Category: Camino de Santiago

We were told to take a few rest days by the ER doctor who attended to my infected toe. We chose to spend that time in León since it was a large city with lots of places we wanted to see. After arriving by train in León and finding our hotel, we had a lovely lunch with a Camino family member who just happened to be in León as well. 

After lunch, we visited the Cathedral de León. What a gorgeous cathedral! It was built in the 13th century in gothic style.  Miraculously, construction took only 50 years to complete. I found myself thinking how they were able to accomplish this back then, and imagining all the people who worshiped within these walls so many years ago. 

The next day we needed to go to the post office. With our feet continuing to break down, it was time to unload more pack weight from items we were not getting enough benefit from. We each brought a blanket with us which we are finding we don’t need since all but one albergue has offered them. Each of these weighed about 2 pounds, so their absence will definitely provide some relief. The post office (Correos) experience was streamlined and efficient. For 56,50€ ($54.87) we shipped a total of 3 kilos (6.6 lbs) home. Our packs will definitely be lighter, which our feet should definitely appreciate. Thank goodness!

We are loving León!  In our time here we have already found two favorite restaurants:  Green Corner and La Trastienda del 13. 

We visited the Casa Botines, which was a building designed by famed Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí and is now a museum dedicated to his work. 

After having lunch for the second time in two days at Green Corner, the owner told us a few more places we had to see in León. 

First on his list was the Plaza del Grano which is a cobbled medieval square, once a grain market, with a fountain & Santa María del Camino church.  Today, it is filled with cafes and restaurants.

From there we walked to The Basílica de San Isidoro de León, a church located on the site of an ancient Roman temple. Its Christian roots can be traced back to the early 10th century when a monastery for Saint John the Baptist was erected on the grounds.

Our final stop was the Parador Hotel which was featured in the movie The Way. This was originally a convent and eventually converted to the luxury hotel it is today. We toured the grounds and stopped for a glass of wine.  

Our time in León is coming to an end. Believe it or not, we got a lot of rest while we were here. Tomorrow we continue on our way. My feet are better but not near pain free. I am hoping with a good rest tonight the boots will slip on with no problem, or at least the pain meds will do their job effectively. 

But, somehow I doubt sleep is in our future. Today is a national holiday for Spain. This holiday pays tribute to Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas for Spain in October 12, 1492. 

The festivities began last night with locals whooping it up until after 4a. Our room is along one of the busy old city streets with lots of bars and restaurants. We may need to wear two sets of earplugs tonight. 

We’ve walked 407 km (253 miles) so far, only 370 (230) to go…

Introduction to BABs 2.0 and 3.0.

Day 29 – Oct 4, 2022 – Boadillo del Camino to Villarmentero (14.95 km / 9.29 miles)

Unexpectedly, today flew by.  We somehow managed to make it to our albergue by noon. 

Of course, it helped we started out before dawn. It was pitch black outside. The skies were clear which gave us spectacular views of the stars against the black sky. Thank goodness for our headlamps lighting our way making it easy to get miles behind is before the sun woke up. 

The guidebook (app) notated an alternate route which boasted more shade and a walk along the river, but it was a half a kilometer longer than the traditional route. We were making great time, feet were feeling good, and it was getting hotter, so we opted for the alternative route. 

We followed a “river” which was actually a man made canal for only a short time, and as for shade…all lies!  There were at most a couple shady patches. Luckily we were able to check into our albergue early and enjoy lounging in hammocks for several hours before the heat of the day kicked in. 

The property had a hippie vibe with eclectic art, and a chill personality.  There were barn animals as well, and a crazy guard goose. No shit, literally a guard goose. He was too funny. There was a local man so scared of him, he stood on a bench and threw sticks when the goose would come near him. We think the goose was attracted to his cigarette smoke because the goose would hold its head up as high as it could seeming to sniff the air near the smoking area. It was hilarious. In the video you can see the guy at the start on the left while a woman tried to distract the goose with a broom and he attacked it. 

Day 30 – Oct 5, 2022 – Villarmentero to Carrión de Los Condes (9.78 km / 6.7 miles)

We had a short day of walking next to a highway today. Luckily it was a dedicated path that paralleled the road rather than forcing us to walk on the road itself. We hate walking on paved roads. It’s absolute murder on the feet!

We chose the shorter day so we could stay in a converted monastery for the night. The room was beautiful and we got to take a tour of the monastery itself as part of our room rate. 

The monastery of San Zoilo was appreciated by the ancient pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, mostly due to its hospital.  It was founded in the 10th Century under the name of San Juan Bautista, renovated during the 11th Century. It’s name changed to San Zoilo. Originally it was ascribed to the Benedictine order but over the centuries it has belonged to Clunians and Jesuits, and not many years ago it was a Minor Seminary.

Since we were in a hotel tonight we needed to find a place for dinner.  We could have splurged and enjoyed and lovely expensive meal at our hotel restaurant, but chose to venture out. After passing many cafés and bars serving bocadillos (sandwiches), we stumbled on a very busy restaurant serving a pilgrim meal. For 14€ per person we got pasta, chicken and fries, water, dessert and (of course) bread. It was a nice meal and the carbs should help fuel our long hike tomorrow. 

Day 31 – Oct 6, 2022 – Carrión de Los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza (17.06 km / 10.6 miles)

Today’s hike was a long, uneventful walk through a lot of nothingness. Our destination was 17 km away and there were no towns or services along the way. No food, no water, no lodging, and most importantly, no toilets. So we packed up the groceries we had purchased yesterday and set out again before the sun came up.

It was surprisingly windy all day today. Luckily, it was at our backs pushing us along, but we repeatedly played the game of taking off layers as our body heat rose just to put them back on when the sun would go behind a cloud and the wind would chill us again. This played out multiple times during the day. 

Day 25 – Sept 30, 2022 – Burgos to Rabé de las Calzadas (13.04 km / 8.1 miles)

Today was a good day. We arrived at our destination early and were told at dinner the nuns of the convent in town invited all pilgrims to their nightly prayers at 8p. 

The nuns of Centro La Milagrosa (Hijas de la Caridad) convene nightly to thank God for the day and to bless the pilgrims walking the Camino. It was beautiful. They gave us a medal to protect, bless and keep us safe on our journey. 

One thing we’ve noticed is the age of the priests and nuns in the churches. We’ve seen very few under 70 years old. Where are all the young people who will replace these people when they eventually retire or pass away?  We have found ourselves pondering the status of the church and what it is doing to stay relevant with today’s youth.  

Something to think about. 

Day 26 – Oct 1, 2022 – Rabé de las Calzadas to Arroyo San Bol (13.53 km / 8.41 miles)

We officially entered the Meseta today. We have now walked over 300 km (193 miles). 

The meseta is the vast flat plains in central Spain. Beginning just after Burgos, and ending in Astorga, the Camino runs through the northern point of the meseta for about 220km. Many pilgrims skip this section and bus through, but not the Rountrees. We will walk all the crazy kilometers. 

As we walk past endless fields, I try to imagine the landscape in full bloom with amber waves of grain and tall proud vibrant sunflowers.  Unfortunately, this time of year, there are only sad drooping sunflowers, harvested wheat, and fields prepped for the upcoming winter. Luckily I have a good imagination. 

Today’s 13 kilometers flew by and we both felt strong when we rolled into our reserved albergue at 12:30. We could have easily kept going, but we have our next few days’ albuergues booked and rescheduling one causes a domino effect of changes we didn’t want to deal with, so we stuck with it. 

We slept in a very small (10 bed) municipal albergue in the middle of nowhere. This was the first time we’d encountered a location with no cell service, no WiFi, no bar, or café available to us.  We were literally off the grid.  Thank goodness we had indoor plumbing though!

Since we couldn’t officially check into our albergue until 2pm and with no other food available nearby, we sat on a granite bench by a babbling brook and emptied our packs of every scrap of food we had on us for our lunch. It wasn’t gourmet, by any means, but it kept us going us until dinner.  The sun and breeze were warm and we laid on a bench and took a nap until the albergue opened at 2pm. 

After the hosts served us an amazing dinner of paella and salad they left us to our own devices. We learned three of the people in our group were actors in Barcelona and performed in a comedy there. They regailed us with an act from their play which was quite funny. 

Then (at 9p) a knock came at the door. When we opened it, there stood two very tired injured pilgrims looking for a bed. We had a couple no shows so there were beds open. We couldn’t turn them away. We called the albergue hosts to get permission to let them stay. They agreed and we took down their passport information and took their 10€ each for the beds and left everything on the check-in desk for the hosts. They were very grateful for the beds. 

Day 27 – Oct 2, 2022 – Arroyo San Bol to Castrojeriz (13.77 km / 8.56 miles)

The walk today was a fairly easy one.  There were no major hills to climb, the trail was mostly dirt/rock until a sucky stretch of road walking for the last few kilometers near the end. I actually led the way some of the day today. It helps that Rex is mildly injured, but I am still excited about my increased speed. I am usually always behind him and by a lot. 

We had been experiencing cooler weather lately, but it did start heating up again today.  Boy we miss the cooler weather already. It is much easier to walk when it’s not so hot. Even though it was only the high 70’s today the sun is pretty intense here when there is no shade to protect us. 

We stayed at an albergue called Albergue Rosalía tonight. We picked it in part for the name which is my mom’s name in Spanish. It was the perfect choice. We didn’t have to deal with bunk beds and the pilgrim meal was fantastic!  We had homemade bread and hummus, salad with delicious tomatoes grown in the owner’s garden, paella, roasted chicken and something called “chocolate heaven” for desert. We walked away from the table fully fueled for a long hiking day tomorrow. Just what we needed!