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 ...
More pictures to come… having some technical difficulties The route into Santiago on the Camino Sanabres is the best approach by far of any caminos we have done. At three kilometres from the Cathedral we were still going up and down in a very rural landscape. At one kilometre we popped into the city proper. My bike was starting to slip out of its gears more ...
Our pilgrim friends are now walking into Santiago each day. They take the required photo in front of the Cathedral which they text to the group. Sometimes they share a few thoughts about the impact of the Camino before they send their heartfelt goodbyes. Enrique (Hervé in France) posted his picture with a comment that in all our time together we never shared why we were ...
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] Our three night recuperation stay in Ourense was very pleasant. The city is on the Miño River, which downstream forms the northern border of Portugal, as well as defining the vinho verde production area. The Miño cuts a deep trench in this part of the country, which meant our ears were popping as we descended by taxi. At only 100 metres, ...
In Puebla de Sanabria Ruth tested herself and determined that she had COVID. That day I had a mild headache, but I felt I had escaped with a near asymptomatic case. We spent three nights in Sanabria, chafing under the knowledge that we were falling behind our Camino friends. Feeling better, on the morning of the fourth day we bolted from our confinement. The following ...
It’s COVID of course, but you won’t hear it mentioned on the Camino unless you are talking to me. I am recovering from COVID, and yes I know it was COVID, because I took a rapid test when I was first ill and those two red bars on the test popped up right away. Everyone else who is hacking and fighting a “cold” are walking ...