Day 21 Bercanios del Real Camino (23.8km)

Clocked over the 400km mark today.

The morning ws a complete success finding a German run hostel that served muesli for breakfast. Wish we had stayed here last night. This town also sported some underground house hobbit style. I guess to avoid the heat.

Still same scenery of the Mesetta. Still the same hacking cough and blisters. The poppies and corn flowers that litter the side of the camino keep your spirits up as does the opportunity to randomly go through you entire itunes collection.

Bercianos is a two horse town with one Alburge and one Hostel. Nothing really to do here other than to wait until 7 for the sun to weaken then try one or two of their G&Ts. Man these are good. free pour triple with heaps of ice and lemon often served in a large wine glass which more resembles a fish bowl than a drinking vessel. All this for 4-6 euro clams. (Notes on weight loss expectations whilst on the Camino will follow once I have enough data. Let's say for now it's not looking good)

Hobbits seem to exist

First ever muesli seen in Spain

Meseta morning

Day 20 Terradillios de Templarios (26km) or Half Way Fay

Bit of a dull day as the first town was 19 ks and no break fast open at 7. Long straight sections with hundreds of pilgrims silently plodding along.

Saw a special pilgrim ambulance today that drives at snails pace past all the pilgrims. I assume this is to allow you enough time to reconsider your situation, yield and ask for help. It's a bit like a sag wagon I guess and on this section because it so long.

Did manage a power kip in the heat of the day on a log outside a bar.

Oh and past the half way point today I think. Yay.

Camino de Dia

Said wasted Pilgrim

Gear Rave

My favorite piece of kit is by far my walking poles - BlackDiamond Ultra Distance Z poles. These carbon fibre, light as a feather jobs make walking and keeping good posture so much easier. I have had a pair of poles in the past but never used them in anger but these are just so light and easy they become part of you. I will not walk without them from now on.

I must admit this has lead some amount of pole envy (something, dear reader I admit I'm very unaccustomed to). But in this case the European pole savey crowd have turned a shade of green when seeing how light these puppies are.

Musing

Love this.

Spanish love their plastic grass but here it's used as some sort of symbol of aspiring affluence and it is woven into fences and gates.

Day 19 Carrion de Los Condes (20.5)

Another alpine start today.

Definition: alpine start - Mountaineering term for when climbers begin a mountain ascent in the early hours of the morning, usually around 2 or 3 a.m, so that they can avoid falling ice and rocks when the sun heats the wall during daylight hours and so that they can maximize climbing time, particularly in a good spell of weather, and reach the peak summit and return to camp before nightfall.

Of course if I'd opened the shutters the head torch is not needed as of course it's daylight and the pilgrim train had long left the station. Any way it's an early start.

Short day today in fact shorter than expected. Due in the main Spanish mapping standards. My hypothesis is that the national school of cartography was destroyed in on of the civil wars and they never got around to rebuilding it. Ever since cartography has been less of a profession and more of a pass time. Consequentially maps vary in there measure of distance by up to say 15% and towns sizes and worthiness of being included are somewhat arbitrary.

The morning light was soft and there was frost on the wheat. No matter how early I rise I don't actually wake until 9 so quite a few of the arbitrarily dimensioned Kms passed in a semi sleep state. This was quite pleasant as sleep has evaded me for the last couple of nights due to constant coughing (last symptoms of the ebola lite).

Two coffee stops later and we arrive at the days destination well before midday. Carrion De Los carries has an outdoor gear shop (handy tip for those of you considering this pilgrimage) this is where I filled in the time between arrival and the habitacione (room) being habitable.

The town is quite active with a few locals out and about (ok hiding in bars) at all times. Couldn't face another figgin bocodillo (sandwich, foot long with cheese and ham) so passed on lunch and punched out a few hours siesta. Kathryn has, alternatively, disappeared for a pedicure something I considered but as Canadian Deb pointed out you need toes and nails for a pedicure. Also I didn't fancy I'd be that relaxed listening to the tune of the therapist dry retching.

Day 18 Fromista - 25.5kms

Tried the self righteous pilgrim schedule today ie start before 7:00 (in my case one nanosecond before). So that's where they all are. There was a train of pilgrims all morning pouring into and progressively filling up towns and alburgue beds by lunch time. I was interested to see quite a few of these pilgrims without, or with only small, packs (Imposterous Pilgrimus) Also noted large packs in the hotel foyer with tickets for transport to the next nights accommodation. (Imposterous Pilgrimus Pretendus)

The Meseta continues not to live up to its guide book threats. Today was varied, flat, hills, baking bits, green fields and for the later half flowed along side a canal with trees providing intermittent shade. On the whole very picturesque.

Set a good pace today even though my little toe has been mutilated by the new Salomons that have a slight difference in profile between left and right shoes. I think it's a Swiss brand but they are punched out in a Chinese sweat shop according to the label. I was even congratulated on "setting a cracking pace" (stout man and all that shit) by an old retired British army major. He was a bit if a tosser though so won't read too much into that but it does beat collapsing.

It was much nicer walking in the cool of the morning as anything after about 1 pm is too punishing which is why the locals are all inside with shutters drawn.

Installed in accommodation by 2 is a novelty after 25ks and a welcome one. Will keep this rhythm during the Meseta at least...... Maybe.

Climb up to the plain first thing

Camino de dia

Dwarf village all doorways about 4ft high hobbits live

Day 17 Castrojeriz 10km

Having completed 10km of today's trip yesterday today was an easy walk in one of the Mesetas indentations to Castrojeriz. A largish town with plenty of accommodation, at midday anyway.

Walked with canadian Deborah today and learnt heaps about the history of the camino as she had actually read up on it.

Ruined church is a hostel for about 8 pilgrims they call them hospitals which is a bit decieving

Kms to go

Day 16 Hornillos no, San Bol no, Hontas yes, (29km)

Passed out in Hontas pub and not due normal bar related causes.

Today was to be 19km bringing us to the start of the Meseta, that much dreaded week or so of scorched flat dull plains referenced in so may guides. Hornellos was the target town with a name the literally means hot plate of the Camino I was expecting some discomfort.

The walk to Hornillos was hot and hard but uneventful. However, today was to be one of those amazing race style, rush for accommodation days.

No beds in Hornillos. Well there was a sign at the municipal alburge stating they has a few beds left and they'd be back at 5:30 however there was a line of people waiting for this so the decision was wait until 5:30 before being told to walk to the next town or just get on with it.

Off to San Bol trying to overtake as many pilgrims so as to secure a bed. It's about 34 deg baking sun and stony ground so going is rough this late in the day. No wonder everyone here sleeps between 1pm and 6pm. San Bol is a little shack in a grove of trees and you guessed it completely full. So off for another 5ks to Hontas.

The Meseta is not a billiard table flat desert as I had expected. At this stage it is largely flat and baking hot but sporting green crops either side off the stony track. The towns are not visible as they seem to be built in small indentations in the plain.

Hontas at last. Literally stumbled into town with feet throbbing and with a shuffling gait. Of course, now i remember why, i had just taken new shoes out of their box popped them on and walk for 30ks.

I saw the town fountain and things from here get a bit hazy. I remember, the water was not drinkable, the first two hostels being full, a wave of nausea and collapsing against a bar pointing to orange juice. Next I remember a glass of ice and orange juice in front of me, sculling half of it then collapsing off the bar stool with a dizzy feel and pins and needles in both arms and neck. I then recall i knocked my pack over falling towards a chair on the other side of the room and skillfully collapsing into it dropping my head between my knees. I'd left my juice at the bar. So went to fetch it but dizziness put me straight back in the chair. I remained with head on table for what seemed about 15 minutes before the pins and needles subsided and feeling stable enough to be able to stand and clear the clutter I had left between the bar and the chair.

Just mobile again I did made it to a hostel room where I lay in bed until morning both unbearably hot and shivering. As the hours past all became right again ready for another days short walk with a lesson learned that hours of heat, sun, exercise need to be managed a little better in future.

Oh, and we passed the 300km mark sometime during today's debacle.

Camino de dia the beginning of the Meseta

Traffic jam Spanish style

Day 15 Rest day Burgos

Felt crap last night and so slept in this am. After a wander around and meager pilgrim rations for lunch I headed off in search of replacement shoes. 32deg heat taxi to a anaconda type megastore in the burbs identified that Spanish have small feet. My firm grip on this planet requires ~size 47 everything here stops ~45. So taxied back to the city waited for thier bloody siesta to finish and located two more stores (not collocated of course). I finally found one pair I'd Salamon xa pro 46.3/4 but in gortex so not sure if they'll be any good. I don't have much choice. I will have to carry both pairs of shoes incase these are worse than the broken inov-8s. Did I mention "we H-8 Inov-8".

Not quite the restful day I was hoping for but nice wandering the streets of such a pretty town.

Our Hotel is the one Martin Sheen stayed in whilst filming "The Way" so good enough for Marty.......

The city gates Burgos, one Stylish pilgrim

Meager pilgrim rations .... Again

Marty's endorsement in the loby

Day 14 Burgos 26kms

Apparently we are 1/3 of the way through with only ~500km to go yay.

Hard day today. Very sore feet (thank you, Inov-8 bastards) and very hot. You soon get a Camino tan even with multiple sun screen applications ie 3rd degree burns down your left hand side.

First part of the day is walking on very rocky ground reminiscent of a barren Greek island all the while beside barbed wire entanglements (see pic) This is protecting a military ground where we could hear small arms fire all morning. The only military presence I saw was three 4wds driven by unshaven scruffy looking uniformed youths that seemed to drive at speed in circles through puddles whilst honking their horns at the female pilgrims. Judging by there driving skills, appearance and discipline I'd say now would be a good time for the Basque to make a play.

We got lost for the first time today. The Camino on approach to Burgos gives you 2-3 options we wisely chose the 4th and ended up in the middle of a farmers field just walking towards a mobile tower that we hoped was attached to the next town.

The entry to Burgos is pretty tedious. Kms of airport or industry followed by Kms of high density living varying from Ghetto to 70s dull. As usual there is an old part of the city where we are staying and this is very pleasant.

Rest Day tomorrow. I'll try and buy new Salomon trail shoes. May be they will last for more than a couple of weeks.

"We H-8 Inov-8". Spread the word.

view from the trench into no mans land.

Day 13 San Juan de Ortega 25km or The gift that keeps on giving

Kathryn (aka Typhoid Mary) has given me the chest/throat cold she has been battling for the last week. However rather than a petit girly cold it has some how mutated into variant strain which I have aptly named "Ebola lite" ie all the symptoms of Ebola but without killing you. Any way back to the walk.

Part 1, fine weather little towns every couple of Kms with cafes that were open.

Part 2, 12 Kms of up hill baking (27deg) fire trail trough pine plantations. Absolutely no wind nor shade

Eventually arriving at San Juan de Ortega (sounds like line from Johny Depp as Don Juan) we checked into the only hostel In town at the only bar in town and headed for a shower and kip. Returning to the bar at 8 for dinner we were informed that there were no more seats for dinner and that there was no where else to get food in town.
So dinner was an apple and a bag of Gummy bears.

Why the flock do you provide beds take the money and only after that inform the client that you cannot feed the people you have sold beds too. In the words of basil Fawlty "Beats me how they ever organized an Armada"

What a way to advertise your Resaurant

Camino de dia - fire trail

Day 12 Belorado or "terra del viento" (23km)

The photo pretty well sums up today 23km beside a highway on asphalt or hardpack with a strong head wind, baking hot with the odd shower. Not a very enjoyable day. Enough said.



I've include my credencial with stamps so far for your viewing pleasure. This is a passport type concept where each town you stay you get a stamp to prove you went thought the town. Apparently in Santiago this gets scrutinised before one is awarded the camino de Santiago de Compostella. I preparing for being chastised about not having any church hostel stamps and mainly hotels, pubs and cafe ones.
Note I've only filled up half of one side so that should give you an idea of how far to go.

Another note of interest is that Belorado is the self proclaimed "digital hub" of the camino. This is evidenced by the lowest availability of WiFi not only on the Camino but the planet.

My Credecial filling up slowly

Camino de dia

In this region Storks nest on most bell towers

Day 11 Santo Domingo de la Calzada (21.5km)

Passed the 200 km mark some time today.

Cafe doble (long black) - 1.20euro

Zumo de naranja (fresh orange juice) - 1.50euro

Bocodillo jamon e tomate e queso ( ham cheese tomato sandwich) - 3.50 euro

200km of walking not one blister - Priceless

The color of the soil has turned from grey/brown to red over the last two days. Crops are still the same but irrigation is now widespread so very green. The snow covered mountains have made themselves visible also and I think(hope) this is as close as we get to them.

I spoke too soon about 1km from the days accommodation I ignored some dirt in the heel of my sock and have just discovered a tiny blister at the rear of my left heel. My fault should have stopped. Oh well.

St Domingo is reportedly the patron saint of civil engineers so feeling positive will soon discover a patron saint of genetic engineering (I fear not while the Catholic church has any power remaining though)

Checked into hotel Paredor de Santo Domingo - Bernado de . An old monastery now a hotel very flash and still less than a Australian trashy motel.

Finally found a proper Resaurant ie one that has something other than a perigrino menu. Stumbled upon absolutely sensational meal. I had cod stuffed peppers wraped in jamon and roast lamb but i belive the beef tournedo was even better. The wine selection is great with really good examples of the region. Deserts muscat etc all perfect. This was all freshly prepared ie it was refreshing not to hear the ping of a microwave from the kitchen, which seems to be common in the restaurants you see on the Camino.

Michelin recommended and all for about 55 euro per head.

Kit Rant

Also determined the cause of the blister last night was not a stone but my shoes disintegrating (see picture) after 10 days and 200km. Not happy Jan. Wrote to inov-8 and they referred me to wiggle, the company I bought them from. However they did say their policy is that I return the shoes to wiggle who then on turn send to inov-8 who then determine if it is a defect. Brilliant I'll walk on bloody stumps while inov-8 work out wether a specialist outdoor shoe should or should not disintegrate after 10 days of intended use. I will keep you informed as to the progress and if I don't get satisfaction it's YouTube and their recent entry into the Australian market I'll have to target. Wiggle are pretty good so have emailed them

Day 10 Najera 15.6km

Easy day, legs working okish. Has to don the Gortex a couple of times but still very pleasant. Just settling in for tapas and beer waiting for our dinner reservation at 9pm.

Camino de dia

Little pilgrim and the tell tail yellow arrow

Day 9 Navarette 22.5km

Viana to Navarette was pretty, hot and not too hard. The church at Navarette was as the book suggests the blue guest of the camino so far. More gold (oro) than you ever need, no wonder there are gold merchants on ever town the church needs it. Also found out where all the people go before 6pm .... mass, it was packed.

View from ruined churchViana

Day 8 Viana (19km) Something Went Ping

Past the 150km some time today.
Legs bad again this morning but after lunch at Torres del rio something went ping and my left calf freed up. So much so that for the first time
in ages actually caught up with Kathryn before Viana.

More vineyards olive groves, and white asparagus fields agin today everything is very green and very much like the pictures in the big green coffee table cooking book about the camino. (forgotten the name)

The Viana pub, Casa Armendariz, serves a mean "Carajillo De Ron Quemado" superb, rum, cognac and espresso, (Italians call it ponce)

A few of the pilgrims that have been in sync with all checked into a nice posh hotel tonight so we followed suit. Still only 35euro each

Camino today

Stylish pilgrim

Viana main street 4pm

Posh hotel

Ponce

Day 7 Los Arcos (21.5km)

Legs a bit better today but still painful and slowing my pace to a crawl. Have been cranking up the iPhone tunes and that seems to distract me.

Had brunch at Villamayor de Monjardin where they offered fry up, eggs chips chorizo. Very unusual and very tasty.

Really hot today, I mean baking. So sweat and shuffle was the order of the day.

Finally arrived at Los Arcos around 3 and checked into the hotel Monaco, very nice. Peregrino menu, beer, wine and rumbos to finish.

Wine fountain for pilgrims

I thought my pack was small (not a day tripper either)

No wonder the Spanish are climbers look at these lines

Camino today

Day 6 100k mark and onto Estella (22.7km)

Left Peute LR and a superb cafe hoping to grab breakfast in one of the two towns over the next 7k. Well beware the hungry pilgrim Maneru and Cirauqui have no coffee, no nothing, bar the later having a hole in the wall bakery with vending machine coffee. So pissed off were we that we missed the celebration of the first 100k mark in Maneru. Any way, rather grumpy without our coffee and breakfast, we trudged to Locra which had a couple of little Alburge cafes where I consumed the mandatory Bocodillo, beer and coffee.
The next 10k was an absolute nightmare. My left calf completely stuffed up and my right Achilles and calf no better. I had to do a sort of cliff young / POSE running kind of gait to maintain any sort of progress.
Finally made it to Estella and stayed in our first parish alburge run by the local church, it was very squishy and had rather puritan rules about time but it was friendly, welcoming and I was well over walking.
After a small kip and laundry duty we went into town to sit in the bustling town square to drink and watch the world go by until a restaraunt opened (8:30-9:00pm). Most restaurants have
"Perigrino menus" and these are pretty good at 11euro for a three course meal and half a bottle of wine. You do however feel a little like Sienfelds parents lining up for these.
As all soft tissue below my knee had frozen solid, walking around town was bloody slow and I'm sure amusing to the locals. I experienced how hard it is to cross the road in your eighties.

The Puente LaRiena

Lunch Uterga

Day 5 Pamplona to Puenta la Riena 23.5km

Coffee at our regular (3 days running) cafe then up the hill to Alto del Perdon. This pass sees us move into a more mediterranean climate and it is home for the iron silhouette sculptures of several pilgrims on donkeys. All camino books and sights have this view. After the climb the rest of the day is a welcome easy stroll through canola fields and some cute little towns. Had lunch at Uterga Alburge consisting of a vino Tinto and tuna roll. Very tempting to stay at this hostel and blow the arvo away in the beer garden but thought it best to press on. Arrived Puenta la Reina and got the last room in the first private hostel(Jakue), brilliant hostel. We are told that tomorrow, along with the usual perigrino water fountains, there will be one dispensing wine, how cool is that.

Ferro pilgrims

Beer garden

Shell