mrcurrygoestospain

[mrcurrygoestospain]

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day Four:

I left the hotel around 7:30 and found that the bar on the corner was open, so I stopped in for a cup of coffee. My two new friends, Rai and George were one town back, so there was really no point in waiting for them to catch up. I set out and enjoyed the beautiful morning. There was an option of two roads, so I followed the advice of the man at the hotel to visit a” special “ church along the way and went right. The church was a few kilometers down the road and when I got there I had to climb a rather steep hill. When I got to the top, I found that the church didn’t open for visitors until after 10. It was about 8:30, so I want waiting. I continued on into the next city. They had a beautiful and bustling town square lined with bars and cafes, so I stopped for a coffee and a rest. I walked for another two hours before the next town where I decided to stop as I reached the end at a little bar. I got a delicious sandwich filled with some sort of stew meat. Just as I was finishing, I saw Rain rounding the corner and George was a few minutes behind. We had a beer and a rest and then continued our walk for the next couple of hours into Mieres, a town of considerable size compared to what we’ve been seeing. As we walked into town, I passed a bar called “Seattle Garden” and I had to stop and take a picture. Later in the evening, I went back for a beer. I also passed a Dominos pizza and got it in by head that I wanted some. We checked into the Hostal and both Rai and George wanted to go out for lunch. Lunch at 3 o’clock was. Multi-course meal at the Sidreria (cider house) recommended by the man at the front desk of the Hostal. We had Cider, followed by a course of fish in some sort of fish oil and covered in fish sauce - I couldn’t eat it. The second course was a dielicious stew of potatoes, chorizo, morcillo(not my fave), beans, broth and collard greens. The final course was sliced and grilled pigs ears. Again, I tried it. The flavor was great but I couldn’t handle the texture and all of the fat. We found a laundromat, had some beers and then went back to the Hostal to await time for dinner….Dominos. We each got our own medium pizza…it was painful.

Day Five:

Our final day on the Camino San Salvador. It was a relatively easy walk, compared to what we’d been doing. Of interest today was running into two more pilgrims, both Spaniards. We then continued the long path into Oviedo and, just before the city limits, we ran into four Americans, from Washington, who had just moved to Oviedo. When we got into the city, George separated to go to the train station as he was going back to Leon to pick up his Land Rover and do a caravan trip around the mountains of Northern Spain. Rai and I continued on to the Cathedral where we would get our stamps and certificates. I was lucky to have Rai there with me because he caught on that the lady at the cathedral visitor office didn’t understand that we had just walked. So, because we did this particular walk, we got a cool certificate as well as free entry into the Cathedral…he saved us each 4 Euros.

This is the end of the Camino de San Salvador. I will take one day of rest in Oviedo and tour the city, and then continue on to the Camino Primitivo (the “original” Camino de Santiago, if you believe the 10million signs around town).

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Camino San Salvador, Day Two.

Today was a bit challenging. After the first half of the walk, it seemed to be straight uphill for the next several hours. There were a few downhill spots, but there was a lot of going straight up. Just like on prior trips, you’d come around a corner and see a town in the distance and get excited, only to find that the path turns to the left and you miss the town by a mile or two. Through the whole day, I only passed through one town and it had no services. I met another pilgrim while walking today, another Spaniard named Raimon. Seems like a nice enough guy, but again, communication is a struggle. It’s odd to me. I don’t expect people in Spain to speak English, but when I try to speak to them in Spanish and they start rattling out answers and conversation faster than I could understand it IF I actually understood the language, I just don’t understand. Every time we talk I have to ask him to slow down…then I can pick up about 50%. Anyway, Raimon and I walked within 50m of each other for the early afternoon, but hadn’t seen George in a few hours. Then, as we were walking into town, he showed up. This town, Poladura de la Tercia, had an Albergue (Municipal) and a hotel. Other than that, no businesses. The hotel doesn’t keep a bunch of food on hand, so if you aren’t staying at the hotel, no dinner. Luckily the lady at the place the night before told me this and I was able to buy some soup and things from the store in town. Sleep was :\ for whatever reason. Anyway, the walk was hard but very beautiful.

Day Three:

Woke up around 6, probably, with the other guys shuffling around. I finally got out of the sleeping bag around 7 and just turned the light on. We all set out about 7:30 and it was almost straight uphill immediately. Today it was through pastureland on the side of the mountain; there was no clear trail and I was afraid I was lost several times. After a few hours, I completely lost sight of the other two guys as I was moving very slowly. The uphill walking is tiring, but when you come down the backside of the mountain, the steeper it is the worse it is on the knees. This made for really slow going on my part. A few slides and falls, but nothing that hurt me. I meant to buy some trekking poles before I left Leon, but I forgot. I’m told that they have them in Oviedo, where I’ll be in two days. Anyway, it was cold and most of the day was through heavy fog down some extraordinarily steep paths. I came through at least three little villages, but none had: food, water, anything. Due to so many places being closed right now, I was meant to walk about 30km today. I made it to 22 and started to climb the last hill when I was truly worried my knee was going to give out. So I spent an hour trying to find the number for a taxi and also charge my phone. I finally found someone from a taxi who’d answer the phone and she told me that she wasn’t free at the moment, but could pick me up in a little over an hour; works for me. I sent a WhatsApp to Raimon and he said “tell her to swing by and pick me and Jorge up too.” But then I told him it was going to be 45+minutes for the pickup and he said never mind, he’d call a cab himself. So I waited, changed my soaking-wet socks, ate what food i had left in my bag and listened to some tunes. When it was time for the taxi, I packed everything back up and walked down to the intersection of two roads, where the cab could turn around. And I waited, and waited. She told me 4:30-4:40 for pickup, it was now about 4:50, but then I finally saw a van driving down the road. As it got closer, I realized Jorge was in the passenger seat. We all had a good laugh. He called his own taxi and managed to get the same one I had.

Made it to the hotel and found out from the proprietor that the other person staying in the room next to mine was also American. He pointed me towards an open restaurant and called to make sure they would be open. On the way there (10-15 minute walk), I ran into someone else wearing pilgrim clothes. “Are you the other American?” That’s how I met Raul. We had dinner. It was delicious. Some sort of stewed pork. I probably ate 3 days worth of food, but I needed it.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a very short day. Then, another day and I’ll be in Oviedo with this leg completed and a few days to explore that town.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Camino De Santiago - Round 5

Spain travel log, 2021…

Day One:

September 20 - Depart Seattle for Madrid, by way of London. There were plenty of issues just getting to this point. In addition to the ongoing concerns over COVID-19, or perhaps because of them, I had some serious concerns about whether I could and whether I should do this trip at all. In the end, I think I simply realized that it was totally appropriate for me to go on this trip: I’ve been “responsible” and taken the full round of vaccinations, generally avoided social contacts with people and been diligent about the masks. So I made my reservations and thought everything was fine. About 2 weeks before takeoff, I got an email from Iberia that one of my flights had been changed. When I looked into it, I found that it was the connecting flight from London to Madrid and the schedule had been bumped up by about 6 hours taking me from having a 2 hour layover in Heathrow to needing to be on a plane for Madrid 4 hours before I actually landed in London and would be able to board it… It took attempts at phone calls over several days to get this corrected. Finally, I tried while I was at top work one morning around 5:00 am. I finally got through and a nice lady helped rebook my connecting flight. She found the only available flight on that day that would work; now I have a seven hour layover.

I prepped for my trip, checklists and routes planned. I arrived at the airport 3 hours early, just in case. Although I booked with Iberia, it was a British flight. So standing in line at the BA counter in SeaTac, I saw the sign: “All passengers must show proof of a negative COVID test.” What? I’d already checked multiple times; I only need proof of vaccination to get into Spain. I check the internet. Sure enough, if you’re on a layover in England, you need a negative test…A quick Google search helped me find a testing center at SeaTac airport, so I rushed down to baggage claim number nine to see if I could get a test in time. In all honesty, I really thought I wasn’t going to make it and I’d have to try to contact the airline again to find a way to reschedule my flight. I stood in the line for what seemed like forever, but finally had the privilege of paying $250 for a rapid COVID test. T- minus 2 hours 30 minutes to departure and they promised results in 1-1.5 hours. The test itself was relatively painless. After all of the horror stories I’d heard about the nasal swabs, I was a bit worried. But it didn’t hurt, it just tickled a little bit. I waited, and waited…it seemed like they would never have my results. While I waited, I heard stories from other travelers who had missed flights or rebooking because of these ridiculous COVID-related requirements. One young Canadian lady I spoke to shared that she’d spent over $1000 on COVID tests in the last month due to traveling. I guess my $250 wasn’t so much.

I finally got my negative test results and rushed back to the check in counter, filled out the required government forms and headed through security. The flight was delayed.

After a nine hour flight to London, I had seven or eight hours to kill in Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, before boarding my flight to Madrid. I shopped, I ate, I listened to podcasts. I took a few naps and generally cursed British Airways for changing my original flight. Some Italian guy made quite a scene at the boarding gate for the flight to Madrid. The gate agent handled it quite well and passive-aggressively punished him for his demeanor.

I arrived in Madrid after an easy flight on Iberia, made my way to the metro and on to my Hostel. It was a nice enough place. After 28 hours of travel, I was ready for a shower and bed.

Day 2:

On my one day in Madrid, I walked from my hostel/hotel to the Museo Nacional del Prado. It’s Spain’s greatest art museum. This was my second time there and I spent a lot more of it. There are so many amazing pieces and, for someone who used to truly despise art, it was amazing. I highly recommend it. I haven’t been to a whole lot of art museums, but it is, by far, my favorite. I followed that with a walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens. I’m sure they’re great when all of the flowers are blooming, but in early fall, it’s just a lot of green. Either way, it was still peaceful. I visited another nearby park, walked around and viewed the statues, and then made my way back towards the hotel and passed it to go to the Cathedral opposite the royal palace. It’s a much more modern cathedral than the ones I’ll see on the Camino, but still impressive.

Day 3:

On the morning of the third day, I got up early and got packed. Took the metro to the train station and purchased a ticket to Leon. After two hours on the train, I took a 20 minute walk to the hotel and dropped off my bag, and then spent the next few hours wandering the city. I found a barber and got a haircut for 9 Euro, quite a bargain. Stopped at the “Taste of America” shop to get a bottle of hot sauce (Cholula, of course), and just meandered around the city until I could get checked in at the hotel. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is just what I needed. I was still very tired from all of the traveling and trying to swap schedules.

Day 4:

I got up late, around 8:00 AM and started walking the city. I stopped for a cafe con leche and met a Scottish couple who had been walking the Camino for the last few weeks. While we waited out the rain under cover, the shared with me some of their other walking adventures, including tales of walking through the Swiss Alps on the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route to Rome. I may have to look into that for a future trip. I also shared with them my plans/considerations of taking a walk on the “Great Glen Way” in Scotland. The wife had already done this and highly recommended it, along with the West Highland Way. Both are approximately 5-day walks through some of the wild country of Scotland. When the rain let up, we parted ways and I went to tour the Cathedral, toured the Basilica of Saint Isidore and wandered around town, shopping and eating. Inside the Saint Isidore museum and basilica, i had the opportunity to see what is referred to as the “Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art” as well as a gold and silver cup that some historians claim is the “holy grail.”

Day 5:

Didn’t sleep much…I forgot how much they like to party in Spain. It was LOUD all night long. Anyway, started my walk. Today was about 27 km and it rained through about 50% of the day. It was a mix of roads and dirt tracks. I only saw one other pilgrim, a Spaniard who doesn’t speak any English. I got ahead of him and had stopped for a rest at a picnics table on top of a mountain. He showed up a few minutes behind me and I tried to chat for a minute, but the language barrier…. I offered him half of my tangerine and then he took off again. I passed him up later. I had been slightly worried about where to stay for the night as the municipal albergue in this province/state are currently closed due to the ‘Rona, but when I got to town I found a pension with rooms available. The lovely lady named Susana showed me to a room and also worked tirelessly to make me a reservation for the following night. I hadn’t eaten much for the day, so I ordered big: hot dog and patatas oil bravas. Patatas bravas is a traditional dish in Spain which is made of fried potatoe cubes that are covered in a (typically) spicy tomato sauce. Potatoes Ali Oli are the same fried potatoes but with a garlic cream sauce instead of the spicy sauce. This one combined both sauces. It was nice. The inside of the restaurant/bar/cafe was very loud with a bunch of men playing a card game I’m not familiar with, so I went outside to have a beer. An older Spaniard, named Hilario, came out and started trying to talk to me. I explained that I am American and I don’t speak much Spanish, but he disagreed. So he went inside and got another man, a Hungarian who had been in Spain for the last 25 years, named Fernanco(?) who was extremely drunk, to come out and talk to me. He was so drunk, he introduced himself as “muy borracho” or “very drunk” and the proceeded to tell me that he used to be a muy Thai fighter and a coal miner and now he was just a fat drunk who collected money from the government because he got hit in the head too many times. At least I THINK that’s what they were saying…. I went to bed early to get a good rest and let my aching feet and hips recover before a long day tomorrow….from La Robla to Poladura, should be about 25km or so with some very intense climbs. We’ll see.

I’m currently on the Camino San Salvador, which is a route from Leon to Oviedo. They say “whoever goes to Santiago without visiting Oviedo, goes to the servant but not to the Lord.” This is because Oviedo is famous for having a specific relic. While most people are aware of the Shroud of Turin, which is the burial cloth of Jesus, many don’t know (including me, until recently) that traditional Jewish burial included placing a cloth over the face of the deceased immediately after death and until the body was prepared for burial. This cloth would then be removed and the full-body cloth would be applied. So anyway, this Cathedral boasts possession of the face covering that was placed over Jesus’ head, likely immediately after the spear pearled his side and before he was brought down off of the cross. Once I complete the Camino San Salvador (about 5 days, I hope), I will continue on to the Camino Primitivo, one of the many Camino’s de Santiago. So the Camino San Salvador goes to the relics of Christ and the Camino Santiago (Santiago = Saint James) goes to the resting place and remains of Saint James (the major), also known as “Santiago Matamoros” or “Saint James the Moor Slayer”, the patron saint of Spain.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 15 - Carcaboso

Day 15. Tomorrow will be a 44km day. That’s long, so today we didn’t balk at an 11km day with a chance to rest and relax a bit. We walked into Carcaboso. Jean Pierre departed an hour before us and beat us here, so when we arrived, the lady running th albergue was waiting for the American man and the Japanese woman. Jean Pierre had secured a room for us. I toured the town, took a few photos, and enjoyed some tapas. Jean Pierre wanted to make dinner in the albergue, so we planned on that. I was putting away my laundry and I heard familiar voices. Viktoria and Goerge have arrived and are getting a room in the same hostel. We also met an Irish guy named Mick. The six of us went to the market and got items for the dinner. On the way back, I ditched the group on a secret mission.

A few days before, when I walked the long day and met up with Naoko, we went out to dinner and sat at a table next to Jean Pierre. We didn’t know him yet, but he offered for us to share his table. We declined, politely. Later, we learned that this was his 65th birthday. We felt bad that we’d left him to eat alone on his birthday. So, on my secret mission, I found a store in town that actually sold birthday candles and I bought a 6 and a 5. I brought them back to the albergue and showed Naoko, so then she and I went back out and got a cake and ice cream and secreted them in the kitchen when JP wasn’t looking.

After dinner of pasta and pork chops, we brought in the cake with lit candles and played “happy birthday” on YouTube - in French. It was a nice evening. I also arranged to have our packs shipped ahead the following morning, since we had planned 42km with nowhere to stop.

11.4 today, 367.9 total, 609.3 to go. 21,833 steps, 609,031 total.

#caminodesantiago #elcamino #spain #theway #peregrino #viadelaplata

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 14 to Galisteo

Day 14. Today’s destination is Galisteo, but there are two possible paths. One path is 2km shorter than the other, but Jean Pierre told us there is some railway construction happening on the shorter route, so we need to take the longer one. Begrudgingly, we agreed: better to go an extra few km than to have to turn around and do it anyway.

On the detour path, the first town we came to was Riolobos. A few hundred meters from town, both Naoko and I stopped and looked at each other, “what is that noise.” As we finally got into town, it was music being played on a PA system through The Whole town. Pink Floyd? Yep. Continuing on, we arrived at Galisteo, a walled city on a hill. Jean Pierre, who is usually slower than us, met us as we walked into town and explained that he found out the detour was not necessary, so he took the shorter route.

29.5 today, 356.5 total, 620.7 to go. 44,281 steps, 587,198 total.

#caminodesantiago #elcamino #spain #peregrino #theway #viadelaplata

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 13 - Cañaveral

This was a long walk. The first 18km brought us from farm tracks to a mountain hiking trail, and eventually back to the road. Overall, a long tough day. The last 5-6km, we could see the destination, but it never seemed to get any closer.

We finally arrived at about 3:30 at a very nice private albergue. We were, as far as we knew, the only 3 pilgrims in the town that night. No food until 8. Jean Pierre led us to the church, after trying multiple bars for a beer and finding the all closed. He told us that if you want to find a bar that’s open, look for the church. Pizza for dinner, and then a good sleep.

33.5 km today, 54,277 steps today. 356.5km total. 587,198 steps total. 620.7 remain. Wednesday 10/2.

Link below to my Flickr for pictures of the whole trip.

#caminodesantiago #elcamino #spain #peregrino #theway #viadelaplata

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 12 - Casar de Caceres

Day 12, Via de la Plata. Travel from Valdespor to Casar de Caceres. 22.4 km. 293.5 down, 681.4 to go.

I was a little worried last night that I’d have some trouble walking today because my feet were so sore after yesterday. When I woke up in the morning, I felt pretty good. I met Naoko and a French man, who’s name I don’t yet know, at one of the town’s bars for coffee and headed out just after 8. The first ha,f of the day was on a dirt path along the highway. About 6 km into the walk, I crested a small mountain and could see the city of Caceres off in the distance with what looked like a castle atop the city as I rocked out to classic rock.

Naoko met up with me as we entered the city and walked through a large industrial area and finally followed the yellow arrows up the hill and through the old city gates. The roads are paved with stones and only wide enough for a medieval horse and cart to pass. At the top is a square with several churches, including the co-cathedral which we were tempted to visit, but chose not to pay the 4€ entry fee. We continued through the city and finally stopped for some fresh squeezed orange juice just on the edge of town.

11km down and 12 to go for the day, the next 5km were on concrete path and then along the shoulder of a busy highway. This is obviously dangerous, but the drivers here almost always veer into the opposing lane, giving a wide berth. The true problem with all of the stone and concrete paths is the toll they take on your joints. Yesterday I walked just over 44 km on dirt paths and my feet feel as bad today as they did yesterday.

In Casar de Caceres we checked into the albergue at the bar across the street. Went to the grocery store for tomorrow’s supplies and ran int Gyoerge and Viktoria who’d found a physiotherapist in Caceres and thought they’d try walking again. We also met a French man, Jean Pierre, who actually stayed in the same albergue with us last night. We ran into him on the road on the way into town and walked together. He speaks zero English, and we speak zero French. Somehow, we communicate.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 11 - Valdesalor

Day 11. Aljucen to Valdesalor. 44.8 km today, 271.1 total, 703.8 to go. 65,901 steps today. 455,022 steps so far on this trip.

I set out early, at about 6:45, so I could get through the “bad” part of the day without the sun beating down on me. I set out to shoot for the town at 44km, but also had one at about 33km that I could stay in if I needed. I wanted to get back on track after stopping early the day before.

Nearly two hours of walking in the dark; it was peaceful and I only had to pull my phone out to verify that I was actually on the trail a few times. I made good time, covering about 20km in 4 hours. That’s when I got to the place I’d planned to stop the night before. I had a coke for breakfast, along with a piece of toast and some strawberry jam; it hit the spot. After 15 minutes of rest, I was back on the road. And, like Forest Gump, just kept going. I finished right about the 11 hour mark, checked into the albergue, had a nice dinner and got some sleep.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 10 - Aljucen

A long walk out of town today, walking along the road. On the Camino, you sometimes walk on stone sidewalks, concrete, asphalt streets, hard-packed dirt paths or mud. Once in a while, it might be grass or sand. Concrete and stone are the worst. Long stretches on these cause major joint and foot pain. Asphalt isn’t as bad, but it’s much better to be on dirt paths.

Leaving the town, I looked to my right and saw the remnants of a 2,000 year old Roman aqueduct system and then, eventually, walked over the dam built to create the reservoir to feed these aqueducts and, eventually, get running water into the city.

This day was meant to be a long one at 36.2 km. After 16.9km, I arrived in the first town with any real services. I’d passed Goerge and Viktoria an hour or so earlier and found out Goerge had developed some leg pain. I stopped in Aljucen for a cold drink and, pretty soon, Viktoria and Goerge walked up. Goerge couldn’t walk any farther.

It was terribly hot and I had to make a decision whether or not to continue in the mid day heat, or stop here for the night. Viktoria wanted to walk to the next town and Goerge wanted her to walk with me if she did. He would be taking a bus to Caceres, the next “big” town, with the Canadian, who was finishing his walk and might return next year to pick up where he left off. We talked about continuing the walk for a while, but when I finally looked at the time I decided I would stay here for the night. It wouldn’t be smart to continue in that heat. My plan was to leave early the next morning and catch up to Naoko.

16.9, 27,394, 226.3, 389,121, 748.6

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 8

Flat and mostly downhill, although not enough of a grade to notice. It’s a medium length walk today, about 26km and I’m getting into the groove of walking and walking. I arrived in the town in the heat of the midday sun and during the height of the siesta. This town is supposed to have an albergue, with mixed reviews, and a hostel. I hemmed and hawed about whether I should book a room at the hostel on booking. By the time I decided to, there weren’t any left.

I was the first of my companions to walk into town and I quickly found the albergue, but it was locked with no caretaker to be found. Some old men across the street told me to walk down to the bar and talk to the man there, so I did. When I got to the bar, who did I find? The Canadian Olympic snoring team leader. So we accompanied the barkeep back to the albergue and we all settled in. Not much on the menu and no one wanted to wait until 8 for dinner so we hit up the grocery store and got stuff for dinner. You guessed it, more sandwiches. Next to the albergue was a small park, so we (Naoko, Viktoria, Goerge and I) went over to the park and had chorizo and cheese sandwiches, fruit, cookies and a couple of bottles of wine. All was well until the local cop came by to tell us we weren’t allowed to drink alcohol in public... ok.

26.5 km today, 194.3 total, 780.6 left. 40364 steps today, 325,016 total.

#caminodesantiago #viadelaplata #spain #elcamino #peregrino #theway

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 7 to Villafranca de los Barros

Day 7

Today I walked to Villafrance de los Barros. Apparently, the town is known for its music. I’m not sure why.

I found Naoko and we got 2 beds in a 4-bed room at an Albergue. The nice lady who ran the place offered laundry service for a few Euro and, while someone else was taking care of the laundry, I explored the town. Exploring the town only took about 20 minutes, but I was unable to locate postcards. It was frustrating. I found a local and, with the help of the Canadian and two Venezuelans I’d been seeing each night, we interrogated the local lady about where to look. I followed her instructions and ended up wandering around like an idiot for another 30 minutes. Still no postcards. Give up. Have a beer. Start over. I went to the tourism office, they should have postcards, right? No. But the kind lady working there gave me a map of the town and circled four different stores to check. And so I started my third tour of the town, but I did eventually find postcards.

In the process of all of this wandering g through the town, I determined that I decided I definitely wanted to have pizza for dinner. And so, like everything else, I would have to wait until 8pm for a pizza. The pizza was good, I ate half and took the other half for lunch on the road the next day.

When I got back to the albergue, I was ready to go to bed. However, I found Naoko in the dining room with a group of four French people who had prepared a communal meal. They pressed me to join them, but I wasn’t hungry at all. So I joined for a glass of wine and a photo before going to bed.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 6 - Zafra

Day 6 takes me to Zafra. It’s a decent-sized city and after the sleep I didn’t get last night I booked a hotel online, “Las Palmeras.” I arrived during siesta, everything seemed closed. It was a hot day and I was ready for some refreshment. Luckily, just before the hotel I found an ice cream stand and got a sorbet - strawberry - my go to. The room at the hotel was nice, it had the feel of a room in a middle-eastern palace or something: Arched roof, blue and yellow painted walls.

In the plaza, I found that the adjacent hotel had a bar with shade and misting water. It had to be 90+ out and all of the stone buildings seem to amplify that. Croquettas, chips, beer and a bottle of water were in order before Goerge and Viktoria met up with me and we walked back through the town to find Naoko.

Note: Goerge and Viktoria often stay in hotels. For two people to split a room is not much more than both paying for the albergue. Plus, they are also walking without sleeping bags so sometimes that is an issue in the albergues. Naoko is trying to do it on the cheap as much as possible, so she nearly always opts for the albergues and, if there are multiple options, for the least expensive one. Then she has more money for beer and food.

By the time we met Naoko, everyone else had eaten and I wasn’t really hungry yet. We went to the market, chatted for a while and then Viktoria and Goerge went to walk through the park. Naoko and I went to a different park, with a cafe in it, and had some wine while talking for a few hours. After we finished, I stopped by a Kebab shop for Döner. It was ok, but not great. It needed more spice.

23.8km today. 147.8 km total. 827.1km to go. 39548 steps today. 246381 steps total.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 5

Day 5 took me to Fuente de Cantos. The walk wasn’t too bad, again, mostly open fields and oak trees. Last night, in Monasterio, Naoko told us about the Canadian who was staying in the albergue with her. We later determined the “Canadian” was actually a “Canarian” from Grand Canary. But, with Naoko’s accent, we all thought he was from Canada. I recall saying “he should be speaking French, not Spanish,” assuming he was from Quebec.

When we arrived at the albergue, we found it had a nice kitchen, garden and swimming pool. We decided to make dinner once the Supermarket opened. Waiting for the market was several hours and in that time, our room also gained one “Canadian” and an old Italian guy who was walking the opposite direction.

I cooled my feet in the pool and got a tour of the family house that had become the albergue.

We went to the store to shop for dinner stuff, not a good experience, and returned to the albergue to find the Italian already dominating the kitchen. He’d decided to make Carbonara and give it to everyone. This was fine by me, but Goerge was still hungry and didn’t want to waste the stuff we’d purchased at the market. So, after Carbonara, I made a quick sauce and tossed in some noodles. It’s definitely not the best I’ve ever made, but it was still delicious. While everyone was eating, I walked away to get my laundry and overheard the old Italian “I can’t believe I’m eating pasta cooked by an American.” It wasn’t like he was surprised, it was clearly meant to be insulting. To hell with him, Goerge and Viktoria told him off. We are the pasta and went to bed soon after.

The Italian and the Canadian had a snoring contest that kept me awake most of the night. At one point, I could hear Goerge and Viktoria talking. They were speaking German but it was pretty clear they were complaining to each other about the snoring. With that, the Italian stopped snoring, yelled at them for talking, and then returned to snoring. I wish I could make that up. Luckily, he was going the other direction and we’d never meet again.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 4

Day 4, Via de la Plata, Almadén del la Plata to Monasterio. 871.5 km to Santiago. 33.6 km travelled today. 52,867 Fitbit steps today. 170,202 Fitbit steps total.

The walk today started in the dark due to the 33km+ planned distance. With the afternoon heat, I think we all wanted to be done before the heat really kicked up around 3. At 7am, it was dark and drizzling. I met up with Willem and started walking, and we soon ran into Naoko on the road. We walked out of the town and started along farm roads, using the light of Naoko’s iPhone to scan for arrows. At some point, we must have missed one because I randomly had the feeling I should check my app/map and realized we’d missed a turn about 500 meters back, so we turned around.

It was a walk on natural paths, with constant up and down, for about 13 km before we descended into the first town that had a bar and albergue. When we arrived, the rain was gone, the skies were clear and the entire town appeared gathered at one bar, across from the supermarket. I joined Naoko and Willem for a coffee, reliever to have a break. It had been a grueling walk so far and it was only 1/3 done.

Goerge and Viktoria walked up and said hi really quickly and then they were off. Willem, feeling the tiredness of the last leg, decided he would stay the night there in El Real de la Jara. This would be the last time we’d see each other, so we grabbed a quick selfie.

I continued out of town and after 1-2 km came upon the ruins of a castle. I stopped, realizing that I’d been carrying this awfully heavy camera around in my pack for the past three days without using it, and got it out. I lined up the shot perfectly and half-pressed the shutter button to check the exposure, only to find that the battery was completely dead. Oh well. I pressed on another 10km. It was hot, dusty, my throat was dry. Next stop: a truck stop, complete with hotel, store and restaurant. Naoko met me and we had a coke. Goerge and Viktoria, who is passed an hour and a half earlier, walked up but didn’t see us. They pressed on.

After a quick break Naoko and I left for the final leg. With little shade and the burning sun overhead, it wasn’t exactly fun. But, music makes everything better. I slowed down and walked the last several km alone. When o finally got into the main town of Monasterio, I found Naoko, Goerge and Viktoria waiting on the sidewalk, wondering when I would arrive. “Why are you sitting here?” “Because we’re hungry and you’re the only one who speaks Spanish to find out when we can eat.” Ha. I speak Spanish. That’s funny.

One fancy restaurant was open, but their prices were a bit high for my companions, so we came up with an alternative. The business we’d been sitting in front of was a ham store. All of those pigs we’d been walking past for the past few days, this was their future. World famous Jamon Iberico. As cheap as everyone was, I decided to buy some of the good stuff to share. We bought some bread too, but after tasting the ham by itself, it was too good to waste in a sandwich. We didn’t need much because it was so good; it melts in your mouth.

[mrcurrygoestospain]

Day 3

Day 3, Via de la Plata, from Castilblanco de los Arroyos to Almadén de la Plata. 905.1 km to Santiago. 28.7 km travelled today. 69.8 km travelled. 43,605 Fitbit steps today. 117,335 Fitbit steps total.