It has been two and a half months since completing the Camino de Santiago, and I have been mulling over that experience. Did I learn anything from that 500 mile walk? Am I different in any way, having completed this? When I try to articulate what the experience was like, it often sounds like a […]
We started our last day on the Camino in the rain, which intensified as the day went on. We reached Santiago about 1 PM, standing in the plaza mayor in front of the cathedral, trying to grasp that we had finally made it. We had wanted to see the cathedral from the hill above Santiago, […]
We walked through beautiful countryside yesterday, made up of small working farms with cattle, sheep, and chickens mixed with forested areas with little streams winding through. There was a break in the weather, until mid-afternoon, when it began to drizzle. At lunch we ate octopus, called pulpo, a specialty of this part of Galicia. It […]
The hike from Sarria started in cold weather with heavy frost on the ground. We took an alternative route that took us up into the mountains through little mountain villages. It was like a trip through The Hobbit, everything green, golden, picturesque. We came into Portomarin ahead of a major storm system that had been […]
The last three days have involved walking over the last major mountain range before Santiago. The ascent to O’Cebreiro was spetacular with bright sunshine illuminating green pastures, small towns off in the distance, going higher and higher and further and further into the mountains. It was essentially 12 miles of uphill, not that difficult for […]
We hiked down out of the mountains through one town that was ancient and falling apart, and another town, Molinaseca, an upscale tourist town with a beautiful river and bridge. We had a wonderful lunch in that town in a cheap restaurant that provided us with a great fine dining experience. Through a steep section […]
The walk out of Astorga was beautiful, including past a stately church we had not gotten to the day before. Since Leon there has been a less well marked path for the Camino (a yellow arrow is the most common indicator of the direction), and Astorga was no exception, as various businesses have put yellow […]
We had a rest day in Leon, where I made a crucial mistake in a Chinese buffet restaurant. There were clams that were open and I assumed were cooked, but they were not. Sure enough, two hours later I was having diarrhea. The walk the next day was a challenging hop from bar to […]
We walked into Leon today, mostly traveling next to a busy highway or walking along a dirt road somewhat away from the main highway. This was not a scenic route, and it often felt as though we were only walking it to get to our destination, a feeling I haven’t had so far on the […]
We hiked in fog and light rain in a straight, flat line, agricultural land stretching as far as we could see in all directions. The path, light brown clay with pebbles inlayed, stretched before us into the mist. A kind of maple tree lined the path, turning colors with autumn temperatures. The path would be […]
Walking El Camino de Santiago 