ran into Katarina, who told us how to get to the albergue where she was staying.  We booked our beds for five Euros each.  Dete splurged and washed and dried our clothes in a washer and a drier.  She and I are worn out.  Tomorrow is scheduled for about 17 miles, but I think we may cut it short.

Tonight supper was a little different.  We bought a watermelon just outside of

Nuns singing in the Albergue tonight.

our albergue at a small farmers market on the street.  We were then serenaded by three nuns with a guitar.  The singing was very good.  On some of the songs we all joined in and sang.  Dete and I went out to a cafeteria and ate spiced rice with some seafood in it.  On the way back we ran into David, Jim, Frank, Shannon, and Jane.  After we visited for a few minutes, we headed back to our house for the night.  When we arrived, we ate some homemade vegetable stew made by Katriana which was very good, and we shared our melon.

We are in need of some good rest, so it is off to bed for us.  Tonight is a new experience for us.  Dete is in an all ladies room, and I am in an all men’s room.

DAY 25 (22) Friday October 5, 2018

Carrion de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios 17 miles.  Total to date 265

A good day begins with a good breakfast.

We knew that we were going to have a long day today, but others in the albergue must have thought that we all needed to get up very early.  They began to get up at about 5:00 AM.  So we got dressed, packed, and were at breakfast at 7:00.   We had bacon, eggs, toast, orange juice, and coffee.  We were ready to walk at 7:45.

The first part of the walk, was basically flat and straight.  The scenery stayed the

This was the scenery this morning.

same.  The good thing about it was that we were able to cover a lot of distance in a short period of time.   We covered about 6 ½ miles and walked up onto a food truck.  Great time for a rest break.  We also ate some ham sandwich left from breakfast, and coffee, and I ate 2 boiled eggs.

The part of the walk that followed the food truck was a little more boring.  After a time we reached Calzadilla de la Cueza.  This was a distance of 4.5 miles.  We ate lunch at a café there.  We had a great salad each and shared some ravioli.  I surprised Dete with an ice cream.

Two sisters from New Zealand, their names are Emily and Lucy.

This part of the walk was 2 ½ miles of steady uphill walk.  Of course this was in

Some of our friends that we have been walking the Camino with.

the afternoon heat.  We finally got to the small town of Terradillos.  This town is small.  It has a population of 80.  We didn’t have any problem getting beds.  Dete is stuck in a top bunk.  We will see how this works.  The albergue has a pilgrim menu and that is what we will eat for dinner.  They also have breakfast.

For dinner we were served Garlic soup and paella, Chicken in sauce, salad, and for desert Dete had watermelon, and I had banana pudding.  The bananas were pureed into the custard.  This was not Dereatha’s pudding.

DAY 26 (23) Saturday October 6, 2018

Terradillos to Bercianos del Real Camino 16 miles.  Total to date 281 miles.

Beautiful beginning of the day.

Today would prove to be a very interesting day.  It began by waiting outside the albergue café for breakfast.  We got ready in time to be there a 7:00 when it opened.  However, at 7:00 it was dark and the doors were locked.  We waited and in about 2 minutes a man hurried across the patio and unlocked the door.  In just a minute, the door was open and everything was ready.  We ate a typical European breakfast.  We ate toast, butter, jelly, orange juice, and coffee.  This was a start, but not much to sustain you on such a long walk.

We left the café at 7:45.  It was dark and it took us a while to find our way out of town.  Little did we know that this would be an omen for the day.  We mostly

How do you grow a crop in this rocky field?

walked on a trail by or on the highway.  This was easy walking and we were flying.  We knew that we had about 16 miles to do, so we were glad to get such good footing.  As the day passed we were using music to help us keep up our pace.  We were playing some good Gaither music and were spending some good worship time.  This kept our mind off of the walking and onto God.

Wall of mud and grass.

Things went well until we got to a round-a-bout and it was very confusing.  The marks were in all directions, and the explanation in the book was confusing.  We entered Calzada del Coto which should have alerted us that something was wrong.  We knew that there was an alternate route in this area, but we weren’t sure how it all worked.  Nothing was clear.

We followed the yellow arrows, and they lead us through this small town.  After a few minutes something just didn’t feel right to me.  I just could not get peace.  We kept looking at the map, and reading the instructions, and it didn’t feel good.  We finally saw a sign that looked pretty clear, but I sure did not think that it was right.  Just a strong uneasy feeling.  At this time our bodies are hurting, our feet are sore and we are ready to stop.  We started walking on a dirt road where they were doing construction while we were walking.  The men on the crew kept stopping us and telling us to go a block over and then continue in the same direction.  Being obedient, we did as

Our albergue for tonight.

they said.  We reached a railroad track and I looked at the map and I found confirmation.  We were going in the wrong direction.  We turned around and went back enough to turn onto a dirt farm road around a field and along the tracks.  The dump trucks kept blowing their horns and telling us to go the way that we were going.  We finally just ignored them until we were far enough from them that they left us alone.  We could tell where we should be going once we had the train tracks a reference point.  We cut out across a hayfield until we got to the highway that led to the town where we were going.  We had to climb the fence and cross four lanes of traffic.  Finall, we saw a sign that said the town ahead exited to the right.

It was a good feeling to get to an albergue.  Bercianos del Real Camino has a population of 200.  Thus there was no trouble finding the albergue.  It is time for rest.  We have been walking on pavement whenever possible for the last two days.  The paths are taking their toll on our feet.  We have no blisters, but the muscles are very sore from the rocks twisting and turning our feet in all directions.

This albergue serves dinner tonight.  I think that they said that we were having spaghetti.  That sounds good to me.  We have been at a café for a large part of the afternoon trying to get the blog caught up.  Even with the added miles we got here around 2:00.  So that has given us time to eat a hamburger and get yesterday’s post published.  We are caught up writing todays.

DAY 27 (24) Sunday October 07, 2018

Bercianos del Real Camino to Reliegos 13 miles.  Total to date 294 miles.

The three volunteers at our last albergue.

We didn’t get as early of a start as we usually do.  I think our bodies knew it was Sunday. It was already getting daylight when we left the albergue.  We first had to have our breakfast.  It consisted of coffee (all we wanted), bread, jelly, butter, yogurt, and bananas.  All of this plus our two beds, and supper last night was for a donation.  We were privileged to get to know three special ladies.  They are volunteering at the municipal albergue for two weeks.  They walked the Camino

Walking through El Burgo Ranero in the cold morning.

together last year, after meeting on the trail.  They became good friends and decided to volunteer together this year.  Jane did the cooking last night.  We had spaghetti and salad, with bread.  They also served water and wine.  They asked each of us to share why we are on the Camino and what effect it has had on us.  The responses were very interesting.  There were only eleven that stayed the night so we had plenty of room and it made it easy to get to know each other.  It also made the shower easy to get to and there was always a toilet when we needed it.

One of the pilgrims (peregrinos) was very interesting to us at this time.  He was from Jerusalem.  When we told him that we had just come back from Israel two days before coming to the Camino, he sat down on the floor by our bet and we talked for quite a while.  He said that he used to be a skeptic, but that he had become accepting of “the way”.  I got the strong impression that he has become a believer.

A walk without many turns or hills.

Today, we walked an easy 13 miles.  We did not quite go the entire stage due to sore foot muscles and fatigue.  The last week has caught up with us.  It made the day seem long even though we arrived at the albergue at around 1:45.   When

A distant rainbow. Hopefully no rain.

we went into town we saw David, Shannon, and Jane sitting in front of the albergue.  They were waiting on the rest of their group and then they were going to attend mass.  Afterward they were going to catch a bus to Leon and spend two nights there.  We may or may not see them again.  People are doing this for a lot of different ways.  Some have a back pack service take their back packs to the end of the daily stage.  Others walk some and taxi some.  And then there are the purest like us.  We walk with our backpacks, without reservations.  Don’t ask me why– it is just a” prove that we can” thing.

Bar Gil 1 is where we have eaten today.

When we got our beds and some lunch, we went to bed together in Dete’s bottom bunk.  We were cold and just need some nap time together.  We slept for about three hours.  When we woke up we watched the church service on line from Church of the Highlands.  The reason that we were cold is that it got down to about 35 degrees last night.  Which meant that when we got out and going this morning it was about 35 degrees.  It only got up to the very low 70’s.  The wind blew relentlessly.  And it was cold.  We covered our heads, faces, and necks.  We wore long sleeve shirts, and fleece jackets.  We were still cold.  We

Paella, rice and chicken for dinner.

also wore our distinctive hats. The great thing about where we are staying is that we don’t have to go outside for anything. It has beds, a great restaurant—great accommodations all around. We are sitting in the warm restaurant now with warm green tea and sharing a dessert.

The cold, the tired bodies, made it hard today, but the rest has done us a lot of good.  We just can’t get over how much we are eating.  We starve constantly.  We are not sure how far we will go tomorrow.  We will let our bodies make that decision.  I am sure that we won’t have any trouble sleeping tonight.

DAY 28 (25) Monday October 08, 2018

Reliegos to Leon 15 miles.  Total to date 309 miles.

We are leaving the Meseta and the scenery is changing.

The people in our small room of 3 bunk beds did not wake up real early.  We do not set an alarm, because there is always people getting up early and it wakes us up.  However today we all slept until about 7:00 or a little after.  We got packed up and out of the albergue by around 8:00.  There was no breakfast there this morning so we are on the trail without any coffee.  We walked almost five miles before entering the town of Mansilla de las Mulas.  The time passed quickly because we walked and talked with Mack.  He is from the Nashville area.  He has

Hams hanging in the meat market where we ate breakfast.

a Phd in special education.  He has just decided to take a trip to figure out where he is going in life.  I don’t think that he is very happy doing what he is doing.  He is just considering his options.

At Mansilla we sat down for a while to have two cups of coffee with bacon, toast, potatoes and eggs.  This shop was also a butcher shop, and they were busy selling meat.  I have to say, these were some of the worst fried eggs I have ever seen.  Up until now the eggs have been pretty.  The cook must have left them frying while he cut someone some meat.

We were able to walk on the road for most of the day which rested our feet from

A cemetery in the middle of a corn field.

the rocks again.  The trail was right beside the highway almost all day.  There was a short distance that it left the road and us but we did not see the value in following it.  It looked like it went out of the way just to walk through a small town.

We had in our minds today that we needed to really wash all of our clothes.  So we wanted a hotel with a washer and dryer or one near by.  The first place that we stopped was not too far from Leon.  There was a beautiful hotel right beside the road.  Dete told me not to bother because it would be too expensive.  However they only asked 39 Euros for a double.  I mean this was a 4 star Hotel.

The very nice hotel where we didn’t get to stay.

The only problem was that it did not have a laundry and they said that the nearest laundromat was in Leon.  Man we missed a real deal there.

As we entered Leon we did not see the Camino signs anywhere.  We ended up walking through a construction area on the highway.  It had just been sprayed with tar and they were about to pave it.  We got out of that area as fast as we could.  The only problem is that we had to cross a busy highway in order to get down into town.  I counted down and told Dete to go.  I made It with no problem but she stopped in the middle of the road.  When she got across, she said that I almost got her killed.  I think that I replied with something sweet like, “ Well I made it without a problem, you just stopped.”  I don’t think that set very well

Walking through a construction site trying to find the path.

with her.  We then walked down an entrance ramp and guess what was right there on the sidewalk.  Yep, the yellow arrow that marks the way.

We soon stopped at a bench and sat and ate some fruit that we had bought earlier.  We ate grapes, an orange, and a banana.  This let us gather a little energy.  We knew we still had along way to go through town.

We stopped at a Hostel and asked about a laundromat, and he directed us right to it.  We emptied our packs, undressed (yes, you heard right).  We undressed put everything in the washers except a pair of shorts for Dete with a tank top, and my dirty undies for me.  Remember we are in a large city with a population of 130,000 people, downtown, in a laundromat.  I wrapped one of Dete’s scarves around me and sat there hoping that no one would come in.

Bird nests on high structures.
Entering the city of Leon.

We got a cab to take us to a hotel.  There we got her into the room quickly, because she was getting more and more nauseated.  There has been a lot of this going around with the pilgrims.  I had it last weekend and now she has it.  She has slept most of the afternoon along with a good bit of vomiting.  We hope that this passes quickly.  She does not like to be sick, and she can get pretty upset when she doesn’t get well fast.

We will see how the night goes and what will happen in the morning.   I am pretty sure we will stay here another night.  If for no other reason, to let her get her strength back.

Oh yea, today we crossed another mile stone.  We passed the three – hundred – mile mark.  We are now 60 percent of the way to Santiago.

DAY 29 (26) Tuesday October 09, 2018

Leon to Leon 1 mile.  Total to date 310 miles

Last night was a night that you just wish never happened.  Dete was very sick with the stomach virus.  She vomited almost constantly from about 1700 hrs. to midnight.  It was not a pretty sight.  It may have been the worst stomach virus I have ever seen.  Finally, she slowed down and began to drink some lemon water that I had brought her from the welcome center in the hotel.  She had a few more episodes and then it was all over.  She still felt the nausea, but the other had stopped.

A day of rest after the night of war.

She drank through out the rest of the night, and this morning I went across the street to a café and got her a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice.  I ate breakfast in the hotel while she slept.  I didn’t eat too much because I was afraid that I might be attacked by the bug.  I didn’t want to give him much ammunition to throw out of me.  I ate  a little spoon of eggs, some granola and some fruit and a couple of glasses of orange juice.

I then joined here in the bed and we slept for several hours.  The maid woke us up and we got some fresh towels and such.  After sleeping until almost 8:00 this morning and then a nap this afternoon we are still wanting to go to bed.  This is not your mama’s stroll in the park.  It is very stressful on your body and we are paying the price.  We are staying another night tonight in order for Dete to regain some of her strength.  We may or may not walk tomorrow.

I got her to go over to the café and she ate about 1/6th of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  She also

Kombucha, just what Dr. Rice ordered. It is really good also.

drank a ½ glass of orange juice.  After putting her back to bed, I went to an ATM and got some additional Euros while we are in the city.  I also got some gatorade, and some kombucha at a health food store.  She needed to repIace some probiotics.  I had to get her a reward so I got some dark chocolate with almonds.

We are now starting to pack up for tomorrow.  We will stay here until check out time and then we will eat breakfast here.  They have a lot of fruit and juices.  She still needs to restore some fluids.  Our plan is to only go a short distance and then stop for the night at a hotel.  We may only make it to the edge of town.  We are exhausted, plus the added load of the sickness.  We are not anywhere near ready to quit, but it is a tough journey.  The people here at the Eurostars Hotel Leon have been great.  They have told me where to take Dete if she needs a physician, they have directed me to places I needed directions to, and they have allowed me to fill water bottles at the lemon water jar.  They have hotels in Barcelona and Paris.  That may be our choices when we arrive there.  Good customer service does pay dividends.

DAY 30 (27) Wednesday October 10, 2018

Leon to La Virgen Del Camino 6 miles.  Total to date 316 miles

Dete walking through the old city streets of Leon.

Today was a very short day.  Dete doesn’t have any energy after her stomach wars.  Darth Vadar was there with the dark side.  It is taking a little time to regain her strength after winning her victory.  The force was with her.

We ate breakfast (Dete nibbled on some fruit and yogurt) at about 9:00.  We actually left the hotel at 9:45 AM.  After walking a few blocks in Leon, we ran into Katarina.  She is a friend from the path.  A few days ago, we left her at the albergue in Carrion.  She had the stomach thing there.  We did not think that we would ever see her again.  We kept hearing stories about her bussing to the next towns.  Then we ran into her on a street corner as we walked out of Leon.  What are the chances of that?

After leaving Katarina, we walked through the old city of Leon.  When we got to the outer edge of the

The Parador Saint Marcos Hotel.

old city we came to a very large plaza.  There was a very old huge building.  It was having major renovation work done.  We thought that it might be the Parador Saint Marcos Hotel.  It looked more like an old castle.  We also thought that it might be an old historical church.  We asked a man and with a huge smile he said that it was the Parador Saint Marcos.  This was the hotel in the movie THE WAY.  We were going to stay there, but when we tried to get reservations, all we ever got was a recording.

I could tell as we walked through the city that my sweetheart was getting weary.  We sat down a few times to rest, but she wasn’t recovering very fast.  Walking through big cities are the hardest.  It just doesn’t seem like you are getting anywhere.  You walk for an hour or so and you are still in the same city.  It is very defeating.  Just imagine if you had to walk from one side of Atlanta to the other side.  It would take you forever.  Well a city of over 700,000 is a big city

Mound houses.

to walk through.  As we neared the edge of the city, in an industrial area, we saw underground houses.  A couple were still in use, and looked modern.  The rest were from a time gone by.  It actually looked like a village that had existed a few hundred years ago.

After a couple of hours, we got to La Virgen Del Camino.  This was our goal that we had in mind.  We knew that it would be a hard walk.  We reached a hotel at noon.  The door was locked.  I took off my pack to wait on Dete who was about 100 yards behind me.  I was going to ask at some of the

Ceiling in the hotel lobby.

neighboring businesses to see when they normally opened the doors.  While I was bent over putting my pack on the sidewalk a lady walked up and unlocked the door.  We spoke and I think that she asked if we needed a habitation for the night.  I went in with her after motioning Dete to stop at the hotel.  She had a room, in fact I think every room was available.  She said that the rate would be 45E.  I didn’t care if she had said that it would be 100E, we were going to stay.  The room is very nice and adequate.  All we need is a place to rest and get Dete some strength.

The first thing that we did after getting in the room and figuring out how to turn on the lights was to lay down and sleep.  They have a unique thing here.  Your room key slides down into a receptacle and that turns on the lights.  They are kind of hard to find in the dark sometimes.  We slept for about 2 ½  hours.  We got up crossed the street to see if we could find a hamburger

Lunch this afternoon. This is our hamburger combo.

We saw a sign on a café that said Café Burguer Acapulco.  We decided that might be a place that makes a good hamburger.  We ordered two normal burguer combos.  That would be two hamburgers, fries, and a drink right.  Wrong!  That would be a salad, fries with a fried egg on top, and a huge hamburger steak.  It was a lot of food.  Dete ate pretty good.  Hopefully she will gain some strength from it.

We returned, where she took a bath.  Yes you heard me right.  We have a bath tub.  She has been wanting one for over a week.  I have been working on the blog while she soaked.  She will be asleep again in a short period of time.

After the blog, I am going to see if I can get something going with skype so that

View from our hotel balcony.

we can visit with the grandchildren.  WiFi is spotty at best, but this one seems pretty good.  So maybe I can get it going.

We are not sure about tomorrow.  It looks like about 9 miles to the town that we need to get to.  It will all depend on how strong Dete is by then.  There is no place to stay between here and there so if we can’t make it, we will just have to recover another day here.  We just have to make the best decision based on our situation.

DAY 31 (28) Thursday October 11, 2018

La Virgen Del Camino to La Virgen Del Camino 0 miles.  Total to date 316 miles

Very symbolic. This hotel serves the pilgrims.

We woke up this morning to rain.  I was hoping that the forecast would be wrong, but no, for once they got it right.  I know that all things work together for good…… but I sure was wanting to get away from Leon.  It just seems like we have hit a wall.  We were a little afraid to take off in the rain, because it is about 10 miles to the next shelter.  We didn’t know how long our strength would hold up battling, rain, wind, and cold.  Dete is feeling better and now I have diarrhea again.  Stomach is achy.  We need to write a song “Achy Breaky Bowels”.  It would be a runaway hit.  Since it is raining we decided to hold up here in the same hotel.

There is a saying, that the “Camino provides”.  Well the Camino provides opportunities and experiences, but we refuse to allow the Camino to get the credit for what our Jehovah Jireh provides.  He is our mighty God and my word for the year is Immanuel which means “God is with us”.  He has provided us with the perfect hotel.

When we went down for breakfast, all they had was toast.  That is a bland breakfast.  We asked to stay

Chicken noodle soup. The pot was full. They wanted us to eat a lot of it.

another night and they provided.  We told them that we were weak from being sick and they showed us the Farmacia.  Later I came down with an empty roll of toilet paper and she burst out laughing and told me to follow and she got me some papier.  I asked her if their restaurant had soup and she hesitated and said Si and said soupa until 2:00.  It was already 1:00 so I went to the room and got Dete.

When we got to the restaurant, the two ladies began to talk and they started taking care of us.  They covered our table with a covering, set our places, brought two glasses and asked if we wanted the soupa.  We answered and they asked if we wanted esalade, and we did for Dete.  I would eat some of the olives from the salad.  In a few minutes the lady who got me the paper, brought out a huge pot of chicken noodle soup.  I thanked her and she said, “I made for you”.  Of course, this statement was made by some hand gestures. What are the chances that we would be served the best home remedy for sickness in a strange restaurant, by strange employee, in a Spanish hotel. I guess chicken soup is the universal cure.  I for one don’t think it was a coincidence.  It was made just for us.  That sounds like the great provider was at work to me.

Watching The Way on youtube while it rains outside.

We tried to eat it all, and we told them how good it was and it would make us stronger.  They had the biggest smiles on their faces.  After serving our soup, the cook went to our room and straightened it for us and resupplied everything.  I know that hotels do this for guest who stay another night, but we could tell that it had been done with love and care.  These are two very special ladies.  We will remember them when we think of our Camino experiences.

This morning we talked to Brad and Keasha on skype.  We are set up to skype

The rain has stopped, the sun is out, and I’m finishing the post for today.

with the entire family at 10:00 this evening.  We are also scheduled to talk to Doug at 6:30 PM. This is all at a time that we just needed to be cared about.  But to top it all off, we got a text from our grandson Joshua.  It was a very special text.  He told us how much he loved us, and that he didn’t want us to give up even with our being sick.  He said that he wanted us to get home soon, and that he wanted to see us really bad, but he wanted us to finish the trip.  Now that is special to grandparents.  If we had thought about quitting, we would no longer give it a thought.  We have been encouraged.

Another thing that we did today, was we watched “The Way”.  This was also an encouragement.  It meant so much more to us now that we are on the pilgrimage.  There is a lot of the story that is similar to what we are experiencing.  Tomorrow is a new experience, and we will wait to see what it brings.

DAY 32 (29) Friday October 12, 2018

La Virgen Del Camino to San Martin del Camino12 miles.  Total to date 328 miles

We have found our back onto the WAY.

Last night we had a special treat.  We were able to skype with our son Doug and then with our three grandchildren.  That was a real lift after being sick.  We were somewhat down, but seeing those grandbabies was just the answer for rejuvenating our spirits.

This morning we got down stairs to the café at about 7:50 where we ate toast, jelly, and coffee.  I told our care giver who served in the café and receptionist at the hotel, how special they were.  I told them that we would always remember them.  She smiled and fanned her face.

We had a warm good bye and headed out to restart our Camino walk at 8:30. It

We started with cloudy skies and cold temps.

really did feel good to start walking again.  We had been on hold for about four days.  We were beginning to doubt if we could do it or not.  But, after a few minutes on the trail, we were, “all in,” once again.  We are both feeling real good today.  We have gotten most of our strength back and our walking is up to speed again.

We have set our goal to be in Santiago by October 28.  That is Dete’s birthday.  We did have the goal of celebrating in Paris, but that has changed.  Of course, she loves prolonged celebration of her birthday anyway.  So, we will be celebrating in Paris also.  Now we just have to make it happen.  That mainly means staying healthy.

We walked through some interesting villages today.  In one we walked up on a table with fruit.  There was a book where we were asked to sign.  There was also a stamp to stamp our credentials.  A man walked up and began to talk to us and started handing us fruit and telling us to have a buen Camino.  He would not take any payment.  This was just his way of reenacting the way that people took care of the pilgrims on the trail in historical times.  At the last one before arriving at the albergue, we

No need to paint, just plant ivy. The color choices may be limited.

rested in a café.  There we shared a grilled ham and cheese and a cup of coffee

Dete’s new friend. He gave us fruit from his home orchard.

each.  We did need a little nourishment, but we used the rest also.

We covered the 12 miles pretty easily.  If we keep getting stronger, we should do all right with our goals.  There are some long distances ahead.  It looks like we have approximately 175 miles to go to Santiago.  Today we arrived at the albergue Santa Ana around 2:00 PM.  It is a unique place.  There are grapes hanging in huge clusters around the property.  We assume that they are for the pilgrims staying here.  The only negative is that the WIFI is very slow.

We will be served dinner at 7:30. The menu is mixed salad, chicken in rice, and our drinks.  I am not sure if they serve desert or not, but if not, they have donuts for sale.

DAY 33 (30) Saturday October 13, 2018

San Martin to Astorga 15 miles.  Total to date 343 miles

Time to get started.

Last night we were surprised to see a young couple from Italy come to supper with a 9 month old baby.  So to date, that is the youngest Pilgrim we have met. Yes, they are walking the Camino with their baby. They started their

Baby that is walking the Camino.

pilgrimage in Pamplona and are going all the way to Santiago—440 miles. They have already traveled 265 miles.  I  can’t imagine this.  Not only are they carrying all their needs, but they are also carrying the babies needs, and a stroller.  They seem to be handling it very well.  Of course, the baby stole the show at the dinner table.

We got up and went to breakfast at the albergue.  We had toast, coffee, and juice.  We were not hungry after eating the huge dinner the night before.  We

Church near our albergue in Astorga.

walked 15 miles today.  It was hard miles.  Just as we were nearing the small village of Hospital de Orbigo.  A lady named Sylvia started walking behind us.  She was from Miami.  Of course, she was originally from Cuba. She joined us and asked would it be safe to go into the village. She had just started the day before in Leon, so she was still a little nervous about traveling alone. She was experiencing some fear, and was looking for some assurance and protection.  This is her 60 year birthday, and she is meeting family in Santiago to celebrate.  We did not stop and rest enough and by the end of the day we were shot.  We didn’t stop and eat along the way except a small piece of vegetable pie around mid-morning.  That was all that we ate and the only real rest that we had all day.  I didn’t know if we were going to make it or not the last mile or so.  We were

Monument overlooking Astorga  
Met with re-enactments of battles with Napoleon.

hurting, and dragging. We also got to see another pilgrim today that is going the distance—a dog. He had gauze on both front paws, she was slightly limping. This was hard to watch. Ben, please don’t bring Jasper.

We finally reached the San Javier albergue. We fixed our beds, and went to eat some supper.  We had a footlong ham and cheese sandwich.  I don’t know why, but I had not been hungry all day, so this really filled us both up and was all we needed for the rest of the day.  Brad skyped us when we got back to the albergue.  It was a real joy, just to spend some time with him.  We then went to bed.  At that point we experienced the loudest albergue that we have been in this entire trip. It had 95 beds and was like an old haunted castle with several floors, and we could hear every footstep above us. The walls were like a cave and the doors and windows creaked. Of course, once we got to sleep none of that mattered.

DAY 34 (31) Sunday October 14, 2018

Astorga to Astorga 1 miles.  Total to date 344 miles

She is walking the Camino, so she sleeps in the albergue.

Raining today in Astorga.  Not what you want on a walking pilgrimage.  We

On her way out into the rain to walk with her owner.

decided to stay here instead of walking in the rain.  We mentioned a dog that we saw on the trail yesterday.  Well when we got here last night, we noticed that she was asleep on a bed (built-in sofa) in the commons area.  This morning she was still there.  When the man got ready to leave, she did not respond when he called her.  In fact, she acted like she was asleep.  He reached down and nudged her a couple of times and she got up. He removed the bandage that probably had some type of healing ointment on it. I didn’t notice a limp when they left but I did notice her rain coat that he had put on her and she walked through the crowd and got pats from us all.  She walked rather stiffly, just like the rest of us.

We ran into Sylvia from Miami today while we were out for a late lunch.

We sat around and let everyone leave before we left to go find a hotel for the day and tonight.  While waiting I noticed that there was a woman sitting at the desk of the host or hostess.  She had a tag hanging around her neck, you know it

Picking out deserts for national dessert day.

looked like her ticket to sit at the desk.  I didn’t have one of those tags, so I that she was important.  I asked her if she knew a place that was open for breakfast.  She answered as if she knew the town.  Now I’m believing that she may even be the mayor.  She is acting very important.  Her answer to me was that there was nothing open until 10:00 or 10:30. I assumed that she knew what she was talking about.  Then, she got up put on her backpack.  Folks the mayor must be walking the Camino.  Her assistant also had on a tag, and she got up, and put on her backpack.  Wow, we were in the presence of royalty.  I am being so hard on them because in a few minutes a man came in who

Eating our desserts before lunch is ready.

transported Pilgrim’s backpacks to the next city.  He worked in this town.  Dete asked him if he knew where something was open that served breakfast.  He told her that down the street and around the corner was a café that was open.  Well there you go.  This was important because we knew that we were going to have to wait until a room was made ready for us.  We needed a place to kill some

Dete is getting a history lesson.

time.  Guess what, the restaurant was in the hotel where we were going to get a room.  Can you believe that? We didn’t have to wait long and our room was ready.

We worked on the blog, and skyped with Brad and Keasha.  Ben our friend also face-messaged us on messenger.  Hopefully, we will be able to skype with the grandchildren later today because it is Sunday. We are also going to try and face-message Doug and Rhonda on messenger.  This is a family time day.  We are also going to spend some time today watching the services on line of the Church of the Highlands. It always inspires us to be better people.

Characters taking part in the celebration.

We got hungry so we walked down the street to a bakery and picked out some sweet things.  We took them to the café that we went to last night.  We got an order of spaghetti with a white sauce with ham on it.  It was very different, and very good. Of course, we didn’t know what we ordered. We picture spaghetti with red sauce and we hoped it had meat in it.  Good way to experience new food—just don’t speak or read their language.

Dete liked her hat.

We are now working on todays blog.  We will get up early in the morning, and leave before daylight.  We have a 13 mile walk tomorrow.  It has a town about every 3 miles.  We will make sure that we get plenty of food and plenty of rest

We do not want to repeat the last day’s walk. Sometimes we think we are

Canons are roaring and armies are marching.

invincible and do not have to follow common sense.  Who should walk 13 miles on a piece of toast and two other bites in seven hours while carrying everything you need for two months on their back? But, the truth is, our mind is on the journey, what we are seeing and the vision of the next town over the hill or around the bend.

We went to the supermacado this afternoon and bought an apple, some nuts, and a candy bar for extra energy. You would think we would know by now. I guess the “70” kicks in now and then.

DAY 35 (32) Monday October 15, 2018

Astorga to Rabanal del Camino 13 miles.  Total to date 357 miles

A wet day for walking the Camino.

Rain welcomed us to a new day again.  I have to confess, for just a fleetng second, we considered taking a bus to Rabanal.  It was warm and dry in our

hotel room. It would have been the perfect day to do this—only 12 miles and would be a short number of miles to subtract from our actual walk. It was one of those weak moments when Dete actually looked at me

Early start on a wet rainy day.

and said, “You know I just don’t feel like today that I want to keep this up”. She is a sunshiney girl and

even at home does not like rainy, dreary days.  We just did not want to get cold and wet.  After a quick pause Dete said, “Let’s just walk in the rain today.”  I think that I heard on the TV news that a small hurricane hit the coast of Spain somewhere.  We feel like that is

Walking in the rain.

causing the rain.  The good news is that it is supposed to be pretty for the rest of the week. So off we set.  We put on our ponchos, and backpack covers in preparation for the wet weather.  We stepped out into the dark, cold, and drizzling rain to begin our day. Little did we know what a blessing this day will bring. We find that often in our lives—when things look bleak, there is always

Closest thing to a ham biscuit that I have seen.

the tendency to quit. But that is the great thing about accountability in marriage, when one is weak, then the other one steps up and offers the strength. When the enemy of doubt comes, we have a God that can overcome for us.

The villages were spaced perfectly for an easy 13 mile walk.  They were about 3 miles apart. We’ve never had this before, so we never really got tired.  The first stop was at Murias.  We ate a vegetable and egg tortilla with a cup of coffee each. I actually got something that looked like and tasted like a southern ham biscuit. There we

The couple from Germany.

met a couple from Western Kentucky. We shared greetings and a little information about towns that we had visited there.  Next, we stopped at Santa Catalina de Somoza where we had a glass of orange juice.  It was there that we met a couple from Germany.  He was originally from Berlin.  They were a little concerned about the steep terrain that we will be facing in a few days.  He has walked the entire way from St Jean, and she joined him in Pamplona.  He told us that he had been wanting to make this trip for a couple of years, but because of a spine problem he had not been able to do it.  But, he had gotten over that problem with some therapy,  and was

Mark took our picture outside the cowboy bar.

glad that they were able to walk it together.  The third stop was El Ganso.  This is a very old town with some decaying buildings.  It did have however, a cowboy bar.  While we were there we met a very interesting man who also writes a blog.  He has named it abeandmarkonthecamino.  Abe is Abe Lincoln and he is Mark.  Mark was excited to see the cowboy bar because he was from Colorado.  The bar reminded him of home.  We walked together for most of the last section until we walked up on his friends who were taking a break.  We walked on when he stopped to be with them.

As we walked into Rabanal, we stopped at a café at the edge of town.  There Mark and all of his friends joined us.  This is a very

Our new friend Mark.

interesting group.  They are loud, funny, and they have no inhibitions to having fun.  They are also very welcoming to others.  Dete and I decided to eat lunch there.  I asked if they had soup and the lady at the bar said yes.  That was a welcomed answer, since it was pretty chilly and damp.  I had no idea what kind of soup we were getting, but I asked for two bowls.  When it came out it looked and smelled great.  It was lentil soup with sausage.  When the crowd saw it they all started ordering it also.  After eating it for a while, they all starting shouting the praises of the soup loudly.  The cooks came out with a huge

Lunch with our new Camino family.

smile and enjoyed their praise.  When finished eating we all gathered up the mess and took it back to the kitchen, straightened the tables and chairs, and headed to the Albergue Municipal.

The consensus for supper is that we will all walk back out to the café and eat again. So after we all showered and rested a while, we went back to the café and had a 3 course  Perigrino meal . I had spaghetti for my first course and Dete had a salad. For our main course we had beef and French fries and for dessert I had  tiramisu and Dete had cheesecake. They also serve all the water or wine you want. It still blows our mind that you can get all of this for about $13 each, and these are not small portions. While we were eating they were

Some scenery from today’s walk. I don’t know why or how.

telling us a story about a man from Kentucky passing out on the trail. Tina, a lady in the group was a nurse, so she helped with the situation until they could get him into the next town.  This was the same couple from Kentucky that we had met this morning in the cafe in Murias.  After dinner we headed back to the albergue for some rest. The group we connected with wants to get up around

The view from my bunk.

five and climb up about 1200 plus feet to see a magnificent sunrise. This would require us to walk up a steep mountain in the dark. We will see what happens. I’ll be honest, I’m not too keen on the idea. The tradition is that you take Champagne and celebrate the sunrise. It all seems disastrous to me. Dark is dark here!! Especially since it is very cloudy right now. Dete and I will celebrate by being in bed asleep. I think others are beginning to agree with us.  Mark also is hesitant.  He understands the danger since he is from Colorado and is familiar with mountain hiking.

DAY 36 (33) Tuesday October 16, 2018

Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca 16 miles.  Total to date 373 miles

Morning view

We woke up around 6:30, and no one was stirring, so I guess they decided the early morning/champagne tradition was not what they wanted to do. We tried to stay quiet until finally we got out our flashlights and began to get dressed for the day. We knew it was going to be a rough day—around 16 miles with a mountain ahead and worse still a long decent. We had heard from someone who had walked it before that it was not bad. We left before the “group”, which by the way is made up of a family of three—father, mother and son from Holland, Georgio from

Morning trail

Canada, Mark from Colorado, Heather from Australia and Marcos from Italy.  A very diverse group that is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. We have laughed until our sides ached. Such a great diversion from just walking, and walking, and walking some more.

Our first stop was Foncebadon. This was about 3 miles away, but because it was almost straight up a mountain it was about 10:00 before we arrived. We had breakfast

At breakfast stop, we ran into the Camino family

sandwiches with egg and meat. We never know the size of what we order. It was huge. One would have been enough, but we knew it was going to be a tough day, we ate it all. Dete had Chai tea and I had coffee. When we finished, our group was arriving so we stopped long enough to get a group picture. Also there was a girl there having a birthday, so Girogio suggested that we sing happy birthday to her. He is such a charmer. He said to her, “Oh great, you finally turned 21.” She was obviously older, but she felt wonderful after the complement. Some people just have a knack for making people feel good–Giorgio is one of them.  He has been such an inspiration to Dete and me.  We try to bring light to people, but he just does it so effortlessly.

While we were all enjoying our rest the lady from Western Kentucky came

Manjarin.

over to the group and thanked all of them for their help with her husband yesterday.  She said that he was doing well, that he had just gotten dehydrated from the stomach virus.  She was walking by her self.  She said that he was going by taxi today, because he just wasn’t up to walking the trail.

Our second stop was at a little town called Manjarin. It is famous for the

Manjarin

signs at the little free for donation house, telling how many miles it is to foreign places,  They had all kind of snacks for pilgrims, but what Dete loved was the house full of cats. They were scattering while she was taking pictures, but she got quite a few.

Our third stop was and is a highlight of the trip. It is a cross on the top of Puerta Irago. It is called La Cruz de Ferro.  It is famous because it is a place where you place rocks in honor of

Manjarin cat

whatever—it might be your family, your friends, your sins, whatever you feel like you need to lay at the foot of the cross. Dete and I have never been the type of people who need ceremonial actions in our Christian lives. We love the symbol of the cross and what it stands for, and the confessions of our sins at an old fashioned altar has always been a part of our lives, so we were not impressed with the “rock” thing.  But

Cruz de Ferro

when we were in Israel our friend Jenny (who had

9 stones Dete placed at the cross for our family.

walked 300+ miles on the Camino} had been to this spot and told Dete—you have to take a rock.  So, she was telling Dete that on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, so Dete picked up a rock and said, “ok”.  Little did I know that she picked up 9 small stones to represent all the members of our family.  As she walked up the hill to place the stones, tears were literally dripping from her eyes. As you look to the cross and realize what our Savior did for us, it is a moment that I cannot explain. I had put one

Jacque, Dete, and Tammy.

there that represented a personal struggle in my life that I constantly deal with. It is too personal to put on a blog, but it took on meaning today. We met the most wonderful lady at the foot of the cross. Her name was Tammy. She wanted to interview us, via phone about why we were on the Camino and what this experience meant to us. We did not remember seeing her before today, but she said she had been watching us and felt sure we were Christians. A little tear fell from her eye when she told us that she had brought some things from friends to lay at the cross and how the day before she had lost them in the bathroom. I got a

5 miles along a ridge.

chance to minister to her a little explaining that we did not really need to give Jesus anything physical, that He had given His all for us. She thanked me for this encouragement and then told us her testimony of how 10 years ago she had rededicated her life to Jesus after being away from Him for 20 years. We looked at the cross and she said, “I’m so glad they don’t have Him hanging on the cross”. Dete said, “Me too, because He has risen.”  She raised her hands and said, “Hallelujah” !!!  We had a Jesus moment and mini-revival at the same time.

Almost there…lunch.

It was an experience that we will never forget. She had been standing with a French guy, Jacque, who also experienced our time of worship. He was a great guy too. We had some communication with him also, with what we could understand.

It was a long 5 mile walk from La Cruz de Ferro to Acebo.  It was up and down along a ridge and then down and back up over a mountain.  We finally entered the town of Acebo.  We stopped at a café and ate a salad.  When we arrived Heather was there resting and while we were eating the rest of the group arrived.  We laughed and carried on for a pretty good while.

When we told everyone bye and started down the trail Marcos and Giorgio

Giorgio walked us down the mountain.

left with us.  After a while Heather and Oliver came running up and joined us.  Heather had been inviting everyone to join them at the Albergue because Marcos was cooking for everyone.  No telling how many will show up to eat.  We soon started going down a very steep, slippery, and rocky trail.  We noticed that Giorgio was hanging back, while the others hurried along to buy groceries.  I know that Giorgio was just making sure that we were all right.  He walked all the way to our destination of Molinaseca.  This was a 6 mile walk that at times was very dangerous.  He is a very special person, who loves people.  He lives in Vancouver where he

Our new friend Giorgio.

works in the film industry.  He has been in many movies.  He has met and talked to Martin Sheen who starred in the movie “The Way”.  We began to wonder if we had somehow gotten lost, but finally rounded a curve and we saw Molinaseca.  Dereatha and I decided to stay in a hotel tonight instead of the albergue.  We hugged Giorgio and let him go on to his

Molinaseca, another day completed.

group.  What a special person, and what a special opportunity to spend the afternoon walking with him.

We gave our dirty clothes to the receptionist at the hotel who will have them washed and dried in the morning when we come down to breakfast.  I then went out to a supermarkedo and got us some fruit for supper.

DAY 37 (34) Wednesday October 17, 2018

Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo 20 miles.  Total to date 393 miles

Breakfast

We got a great surprise this morning when we went to breakfast.  We expected some little cake and coffee, but instead we found a full breakfast that equaled an exquisite hotel.  We ate ham, eggs, and cheese on warm toast, granola with nuts and dried fruit, fresh fruit, and coffee.  There were also assorted pastries.  We were also greeted with our clean, dry, and folded laundry.  This is what I call a good start to a day on the Camino.

After we had a very pleasant 5 mile walk we entered the city of Ponferrada

Morning walk.

.  This is a city with a population of about 70,000.  The first place that we stopped was a bakery/coffee shop.  This was more of a rest stop than a fueling stop.  When we left there, we missed the marker for the way because it was mostly hidden by some shrubbery.  We walked for a while looking

Ponferrado

for a marker, but did not see any.  But we did hear someone call our name from across the street.  It was Giorgio.  We almost met in the middle of the street.  After retreating to the sidewalk, we hugged and said our goodbyes.  He is going to stay in Ponferrada for a couple of days.  We will probably never see him again.  He has been a little concerned that the group is

A cup of coffee in Ponferrado.

pushing him a little too fast.  He wants more time to take pictures and spend time with himself.  We then ran into several more of the group and we said our goodbyes.  It is amazing how you run into your friends over and over again.  The family of three are leaving in two days, but are staying in Ponferrada until time to go.  They saw us across the street and came running to our corner.  Tina through her arms around our necks and said through tears that she had been afraid that she would not see us to say good bye.  Amazing how things work out.  The reality is that the groups that are made along the way eventually have to dissolve.  But some friendships will last forever.

Tunnels are all decorated.

After another 5 mile walk we entered Fuentes Nuevas.  A very small town.  We stopped in at the Bar La Emita.  We had two cups of hot tea, and we ate the sandwiches that Dete made at breakfast.  This was a very good break.  While there, Dete asked the lady running the café, what was the name of the fruit that she had picked from a tree along the back road that we had been walking along.  She answered, “don’t

Bar La Ermita

eat”.  She later told us that it was only good for making jelly.  The fruit is called quince.  We also met

No eat!

the wife of the man who had passed out on the trail a day or two earlier.  She said that he was still improving, but was taking a taxi while she walked.  He would continue doing this until he got his strength back.

When we entered the town of Cacabelos we began talking to a dad and

Cacabelos

daughter.  She was very friendly so I asked where they were from.  “Australia”, she responded.  And the conversation had begun.  They were very interesting.  She was between high school and college.  She was taking a year to travel. We chose to stop and rest before the last push to our goal.  They said that they would love to get together sometime and talk at dinner.

Afternoon scenery.

While resting, up walked Heather.  Guess where she is from?  The correct answer is Australia.  She sat down and told us how the group was breaking up.  She decided to stay there and we continued on to Villafranca del Bierzo.  Dete has been a real trooper

Entering Villafranca del Bierzo.

today.  We have walked 20 miles or more, and we are worn out.  The weather got worse just before we arrived.  It was almost dark and we were beginning to think that we may be lost again.  There was a mist in the air and it was getting cold.  Yet, there has been no complaints.  We soon found the albergue, and they had beds for us.  That is always a good thing.

After getting our beds at the municipal albergue we walked to a very small café for supper.  I asked the lady running the café if she had any soup.  She said that she didn’t, so I asked for spaghetti.  She then came out of the kitchen with two small bowls of soup and a huge smile.  This is just how they try to meet the needs of the pilgrims.  I think that she gave us the soup.  The soup and spaghetti were warming to the body, and very good.  This has been a great day on the Camino.

DAY 38 (35) Thursday October 18, 2018

Villafranca del Bierzo to O’cebreiro 18 miles.  Total to date 411 miles

Looking back on Villafranca del Bierzo this morning.

Wow, what a day.  Following a 20 mile day, we walked an 18 mile day.  The last 7 miles rose 2,275 feet in elevation.  Most of this was on a very rocky trail.  Our

Unusual bush on the trail.

feet are very sore along with the rest of our body.  The climb was through some very pretty scenery.  The view from the mountain tops were spectacular.  So, I guess I am saying that the pain of getting up the mountain was worth it.

Arrived in Pereje after an enjoyable 3 miles.

The rest of the day was very enjoyable.  We followed a river through a valley most of the day.  We passed through some picture worthy towns and met a nice dog at one of the cafés.  We rested often in preparation for the afternoon climb.  While along the way we changed to a different region.   This region is

After about 2.5 more miles we stop for olives and a dog break in the town of Trabadelo.

called Galacia.  It is marked by mountains that are not far from the Atlantic Ocean.  When the humid air from the ocean hits the mountains anything such as rain, thunderstorms, or very dense fog can occur.

During the afternoon climb, we were becoming very

Afternoon trail was not kind.

tired.  So, when we reached the last little town before our final destination, we ate some lentil soup.  This gave us some energy and a rest.  The last mile was then a breeze.  When we arrived in O’cebreiro we found a type of Gatlinburg.  It was crowded with tourist, not pilgrims.  All the hotels were full except the albergue where we are staying.  After obtaining our bed we went to a café

Tough climb.

and ate vegetable soup (can you tell that we were cold), hot tea, and a slice of Santiago cake.  We then returned to the albergue and I wrote the blog.  It was the worst experience we have had in an alberge and it was worse for Dete, so I want her to explain her trauma!!!

Mountain climbing for about 7 miles.

First of all, this albergue had the worst internet connection I have ever seen.  They handed me an 8X10 piece of paper with the instructions. I was following steps the whole way down until it said they would email you the password that you could then enter into the system.  This was after changing everything to English, and typing in those crazy letters to prove you are not a robot. When

Did I say that we had to climb a mountain?

I got to the last part about getting an electronic password, I nearly lost it.  I wanted to take that paper, wad it up and throw it at the lady with a few choice words.  The only problem is that she would never understand the choice words in English.  So I just looked at Larry and said, “Let’s get out of here and find a restaurant”.  The internet

In a mountain village a dairy man didn’t want us to take a picture.

was not too good there either. Too many people using the WIFI. It was a tourist town—we called it little Gatlinberg. It was very high up in the mountains and it was COLD.

While we are walking we were generating a lot of heat. Even though it is cold, we dress light, because we know we will get hot. But when you stop at the end of the day and are standing around waiting to get

Dete you are not at the top yet.

signed in and stamped, our bodies cool off very fast and we begin to shiver. That is why one of the first things we do is take a very hot shower and this helps some. But we still put on coats and head out for something hot

The view was worth the pain.

to eat—soup or soupa as they call it, if we are lucky. We did find hot soup tonight. Then it was time to go back to the albergue.

We had arrived very late after that tortuous climb and we were very, very tired, so we went to eat first. When we got back to the albergue it was almost 9 o’clock and we were exhausted and I was literally

I see the top, Ocebreiro.

shaking from the cold. So, what did we find out—there were no blankets!!—the first albergue that had not furnished blankets. So, without showering, I put on the rest of my clothes from my backpack, including a scarf on my head, and gloves on my hands. I used my coat to lay over my body. We have a sleep sack that we have had since day three when we mailed our sleeping bags back. We had been told that we were carrying extra weight for nothing and that had been true up until tonight when there were no blankets.

You made it.

I was completely covered, even my head in my sleep sack with all my clothes on and I shivered so hard I was miserable. I finally turned to Larry and said, “You

Now where is that albergue.

have to pray for me”.  After he did, I finally fell asleep around nine. Around eleven I woke up and had finally stopped shaking and was warm. I slept great until around 3:30 when I began to get cold again. It did not take as long this time to get warm and I slept well the rest of the night. It was nice getting up this morning. I did not have to

Wow!

dress, I just simply got out of bed, put on my shoes, a little make up and went to breakfast. I don’t know why I felt such an urge to tell this story. I think it is because I want you to understand we face stresses on a daily basis. Because of this, mine and Larry’s relationship is strengthening, but everything does not go perfect. I want you to know the whole story.

DAY 39 (36) Friday October 19, 2018

O’cebreiro to Triacastela 13 miles.  Total to date 424 miles.

View from Ocebreiro this morning.

After punishing our bodies for the last two days, we got to take it easy today.  We have pounded our bodies by walking up and over mountains on rough trails for 38 miles the last two days.  Today we took our time getting ready and then eating a good breakfast at a café.  We had ham and eggs, toast, jelly, cake, coffee, and orange juice.  We were in no hurry.  We only had to walk 13 miles today so why rush.

After breakfast we began walking what we thought

A good breakfast to start today off right.

was a downhill day.  Instead we were greeted with two pretty steep uphill climbs.  The good thing about it was that they didn’t last very long.  The walk this morning was a very peaceful walk through the woods along a very nice path.  And then we experienced something new.

We topped a hill and there we saw a beautiful statue of a medieval pilgrim overlooking the valleys of Galicia.  The sun was behind the statue and it made it look like a silhouette.  This was all great, but another thing caught our attention.  There were two tour busses stopping and letting

Nice sculpture.

off hikers to hike some of the trail today.  They made

Break time.

the trail busy and the cafes even busier.  I had just mentioned to Dereatha this morning the it seemed like there were less and less pilgrims on the path.  We coined a new name for these tour bus hikers, “pretend pilgrims”.  We really don’t know how this works.  But I am sure some of these people will go home and tell their friends that they walked the Camino.

Morning scenery

We never really got into a hurry today.  It was really enjoyable knowing that we would reach our destination in plenty of time before dark.  We rested often and snacked.  One interesting experience that we had today was we

met a herd of cows coming toward us on the path.  They were on their way to the barn to be milked.  They were well mannered and trained.  A couple of

Who is this on the trail?

m showed Dete a little interest by going toward her, but they soon turned back in line with the rest.

Our trip after the two climbs was mostly downhill.  About the last 3 miles was a pretty steep decent into the town of Triacastela.  We decided to take a break from the crowds in the albergues and spend the night in a hotel.  There are 3 rooms above the owners living quarters in their house.  We do have an outside entrance, but

we share a bathroom with the other three rooms.

On our way to dinner.

When we left the hotel to go to dinner, we were met by a herd of sheep coming down the street.  They paid us very little attention, and walked to the end of the street and turned right.  I don’t know where they were going, but they seemed to know.

We ate a pilgrim meal tonight made up of collard soup, salad, grilled chicken, fries, and Santiago cake.

Santiago cake.

It was very good as always.  The cook happened to speak some English.  When I went to the kitchen to compliment her I asked how to make the soup, and she told me.

When we came back to the room, it was bath time, and now bed time.  We have another easy day tomorrow.  I must admit, I am beginning to look toward to getting to Santiago.  It has been a great experience, but we are beginning to see the end and beginning to get a little anxious to get home.

DAY 40 (37) Saturday October 20, 2018

Triacastela to Sarria 12 miles.  Total to date 436 miles.

Checking the map at breakfast.

We think the night before that we should probably leave early the next morning, but it is taking longer and longer each day to get daylight. Some of that, I think, is because we are in the mountains. This reminds us so much of Newport, Tennessee where everything is surrounded by mountains. When we were in the Meseta, we could see the sun rising for miles before it popped up. Here  all of a sudden it is just there—over the mountain. As a result we are getting on the trail later and later because we really do not like walking in the dark. So today we found a restaurant serving

A barn made onto a house.

breakfast and by the time we were done eating, it was daylight. This breakfast included eggs, hammo, (sorry some of these words are beginning to be second nature to us), toast, coffee, orange juice and a ham and cheese sandwich. The little extras like this give us our lunch meal. Add a piece of fruit, some water and we are set.

This was a small mountain day. Once again beautiful scenery. We passed through several little villages that are true self-

Pilgrim retreat in Montan.

sustaining farms. Small stone houses with stone barns built onto the house. So, yes, the critters have their own house. The stone barns house the animals at night—cows, chickens, sheep, horses and anything else the farmer raises. They lead them down the road out to the pastures and bring them in at night to be milked—yet again. Some of the farmers are a little sensitive to you taking pictures of their farming practices. One farmer hollered at us for taking a picture of him milking his cow in the middle of the road. Others don’t seem to mind.

A special part of today was in Montan when we came upon a retreat for the

Pilgrim retreat meditation area.

pilgrims. These are usually donation only and are very special. They have fresh fruit from whatever is available—today it was pears and apples. They also had every drink available—soy milk and various fruit juices and water. Along with that they have various sweets—cookies, etc, but today the man running the place was passing out hot homemade whole wheat bread, and taking coffee orders. There were sofa’s all around in various seating areas and many tables set up. There was also an open air room that you could go into and lay on a mattress and rest or meditate on the journey and what all it means. There was also a sign that explained “the shell” that we all wear on our backpacks. They encouraged you to write on

Another area of the pilgrim retreat.

your shell the sins or things that you want to leave behind and hang it on a tree. You could then get one in Santiago to commemorate finishing the trip. We just kept our shell—not that we do not have sins to leave. But we do that really and not symbolically.

While at the retreat we met several people from America. When you hear someone speaking English you naturally gravitate toward that and ask where you are from. To our surprise, some were from North Carolina and Tennessee. While narrowing it down to specific towns we discovered that one guy was from Hartford—tiny place outside of Newport where we lived and had a cabin for several years. He even knew about Del Rio, now that is amazing. We had such fun talking to him and his “family” on the trail.

Our next stop was for lunch to eat the leftovers from breakfast. We saw

Chess set for the pilgrims at the retreat to enjoy.

some people that we had met at the beginning of this journey and shared some tales. Everyone has tales. Some funny, some sad. That is all a part of the journey.  We have been traveling several days with a group of Italian men. We never talk to them, of course, because we do not understand a word they say. But when we see them occasionally we throw up our hands, do a little jig, and give a big shout out.  They are a wild bunch of buddies just having fun. When you stay in an albergue with them there is no doubt they are there. They are loud and sing a lot. And there is not one modest bone in their body. I’d love to take a picture of a 300 lb man in black bikini underwear, just so you could see what we see. Maybe when I get home I will draw it. When we saw them today, I had Dete take a picture of the group. We are staying two nights in the next town, so

Dete walking to Sarria.

we may never see them again. It’s things like this that keep your mind off the distance and the pain.

We finally entered Sarria and began to look for a hotel. This is a town where people begin walking the last 100 kilometers or so, so they can get a certificate. We were told that motels fill up for this reason, so we knew we might have a job ahead of us. The first one I stopped at wanted $160 Euros for the night, Times two that was a lot of money. So we walked across the bridge and saw restaurants along the river walk. We love San Antonio’s Riverwalk and would love to stay here, but we figured the price was just way out of our price range, but I’ll try anything when I know it would be special to Dete. When I walked in she said we have rooms for 40 Euros or apartments overlooking the Riverwalk for 50 Euros.  Well, give me an apartment!!! It has a little kitchen with everything you could possibly need, a view of the waterfall that is amazing—and the rooms have just been refurbished and look brand new.  This is a perfect place for two nights—probably our final fling on the last week, so we grabbed it. Just the luxury of the nice soft mattress alone is so worth this.

We went grocery shopping to get us some travel food for Monday

View from our hotel room in Sarea

(everything is closed on Sunday), and Dete got her some hair color for a touch up.  Well, for me to touch-up.  Yes, believe it or not I am her hairdresser. I took a ten minute training from a beautician a few years ago on how to do highlights, and I’ve done it ever since. I’ve saved enough money over the last five years from cutting her hair and coloring it to pay for a trip to Spain. It was a no-brainer when I found out how easy it was. Now don’t go hatin on me, men!! This is a job for tomorrow as we rest.

We went out our apartment into the street and had a pilgrim dinner. Salad, seafood soup, porkchops and dessert. I had custard and Dete had Santiago Cake. We then headed for the room and was in bed by 8:30.

DAY 41 (38) Sunday, October 21, 2018

Sarria to Sarria 2 miles.  Total to date 438 miles

Breakfast in the fancy hotel.

Today was a lazy, but activity filled day. We woke up around 8:30—-yes we were in bed for twelve hours. It was not a totally restful twelve hours because the people here do not know what going to bed means. We are right on the Riverwalk, so activity was going on until the wee hours. We don’t really care as long as we are not on our feet. In fact we wake up sometimes, talk a little and then go back to sleep. So yes, we got twelve hours of REST.

Around nine we got out and looked for breakfast. We walked a ways and

Our hotel on the riverwalk.

saw nothing open, so I remembered that the expensive hotel I stopped at said that breakfast came with the lodging, so we knew they served breakfast. We went back to the Riverwalk, crossed the bridge and ate a huge buffet for 10 Euros. This will be our lunch, also.

We went back to the room and the activity began. Dete washed our clothes and got them ready to dry and I started the process of getting plane tickets to Paris, after our walk is

Working on reservations in Paris and changing flights.

over. We are coordinating with Doug to meet him and Rhonda there for dinner one night. He put in for a training/business trip in Berlin, Germany, a few months ago that is required by his job, and low and behold it was approved a couple of weeks ago, so he and Rhonda are going to add a side trip into Paris and London. Well, since we are going to be flying out of Paris, we will get to see them one night. How special is that for a birthday present. So that is what I have been working on all day, and that one job is complete.

Then it was time to color Dete’s hair. This took about 30 minutes and then I started working on getting plane reservations changed. They made me make plane reservation for the return trip before I

Some who are beginning their pilgrimage from here.

left home. I guess Paris does not want us to hang out too long. But because of the time difference I have to wait to make that phone call. In the meantime we ate our lunch from our shopping and leftovers from breakfast.

Soon after lunch it was time to try to change plane reservations. With a little time and with poor phone service, I finally got all of that squared away. On the Camino there is just no time for worry or stress, so it was a load off me to get everything settled. We just

A street in Sarria.

take everything for granted at home—high speed internet, but mainly people who speak our same language. Communication just takes on a different spin when you are in a strange land. But I have to say one thing. They work hard here to understand you and meet your needs. We have only encountered one rude person since we have been here, and he was trying to find a room late at night

Outdoor cafe in Sarria.

after a long walk and his patience was just very thin. But it is hard to even show compassion to someone in another language.

We took a walk in the old town this afternoon and stopped and split a hamburger. Oh catsup tasted so good!! After walking some more we stopped on the Riverwalk in front of our hotel and split a soup and salad and a take out dessert to have with the hot tea

Dete on the riverwalk.

we were making in our little kitchen tonight.

It has been a restful two nights, and we enjoyed our

Hot tea and dessert cake.

Sunday afternoon. This will probably be our last time to take it easy. We have five stages to do in five days to reach Santiago on Friday. That is the goal at least. It is one day at a time. God has been good to help us all along the way, even in the stressful times. I’m sure He will remain faithful.

DAY 42 (39) Monday, October 22, 2018

Sarria to Portomarin 14 miles.  Total to date 452 miles.

Leaving Sarria in the dark at a little after 8 in the morning.

Today as we walked out of the town of Sarria, we met

Joined by a lot of students.

a huge surprise.  All of a sudden, we heard this noise of voices behind us.  We were being converged upon by 200 to 300 high school students.  They were beginning their walk on the Camino.  This is the last city where you can begin the walk and get a certificate for walking the Camino.  We were thrown into shock.  It had been such a calm experience until this morning.  It had now become loud talking and yelling, loud music from back packs, and people everywhere.  The trail

Dete is taking pictures of the parade.

was thick with teenagers.  You could not get through the masses.  They would stop and talk while blocking the path.  We were ready to quit the walk.  We even found ourselves getting angry.  We gave up the fight and slowed down and allowed them all to pass.  Then it was back to a peaceful walk again.

Of course, we leap frogged with them all morning.  They would stop for a required water break, or snack

This is known worldwide.

break, or lunch.  When that happened, we would pass them.  Then when we stopped for a break they would swarm by like a swarm of bees.  Finally, they took a break, and when we passed we didn’t see them again all afternoon.  That is until we had gotten our room and gone to supper.  Then they began to show up in this small town again.  They are staying all over town.  We looked out over the river bridge, and they were marching in huge groups like ants converging on their prey.

Another parade.

We have gone to our room for refuge.  We had been warned that the last week would be a challenge.  We knew that it would be more crowed with bus tour walkers, but we were not expecting this.  All of the long termers could not believe what was happening.

Well back to normal stuff.  Today we ate a breakfast buffet and started our walk just as the sky began to show signs of light.  We walked at a good pace with anticipation of getting to Santiago.  We met people today that we had not seen in a while.  We also met a couple from California.  We enjoyed walking

Only 100 KM to go.

with them.  It was nice to converse in English.

We saw another Camino retreat for Pilgrims today. It is amazing what these people in these small towns do for us walkers, for the hope of a donation big enough to cover expenses. We had just eaten lunch a little while earlier or we would have eaten with them. The variety of fruits, pastries and drinks was amazing. Dete finally said that she would like to taste one of their fritters. It was an apple fritter like the ones she gets when we go to the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge.  She gave a donation for this one bite and we

Another pilgrim retreat

were on our way. I needed this experience to bring me back to the reality of what the Camino is all about. It was a quick, quiet, wonderful moment.

This afternoon, we passed a mile stone.  Maybe it was a Kilometer stone.  We passed the marker that said that we only had 100 kilometers to Santiago.  We are really getting anxious.  We are ready to finish this walk.  It is unbelievable to think that we have walked

Someone is a little frustrated with the new crowds.

over 450 miles.  Today was our last Monday to walk on the Camino.  Each day marks an accomplishment.  We only have four days left to walk.

When we reached Portomarin we walked across a very high bridge over a beautiful river.  The wind was

Crossing a river into town.

blowing and it was a bit scary.  At the end of the bridge, we climbed some old rock stairs into the city.  We saw a sign telling us where there was a private room.  Yes, I am over albergues.  I am tired of alarms

going off and no one turning them off.  Instead they

We made it to Portomarin.

just sleep through them.  I am

over showering, and standing in a puddle of water to put on my clothes to wear to bed.  I am tired of sleeping in a room with crowds of other people.  I am tired of my feet hitting the end of the bunk bed. I am

Ending a day by climbing to the entrance of Portomarin.

over going to the bathroom and sitting down on the toilet and someone trying to get in there with me.  I

guess that they think that I am in there for the peace and quiet.  Yes, I am over it.  It has been a wonderful experience, but we will choose a private room for the rest of this week if we can get them.

We have eaten a wonderful supper of salad, soup, baked chicken and ice creme.  We are ready to take a shower, and ready to go to bed.  We are looking forward to our last Tuesday walk on the Camino.

DAY 43 (40) Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Portomarin to Palas de Rei 16 miles.  Total to date 468 miles.

After a very good nights sleep, we packed up and went to the café where we had supper last night.  We had asked about breakfast, and they told us that they served breakfast beginning at 7:00.  We got there a little after 7:00 and it was packed with high school students.  We were able to get a table and all the students soon left for their gathering to make sure that no one had disappeared during the night.  We had bacon and eggs, with toast and jelly, and coffee.

As things happen, we were met by all of the high schoolers joining the trail as we walked out of the café.  We have gotten used to them and we realize that their youthful energy soon gets them on down the path.  Then we have solitude with the other pilgrims. When they stop for snacks that the vans provide, we just keep on walking. They catch up and pass, then we stop for a break. It has become very easy to avoid the confusion and we are very happy. It was just such a shock yesterday and we were a little mad that they were going to ruin the solitude that we had enjoyed the first 400 miles. But on the Camino we are constantly making adjustments to enjoy the walk. Our packs are just a normal part of our bodies, now. But it took strap adjustments, weight adjustments, etc, several days before we got it right. So adjusting to crowds is just part of the journey, and we handled it much better today.

The walk was almost straight up out of town.  Today we experienced a lot of up hill with occasional down hill trail thrown in.  It was not an extremely hard day, in fact it was not bad at all.  Even though we walked 16 miles, we got to our destination around 3:00.  Our bodies have really adapted to the walking.  The real change that we are noticing, now is that we are not as hungry any more.  We were starving all the time at the beginning. We ate everything in sight, but recently that has changed.  The same amount of food that left us wanting more, now leaves us stuffed.  We used to not leave a crumb.  Now we can’t eat it all.  I think that our stomachs have shrunk.  Our bodies must realize that they don’t need to over eat to have the energy for the work that we all of a sudden throw at them. So even our bodies are making adjustments.  It’s all part of the journey. If we walked another six weeks I wonder what would happen—NO, don’t even think about it!!

We had another great Camino happening today. Another donation only snack area. Today it was coffee, tea, cookies, candy and fruit. They had guitars and a keyboard, and they were asking the Pilgrims to play the instruments if they knew how. Of course, Dete plays by ear, so she sat down and played Amazing Grace.  She got a thumbs up from her small audience who was there to get snacks. This made her day. If you know her at all, you know she loves to play the piano.

The rest of the walk was uneventful except for the scenery. Of course the people are always special. We met two ladies from Chicago. They had begun their walk at Sarria and were just amazed at what they were seeing. They were even taking little side roads to take in all the beauty of things that we have seen for days. Then we also met up with Trevor and Lynn who we have seen off and on from the beginning. They are from England and we like them so much. She wants us to visit them in England. Our grandchildren, especially Kari, wants to go to England because Ed Sherran lives there. Probably wouldn’t see him while we were there!! Joshua want to go too, and of course Sarah just likes to travel anywhere. So who knows. We might actually visit them some day. They were school teachers, too, so we have a lot in common. They have been a little irritated by the students the last couple of days too. I think that is funny.

We got into Palas De Rei and found a motel. We lay down and rested for an hour and then it was time to eat. The manager at the motel gave us a recommendation for a restaurant and he was right—it was delicious. We had a mixed salad full of raisins, nuts and cheese and the best dressing. We also had fish and seafood soup that was great—had mussels, fish and shrimp in it. I had chicken with mushrooms over rice and Dete had Cod and potatoes. For dessert I had rice pudding and Dete had yogurt. All this for 10 Euros. We are constantly amazed at the price of these meals. That also includes all the wine, water and bread. This would cost a minimum of $50 in the US, if not more.

After dinner we came back to the motel to blog and get ready for tomorrow. Three more days to go.

DAY 44 (41) Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Palas de Rei to Ribadiso  16 miles  Total to date 484 miles.

What can I say. We are facing each new day with excitement. We have had the time of our lives, but we are seeing the end and that is exciting. We always look at the maps and elevations for the day and we decided that this was going to be one of the easier days. That was exciting too.

Our hotel had a breakfast buffet this morning so that is where we eat. Our eating patterns have changed over the course of these 44 days. We started out just walking until we came upon a restaurant and we got coffee and ate whatever they had to offer. But now we have found that we do better if we eat a good breakfast first thing in the morning. It just sets the stage for how many times we stop and how hungry we are when we get to the end of the day. Their buffets here always have eggs, meat, cheeses, cereal, all types of pastries and all the coffee, juices, hot chocolate, and various teas that you want. In a restaurant you buy each cup of coffee individually and it is usually high compared to the cost of food, so I usually just get one cup. With the size of the cups that is very little coffee. So we like the buffets, plus we usually grab some fruit or something for lunch.

We left in the dark this morning for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is getting daylight later and later in the day and we want to get started walking before 8:30. It makes for a long day when you leave later than this. We also wanted to get started before the high schoolers came along. So, it was about 10:30 before they caught up with us, and that was nice. But after they passed us at a restaurant where we stopped to get coffee, we never saw them the rest of the day. We talked to a guy who found a student who spoke English and we got the whole story. They are from Madrid and are walking the last five stages of the Camino in four days. So, this means that the buses/ vans, etc that are following them are transporting them some in vehicles. And since there are so many, they are doing this in shifts. So, we may or may not see them again along the trail. We have learned to tolerate them by adjusting our walk, so we have been fine, but it just seems that someone needs to educate them about the sanctity of the walk and what it means to the Pilgrims.  This is just no place to block the walkers, LOUD music and three or four loud songs going on at the same time, where there is just confusion and of course all the smoking. This is just something you do not see in the states. I know there are students who smoke, but it is rare to see someone not smoking here. Maybe they do not stress the bad effects of smoking in Madrid—who knows.

The things that is different about this day’s walk is the number of towns we went through. Usually in a day’s walk we will walk through 3-5 towns. We will look ahead at the next town and walk to it calculating kilometers or miles. Today there were over 20 towns we were going through. We simply could not keep up with which town was coming up because they were so close together that we were literally walking from one town to another just by taking a few steps. Now this is nice if you are tired or hungry because you have so many places to eat and rest. But no one needs to eat and rest this much.

We met Rob and Claudia today from Tucson, Arizona. We shared our experiences on the Camino. They started a couple of days before we did, so we had a lot to share. They are taking their trip at a slower pace each day, but did not take as many 2 nighters along the way as we did. I guess that is why we have not met them before. Everyone is on their own pace as they listen to their bodies.  That is what “the Way is all about.

We walked mostly downhill today. Downhill is not usually a good thing if it last too long. It works on the front of the legs—the shins and it can become very tiring. But it was a good variety today and we really clicked off the miles. It has been about four days since we walked this far, so it was tiring before we reached Rabadiso.

We stopped at one little stand on the side of the road today that had snacks, but you had to buy each snack individually—no donations. We were not hungry, but to show our appreciation for the effort they go through to make our journey enjoyable, we bought some walnuts.

We arrived into town and found a hotel. Because we are not requiring as much food as we did before to sustain our energy, we are planning on have fruit, nuts and chocolate for dinner.

DAY 45 (42) Thursday, October 25, 2018

Ribadiso to Pedrouzo  14 miles  Total to date 498 miles.

This day started with a little disappointment. I walked over to the little café beside our hotel last night and asked them if they served breakfast. I especially asked if they had eggs and bacon. They said yes. We are finding that we really need some good protein every morning to keep our energy up. But when we got there at 7:30, they only had toast, jelly and juice. So, we had to settle for that. After that we started walking. It is still dark at this time and there is a beautiful full moon. We took pictures but they just do not come out like the real thing. We walked a mile or so before the sun came up. Of course, we have to use the flashlight to find the yellow arrows and calculate the number of kilometers that we will be traveling that day. It is fun to watch the numbers go down as you walk.

Around nine o’clock we met up with the group of students again. It is funny to watch the effect that the Camino has on their behavior. There is no loud talking, high fiving and fooling with everyone’s stuff. There is no loud music playing. They are just standing there as if to say, “I guess we have to walk.” We kind of hurry past the mob.  We know they will catch us before long, but we will have a couple of hours of solitude. We will pass them at their rest stops, and so it will go all day. Not bad now, the Camino has humbled them.

Around eleven, I was feeling a little weak and I knew I needed to get some food, so we stopped at a Café and had eggs, bacon and bread, of course. It is funny when they cook your eggs. They will give you one sunny side up and the other one turned over. It is almost to say that they want to please you either way. I am not hard to please at breakfast and their eggs are always good.

We passed one place today called the beer garden. There were thousands of beer bottles made into yard art. Every bottle had a name on it, the date it was purchased and where the person was from. Then the owner would create the art. Nice marketing plan!!

Today was a fairly easy day as long as we rested. Sometimes it is hard to do because you are just always working toward getting to the next town and of course for us getting to Santiago. We literally have to make ourselves sit down because when we don’t, we are exhausted at the end of the day because we run out of steam.  And lately we have been unloosening our shoes for a few minutes then tightening them up a little before we walk. The guy who wrote the book we are following said there is a tendency to loosen your shoe strings as you walk, but tightening is the best. So, we try to follow his advice and he is very right about this. The terrain is up two meters, down two meters all day. This sounds like a gentle walk, but there are all size rocks on the trail that you are constantly maneuvering around and this makes your ankles and feet very tired and sore. Sometimes it seems as though we hobble into the place we are staying, but as soon as we get in and shower our feet loosed up and next morning we are fine again.

On the last couple of miles, we run into the students again. They are all laid out on the road waiting for their bus to pick them up and take them to their alburgue. It is almost like the story of the tortoise and the hare. They are excited, passing and running around, but the two old turtles (me and Dete), just keep plugging along and we reach our destination before they do.

Just one more day folks!!!  It seems unbelievable, but it is going to end tomorrow.

DAY 46 (43) Friday, October 26, 2018

Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela 13 miles  Total to date 511 miles.

Today was certainly a different day of travel for us. There was so much excitement and anticipation about reaching Santiago, that we could hardly contain ourselves. We got up and got ready to go to breakfast that was provided by the hotel, and grabbed a few things for lunch. So, after all this we left around 8:00. We walked for a while in the dark with a flashlight to look for markers on the way.

We walked like no other time. We walked a straight six miles without even slowing down, even though there were several uphill climbs. We usually stop at the top of each uphill climb to catch our breath before moving on. Today, we let the downhill climb be our breather. In the past, we can generally count on around two miles an hour. This is not just walking, but all of our rests, breaks, eating lunch and visiting with pilgrims. Today we averaged 3 miles and hour. Yes, we were killing it. The anticipation was just too much to hold us back.

We had an interesting encounter with a girl on the trail. Her name was Erin. As we do a lot of the time, we will be walking along and if someone is walking close to the same pace as we are, we will ask them where they are from.  Erin said she was from Alabama. Of course, we began to explain that is where we were originally from. She is actually from Oxford, and that is very close to where we lived at Chula Vista near Pell City and later at Leeds. She was happy to hear that we were Auburn fans and had attended Auburn. We commented on the fact that she had a very large backpack, and her response was that she had been traveling since January. Of course, that brought out more questions and we were happy to hear her story. She is with a group called the World Wide Race. The race is to spread the gospel of Jesus to the least evangelized part of the world called the 10-40 window. She is traveling to eleven countries in eleven months. She started in Australia and went to Southeast Asia and is now in Europe. She did not name all of the countries. She started on the Camino in Leon which was stage 21 of the 33 that we have traveled. So, this lead to the question as to why do this race?

She explained that she is 33 years old and was a teacher. She became disillusioned with the rat race that we find in America and wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. So she sold her home, quit her job and joined the Race. She said her plans at that time was to become a missionary after this eleven months, but she has not worked out all the details, or if it will even happen. We parted ways because she was stopping at the town just before Santiago so she could meet some of the members of her group and they were all going to walk into Santiago together tomorrow.

We continued to walk and it was not long before we began to see the city from a distance. I can’t explain what we felt because I am not sure there are words for it. The only thing I have to relate it to is the feeling I had when my golf team won the state championship when I taught at Southwest High. I called Dete after that and words could not come out of my mouth because there was just tears of joy flowing. That’s the way it was today. We just found ourselves tearing up because of the goodness and greatness of God who allowed us to experience this and the protection he has provided all along the way. Emanuel has certainly fulfilled his Name—God with us. I can’t begin to explain how he has guided us to be at the right place at the right time—over and over. Things have worked out for us that could not have been programmed by man.

We walked into the town and took the traditional pictures in front of the huge St. James Cathedral. Many pilgrims just lay down, take their shoes off and enjoy the end of the walk. We spent a few minutes enjoying the moment, but then began to work out some details for the rest of the day. We found a motel that was near where we are boarding a bus tomorrow to go to the end of Spain on the ocean. A place called Fisterra. We could have walked it, but it would have meant an additional five days. After that we went to the office to verify our passport that we had stamped all along the way, and get our certificate of completion. After that, we did a little shopping to buy us some jeans and Dete an outfit to wear on her birthday. To say we are tired of these clothes that we have worn for the last 46 days is an under statement. We then ate supper and went to mass to experience the swinging of the botafumerio at the Cathedral. It was a mass that lasted about 45 minutes. Of course, it was all in Latin, so we did not understand a word that was said. After the mass they swung the huge botafumerio that contains incense.  The original intent of this ritual was to fumigate the sweaty and possibly diseased pilgrims. It was very impressive watching the urn release the incense. By the time it was over, the room was very smoky looking.

After experiencing this we went to our room to bask in the fact that we do not have to walk tomorrow. That in itself is going to take some adjustment.

DAY 47 (44) Saturday, October 27, 2018

Santiago to Santiago de Compostela 4 miles  Total to date 515 miles.

Yes, the walking is over, but the end is not. We skipped the last option of the trip and that is walking to the coast. If you watched the movie, “The Way”, you would know the significance of the coast. It was a culmination of the things they were giving up along the way and the dad deciding to keep on doing Caminos in honor of his son. So, we had to at least see what it looked like. Santiago has a 0 marker, but the coast has the true 0 zero marker. In fact, centuries ago when people thought the world was flat they called this the “end of the world” because they could see no land in sight. We could have walked to the ocean and many do, but it would have meant about 8-10 more days and we did not want to take that much longer, so we rode a tour bus.

The bus left at 9:30 in the morning and we arrived back at the motel at 6:30. We realized that we had not been in a vehicle in 44 days.  We got a history lesson along the way by our tour guide Maria. It was not just to one coast, but several along the way with historic sights. As Dete and I walked we saw many things along the trail that we did not understand. Maria gave us an opportunity to ask a lot of those questions and now we know without having to go home and Google it!! It took and hour and 15 minutes to get to the coast. We visited several places, had lunch and then traveled back. This area that we are in is famous for octopus. Beautiful octopus are displayed in every meat market and on every menu. In fact, the ocean we were looking at is the very place that many of them are caught. So, for lunch we ordered octopus. In the past this never appealed to us for a personal reason. When Doug and Brad were little we used to tent camp in Florida every year. One time when we went deep sea fishing someone on the boat caught an octopus, and being the family that we are, we asked if we could have it to eat. Now Dete being a true southern cook, decided to batter it and deep fry it. What other way is there to cook in the south? Well, it did not turn out very well. In fact it was so chewy—rubbery, that we threw it away without really even knowing what it tasted like. So we have not been interested in trying it again. But Dete said that if there was ever anyone who knew how to cook octopus, it had to be here. So, we ordered an appetizer of octopus in garlic sauce.  It was very good. It was a little chewy and the part with the little suction cups was very tender.

When we got to the first stop it was very windy and cold. Dete had told me that morning that she was done with the hat, the scarp and coat. But as we were waiting for the bus, I went back and got her hat, scarf and coat, and I am so glad I did. It was so windy and cold that we could hardly take pictures of ourselves because we were afraid we would be blown out to sea. On our first stop we saw Jane. She was one of the five that had traveled practically the whole Camino together. They had broken up at the very end as various members of the group had flown home. You can imagine how surprised we were to see her. It had been about three weeks since we had seen the group. We parted in Leon when Dete got sick. We reunited with tears of joy. It is amazing to us how we have bonded with people simply because we have faced the same trials along the Way.

We then got to Fisterra—the end of the world and took our picture beside the 0 marker. The sun did not cooperate very well with taking a picture together, but we at least got the sign on the marker. There were a few little trails that we could have taken while on the mountain, but were a little afraid on the bluffs without our walking sticks. We have come to depend on those so much for stability, that we wonder if we will be using them when we get home!!!

We came back to the hotel and met Trevor and Lynn for dinner. They are a couple from England that we met pretty close to the beginning of our journey. We have seen them off and on along the way and have learned to love them and their joy for life. If we ever go to England, we will look them up and spend some time with them.  They have invited us to stay with them. How great would that be? They surprised Dete with a birthday gift. It was a neck warmer with a symbol of the markers that we have been following for 500 miles. What a special time this was for Dete who celebrates her birthday tomorrow. We talked for about three hours. They were both teachers so even though we are from different countries, the issues of education are the same. Lynn taught language arts and Trevor taught in the career and technical area, just like Dete. They had actually taught some of the same classes—Child Development.  That was not his specialty, he was a shop teacher, but like all school systems we teach classes because there is a need. He said students were often surprised when they saw a man teaching this class, but he had the opportunity to be the “father figure” that many girls needed. Dete used the mechanical babies to teach what it was like to have to care for a real child. Trevor had used the same “babies” and did they have tales to share. You can see why we were in the restaurant for three hours and really did not want to leave when we did. We may or not ever see them again, but the memories will always be there.

It was time to go back and go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow as we celebrate DETE”S 70th birthday.  There are surprises in store.

DAY 48 (45) Sunday, October 28, 2018

Santiago de Compostela  Total to date 515 miles.

We went down for our last breakfast in this hotel. It is Dete’s birthday and we are moving to the famous Parador that is in the main square where we walked in on the last day. It was a royal hospital built in 1499 to accommodate pilgrims traveling to Santiago. It is the oldest hotel in the world. There was a scene at the end of the movie in the Parador that remarkably illustrates the bond that you build with people around the struggles you have gone through together. When you have walked the same paths, eaten the same food, experienced the same pain and endured the same sicknesses and bug bites, you become bonded as one. And when you see them later—at the end, you tear up a little without even realizing you are going to do that. It is a special moment that you cannot describe. We had that encounter as we were eating breakfast the last morning in the Universal Hotel. In walked Jacque, a Frenchman who we first met at the cross where we left our stones for our family. He was walking with Tammy at the time and we had a great Jesus moment celebrating our risen Savior. This time we met his wife who had joined him in Santiago. Jacque was also celebrating his birthday today. He was 75. What a great reunion we had.

We then walked over to the Parador and got checked in. On my, worlds cannot describe the beauty and elegance of this place. Dete was in awe and it could not have been a better birthday surprise. She is an amazing woman—she is content to be in a bunk room with 50 old sweaty hikers or laying in the luxury of the Parador.  I have put her through a lot these 51 years, staying in places that a lot of women would not touch, must less sleep, but she takes it all in stride. So, when I can do something special for her like this, it is me saying that I know this is what you deserve, but thank you for never demanding it. And that is the story of our life—being content in whatsoever state we are in.

After we got checked in we went on a little shopping spree. Dete had seen a little shop as we were walking in on Friday that had a Camino shirt with a simple little walker on it and she told me that was what she wanted to take home, so we went to see if we could find the shop again. This town is huge and every street looks the same, so we had to walk a ways. We found it and she also wanted me to get one with the same logo. After that we went for a light lunch, something to hold us until eight o’clock when we would have dinner in the Parador. We ate a small pizza and stayed a little longer and had coffee because it had started to rain. We waited out the rain and then went back to the Parador to Facetime with Brad, Keasha, Kari, Sarah and Joshua.  They had told us to be where we had great internet service at 3:30 so we could talk before they left for church that morning (six hour time difference). We had a great time on Facetime, but oh did it make us want to hug those kids. Brad showed Dete some pictures of a fashion in Paris that exemplifies Parisian style and Keasha encouraged her to get a nice purse in Paris so she could bring home extra stuff. This all sounded so good to Dete—who has worn the same clothes for 46 days. Leave it to the females in our family to encourage spending!!! I’m sure Dete will comply. We will be there several days waiting for Doug and Rhonda to arrive, so I am sure we will do some shopping.

While we were waiting for the restaurant to begin serving, we met Sylvia again. We met her just after Leon, where she started her journey. She was from Miami and was meeting a friend in Santiago, so we got to meet him too. Just another one of those special moment where we commiserated over out trials and joys. Also, while we were waiting our motorcycle group from church facetimed us. They were on a Sunday afternoon ride. Dete was so excited she could hardly stand it. It was so great to talk to all these guys. We have a pretty close bond with them and when we saw all their faces it just made us want to get home and love on everybody. A big shout out to Mike (who has been cutting our grass while we were gone and loving on Cecil for me), Tonia, (who puts up with Mike, and loves him to death), Art and Mickey (who are our hiking buddies and have helped us get ready for the trip by taking us on a couple of long walks) and Mike and Julia (who have become good friends). There are more in the group who we love, but were not able to ride yesterday for some reason. These are a precious bunch of people—probably 20 or so in all who are part of a small group with whom we share Jesus.

After a wonderful dinner of cabbage roll appetizers, a pork and vegetable dinner and crepes for dessert\ we headed back to the room reminding ourselves that we DO NOT HAVE TO WALK TOMORROW!!  But it is funny—we want to walk, We do not take elevators any more. We look for the staircases. We do not want to lose what we have gained—strength in our legs like we have never had before.

23 thoughts on “Camino de Santiago

  1. Ben - September 10, 2018

    Wow the time is finally here! I am so excited for both of you and am really looking forward to each and every post! Let me give you your first “Buen Camino”!

    1. larry - September 11, 2018

      We are ready to go I think. We are both thinking, are we ready for this? We will find out very soon. Thanks for following us.

  2. Mark - September 11, 2018

    You guys are going to have so much fun!

    1. larry - September 11, 2018

      We hope so. That is the plan. It is a long walk though. Glad that you are joining us.

  3. Wanda Melton - September 17, 2018

    Sounds like a wonderful adventure..have fun and show folks that there some decent Americans in the USA.

    1. larry - September 17, 2018

      We’ll try our best. It’s hard sometimes. This language barrier is a big thing. But we are meeting some of the nicest people and everyone is patient because we are all facing the same trials. Wouldn’t take anything for the experience.

  4. Betty n Andy - September 17, 2018

    Great Blog! Feel like I’m walking with you….sans leg cramps! 😉

    1. larry - September 17, 2018

      Enjoy.

  5. Ben - September 17, 2018

    You all are doing great! Love the detail in your blog! Reading them all word for word!

  6. Suzanne Hayes - September 17, 2018

    Praying for you two wild & adventurous fun folks! Love reading your blog!
    Stop and smell the flowers!
    Suzanne

    1. larry - September 18, 2018

      We had a come to Jesus meeting this morning and we decided that we were going too fast trying to follow everyone. The Camino is divided into 33 stages. We were on schedule. Today we stopped at about 2:00, ate some lunch, prepared our beds, showered, and now sitting out working on the blog while visiting with others. The pace has slowed down to enjoy the moment. Thanks. Hope you continue enjoying.

  7. Wanda - September 18, 2018

    I love your blog and read each night before I go to bed. I am envious most of the time but I get tired just reading about your hiking steep hills etc. I know this the adventure of a life…you are blessed in so many ways. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

    1. larry - September 19, 2018

      Glad that you are following along Wanda. We are having a great time.

  8. Tara Albright - September 19, 2018

    After reading about how many miles and all the hills, I think I’m gonna get my heating pad out now! 😂

    1. larry - September 19, 2018

      I wish that I had one.

  9. Tracy Goins - September 29, 2018

    Love reading your blog along the way! You guys are amazing😄😄😄. Miss you

    1. larry - September 30, 2018

      So glad that you are reading and following along. We miss all of you also. Stay in contact.

  10. Barbara - September 30, 2018

    Hello from your Camino friends, Barb and Judi. We are sitting in Hornillos del Camino in the Green Tree Restaurant, having walked here this morning from Burgos. Today is the last day of September, and from what we can figure, we are only a day ahead of you. We loved seeing your travel blog and were honored that you included a picture of us! We are doing great. The walk into Burgos was a long one, wasn’t it? But so far, we have enjoyed the Meseta and only having to go 12 miles today. We are sending you all our best, and we hope that we will meet up with you before this journey is done. Buen Camino, amigos. Two recommendations: Stop in the little chapel at Rabe de las Calzadas for a special blessing….and, by all means, eat at the Green Tree in Hornillos del Camino. The food is amazing!!

    1. larry - September 30, 2018

      We were wondering where you guys were. You are right, we are about one day behind you. We are in Burgos. Will you reply and give us your blog address, and or email address. I put your card somewhere and Dereatha doesn’t trust me to find it. Thanks.

      1. Barb Robidoux - October 8, 2018

        Hi to two of our favorite pilgrims! Judi and I are in San Martin, past Leon. We are doing great and have moved our departure date from Santiago to October 25th, three weeks earlier than our previous date. My email is barbidoux@comcast.net. Judilindsey@comcast.net. Our blog address is candiatothecamino.com. Sending hugs! Buen Camino.

        1. larry - October 8, 2018

          It is good to hear from the two of you. You are a little ahead of us. We just arrived in Leon this afternoon. We are not sure how long we will be here, Dereatha started showing signs of the stomache bug about the time we got into town. We are glad that the two of you are doing well.

  11. Tracey - September 30, 2018

    You guys are an inspiration! I’m enjoying following you two! Looks like a fantastic adventure……wishing you continued good health, much joy and peace!

    Tracey Reid Ponder
    Birmingham, Alabama

    1. larry - October 1, 2018

      Glad that you are following along. Just curious, how did you find out about our blog?

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