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 […]

We walked for two days in the wind and rain, sometimes just with our rainjackets for protection, sometimes with our nanopuff jackets underneath for additional warmth. Despite the rain and fog, or maybe because of it, the territory we covered was interesting, trees with their leaves turning colors standing in the mist, occasional farmers plowing […]

Karen woke up today with four suspicious marks on her face, which were noticed by the owner of the albergue, where we were staying. He suspected bedbugs. He went with us back to our room to see if there were bedbugs in the bed where Karen and I slept. Dramatically flinging back our sheets, he […]

Our start this morning was delayed a half hour to fix a strap on my pack that had pulled out. However, at 8 AM it was still dark as we walked through the streets of Castrojeriz. The landscape today is stretched wider with greater distances between hills, longer uphills, and a sense of expansiveness. Towns […]

We spent a rest day in Burgos after having a wonderful paella dinner in an upscale restaurant the night before. We spent more than an hour in the main church in Burgos, a very large, ornate structure with detailed figurines, statues, columns, and paintings in every nook and cranny. Standing on the floor of the […]