CAMINO DE SANTIAGO - WEEK SIX
SUNDAY, 1 JUNE 2025
I just think it is neat to see snow in June. And to show you how my mind works, I am reminded that today would my grandmother's 125th birthday. I can string a lot together when I am crunching through the gravel on a fine Sunday morning.
I don't know who keeps the clock serviced, but they are good at the job. My Garmin watch talks to the Bureau of Standards clock in Boulder, Colorado. When my watch clicks over to an hour, the bells in that cathedral start ringing.
It is a large piece of real estate.
At about 11:30 I finally reached the top of the climb when I got to the town of O'cebreiro. As I was walking into town, there was a man playing the bagpipes to welcome Pilgrims. O'cebreiro is literally on the pointy top of the mountain. Their church is the highest building in town.
Good morning! It is 06:15 and I just left my hostal, and I am heading 13 miles west to Rabanal. The terrain looks pretty flat. I am hoping for an uneventful morning. If all goes well, I should pull into Rabanal at about 12:30 or so. This will help me in two ways. I will get done walking before it gets too hot, and I can take the afternoon to rest for Monday. The walk on Monday is an uphill climb of about two miles. From the map, it looks like an Appalachian Trail hike. I want to be fresh for that. I also plan to leave early to take advantage of cooler temperatures.
Speaking of cooler, when I look to the south as I am walking this morning, there is a mountain that still has snow on it.
I told you I was staying last night across the street from the cathedral in Astorga. Here is the proof:
If you remember the entry in last week's blog about the guy who was stamping Pilgrims' passports with a wax seal and all the college kids were lined up to get one, I saw him again today. He was set up under a tent basically at the edge of a pasture. He had a line again today. I don't know if he does this seven days a week, but he has a good racket going. He gets paid for his work by donations in cash...
I am sitting at a little store in Ganso. A husband and wife run it. It has everything from groceries to souvenirs. I bought two canned drinks and a bag of chips. I bought a tea with lemon and a can of mineral water. I am sitting on the porch of the store drinking my beverages and eating my chips while I watch a swarm of honeybees flying around a hole in the roof of an old building out front. I thought about asking the guy if he knows he has bees, but I decided not to get in his business. His bees, his business.
I have a little over three miles left to Rabanal and I am pretty much on schedule to get to the hostal right on time.
Here is something I need to look into. Hostal and Hostel are used pretty much interchangeably. I need to find out if there is an actual difference. Again, this is how my mind wanders when I am walking by myself.
Well thank you Wikipedia. Here is the answer to my question:
In Spain, a hostal (with "a") is a small, often family-run, hotel, while a hostel (with "e") is typically a youth hostel or budget accommodation with shared room.
Now we all know! I am staying in a Hostal this evening. It has 16 rooms in what is believe to be an old house.
I ended my day of walking at mile marker 332.4. That leaves me with about 163 miles left to Santiago.
MONDAY, 2 JUNE 2025
I was out and rolling this morning by about 06:30. I had meant to go earlier, but I was tired this morning and just could not get everything headed in the same direction. My hostal was right on the Camino this morning, so I just went out the door and turned right. Today was to be a 16 mile day. Right out of the gate I had to climb up four miles to get to the 5,000 feet above sea level mark. This is where the Cruz de Ferro monument is on the Camino. Cruz de Ferro is Spanish for Iron Cross. This is a monument at the top of a mountain where Pilgrims are encouraged to bring a stone from home and leave it at the foot of the cross. There are perhaps millions of stones, many with inscriptions of loved ones or some burden that the Pilgrim wished to leave behind written on the stones. It is a moving sight to see people place their stones on the pile and leave their burdens at the cross. Just a reminder from John your friendly Pilgrim, I truly believe that you don't have to bring a stone to Spain. God will meet you where you are and if you will leave your burden with Him, He will take it from you.
When you pass the Cruz de Ferro monument at the highest point on the Camino, you immediately start down the other side of a series of smaller mountains to get to Molinaseca. This town is twelve miles away from the monument. It was a four mile walk up from Rabanal and twelve miles down the other side. I can hear you saying it now. "Downhill walking is easier than uphill."
Friend, you are wrong. Remember gravity? The same force that holds you on the earth also wants to propel you down the hill at an ever increasing velocity. Remember, you have TWELVE MILES to lose 3,000 feet of altitude. You have to hold back and work against gravity to keep from falling on your face. Don't forget about this twelve mile track either. It is not smooth. It is basically a ditch of various degrees of deepness and pitch, while being filled with water, mud, and gravel at various times, and sometimes all at the same time.
Then you have the intrepid Pilgrims. Bless them all, they are special.
There are the Pilgrims who want to tackle the entire mountain range themselves and have 200 pounds of the best gear the internet has to offer, and they want to tell you how it all works.
Or there are the Pilgrims who were talked into coming on a outdoor adventure and their experience is not what they saw in the brochure. Their feet hurt, they have sweat in their eyes, and they need to go to the bathroom. This is not the fun they were promised.
Third, you have the Pilgrims who want just to move down the line and encourage everyone along the way. I will tell you these people are nuts. No one is that happy.
Finally, you have the bicycle Pilgrims. Bless their hearts. They have the fancy Spandex shorts and shirt with a Tour de France bicycle team from 2008 stretched to its limit over a 250 pound body. They have a $5,000 bicycle they just bought and are learning to ride it today while going down the mountain.
All of these people are headed in the same direction, trying to accomplish the same goal, and they are trying to get it done in their own way. That is what is special about the Camino. As difficult as that twelve mile stretch is, and as difficult as the people are, it is absolutely worth doing, as long as you do it your way.
TUESDAY, JUNE 3 2025
I left my hotel this morning at 08:00! I know! I slept until 06:30! As you just read, I came down what is arguably the hardest section on the Camino yesterday and I was worn out. Also, my hotel had air conditioning. This was the first time I have been in an air conditioned space in over a month and I enjoyed it fully. Also, I had put in a reservation for breakfast at 07:30. When I finally got off that mountain yesterday, it was Siesta time and everything was closed in town. I just stayed in my air conditioned room and rested. I could have eaten after seven p.m., but I was too tired.
I was in the room for breakfast at 07:15 and the lady let me start early. It was good. Lots of bread, cakes, jams, juice and coffee. I loaded up on food, got my pack and left. I had twelve more miles to get finished today. Today's twelve miles were relatively flat. I will say I was proud to see that on my map app. The route took me through several old villages that did not have their names on signs. They had been in existence for a long time. I am sure the locals know the villiage names and the names of all the citizens who live there as well.
I had two random things happen to me this morning that again reminded me that in general, people are just good.
The first happened at about 09:00. You have seen what I have written of the bicycle riders on the Camino. I saw some more this morning that just made me smile. As I was walking into yet another village, I looked up as I was walking toward the little playground in the middle of town. There were probably 20 or 25 kids with bicycles and an adult with a bike about to take the kids on a ride. They were all getting ready to take off when the adult sees me and shouts "Buen Camino!" With that, 40 or 50 little eyes look around and see me walking by. All the little kids then shouted in a sing song chorus, "Buen Camino!" I smiled and waved as they began to pedal away on their adventure.
The second came about twenty minutes later on the other side of the same town. The Camino passes within ten feet of a very small Catholic Church. It is not a cathedral. The entire building is probably less than 2,000 square feet. As I was walking down the side of the church, I noticed that the side door was open and there was a piano playing inside. Tuesday morning mass was in full swing and the song service had begun. When I got even with the door, I could hear a familiar tune coming from within. The congregation was singing How Great Thou Art in Spanish. I stopped and listened. I even sang a little with them (mine was in English) before I moved on.
Everyone plants a vegetable garden here. Right now is apparently the peak time to get everything planted. As I passed one family garden spot, I noticed this garden had fruit trees as well. There was a cherry tree that was full of fruit that was very near ripe. There was also some kind of apple tree. I don't know a lot about apples. I really don't even like them when you get right down to it. The also had a peach tree that had tiny peaches on it. I had forgotten how tall peach trees can grow. Down around Fort Valley, GA, those big peach growers prune the tops out their trees so the fruit is easier to harvest. The fruit on this tree in Spain will require a long ladder.
I also saw a castle today, complete with a moat, guard tower, and draw bridge. It looked just like something you would see in an Errol Flynn movie. The castle was a Midieval fortress that the Knights Templar built. The Knights Templar were a Catholic military unit that was formed to protect Pilgrims on their journey to Jerusalem. They later began to guard holy relics of the Catholic Church and lend money to various kings and powerful people.
I walked into Cacabelos at about two p.m. I made my twelve mile goal for today and I am resting my feet to be ready for tomorrow's 12 mile hike. I am now just a bit over 100 miles away from Santiago. By the end of this week, I should have less than 100 miles to complete.
WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE 2025
I had another 12 mile walk on the schedule for today. As I have been doing lately, I was up and gone by 06:05. The little town of Cacabelos was fading into the gray dawn light as I worked my way up the hillside out of town and onto some field roads around some very large vineyards. I had not realized that the Camino had taken me again into wine country, but now that I think about it, the altitude is higher and the temperature is much cooler.
The roads were dirt, but they were smooth, and the grade was just rolling, no steep hills. I walked around the edges of the vineyards and could see workers in the fields pruning the vines. I know nothing about grape farming so that may not have been the correct terminology, but the people were cutting some of the new growth off the vines and throwing the cuttings on the ground. The workers were being selective about what the were cutting as well. There wasn't a lot cut off. It seemed to be strategic snipping.
After about an hour of vineyard walking, I came to a small town that I think was named Pradela. This little berg was built on two sides of a narrow but full river. The town was very old, but had been well maintained. I passed a medium sized church that had been on the same spot since the twelfth century.
I also stopped in this town and had breakfast in what I would call a Spanish version of an American diner. It had a counter on one side and tables on the other. The bathrooms were in the back and there was a jukebox and another cigarette machine. I looked this morning and the price for a pack of Winston cigarettes is about seven dollars.
I left there full and started out of town. When I got almost over the river, the Camino forked. This happens every so often. A Pilgrim can choose which way he wants to walk. The fork will eventually come back together. As I was standing there looking at my choices, and old woman yelled at me from across the street. She had one hand full of roses she had just picked and the other hand was motioning for me to take the left fork. She was basically telling me to take the left fork because the right fork made you climb a mountain. I was picking up what she was putting down, I'm telling you. She smiled and walked away. Before I could even start down that left fork, a van passing on the road beeped his horn and motioned me to the left. Apparently I was the perfect person to play the role of confused Pilgrim. I am sure I looked the part.
That left fork was as advertised. It was a road that was flat to downhill, and the city or province had just poured a mile or two of concrete walkway, complete with Camino emblems molded into about every third section. Following the new walkway led me to a stop sign and road crossing. Once across the two lane road, the province or even Spain (it had to come from very high up) had poured a three foot high concrete barrier about four feet from the left hand side of the road. They had then restriped the remaining road to move the two lanes over to the right, essentially creating a third lane for Pilgrims. To be fair, this opportunity had presented itself when a brand new and shiny four lane elevated highway was built overhead to expand the volume of the old road. Motor vehicles can still use the old road if they choose, but the majority of traffic is now whizzing by overhead.
I walked on this old road for about six miles. When I got off, I was about a mile or so from the town where I was supposed to stay tonight. It was only about 10:30 a.m. I figured that my place for the night surely must be on the other side of town, like when I stayed in Leon. I decided to check the GPS when I got to town. As I walked into town, there was a Hostal right on the side of the road and doing a land office business. (That is a phrase that my Daddy used to say. It means they were really busy. Land offices were where you registered your gold claims after someone would strike it rich and everyone would rush to town to claim their spot.) I sat on their bench and plugged the address into my GPS. It said I was 20 feet away from my destination. I was sitting on the bench in front of my Hostal! It had taken me about four hours to walk twelve miles! I think that is pretty good for a 58 year old with a sore ankle. So I have spent today resting said ankle. Tomorrow is another uphill climb for a few miles. I don't think it will be terribly steep, but we will see.
THURSDAY, 05 JUNE 2025
Ok, so you read yesterday's post and saw all I knew was that today's hike was uphill. That part was correct. I missed the mark on the not being too steep. Here is how my day went.
I left my hotel room in Trabadelo this morning at about six thirty. I had not been in too big of a hurry this morning. It was just getting light as I stepped out the Pilgrim door. This is what I call the door that lets Pilgrims who leave before everyone gets up. It is just a door that can be opened from the inside, but the outside stays locked. Since I have been on the Camino, I have stayed in several of these little hostals and I like them. I do have one question, however. All of these little mom and pop hostals except one have had hotel room doors that still lock with a key. I don't mind that at all. Here is my dilemma. When I leave early, what do I do with the room key? I have considered leaving it in the room, but the cleaning staff does not see me leave either so they won't know if I am still asleep or already gone if I leave the key in the room. I have left keys on the bars in the hotel and on various tables around the hotels, but there is not a good place to leave them of the Pilgrim door is not in the restaurant or near registration. So, I have just started leaving the key in the lock on the outside of the room door. I figure that if the cleaners see the key in the door, they will either find me gone or figure I am dead. It has worked so far.
After about 20 minutes of walking on the old road from yesterday, I figured out that today's climb was going to be much steeper than I had anticipated. It was not a technical climb, it was just going to be a very long uphill walk. I was not worried about it. This was the only thing to accomplish on my agenda today besides getting to my hostal tonight and getting myself fed. So up I went. The old highway gave way to a smaller two lane road that lasted for a couple of miles. At a literal fork in the road, the two lane road branched into two, one lane roads. There was a man and two ladies standing in the fork as I walked up. They needed a taxi for the man. He had had enough Camino walking this morning. I could not help her, but another lady walked by and told them to go to the bar in the tiny villiage down the hill. They could get a taxi for her man. The Camino followed the right lane down a hill and into a very small village. Honestly, there were not more than 15 buildings in the whole village and all of them were on this single lane road. When I got to the middle of the little village a taxi was pulling up and the man from the top of the hill was getting in. He knew what he wanted.
As the taxi driver pulled away, I saw a man leading a string of three horses. All three were saddled and bridled. I knew that horses can be ridden on the Camino and it counts toward a Pilgrim's mileage. That is what was happening here. This man had apparently rented two of the three horses to two Pilgrims and they were going to ride the horses up today's section.
When the one lane road ran out, it became a barely paved field road. All this time, the road was going up, it was just getting more and more narrow.
After about another mile, the field road turned off and it then became a dirt path straight up through the woods! The dirt path lasted for about a half mile. The dirt path abruptly ended in someone's back yard! Once out of the back yard, the Camino was back on a paved road in another tiny village at the top of a mountain. I was glad to see that village! It had a restaurant where I went and had a big plate of fried eggs and bacon with toast and a Coke! I had burned up all my original breakfast calories getting to this, the halfway point on the climb.
After eating and resting for about 30 minutes, I walked back outside and started up again. The Camino was maybe a little more flat at this point, but it was still predominantly uphill. I was walking on field roads that had been dug into the shoulders of the mountains. I was walking in the clouds. By now the Camino was again above 4,000 feet in altitude. I did not mind. The moisture and the breeze was keeping me cool. Just after eleven, I crossed out of the province of Leon and into the province of Galicia. This will be the last province for me on the Camino.
From here I started down. If you recall the beginning of this post, I said I had two things to accomplish, getting to the top of the mountain and getting to my reservation for tonight. I finished the first one ok. It took about four hours, but I got it done. The second one I messed up badly.
A few days ago when I was making a reservation for tonight, I made it for a town about three miles past O'cebreiro. My mistake was that I made the reservation three miles past O'cebreiro going the opposite way. I decided I would cancel that foolishness and stay in the municipal albergue in Hospital, Spain. It took two hours to get from O'cebreiro to Hospital. I got there, ate, took a shower and a nap. When I went to eat, I had just gotten into the restaurant when I heard a man yelling, a dog barking, and cows bawling. I looked out the door of the restaurant and the man and dog were bringing a heard of cows right through downtown. If you have ever been to Fort Worth, Texas when they drive the longhorn herd through town, you get the idea. All in all, it was a long, but good day!
FRIDAY, 6 JUNE 2025
Today is D-day plus 81 years. Imagine being 18 or 19 years old and being a part of the largest land invasion in the history of the world. I am sure that clarity came with time. I am also sure that on 6 June, 1944, every soldier in the Allied invasionary force was just trying to do his job and stay alive. 4,414 Allied troops were killed on 6 June, 1944 doing their part to defeat Germany and end the war in Europe.
I left the albergue this morning at 6:15. I have adjusted my schedule so that I basically get all of my walking done by early afternoon. I think this helps me keep my knees and ankles in good working order. Like I have said before, it is also much cooler at that time of the day so you can get more done with less heat. My walking goal for today was ten miles. It was supposed to be a few more miles today, but since I had the scheduling problem yesterday, today's walk got shorter. Today's ten miles will set me up to be in Sarria tomorrow. That is the official start of the last week of the Camino.
Historically, the different Camino routes from all over Europe converge in Sarria and then move on to Santiago. I have been told that from Sarria to Santiago is crowded. I look forward to seeing it. Pilgrims are required to get two stamps per day in their passports from Sarria to Santiago in order to get their Compostela, the certificate of completion of the Camino.
I made it to my destination of Triacastela at about ten thirty. Since my ankle is better, my walking speeds have improved as well. I am not fast by any means, but consistency in walking speed makes for pretty quick work of a day's walking.
I have been sitting in the sun on the side of the Camino for about an hour and a half with Mick. Mick is from England and is sixty years old. Like me, he is retired and completing the Camino was on his bucket list as well. We see each other every few days and say hello. We don't hike together. We just sometimes show up in the same place on the same day. I also saw Pete and Barb, the couple from Portland, Oregon whose son has just moved to Cumming, GA where I live. I have not seen them for about three weeks and now I have seen them twice in two days. I guess everyone is in sort of a funnel effect. Everyone is converging on Sarria and everyone that had been spread out over the last 400 miles is coming back together. I think that is kind of cool.
I have 11.6 miles to get to Sarria tomorrow. I will then have five sections left to complete. I will confess, it kind of makes me sad. I started planning this trip and year ago this August and now it is about over. I may take a couple of zero days. Let's see how it goes.
Today's hike ended at 400 miles. There are now 95 miles to Santiago.
SATURDAY, 7 JUNE 2025
I left my hotel at about 08:15 this morning. That is the latest I have left in a long time. I had scheduled a breakfast for this morning that started at 07:15 and I wanted to eat before I left. Yesterday I did not eat a lot and I needed to get some food in me for the hike to Sarria today. I am glad I took advantage of the breakfast for two reasons. The first reason was that it was very good. I had ham and some kind of cheese, toast made from fresh bread, peach jam, coffee and orange juice that had been inside an orange about five minutes before I walked into the room.
The second reason I was glad was because the lady running the breakfast room gave me a HUGE TIP! Not a monetary tip. She gave me a piece of very valuable information. As we were chatting, she asked if I was planning to hike to Sarria today. I said yes that was my plan. She told me that when I got to the west end of town, the Camino forked just like it had done on Wednesday. And just like the old lady on Wednesday, she told me to take the left fork because the right fork would send me up the mountain, also just like Wednesday! I said to her, "left it is, and thank you very much". Indeed, when I got to the western end of town, there were two Camino markers pointing opposite ways. I turned left like I knew what I was doing and did not even slow down. I even had a few people fall in and follow me because they were unsure which way to turn. Soon enough, we were once again spread out, each pilgrim hiking at his own speed.
The hiking was relatively flat today. There were no huge elevation changes to deal with or much road walking. Today's track seemed to be a series of very old roads with very old buildings scattered along the way. Some of the buildings looked to be houses, some looked to be farm buildings, some were five or six buildings like a tiny village. All of these were literally in the middle of the woods. There were graveyards that I passed and old church buildings that looked like they had not been used in a very long time. It seems like a long time ago people built houses and buildings and then perhaps moved away and the land never developed or expanded, and the woods just took back the land and now the buildings are sitting by themselves along the Camino. All in, it was a pretty walk through the woods and the fields today. There was a lot of shade and the Camino was in good shape. I walked into Sarria about 1:30 p.m. and my hotel was again right on the Camino. I ended my walk at mile 415. I have about 80 miles left to go.
