We haven’t written much about the nuts and bolts of food and accommodation on our two Caminos. If only for my own memory, I would like to make a few general comments, first about our lodging and later about dining. I know I’m going to cause some head-shaking among our more frugal friends, but we have become unapologetic Gucci-rinos. Many pilgrims on the Camino stay ...
Giving our respects to Santiago in Soto de Luiña I arrived in Avies covered in grease after Grandma Friday’s Chain came off of a third time. By 4:00 I had dropped her off at the repair shop to get a full tune up. What a difference, now she has a good range of seven gears. We have had two beautiful days of riding. Little ribbons ...
Gordon, Grandma and I A tough section of stony Roman road, not recommended for bikes. I have reconciled with Grandma Friday after a few misunderstandings. We have been together for a long time, so naturally one expects a few bumps along the way. She explained it all to me more calmly after throwing her chain off in a fit of frustration, and forcing me to ...
Walt and I. Some people are just made of different stuff than the rest of us. Generally I feel like I am pretty fit and strong for a woman of my age, but there a lots of women on the Norte who are in their sixties and seventies. Unlike me most of them don’t coast down the hills on a bicycle, but make the way ...
Today we had a lovely walk through rolling hills that took us to the seaside town of Comillas by early afternoon.From the second half of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th, Comillas was a popular summer place for Spanish royalty and the aristocracy. This has left a rich legacy of mansions and other structures from this period. Our particular interest was in ...
We planned a short (12 km) walk into Santillana del Mar today. Santillana is a very pretty character village that was swarming with tourists when we cycled through in 2014, but in the shoulder season it was a pleasure to wander around. We also have the benefit of staying in a palace - literally, an 18th century palace stuffed with art and antiques. We have ...
We missed a lot of the coast on our cycle trip along the Camino del Norte in 2014. The last two days of walking, biking and pushing have been varied and simply stunning. We followed tracks around headlands, crossed beaches on boardwalks, and of course, climbed steep roads up into the mountains. I’ve accepted that I just have to walk up the steeper climbs now that ...
Leaving Bilbao this morning. Gordon: In a marked change from our first six days on the Camino del Norte, today’s walk was mostly flat and moderate in length. (Yesterday I walked 31 kms, with almost 1000 metres of climbing, an experience my knees were not keen to repeat.) Today we walked along the shore of Bilbao’s harbour before crossing the waterway and continuing some distance to the small ...
I’m sitting in the square in the shade of the Santiago Cathedral in Bilbao. Gord should be along any minute, but this is a lovely place to wait. As the signs have told us since we started the Camino del Norte, we are not in Spain, we are in Basque County. Yesterday we passed through the town of Munitibar, the self-proclaimed heart of Basque Country. ...
Grandma Friday and I having a rest Unfinished business on the Camino del NorteI’m feeling a bit like Sisyphus. After finishing the Via de La Plata, we took a 12 hour bus ride to Irún so that we could once again make our way to Santiago. We clearly need help. We struggled trying to decide which Camino route to do next. There are pros and cons ...