Category: 2017 El Camino de Santiago

We can’t quite get the zero days down to where we get quality rest. Even though we said we were not going to drink…we drank. And drank. And didn’t eat anything more than popcorn for supper. To make our rest day even tougher, we scheduled early morning massages so we couldn’t even sleep it completely off.

Pam’s massage was first at 9 with mine right after at 10. I had to sit in the lobby of the massage area because she is uncomfortable with a male therapist. Carlos was good. He had the feel more of a chiropractor in addition to massage therapist. He made adjustments to our frames as well as a deep tissue massage. He also taped my right Achilles’ tendon because it tends to flare up after 14 miles or so with all the road walking.

After the massage, I headed back to the pensione to find both Pam and George asleep. I’d also run into Shaun just as he was headed to an Albergue and told him he could stay with us since we have a fourth bed not being used.

Pam was cranky which means one of two things: 1) she’s awake, or 2) she’s hungry. We had ran into Linda, Peter, and Brenda on the way to our massages earlier and we ran into Brenda again when we were heading out to get some food. We wandered around for quite a while but couldn’t find an actual restaurant that served food until 1p. We settled on a snack to hold us until a pizza place started serving. Brenda skipped the pizza after her snack. We agreed to meet back up in Astorga in 2 days to help celebrate her…39th birthday?

Pizza leads to naps for men who might have imbibed too much last night (Shaun and George) while Pam and I headed out to find a laundromat and blog for a while. It’s a bigger chore than you might think to find a laundromat. It took us over an hour to actually find an open one. While we were sitting there working, Helen and Lise walked by. They had also taken the day of in Leon and will be heading out in the morning.

Pam still had two more missions for the day–find lip balm, and eat ice cream. We thought George would be interested in the latter but when we got back to the room, he and Shaun were gone. They texted us and told us they were heading to the same bar we were at last night. This was one of those times when Pam and I agreed we didn’t want any more alcohol.

We went and met them for a bit. We also ran into Andre and Kathleen again. They are going to b heading to the same town we are going to tomorrow so we’ll probably end up hiking with them again for some of the way.

George is planning on returning to the trail. He’s going to walk for several days out of Leon to get to the Cruz de Ferro (the famous cross where you leave a stone you’ve been carrying with you). From there, he’s going to catch a bus forward to Sarria which is the required location to hike in from to be a pilgrim. He’s timing it so we will all end up in Compestella within a day or two of each other. I’m glad he’s returning to the trail and I’m happy to see him tackle it at his own pace rather than trying to go at our pace and be miserable.

Madrid is playing in the football semi-finals, so the normal hopping town of Leon is all sizzling tonight. George and Shaun couldn’t be tempted to leave the bar even for ice cream. Pam and I left them to walk around town a bit before ice cream and left over pizza. We’re going to turn in early so we will feel refreshed in the morning to resume our pilgrimage.

Like all short days, we underestimate the amount of effort involved. Surprisingly, we were the last ones up again. We went down to have breakfast in the bar with the thought that we’d be in Leon for lunch. We saw the couple next to us ship their luggage on ahead–no wonder they have energy to fool around, they ship their luggage.

After our croissant, juice, and coffee, we set out on a repeat journey of our “Pam is not happy with this Albergue” tour of the day before. Just as we got out of town next to the road we would be hiking next to all day, the couple that shipped their luggage actually ran by us. This was a new one. We’ve seen people switch to bikes. We’ve seen people catch busses. We’ve seen people call cabs. We’ve heard of people riding horses. This was our first “Runners of the Camino”.

Who would think a 12 mile walk next to a highway would be so hot and boring? We did stop for second breakfast in Villarente a mere 4 miles up the road. While we were walking through town, we saw some pilgrims head to the bus-stop and wait. I wanted to take a picture, but I was too embarrassed to do so. The jerk that wrote our guide book, John Brierly, actually suggested taking a bus into Leon rather than walking along the “busy” road. Why does he have qualms about busy roads now when we’ve been walking along busier roads for weeks? I think it’s a mistake to encourage people to “cheat” because after the first time, the excuses become easier to think up and justify.

When we finally made it into the city limits of Leon, we wished we had taken a bus, but we were proud of ourselves for staying pure no matter how stupid the trail becomes. This was a lot of concrete walking on a hot day. An air conditioned air bus with wifi started looking good. We tried to find a restaurant to sit down in to cool off a bit before heading into the old town.

Leon is sprawling. After a couple miles in the city, we noticed a police tent with signs all around, but since we don’t read or speak Spanish, we tried to avoid it. As soon as we walked past, a man comes running after us. It turned out to be a pilgrim welcoming tent where they hand out maps and assist you in finding accommodations if you haven’t already got them. The gentleman that helped us was great. He showed us exactly on the map where George had gotten a pension and our route through the city.

We still had 2 or 3 miles to go and we were hungry. As we were getting nearer to the old city, Pam started getting hypoglycemic and said we are stopping at the next restaurant we see no mater what it is. Next up was a KFC–we walked on. We eventually ended up in a tapas bar. We got a couple small snacks to hold off the hunger until we were settled in.

The old city is surrounded by a double wall perimeter which used to be quite formidable. Some of the buildings are now built directly into the wall. In some places, I got an “East Berlin” impression (even though I haven’t been there yet). We passed through Checkpoint Charlie and entered the old city. Like all the old city centers, the roads are narrow and winding with tall buildings lining both sides to keep the sun from baking the pavement. It’s very efficient at keeping the city center cool.

We followed the path up to where we thought we’d find George sitting with a beer waiting on us. No beer, no George. There must be an ice cream store near by that’s distracted him. We had no choice but follow the trail all the way down to the Cathedral in the hope of finding him.

When we got near The Basilica he appeared in our trail. He had been sitting with Shaun having a beer. We haven’t seen Shaun since Fromista when I got sick. We headed on to our room to drop packs and shower before exploring the city.

We had some definite things we wanted to get done in this town: 1) get a massage, and 2) drink some beer. Pam probably wanted to do some shopping, but I tried to narrow our focus to the top two priorities. We went to a massage therapy office and made appointments and then started exploring side streets to find a place to eat.

The first street we turned down, we found Bob, Paul, Chris, Edele, Adrian, and Shaun having drinks so we joined them. The mood of the party went from festive to quiet when I sat down, but I insisted on staying anyway. I know a few other people that they would like having around even less and I knew where they were hanging out, so I had blackmail potential on my side.

We eventually moved on to the Irish bar on the corner where we got the front seating area on the corner with a commanding view of three streets. This is where we managed to hang out until almost midnight forgetting supper (if popcorn doesn’t count as supper which I have turned in on several expense reports). This became our Camino family central.

The couple that ran the trail today turned up. Tim and Linn are not running the trail, but decided to take an easy day and run instead. They’ve been in town since 10 this morning (we didn’t get in until after 2). They are actually a pretty cool pair of newlyweds who are taking a year off to travel and see the world before settling down in Australia. Their favorite destination so far? Cuba! I was intrigued.

We also spent a lot of time with Adrian and Edele. Adrian is also an engineer (or was) until they tried to call his bluff for a year off work to travel. After his company had told him yes to a year, they tried to back down to 6 months thinking they had him over a barrel. He quit on the spot. I can only imagine the feeling of satisfaction. Adrian has similar views on the ornamentation of all the cathederals we have been going through. He refuses to give any more money to them because of the hypocrisy of the inquisition and colonialization which made all of this possible (my abbreviated stance and not to be attributed to Adrian’s views directly). Edele commanded us to stop talking politics, religion, and work so we were forced to pick up the drinking pace to compensate for lack of material to talk about.

Leon represents the completion of the Camino for Bob. He has now done the entire Trail from St Jean to Santiago on various trips. He is still going to continue walking with Chris to Santiago. Paul is calling it quits after today. Apparently he thinks he should walk with his wife the rest of the way to Santiago. Tonight became a goodbye and happy birthday to Paul (he will turn 60 later this month). To celebrate these momentous events, I did something special–I let Paul take a selfie of the group with my camera (which he promptly dropped–shock proof test to 15′ verified).

What would you do if you had a private room with your own bathroom after sleeping in bunk beds every night for the last 3 weeks? That’s right, we slept in. There may not have been snoring last night, but there were plenty of barking dogs.

Pam, Mike, and Rachael were eating when we came down for breakfast. We shared a table with them and talked about our plans for Leon while we ate. They are planning to take a bus from Reliegos tomorrow to skip all the road walking into and out of town. The guide book even offers up this suggestion. Pam and I tend to be hiking purists so motorized transportation along the trail isn’t really an option for us.

Let me just mention a few things about hiking the Camino–a rant-mini if you will. Pam and I did not quit our jobs and sell everything we own to fly around the world and hike “most of a trail”. This is what we want to do, so we are not going to do it half-assed. There are definitely people doing the trail in different manners than we are. Some people only want to walk a set amount every day and then take taxis or buses so they can keep up with the same group they started with. Other’s ship their packs ahead and walk to them every day to avoid the extra strain of carrying everything. Sometimes you get hurt and can’t walk so you take a taxi to keep up with your group rather than take a few days off and have to met all new people. There are many variations available to suit your situation. There are time considerations to consider as well as physical limitations (or shear stupidity for some).

How we do it is our business. How someone else does it is their business. If they want to do it half-assed, that’s their choice. What’s it matter what I think about it? I am Easily ForGotten so who cares?

The trail continued up the Roman Road again today. This is not quite the experience I thought it might have been walking on such an old road. With all the gravel on it, you’d never know this is a significant road. The first 2 miles were black-topped which made it even harder on our feet. It was a very hot day with no winds and few trees to break up the monotony.

Once the road switched back to gravel, we could spot a tree in the distance, so we had a goal. When we finally made the tree, we just dropped down to try to cool off a bit. A couple passed us by and checked to make sure we were ok and not in heat exhaustion. We assured them we were fine.

A couple miles further down the road, a clump of trees started to form. We were only about 4 miles in for the day and I was sweating like mad. One of the side affects of my recent system purge was that I constantly feel like I’ve got to pee even though very little comes out. I’m starting to wonder if I have a bladder infection or if this might be some sort of side affect from dehydration. At any rate, I’m stopping to try to pee about every 10 minutes. I’m usually pretty good about looking around, but once we made the trees, I kind of let my guard down. As I finished, I looked up to see the couple that offered us help sitting in a shelter about 50 yards back from the show. I grabbed my poles from Pam and said we needed to make tracks.

About 15 minutes later, the couple caught up with us again. He must have seen that I was no threat to him and they were kind enough to pretend that I hadn’t given them a full frontal. We ended up talking and walking with Andre and Katalin for the next 5-6 miles. They both happen to live in Switzerland, but she is Hungarian. They like to walk about a bit and are just trying to live a reduced stress life.

Once we talked for a little bit, Andre said that they knew who we were. We’re the Americans that have sold everything to go hike around the world. They thought it was great. We talked politics–it’s hard not to when Pam is always bringing up the subject. We talked morality, economics, history, and guns (since Switzerland is usually the example that the NRA uses a lot). A big difference is that Switzerland requires everyone to have 2 years full time military experience before they are given their guns and the guns are registered so if your gun is used in a crime, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do.

The conversation flowed and the time passed quickly hiking through this open space. We came upon Pam, Mike, and Rachael enjoying a break next to a lake in the road. Some might call it a mud puddle, but this family makes a lot of lemonade. I never thought we’d catch up with them, but Rachael’s feet are not quite 100% yet and she was running a slight fever at breakfast. I’m sure she’s miserable today.

They caught back up with us when we stopped for lunch a mile or two later. We chose a wooded lot protected by an electric fence which Andre gallantly tested to make sure it was off. There were cow pies pretty evenly distributed through the trees which made for very soft sitting. Mike, Pam, and Rachael opted for just the shoulder of the road in the shade rather than the padded tree spots.

When we got going again, we discovered we were further along than I had thought with it being less than 2 miles to Reliegos. I thought we could surely find a cafe and a cold Aquarius in town. We headed right to an Albergue with cold drinks. As soon as we sat down, Peter and Linda showed up and we picked up where we had left off the day before with Annapurna.

Andre and Katalin might or might not have reservations in Mansilla tonight, so they decided to move on a little before we were ready to. Pam and I have not been making reservations anywhere in advance because we like to keep our options open and not be forced into a schedule. We took off a few minutes after they did, but we could never catch up with them. It was full heat, no trees, no breeze, and I was wilting in the 90 degree temps. It was less than 5 miles to Mansilla, but it took us almost 3 hours to get there.

When we did, I headed straight for the municipal in the old section of town. I’ll admit, it was dumpy, unorganized, crowded, and loud, but there were open beds and I was hot and tired (and apparently short tempered). Pam didn’t like it at all and insisted on leaving. There are only 3 or 4 Albergues in town so our choices are limited. We walked around a bit and couldn’t find anything else. I got pissy and sat down and told her to go find something then come and get me when she was satisfied. We were not happy with each other at this point.

Damned if she wasn’t right. She found a much nicer Albergue we had passed up and there were plenty of open beds. It was one big room, but there were ceiling fans and lots of windows. We dropped our bags with the intention of a 10 minute nap before showering up before supper in two hours. We almost slept past supper.

When we did come down, Katalin was sitting at a table and Andre was getting Sangrias. They offered to let us join them and they sweetened the offer with a Sangria–we were in. They were staying in a different location but not an Albergue.  We had another pleasant conversation with them. Eventually, they had to go and we had to eat.

We sat down at a table next to Barry and Susan and they asked our blog address and started reading it a bit. We were eavesdropping a bit to try and hear their reaction to it–I think Barry was laughing at the little bit of intro he read.

After supper, it was showers and bed. The young couple next to us were both in the bottom bunk together. At first, I thought it was two guys but it did turn out to be a man and woman. He closed the window and got on the top bunk. I wasn’t too thrilled with him. About 10 minutes later, she got up and opened the window before getting back in bed. I liked her a lot. Except for the French guy snoring a few beds away, we had a pretty decent night’s sleep.

We all have our cross to bear. Mine just happens to be wet, brown, and stinky. I was really hoping that my diarrhea would be gone by now–it’s been over 2 days since the onset. I am feeling better, hence, our first 30K day.

There were only 5 of us in the dorm last night–good thing. The bed we chose was at one end of room which acted as a sound cone amplifying all noises–bad thing. Every snort, fart, belch, and snore were magnified at our end. I guess it’s only fair that Pam was by far the loudest snorer and the vast majority of the farts were mine.

With all the blinds closed, we managed to sleep past 7. We expected the biker guy to be up at 4 since he was asleep by 8 but even he slept in.

Since we were planning to make up the distance we skipped yesterday plus our scheduled amount for today, we wanted to get going and delay breakfast until we got a couple miles down the trail. We stopped in Terradillos de Los Templarios primarily for a bathroom but also for food. I was up twice in the night with my ailment. Pam was asleep when I went in with her ear plugs yet she got up to check that I had closed the door because of the noise amplitude. I wasn’t much better at breakfast.

Brenda came in and joined us just as we were getting our food. We sat and chatted for a leisurely breakfast. She was suggesting we might need to change our distance plans for today since I was still under the weather. We agreed to call it by ear as we got down the trail.

The next town was only another 2 miles. We travelled the distance well under an hour , but it was necessary for me to stop again for a 7up to calm my stomach as well. Moratinos is a town with a lot of bodegas. There’s evidence of their use dating over 2500 years ago for wine production. The restaurant we stopped at had incorporated a couple of bodegas into their seating area. Again, Brenda managed to pass us even though she was trying to move at a leisurely pace and avoid any more encounters with me.

Even the next town was less than 2 miles away, so we had plenty of break opportunities. In San Nicolas, we ran into Helen (who I sent to the wrong town last night causing her to walk an extra 2 miles–she suggested I change my name to “Best Forgotten”) and Janike (pronounce with a “ya” rhyming with Monica) from Norway. I had another 7up and some shade. I think it’s safe to say I became well acquainted with every bano on our path today.

Now came a four mile stretch without porcelain in the picture. I was mighty worried about this section. We did take a short break after 3 miles and met a couple of more Canadian women from Van Couver. Helen and Janike caught up and we finally remembered to get some pictures together.

Finishing up the last 2 miles into Sahagun, we once again caught up with Helen and Janicke. We ended up having a long lunch together in the main square of town. We all got to know each other better. They were very encouraging of our plans to checkout of “normal” society for the next several years. Helen told a great story how she won two cars for herself and a woman she knew did a lot of community work in her city. Janicke is planning on moving to Spain on a part time basis as a second home to Norway.

It was already 3:15 when we finished lunch. We were trying to give the heat a chance to dissipate but we still had almost 9 miles to go for the day so we had no choice but leave. Helen took off while I was paying our bill thinking we would catch up with her before the trail splits. We could see her a couple hundred yards in front of us, but we never did catch her. We made the junction of the Camino Frances or the Romana Route. We had already decided to take the Romana Route as the more peaceful alternative that runs along one of the longest stretches of Roman Roads still in use. We stopped at a cafe in Calzada de Coto for one last cold drink before heading into the hot afternoon sun for the final 5 miles.

It We were just about ready to head out when another Pilgrim came in and began talking to us. This was Peter from Van Couver. He was traveling with St Louis Linda whom Helen had been telling us about. Linda had just taken Helen back to her turn that she had missed. Somehow, we had passed Helen without knowing it or seeing her.

Linda finally showed up and we were discussing the trip and St Louis. Peter and I also began talking about different trips we had been on and we had a major overlap in Nepal around Annapurna. Pam was getting antsy so we took off at about 5:15.

The Roman Route is long, straight, and hot. If you didn’t know you were on a Roman road, you’d have no way of knowing because it’s been gravelled over. We didn’t see anyone still out hiking all the way into Caldazilla de Los Hermanillos. Pam was hot and tired so she headed for the first place that indicated habitation available. Not being one to rock the boat, I obediently followed.

We went ahead and splurged for a private room with our own bathroom. We showered, did laundry, and then headed down for dinner. Because it was nearly 7 when we got in, we were the last ones seated for dinner. We looked around the dining room and saw Pam, Mike, and Rachael whom we hadn’t seen since our walk 3 days ago. It turns out Mike had strained his knee and Rachael’s feet were in bad shape so they took a day off and went sightseeing in Spain. They had just returned to the trail today. I imagine we’ll walk with them some tomorrow since we have 10 mile stretch with no restaurants, cafes, or towns.

“Carry on my wayward son. There’ll be peace when you are gone.” For some reason that song pops into my head every time I say this town’s name. This has been one of the more pleasant places we’ve stayed–great food and fantastic albergue. We stayed in a convent–“get thee to a nunnery”. I haven’t been in a convent since high school; the torture chambers at my high school were in the basement there.

The I’m feeling much better today. Still not a solid player at all aspects of my game (if you can follow my Imodium pun) but feeling good. We’ve decided that we’ve got to eat clean after all. Pam made me get a tortilla for breakfast (ham and egg casserole). If I didn’t look at it, I could control my gag reflex. I’ve become a chicken abortion consumer.

Carrion “my wayward son” was a charming little town with lots of options for eating and shopping. It has a quaint old down town (narrow streets with continuous facade on both sides) and not laid out on a grid. Walking out of town, we passed several old churches and monasteries. Carrion played an important role in the past as a pilgrim center in the Middle Ages as well as receiving the wrath of “El Cid” after the leading family mistreated his daughters. One of the monasteries on the edge of town has been converted to a high end hotel (much more than the 5 Euros we paid to stay at Espiritu Santo last night).

Now seems like a good time to comment on why we are staying in Albergue instead of camping like we had planned. To put it in its simplest form, it’s just too damn cheap and convenient to stay in an Albergue. The most we have paid so far was 15 Euros and that included breakfast and a nearly private room. If we were camping, we would gladly pay 5 Euros to shower (and the people around us would be willing to pay even more for us to shower) so it just makes sense. We get a shower, pretty comfortable bed, and cheap meals. So far, no bed bugs or lice (and only one case of dysentery–but I’m blaming that on Pam’s hands since she made the sandwich that took me down).

There weren’t as many towns today. At one point, we had a 10 mile stretch without even going through a village. One of the interesting points of this stretch was that it was running along a road built by the Romans over 2000 years ago. I can imagine Bobulas the Road Builder saying to his crew “I want to build a road that will last longer than the Roman Empire” at which point he was executed because Trumpus the Great considered it blasphemous to talk about the end of the empire while he was in charge.

About half way through the stretch we came upon an enterprising couple that converted a shipping container into a restaurant on the side of the trail. They had a grill going and I just couldn’t resist a couple of nice greasy grilled chorizos to help settle down my still rumbling stomach. I decided to wash it down with a Limon soda. For the last several days Pam has been threatening to trim my beard when I’m asleep. I took a sip from the can and my mustache got caught in the tab. She might have a point.

The light at the end of the tunnel was the little town of Caldadilla de la Cueza–a sleepy little village with a hospital and an albergue (a hospital is just a higher priced albergue), but they had great food. Pam chose salads and Aquarius’ for us to eat. The salad had eggs, tuna, and olives, so in theory, it was healthy. Once again, I was able to eat it if I didn’t look at it or think about the little sea creatures that swim and eat their own poop or contemplate the loss of chicken life before it even had a chance to discover if it was the next Einstein. Eating clean is tougher here that in India where they are vegetarians and like lintels and gestapo beans.

It was only 1:30 when we got done with lunch having already hiked 12 miles. The final 5 into Terradillos de Templarios would be a breeze. Our mistake was stopping for ice cream and cokes (clean by a matter of degrees). We ran into Brenda from Oregon who tried to talk us into calling it a day at 15 miles. She ordered a sangria and talked with us for a while. We were hemming and hawing about whether to stay or go. Brenda said just come up and see the room. She finished her drink and got up to take us to see the place. She couldn’t find her way back to the room. Pam was already sold on just the strength of the sangria. And that’s how we ended up in Ledigos.

Last night was one of the worst nights–scratch that. Last night was the worst night of the entire trip for me. At one point, I had vomit or diarrhea on every article of clothing I own–I don’t even want to figure out how I got it on my long underwear tucked away in my pack.

The automatic lighting that I thought was so neat–not so much now. I woke up in the middle of the night with the unmistakable urge that had me run through two darkened dorm rooms to hit the bathroom. I make it just in time to release my cheeks when I feel the urge to project upwards as well. I get up to turn around when the lights go out and I’m just guessing as to the angle I’m hoping to hit. This explains why my night clothes and the wall of the stall had some chorizo and bread on them in the morning.

A big disadvantage of staying in an albergue is their strict exit times of 8a. We were the last ones out. For the record, they DO change the sheets in the Fromista municapal because they were already on the second room when we staggered out.

Shaun had left me a dose of Imodium and then bugged out ASAP. I don’t blame him, OPS (Other People’s Poop). I did manage to get a banana to stay down. I went with Pam to the closest cafe so she could get a quick bite. We struck up a conversation with Graham the Irishman (there can’t be more than one–I’m sure you know him). It looked like he was going to have to call this Camino due to blisters all over his feet.

It’s only 2 miles to Poblacion de Campos from Fromista. This would require about 45 minutes at most for Pam and I (she’s a little slow and whiny in the mornings until her hips warm up). It took us almost 2 hours because of all the stops I had to make just to get the energy up to move on.

We stopped at the first cafe we found in town and I dropped to the ground. Pam went in to get me some sort of carbonated lemon-lime soda to try to calm my stomach. A French trio of two men and a woman came in and saw me doubled over. She came over and enquired as to the nature of my illness (mental or physical, upset stomach or more). I indicated explosiveness out of both ends. They made further enquiries as to allergies, etc. They diagnosed me as having “dysenteria” and gave me two small pills. I would have rather had two bullets, but this is Europe and not the US. I thanked them profusely between stomach spasms.

Pam is usually not the most compassionate person to me when I’m sick as she usually thinks that I’m being over dramatic (males can’t take pain and discomfort–I gave birth, you don’t know what pain is). To her credit, today she just avoided touching me or getting close enough to breath in any air that I exhaled, but she was very patient with my lack of speed and my inability to walk a straight line knowing that alcohol was not involved. She did take good care of me and seemed a little too happy that I was walking at a pace slower than her in the morning.

The next “town” was only 2.5 miles. I walked like George–staring down at my feet trying to concentrate on every step. We made it there by noon. As we were walking into “town”–I say “town” because there was absolutely nothing open for pilgrims–Maria and Anton came strolling by. They are happy and full of life and energy; not the kind of thing a dying man likes to see (ok, maybe Pam is right on the drama). They slowed up and walked with us for a while and offered to help in any way they could. They are really great kids.

I needed to stop and now! There wasn’t a cafe with a bano and I was in pain. We picked the community park pavilion to stop at. I pray no one goes behind the walls until after the next torrential rain. When I came out, there were two German men sitting in the pavilion talking to Pam. One of them, Karl, is into homeopathy and offered to fix me up with a remedy. I was willing to try anything.

Karl gave me a little crystal to dissolve in my mouth and then mixed me up a bottle of liquid to sip on for the next day. Muje, traveling with him, helped explain things to me. We talked with them for a long time about diet and the Camino in general. Karl has to stop in a few days, but Muje is here for the duration.

After the initial dose from Karl, I felt pretty good. We donned our packs and headed on to the next stop which was about 3 miles. I was able to maintain a good pace for a couple of miles but then had to take a break in the middle of the trail. While we were resting, Karl and Muje passed us up and checked on me again.

I was shooting for a bathroom at Puente which was just over a mile away. Another couple passed us and insisted I take a couple of mints to help calm my stomachache. I wasn’t going to turn down any help at this point. Puente was another bust–no bano. The next town was over a mile away and all road walk. The one redeeming aspect of today was the weather was cool and the hiking was level. If it hadn’t been, there’s no way I could have made the 12.5 miles.

When we got to Villalcazar de Sirga, I was praying for an open cafe because I was unable to take full steps because I had to keep my cheeks clenched. Hallelujah, there was an open cafe on the square. I ran to the bathroom faster than Pam could drop her pack. So far today, I had only had a banana and a slice of orange to eat because nothing else would stay down. I decided to risk a salad here (roughage is good for diarrhea?). After our lunch, I went and slept on the steps of the church across the street for about 45 min. I know several people came up and took the bum’s picture on the steps of the 11th century church, but I was too out of it to care.

Between Shaun and his Imodium, the French woman with her miracle pills, the Germans with their homeopathic remedy, the Swedish couple with their mints, and a sleep on the steps of the church, I was feeling a little better. I think I can make it the final 4 miles into Carrion.

As long as my pace stayed slow, I could keep going. Pam let me lead so she wouldn’t push too hard (the afternoons are her strong hiking time). We made it into town by 6. It had only taken us 10 hours to hike the distance we would normally hike before lunch (and this was an ideal hiking day).

As soon as we got into town, we saw Shaun at a bar having a beer. He directed us to the sisters of mercy, or Espiritu Santo saying it was a nice place and there might be rooms. We walked in the door but it was locked up tighter than a drum–not a good sign. Eventually, someone let us in and told us to sit. Getting better. Then a little nun came in and started yelling at me. From my high school experience, I knew I was ok now. If a nun is yelling, nothing is wrong; when they get quiet, take cover.

She stamped our credentials and took our 5 Euros and showed us to our room. It was heaven. Only four beds and right next to a bathroom. We just dropped our stuff and went to grab some supper (bland and clean for me). After supper, a trip to the grocer and pharmacy to get some minerals to replace everything I’ve lost in the last 24 hours. Back to the nunnery for showers, laundry, and bed.

Pam insisted we take a short cut back to the albergue to save walking. Never a good idea in Spain–no grids for cities. We ended up walking 4 blocks extra to come out 1 block further than we started. When we got back to the same place we started, we saw Paul. He told us Chris had to take a taxi to town today because of blisters. We had seen Chris in town this morning, but didn’t think much of it. He’s the slow walker of the trio at 3.5 mph. They can leave an hour after us any day and still beat us by two hours.

Chris is person that knows and can take pain. He crashed a helicopter in Vietnam. He damn near ripped off his arm falling off a ladder. And I think there are a few chainsaw accidents in his past as well. For him to not be able to walk, there’s got to be some real pain involved. He’s decided to take a bike to Leon while Paul and Bob walk there to give his feet a couple days to recover.

One of our bunk mates was an interesting man. I wish I had the strength to take his picture, but I still wasn’t quite myself. He’s a 71 year old Argentinian born Australian who is trying to hike the Camino in only 4 weeks. He saw our packs and said he was cheating by using a luggage service to send his bags forward 12 miles every day. He usually like 20-25 miles every day. He picks his pack up after 12 miles and carries it when he’s already tired. This man was amazing.

We owe Barry for last night’s recommendation of Albergues. Even with the Asian crowd getting up at 5:30 and turning on all the lights after closing us into a tomb all night (why do they hate air flow at night so much?) this was still a great place.

Surprisingly, Pam and I weren’t the last ones out. Pam wanted to go check out the meditation house in town and then we would grab some breakfast. On the way to the house, we passed Pam, Mike, and Rachael in front of another albergue having breakfast. We talked a few minutes with them and headed on.

The meditation house was pretty cool. It was more of a living art exhibit. The owner definitely has the heart of an artist. He has mood lighting and background music. It really is a tranquil space, inside and out. There are gardens out back and grottos in the cliff side behind the house. We spent a lot more time here than I thought we would.

Coming out, we face a decision. Go forward and look for a restaurant or go back to where we saw Mike, Pam, and Rachael eating. We chose back. Just as we arrived, they left. I’m sure it’s just coincidental and nothing to do with my charming personality. I decided to try a potato and cheese tortilla, egg is just a binder (or so I hope). It wasn’t too bad, I just hope I don’t get sick eating chicken abortions.

As soon as you get out of town, the trail climbs about 400′ straight up. It looked harder than it actually was. I made it all the way to the top without stopping. I had just dropped my pack and was getting ready for a rest until Pam got up when she popped up in front of me. She didn’t stop either and almost kept up with me all the way to the top. We decide to wait a few minutes to see if Shaun was behind us. We hadn’t seen him since we left and we had part of his lunch with us.

Ten minutes of waiting and we decided he must not have gotten any breakfast in town and just decided to head on. We took off to catch up with him. Sure enough, he was at the rest area on the other side as were Pam, Mike, Rachael, Maria, and Anton. That was a quick 5 miles and the only hard part we had today.

Everyone took off ahead of us except for Shaun. We caught up with the PM&R at the crossing from Burgos Provence to Palencia Provence. About 50 yards later we saw Maria and Anton coming out of the woods. I yelled at them to get their clothes on and Maria said they were fully dressed “this time”. They are sweet kids and fun to mess with.

It was just a short mile walk to the cafe in town where we stopped for a second breakfast (I’m going to convert everyone to Hobbits yet). By this point in the trail, we see twenty to thirty people every day that we know to some degree and the cafe was a good gathering spot.

We had a five mile stretch up to the next town of Boadilla del Camino where we hiked with Pam, Mike, and Rachael. We didn’t get to talk to them much the first night we met because we were at opposite ends of the table. Pam and Mike are both retired and have just sold their house. That means, we finally met another homeless couple. They are going to box everything up as soon as they get done with the Camino and put it in storage. Next step is to move to Seattle to be closer to their two daughters and decide if they like the Pacific Northwest better that Alabama. To me, no competition.

When we made it to town, Shaun and I were out front and we saw a bar called Tatas. We knew this was where we had to eat lunch. Pam (my Pam, not Alabama Pam) followed us all the way. We lost track of Alabama Pam and her posse. We dropped our packs and I got change for the vending machine to get a couple of Aquarius’ (like Gatorade but not as sweet). The machine ate my second donation without returning a drink. I tried to get help, but the owner was convinced I was lying and wanted more money. He eventually gave me the drink, but bad feelings were left behind.

It was at this point he came over and licked my sandwich behind all of our backs. Or maybe Pam had been playing with a dog’s butt. Or maybe we shouldn’t buy refrigerated salami a full day before we need it and carry it in our packs on a hot sunny day. Whichever it was, I started feeling a little churning in my stomach not too long after lunch. It’s still suspicious to me that Pam only took two little slices of the salami and gave me the vast majority of the package for my sandwich.

I know this will sound unlike me, but I struck up a conversation with the only other couple still in the courtyard before we left. They were a young couple, obviously American because he had a big “G” on his shirt. I couldn’t place it, but I accused him of being a GreenBay fan. He vehemently denied it and said “Georgia”–almost as bad, but it’s just college. Blake and Taylor are blasting through the Camino already cutting 2 days off our pace. He’s thinking about quitting his job next year and hiking the AT. At this point, I would like to apologize to his parents for all the money they spent on college, but I encouraged him to do so. I asked if they had trail names yet. They don’t so I’m taking the it to task and assigning them the names of “Swift” and “Lively”.

There was only about 4 miles left to make it to Fromista. It was an eneventful walk along a canal. The Spanish have a very extensive canal and aqueduct system in this region. Also, very old. When we crossed the gates, there was water coming out of all the walls holding the water back. I was afraid to stay on the bridge long. If one little kid and a pinky can make such a big difference, it would take an entire grade school to stop this from going.

I was really dragging now. I’m usually the fastest walker in the morning. Pam is the fastest walker after lunch. Shaun is the fastest at the end of the day when he’s tired and beer is close by. Shaun took off. We were running to try to keep up. He headed straight for the municipal.

We passed Paul, Bob, and Chris having a drink outside a restaurant. We couldn’t stop to say more than hi. We got 3 beds in the back room of the municipal. To ensure our ability to breathe through the night, Shaun took one side of the window and Pam and I got the other–this damn thing was staying open tonight.

As soon as we got in, I fell down on the bed and took a nap. I have never done this. About an hour later I woke up and Shaun asked me if I was OK. He said I looked more like I did a 32 mile day instead of a 16. I ran to the bathroom and proved him right. This is when the vomiting and diarrhea began. Pam and Shaun went to dinner without me. They knew the 75 foot path they would find me along.

We had a very cranky old woman in our room last night who kept giving Pam and I the evil eye whenever she had the chance. When she got up this morning, I was feeling a little mean, so I just kept pretending to be asleep until she got done packing up in the dark. The other Korean man in the room with us was already up so I got up and flipped on the light so he could see. When we headed down for breakfast, we got an even bigger evil eye.

Chris was already out the door when we got done with breakfast. We did manage beat Bob and Paul out the door, but they flew past us before we even got to the edge of town.

This is our second day on the Meseta. The weather has been working in our favor so far. We had a moderate rise in elevation but it was a cool morning. Pam was moving at her normal morning snail pace. It’s kind of amazing to be hiking at the same elevation of all the wind turbines you can see on the horizon from below the Meseta.

On our second mesa, we ran across a truck/camper that had a small fruit and drink stand. When we got there, the owner was just waking up as evidenced by his back to us with the sound of running water. We let him enjoy his privacy and moved on. We later found out from Shaun that he had driven this truck with his family all the way to Mongolia across Russia and was returning home. He made money by reselling fruit and drinks asking only for donations. People tend to be more generous when no price is posted on items.

The first town was Hontanas over 7 miles up the trail. This town is well hidden on the trail. You can’t even see it from 100 meters out. All of a sudden the trail dips and you are in town. We stopped here for a drink in a surprisingly packed cafe garden area. While we were there, Maria showed up with her missing Anton. Not too much longer, Shaun showed up. We thought we were behind him and were playing catch up, so we were surprised that we had actually gotten out before him for a change.

The next stop was an abandoned monastery called San Anton about another 4 miles down the trail. The road actually runs through the arches of the superstructure. An enterprising man had set up a cafe in part of the ruins and was playing some great older music (Louis Armstrong, etc). We stopped to cool off a bit because the sun had decided to come out in force. Maria and Anton joined us after a bit. They even danced a bit before hitting the road again.

It was pretty much a road walk the rest of the way into Castrojeriz. Not my favorite, but at least this portion had some trees to offer a little shade. Castrojeriz is a fairly long small town–almost 2K in length (1.25 miles). It may not sound like much, but when you end up walking the length of it 5 times in a day it definitely feels a lot longer.

We had neglected to make reservations for an Albergue that Samuel offered to make for us. Naturally, the Albergue in question is at the far end of town. Even more naturally, it was full when we got there. Barry was sitting at a bar across the street having a beer and offered up a suggestion for another spot back at the other end of town. When he said they had a foot bath, we headed back across the length of town again.

Ultreia had people standing outside of it when we arrived at it’s door–Rachael and her parents whom we met last evening over sangria. Fortunately, they didn’t get the last beds and there were still beds available for us. We went in, dropped packs, and settled in.

Shaun and I had been complaining how people come into Albergues and sleep all afternoon making everyone be quiet around them. I came back in the room to find Pam, Shaun, Mike, Pam, and Rachael all asleep. I couldn’t resist leaving Shaun a note.

I woke my Pam up and we went up to the foot bath. It was cold and relaxing on the feet. Shaun eventually joined us before we went in search of food. When we checked in, the owner told us there was a free wine tasting at 8:30. All we found to eat were frozen pizzas which we had difficulty getting the store owner to understand. We headed back to Ultreia for the wine tasting in time to see that the pilgrim dinner was an excellent one that we had skipped.

The wine tasting turned out to be much more than just a tasting. In fact, the wine was the least impressive part of the evening, and the wine was an excellent one. Under neath all the house in Castrojeriz is a tunnel dating back to the 10th century. The owner took us down into his “wine cellar” which was about 30′ below the main road. Some of the arches in the tunnel dated back to the 1st Century and were Roman Arches from old buildings retasked in the tunnel construction. During the Spanish Civil war, this tunnel was used extensively by the city inhabitants and saw a fair amount of fighting. Now its been partitioned off and is just a series of deep basements.

Pam and I decided to have one more for bath before bed to help reduce the swelling in our feet. It was heavenly. We need more places with foot baths or access to running streams during the day to cool off our feet.

Thanks to the Pilgrims that came in last evening, we didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. We had an alarm set for 6:15 which we ended up snoozing a couple of times. We resisted our urge to slam doors this morning and instead were nice. We were out the door and on the trail by 7:30.

We came to a cafe open for pilgrims in just a couple of blocks, but Pam and I weren’t really hungry yet, so we talked George into pushing on. Big mistake. We didn’t hit another cafe for over 6 miles. By that time, we were all tired and cranky.

Once we were about 2 miles out of town and realized our mistake, we found a shady spot under a tree to cool down and have a snack of melted chocolate bars and water. Who walks by? Shaun. We assumed he had gone forward with Rob and Michele and that it would take us several days to catch up with him again.

I was in a bad mood already because of all the road walking and open areas exposed to the sun and heat–the trail was wearing on me. I complained to George about how the trail creators keep us routed on concrete because this is the route of the early pilgrims and they want to maintain an authentic experience, but how many pilgrims 1200 years ago rode bikes? He also pointed out that the original track was just dirt and not concrete. We were feeding off each other. Pam was in pain from the road walking so she was going slow and was a bit behind.

By the time Shaun joined us, George had already decided this was going to be his last day of hiking. I know the last hour or two of hiking is very painful for us, but George starts out every day where we end up in regards to foot pain. He’s not enjoying himself. In the end, he agreed to go forward to Leon and relax until we get there in 7 days. He’s also going to try to have a pair of boots made or get his existing pair modified.

After George told me he was leaving, I felt sad and guilty for getting him into this, but then I had a revelation. This is a pilgrimage and not a hike. We are supposed to feel pain, but overcome it as part of the journey. These next 150 miles are our mental challenge through the monotony of the Meseta. I’m not as far advanced as I thought I was. I’ve never looked at the Camino as more than a warm up hike instead of a pilgrimage. Pam and I talked and were both straight now.

George stayed behind in Tarjados and after we headed toward the Meseta with Shaun. We had less than 6 miles to go and we were finally starting to get a hiking rhythm going after our off day in Burgos. The climb up into the Meseta wasn’t as bad as we had built it up in our minds to be. We came to a clump of trees with a well in the middle of it in another mile and a half. We stopped in there to cool off and started running into trail friends we hadn’t seen for a while, and meeting new ones.

Most significantly was Maria from north of Toronto, Canada. She’s a 20 year old solo hiking. She broke her little toe a few days back and his was her first day of hiking where she was feeling good. She was trying to catch up with some friends that had just left her in Burgos. She was supposed to catch a bus, but she couldn’t make herself get on a bus again. She’s a devout Catholic and hiking the trail for religious reasons.

She walked with us all the way into Tarjados. When we got to the first Albergue, I went in to check availability. There was only one double bed left. I wanted to take it but ther wasn’t space for Shaun. He said he’d go on to the next one and for us to stay. He’s had a couple of nights sleeping in a room with me when I’m tired so he was willing to miss the sound waves. It’s not very often that Pam and I can find a double bed so we were happy.

Bob, Paul, and Chris were already here ( the fast walkers we met coming out of Najera). I reintroduced ourselves to them–I AM “Easily ForGotten” and they had forgotten me.

The owner of the Albergue, Samuel, has a connection to the movie “The Way”. Taylor Estevez hiked the Camino several years ago, met, and eventually married Samuel’s sister who now lives in LA. This is how his dad, Emilio, came to know about the Camino. There’s a great movie poster hanging in the entry signed by both Emilio Estevez and his father, Martin something or other.

While we were signing in, Maria stopped by to tell us she was staying in town tonight and would we be interested in getting a drink in a bit. We agreed to head to the bar as soon as we got all settled and cleaned up. When we got to the bar, it was loaded with people we knew (most of whom had forgotten me). We joined a table with Barry, Bob, Paul, and Chris and several friends we hadn’t met yet.

Shaun and Maria eventually strolled in one after the other and joined the group. Other than those I’ve already mentioned, there was a new Canadian (who for reasons of alcohol, we never got her name) and Rachael from Seattle hiking with her parents from Alabama. We had a great time talking with everyone for hours and eventually eating. The party nearly ended when lightning flashed in the distance and Pam ran for cover.

It eventually whittled down to us and Shaun, but then people kept dribbling back in. Rachael and Maria showed up first after having an experience in some caves with local old men–minds out of the gutter! They showed them where they stored the wine below ground and how they made it. Then Chris showed up looking for an ice cream. He’d snuck out when Bob and Paul weren’t looking. We took him back with us and put him back in their care.

I’m really looking forward to the AT next year. Chris does a lot of volunteer work and has promised to set us up in Shenandoah. We see if he remembers me when he doesn’t have sangria…

Alarm clocks not allowed, ear plugs not needed, bathroom time not rushed. Have we died and gone to heaven?, or just decided to take a day off from hiking.

Today was to be a low key recovery day with only simple tasks to be performed. We started by combining breakfast and laundry. When we walked in yesterday, we saw a laundry mat on the trail. We got there about 9, threw in a load, and got breakfast at a sidewalk cafe next door.

While we were eating and trying to decide what else we were going to do today, Eva from Sweden and Cheri from Vancouver area in Canada came to the laundromat. We’ve been walking with them for days. We know Eva pretty well and would consider her trail family. We exchanged blogs and how we are doing the updates. I need to simplify and speed up the process.

They told us they were going to get massages today–something we had been talking about. We had looked into a place last night, but they had taken it one step further and booked 1/2 hour appointments today at the same place. We were afraid we had missed our opportunity. We decided to stop by on our way to the cathederal to see if we could get times. We got 1 hour slots at 2, 4, & 6 this afternoon.

The only other task we have planned today is a cathederal tour. On the way over, we stopped for an Aquarius (Shaun got us hooked yesterday–it’s a Gatorade type of drink but not as sweet). When we got to the entrance, George saw some people he knew, so we stopped to chat a while. I’m sorry I don’t remember everyone’s names, but Faith and her younger sister and brother were hiking with a Croatian guy. They seemed like nice kids (all probably in there mid to late 20’s–isn’t it great to be an old man).

The cathederal is nothing short of amazingly beautiful. It has over 22 chapels in it dedicated to various saints and bishops. So many priceless treasures and relics in one location. It was an audio tour so self paced. After a couple of hours, I was just completely overwhelmed by the volume of history, artists, and saints thrown at us.

I do have to make a somewhat cynical comment here, so if you’re ultra religious or faithful, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph. The original cathederal was, no doubt, built as a tribute to God, but built to express wealth of the kingdom which built it. The chapels seemed to be built by rich patrons or bishops with the intention of building a shrine/memorial to themselves. So many of the side chapels show Jesus and Mary with the bishop projected on nearly equal footing with them. I’m not saying they aren’t amazingly beautiful, I just question the intentions of the builders.

After the tour, we needed energy to get us through our afternoon massages. What else? Ice cream!

We walked through town back to the massage studio. Pam was up first. George and I placed ourselves in a convenient location for her to find us when she was done–an outside cafe serving beer right across from her exit. We can be extremely selfless at times.

After the last of the massages, we found a pizza place to get some comfort food to last us because tomorrow will be back to pilgrim menus. Oh, and ice cream one last time.