Last night we stayed in Albergue Don Antonio y Doña Cinia. We were In a room for 20 but there were only five perigrinos for the evening. We couldn’t find a restaurant so we got take out empanadas and wine and relaxed at the Albergue. We actually both slept fine until. 6:30 am. We shared our wine with a nice Philippine woman, Clara, who now lives in Seattle. She started in September in Roncesvalles and is taking her time.

We were packed and tossed out into the dark at 7:30. We stopped for café con leche and zumo de naranja and waited for sunrise. We progressed out and came across a cute statue.

We then came to the place where the Camino divides and tried to take the scenic route but we found that the arrows had been messed with and we found ourselves on the road route. It was noisy, but safe since we walked on paths near the road, not on it. We stopped for coffee in Valverde de la Virgen and saw a newer church with giant stork nests and Alpha and Omega hanging from the cross

After 8 miles, we stopped for lunch in Villadangos del Páramo and decided that 8 miles was good for the first full day of walking. Collapsed in a hotel room and slept until morning.

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Long day. We left Boston at 5:30 pm and arrived in Madrid around 5:30 am, (6 hours flying and six hours of tome diff). By the time we got our packs and repacked for carrying it was 7 am. We got train tickets to León, took the train downtown at 7:30 and waited until 1040 for the train to León.

Got into León at 1330 and started to walk. We resisted walking past the Parador lest we succumb to the temptation that got to the perigrinos in The Way. I did take a picture as we passed near it anyway.

We then continued out of León on the Camino.

Continuing on, we walked past a small chapel dedicated to St James, and a small collection of bodegas, or underground houses.

We arrived in Virgen del Camino and checked in at the Albergue de Don Antonio y Doña Cinia. We showered and did laundry and then went out and tried and failed to find a restaurant. We got empanadas and wine and had them at the Albergue kitchen. We shared wine with Clara from Seattle and the Philippines (more on her later).
Less than 5 miles walking today. We will take it easy for a few days until we recover our Camino legs.

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We are at Logan Airport having finished packing and driving down, with a brief stop at REI. My pack weighs 17 pounds and Susan’s is around 11.

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Susan and Tom will fly from Boston to Madrid on Thursday the 24th of October and take a high speed train to León and restart our Camino.

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In time for spring.

A Cornell Pink Azalea.

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Bronchitis has gotten the best of me and we are going to fly home soon. We will resume the Camino in the fall.

In the meantime we are staying in the Parador San Marcos (PRS-60-6). It is absolutely amazing. It is probably where the people took a hotel break in the movie “The Way”. It has been many things over the centuries. Here are some shots of the outside.

The Cafeteria is quite something. It has a Mujédar ceiling that is quite amazing.

Here are some shots from the cloister which is near our room and finally a shot of the gardens from our balcony.

A view of the hotel.

While in León, we met the lawyer from Atlanta we had dined with in Los Arcos as well as Mallory, whom we had dined with in Frómista

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We were planning to walk to Carrión de Los Condes, but realized that the church here should not be missed so we stopped in Villalcázar. More on that later. We stopped for breakfast at Población de Campos. After that while on the Camino path right by the road we were temporarily surrounded

We continued to Villarmentero de Campos for lunch at a rural bar. It was here that we met Emilio.

We relaxed and did some laundry and at 7 went up to Iglesia de Santa María la Blanca (PRS-49-1). We attended the mass and looked around. Here are some exterior shots and the Santiago Retalbo.

We are having dinner now and will have an early evening.

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10 mile or so walk. Could have gone a little further but not sure of the next few places. We started after breakfast and walked to Boadilla, where we had an early lunch (hamburguesa) and then continued to walk through the Alta Meseta, a very level place. Here is a stork on top of the church at Boadilla.

This is an old dovecote. The farmers like doves because they eat insects, poop fertilizer and are good to eat.

We then walked along the canal until reaching Frómista.

Once in Frómista we ran into a young lady, Katie, from Ohio and CA with whom we had had dinner the previous evening. 31 years old and finishing up a Masters degree. We also ran into the Swedish couple whom we had seen in Los Arcos and Logroño. We toured to San Martín church. It is a Romanesque church built in 1066 and restored around 1900. The intricate figures on the outside are amazing.

We went to the Pilgrim Mass at San Pedro and were given a special individual blessing after. It was quite moving. We had dinner at a nice Castillian restaurant with Katie and her friend Mallory. Then to bed.

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Full 12.5 mile including a meseta climb which featured 1050 meters with 12% grade. The first place we came to was the ruins of the hospital San Antón (PRS-45). Lots of carvings around the doorway although they are in pretty rough shape.

The next town is Castrojeriz (PRS-46). We had lunch at a bar next to Ex-colegiata de Santa María del Manzano. It being Monday nothing was open to look around, but here are two of the entrances.

High on the hill above Castrojeriz is a castle which has history back to Julius Caesar or Pompey and later Visigoths, Moors and Christians.

On the way out if town, we passed the Iglesia de Santiago de Los Cabelleros and were reminded of our own mortality.

After leaving Castrojeriz we were confronted with the big hill. 12% grade on the way up and 18% on way down. Spectacular views from up here though.

One thing I have noticed is that Don Quijote would have plenty of opponents here…Every hill has a large number of wind turbines. After getting down from the meseta, we managed to get to Itero del Camino having left the province of Burgos and entered Palencia.

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Full 12 mile day. We left Rabé around 8 am and went over a meseta into Hornillos and then over another meseta into Hontanas. The Albergue Mesón el Fontado in Hontanas was a very old building built right into the hill. Here are some meseta shots and a picture from our room.

We had time in the afternoon to enjoy beer in the sun. We had a nice talk with a peregrino from Vancouver and a long talk with Andrew from Great Britain, with whom we also had dinner. We gave him one if our Camino cards and got his contact information also.

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