It was about a 5km walk before we found a bar Judy could have a coffee, and we could have a break. It was a nice sunny position, where we could stay warm. We walked though little villages that mostly seemed to be running dairy cows. One village (Padornelo) that had three houses in it, one of which was empty.

We had a short steep walk up to a bar, and we found Franz, who we have been bumping into for weeks. The last time we saw him was the Leon Cathedral.

We stopped for lunch at another little dairy farming town Fonfria, where a woman was running a little cafe by herself. It was good food, clean, and shows how lots of people in other little spanish camino towns could make a living as well.

After Fonfria it was relatively flat to Biduedo, after that the dreaded downhill began. Judy has posted before about walking downhill, but let me remind you, its hard on the feet. Even with walking poles to lessen the shock, 7km continuously downhill is difficult.

We made it to Triacastela, finding on the outskirts a 800 year old chesnut tree. We made it at about 5pm. We found the restaurant in town that had the most people in it (others were empty), and had a Menu del Dia (menu of the day) for 10 Euros each, which was nice.

leaving O’Cebreiro in the morning

the view north from O’Cebreiro

another pilgrim statue that occur often over the Camino de Santiago

the menu choices at a bar we passed

an 800 year old chesnut tree

We passed though  Vega de Valcarce, finding not one but two Supermercados (supermarket /convenience store). Getting closer to Santiago we find more and more Albergues and shops. It is very different from 300km back on the Mesata where we struggled to even get a baguette. We went 2 days once before we could buy bread.

We stopped in the sun for some Internet access, and then continued on upwards. We made it to La Faba for a rest. Later on about 1.5 km from La Faba I realised I had left my walking poles outside the shop where we had stopped at La Faba. I walked back, to find only one walking pole left. Some pilgrim is walking the Camino with one of my walking poles.

It was incredibly green. The hillsides are covered in green grass, grazed on by dairy cows.  We got to O’Cebreiro, leaving the Junta of Leon y Castillo, which we had been traveling through for weeks, and entering Galecia. The rest of the day was sunny, but as soon as the sun was covered in cloud, it was cold.

Judy buying books on eBay

leaving the A-6 highway, many metres above us

Cows in Herrerias, in the main street

Judy climbing towards La faba

The view from O'Cebreiro 1330 metres

monastery at O'Cebreiro where we stayed. Ours is the room with washing hanging out

We walked downhill into Villafranca del Bierzo, passing the castle. We found our way to the Plaza Mayor (main square) and found a nice cafe, when we got lunch (although at the time we thought it was still mid-morning).

After lunch we headed out of town up the Valcare valley. We are gradually working our way up to crossing another mountain range, this time only 1,330 metres at the highest. This afternoon it was getting as close as we could to the start of the real climb. We followed the N-VI which was actually a very quiet road, as it passed under several times the A-6 Autovia (highway).  We stopped at Pereje for a medicinal icecream (icecreams are cheap in Spain). We had another rest in Trabadelo where Judy donated her half kilogram book to the local Albergue, for someone else to read.

Eventually after what seemed a long day, after about 5:30pm we made it to the Albergue at La Portela de Valcarce.

Green hills of grape vines outside Villafrabca del Bierzo

Houses by the river at Villafranca del Bierzo

Looking back at Villafranco del Bierzo

vegetable garden by the side of the road

We spent a bit of time in Ponferrada, finding important things like coffee, a pharmacy, an ATM and an open bakery. And even though it didn’t open until later in the morning, we had a look at the magnificent 12th Century Templar castle. It has recently been extensively renovated and opened to the public. Any kid who loves castles and knights (ours both did) would be in their element there.

This weekend seems to have marked the start of the grape harvest. After we left Ponferrada, we walked through several little towns with vineyards between them, and there was a steady stream of tractors towing trailers full of grapes to the local co-op. Lots of other harvesting going on too, although we’re a bit puzzled by the crops of corn that has been left to rot in many places.

We’re staying at Cacabelos tonight, a town of around 6000, with many bars and cafes, although it was a bit difficult finding anywhere that actually served meals earlier than the usual 9.30pm. There are always plenty of people sitting at tables outside the cafes and bars, but on closer inspection, they are all just having a drink, none are actually eating.

We passed the 600km mark of our Camino today – less than 200kms to go now.

Walking past the Molinaseca albergue (in the dark before dawn) we found a row of bunk beds outside the Albergue. It was only about 2C at the time, so anyone sleeping on them would have had a cold night!

Looking down to Ponferrada at dawn

Ponferrada Castle - 13th Century Templar Castle - straight from Disneyland!

Copper downpipes in Ponferrada!

Looking back to the mountains we crossed over in the past few days

Only 195km to go to Santiago!

And from then on it was all downhill, but not in a good way.

Walking downhill is always more difficult than walking uphill. Loose stones can pull your feet from under you, and no matter how you approach it, long periods of walking downhill are really hard on the knees and toes. We both use our walking poles on downhill paths, and I’m sure they have saved us from a few slips and slides.

We walked through several pretty little villages, and saw a few more on the mountains on either side of us. Mostly stone buildings with black-painted slate roofs.

We had intended stopping at Ponferrada this afternoon, but by the time we reached Molinaseca, 8kms before Ponferrada, our knees were so shaky that we decided to call it a day earlier than we intended. We have done just over 20kms, and descended 950 metres today. We have one more high climb and steepish descent to do in a couple of days, then after that the terrain doesn’t seem to vary much more than a couple of hundred metres at a time, all the way to Santiago.

Judy at La Crus de Ferro leaving stones brought from Australia

Where we are now - about 8km east of Ponferrada

Judy walking towards the summit

The view from the mountains - Ponferrada in the distance

the Camino path dropping into Acebo, a mountain village

Tomorrow more climbing upwards.

Dry stone wall at Murias de Rechivaldo

a building made out of dry-stone, or at least very little mortar at Santa Catalina

We had a good nights sleep at the Ana Albergue, with not many people sleeping in the main room, and those wanting to leave early doing so quietly.

We set off at 8:15am, just after dawn, heading towards Hospital de Orbigo. Unfortunately the first 7km were still along the N-120, with lots of traffic. We got into Hospital de Orbigo, and crossed the Medievil Puente (bridge) built in the 13th century replacing an earlier Roman bridge. We obtained some lunch supplies, and when leaving bumped into Matt, a New Zealander we had last seen at dinner in Pamplona three weeks earlier. It is amazing how we keep bumping into pilgrims we thought had traveled way ahead of us, but we have caught up with.

We left Hospital, moving through Villares de Orbigo (ice cream stop), and then for lunch at Santibanez de Valdeiglesia. Judy is still having problems with a big blister on her heel, that has expanded up her ankle, so she spent time trying to improve things.

It was then an afternoon walk over the hills (away from roads!) until we got a great view of Astorga and the mountains behind Astoga. The mountains interest us, because over the next 3-4 days we are going to have to climb over them. We have been walking on relatively flat land for so many days, we wonder if we still have hill climbing muscles left

We slogged through suburbia (always tiring at the end of a day) into the old city of Astorga. We are staying in the main square (Plaza Mayor). We did 24.5km today.

Walking in cornfields towards Hospital de Orbigo

Looking towards Astoga in the distance, and the mountains we have to climb in the next few days

Things start to get busy at 7pm on Plaza Mayor Astorga - view from our hotel balcony

It was the darkest ever we have started our day, with many pilgrims using headlight torches to see.

We knew we had only 24km to walk, and that we were walking to a nice hotel room we had already booked in Leon. We got breakfast in a bar in Mansilla de las Mulas, which we would not have even seen if it wasn’t by chance seeing someone walking away from it with a bag of bread. It looked dark, and closed, but on closer inspection it was open and busy. Spanish retailing for you again, lots of pilgrims would have walked 100 metres away on the camino, and never known anything was open in town.

We got back on the road following the N-120 road, which we have been following or crossing for many days. Later in the morning we found an irrigation channel flowing with nice cold water – too good an opportunity to soak our feet.

We found a shelter at Arcahueja with a water fountain, and had lunch. We crossed a busy road that had previously been a dangerous crossing for pilgrims, that now had a nice new bridge.

We made it into central Leon, at an early 3:30pm.

Where we are on the Camino - at Leon

Spanish dance/rave party still going at 7:20am (still dark). There seems to be no noise enviroment laws in Spain!

Greg soaking his feet in the cold water of the irrigation channel

A Pilgrim statue in Mansilla de las Mulas

A new bridge for pilgrims, replacing a previously dangerous road crossing out of Leon

We left Sahagun at dawn (8am now) , and after wandering around the town centre of Sahagun, we found no shops open. It frustrates us the spanish attitude to retailing. In some little villages you will find an enterprising retailer who opens his shop early, and its packed with pilgrims buying supplies, food, cafe and more. However in the larger towns there is often nothing open before 9am, well after most pilgrims have left. So a hundred or so pilgrims left Sahagun this morning without any supplies for what for most was going to be a long day, walking past closed shops.

We needed to walk 30km + today, because they was a place to stay at 17.8km, (to short, putting us behind) or do 30.5km, and stay at Reliegos. We did 10km to Bercianos del Real Camino and did look for a shop that was meant to be there, but no luck, we continued on. It was cold and overcast, but no rain.

Another 7.5km got us to El Burgo Ranero, where we found a very helpful english speaking girl at the church who stamped our credentials and directed us to the Plaza Mayor (main town square), where there was a shop, and a fuente (water fountain), and seats, and the sun had come out to shine on us.

We got out our blue bowl and did our feet soaking in cold water, knowing we had 13km more to do. After a nice lunch, we headed of towards Reliegos, knowing there was nothing to stop at in between.

We met on the way Otto, a Nuclear Physist from Germany, how had restarted his Camino from Sahagun, which he had stopped at a couple of years ago. It was a long drag up to Reliegos, with our feet aching well by the time we got there. We were lucky again, we got in just, with the hospitalerro turning away 5 bike riders after we got in. However we did note that another walker was let in later, confirming that they treat walkers more favorably than bike riders.

We got a bed in a big room with mattresses on the floor, and had dinner at the local Bar Gil with Otto.

the long 13km long stretch to Reliegos

the overflow sleeping room at Reliegos (the main rooms with bunks were already full)

our pilgrim credentials - we need these to get into albergues, and get them stamped at every place we stay

We left Saint Jean Pied du Port in France three weeks ago today.

We left our hostel room today at 9:00am (without breakfast) aiming for a 23km day. We headed up the road towards Carrion de los Condes, along the same boring track alongside the road. Arriving we found an information booth where a young lady told us where to find the Ferreteria(Hardware shop) and a Panaderia (Bakery) for breakfast.

At the Ferreteria we bought a plastic bowl to soak our feed in cold water. This treatment has been so good for our tendonitis, that we decided carrying a big plastic bowl around was not completely crazy.

While at the bakery we bought (for breakfast) Chocolate croissants, apple triangles, Baguettes(for lunch), and a cold Pizza slice (for Judy). We then went to a Supermercado (Supermarket), which is actually the size of a small convenience store in Australia, and got more supplies.

The reason we needed all the supplies is we had to do a 17.5km section with no towns after Carrion.

We left town, stopping to pick up water at a fuente (water fountain), and try soaking our feet in our new bowl. We followed a narrow country lane until it became a gravel track that covers an old Roman road built 2000 years ago, and still in great condition. The Roman road is built above the flood plain, and is constructed of 100,000 tonnes of rock that was brought in from elsewhere. Even though we are at 850 metres the area is very flat, covered in wheat fields.

It was a mostly cloudy day, which threatened to rain, but never did. We are both still suffering from foot problems. Judy with a new blister on her heel, and me with a couple of sore toes.

We made it to Caldadilla de la Cueza, looked at the Albergue with 100 beds in 2 rooms, and decided to hotfoot it to the luxury of the hostel.

The boring Camino de Santiago track out of VilalCazar

Shopping at the Supermercado in Carrion de los Condes

Greg carrying the new bowl, plus the usual drying washing

The 12km Roman Road

Arriving at Caldadilla de la Cueza

After a great nights sleep in Saint Nicolas church, and a candle-lit breakfast we set off as the sun was rising at 8:00am. We set off in cool overcast conditions, again nice for walking.After not managing to find a bakery (panderia) in Itero de la Vega, we continued on. We crossed a canal (canal pisuerga) on the way up to another (not very high) hill, although we are still walking at around 850 metre level.

We dropped off the hill down into Boadilla del Camino, which had nothing open, and seemed deserted. The track joined Canel de Castilla, and we followed along it for 3km which made for a change of scenery.

Eventually we reached Fromista, a fairly touristy town (bus loads of tourists seemed to be working their way though). After much walking past many restaurants I eventually found a bakery, and bought 2 baguettes. After lunch we both soaked our feet in the fountain, our new cure for our feet problems.

We had done nealy 18km, but we knew we had to do at least another 13km. There is a long stretch of 17.5km with no towns or Albergues tomorrow, so it was either walk 30+km today or walk 30+km tomorrow. So it was off up the road along a somewhat boring trail that followed the road. The cloud cover thinned, and it started to get hot. We stopped at one roadside stop where we soaked our feet in the fuente (water fountain) to keep our feet going. We passed a young italian man, with a polish girl, who was having tendonitis problems as well (we had talked to him about it yesterday).  There are a lot of people on the Camino suffering it.

We eventually made Villacazar de Sirga at 5:15pm. We booked a hostel room, which had a big bath, that we both soaked our feet in cold water.

Puente Itero Bridge

Judy soaking her feet in the fountain at Fromista

Walking along the Canal Del Castilla

Some of the things we have observed about people riding the Camino de Santiago by bike.

1. They travel in groups, rarely individually. Sometimes in groups as large as 10.

2. They often do not warn people they are going to pass people.  This cause you always to be expecting a bike rider to suddenly appear. We have been walking side by side, and had a bike rider pass between us with no warning!

# Bike riders passing on a narrow track on the Camino de santiago. The road was only 100 metres away, and we ended up rejoining it, but they had to ride now the track, forcing pilgrims to stop to let them pass.

A thread on a Camino forum about Bike Riders here

Leaving around 10am we left Burgos stopping for breakfast a a bakery along the way. Leaving Burgos was much nicer than entering Burgos. We walked though a park, past a gaol, and soon we were back in the country-side. We stopped for Lunch in Tarjardos. Walking from Tarjardos to Rabe, we met Maria, who gave us advice on the best Albergue to stay in at Rabe.

We are staying at the Santa  Marina albergue, after walking a mere 12km.

Sitting outside the Albergue writing the blog

Judy's white feet

It was cold walking, but after about 5 km we found a bakery for breakfast and cafe americano (coffee) at Atapuerca. We fired up the laptop connected to our wireless broadband and booked a hotel for Burgos for 2 nights, hoping that a days rest might cure my foot problems. Off we went for a climb over another 1050 metre hill (we had started at 900 metres), for a great view of Burgos in the distance. We stopped for lunch in Orbaneja eating our Bagette that we had bought that morning (finding out that it was yesterdays bake), having it with Pate (Judy) and leche condensa (condensed milk) for me.

We then entered the suburbs of Burgos, for what was a hot, long exhausting walk through the industrial areas of Burgos. We eventually got closer to the city centre to find a bike race about to start in Burgos. The Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos, the roads were closed off, and we almost got caught within the track.

At 5:30pm we finally made it to our hotel – after starting at 7:15am. A nice sleep in tomorrow and rest day.

Greg booking a hotel room on the netbook in a park

Burgos in the distance

It rained in the morning, but by the time we left at 9:00am it had stopped and we had a great day of cool walking. The temperature never got above 20C. We seemed to meet a lot of pilgrims on the trail today, and when we got to Santo Dominigo at a bit before 4pm, the first Albergue was already full. We are staying at the Hostel run by the Nuns at the back of the albergue. We did 23km today.

some white wine we bought for dinner at 69 euro cents - about a $1 Australian!

Greg carrying a baguette for lunch.

Filling water bottles at the fuente (water fountain)

Judy got pan (bread) from the local bakery, and we found a nice seat in shade outside the cementario to have late breakfast.  The camino path didn’t quite follow the guide we had, and we spent a long time walking along a path next to the freeway. We had taken about 3 litres of water between us, but we were to find that this wasn’t enough. So many pilgrims take very little water, maybe 500ml for 8km of walk in hot sun. We heard a story of 2 american girls that just took cups to drink out of every fuente (water fountain). If its 8km between fountains though you can get into trouble, as they did. Too many pilgrims skimp on carrying water to save weight, and do not appreciate the dangers. We were asked on this stretch for water from another pilgrim.  It must be because we come from Australia, and appreciate the dangers of not enough water.

We made to Najera at 4pm having walked 17km.

We headed out across the plains towards Logrono. It was Sunday and almost everything in Logrono was closed. We now see how walking on concrete and roads is so much harder on the feet than walking on dirt paths. Walking across town was hard on the feet. It was warm again, but we did get some shade from the buildings.

We stopped for an ice cream (and cafe for judy) at a kiosk at the Planto de La Granjera.

The afternoon was hot again (30C) as we walked up the hill towards Navarette. We had booked a hotel room in Naverette, which we need to do every few days so we can get a decent nights sleep.

We had tapas and dinner at Bar Deportivo, which was fantastic, well worth the 12 euros each for 3 courses. Total distance 23km

the concrete walking track leaving Logrono. The track is so hard on the feet that thousands of pilgrims have worn a track in the dirt next to the track

It was raining, yet very humid and warm.  Eventually after an hour or so it stopped, but remained cloudy, and humid (about 25C)

Bridge at Puenta La Reina

We had lunch at Cirauque, a nice hilltop town. We spend lunchtime talking to Edith, a New Zelander, who was doing the Camino for the 2nd time.

Cirauqui in the distance

The weather turning hot and sunny again (as it seems to do nearly every afternoon), and it was a hard slog to Estelle. We did not arrive at Estella unti 7:15pm.

The path up to Alto del Purdon - with Wind Turbines on the ridge

The whole ridge is covered in Wind Turbines, and there was  a monument to pilgrims at the top.

We continued down the other side, standing clear occasionally to avoid the mountain bike riders that are also doing the Camino (although much faster than us).

Along the side of the paths are lots of plants, including Blackberries, that as we get further west, are more likely to be ripe.

Judy had a cafe solo grande (long black coffee) in Utegra, and we detoured to Eunate to see an octaganol church that was linked to the knights templar.

We had lunch that we carried with us, and then continued via Obanos, and then to Puente La Reina, where we had a buffet dinner. The was the first buffet dinner in Spain, as normally thay operate on a fixed 3 course menu. Total of 17km for the day.

About 3:15pm in the afternoon we reached Zariquiegui, having done about 11km. It is a very nice privately run Albergue, that provided accomodation for 10 euros including breakfast. They also did dinner for 10 euros which was great around the big dining table.

Walking out of Pamplona with washing drying on the rucksack

A couple of blogs and forums with useful infomation on spanish broadband are The Laptop Junction with information on the bleeding edge of traveling with a laptop, and the prepaid gsm forum, which will probably have new deals.

UPDATE:

Well we have been using Yoigo for about 2 weeks and it is working well. Only once have be blown our 100Mb download limit, and that was when we were stationary for one day. We have been charged 2 Euro a day, which is the current deal with Yoigo if you recharge more than 20 Euros. We have had mostly fast broadband with only a few out of the way places giving us only GPRS, or sometimes EDGE. GPRS has been more common in the mesata – between Burgos and Fromista. However GPRS has been fine for email, especially if we use the Flock brower rather than Firefox.

You can check you remaining balance on MyYoigo, and we successfully recharged our account online at Yoigo

UPDATE 2: We completely lost mobile broadband between Santa Catalina de Somoza and Molinseca. we could pick up an EDGE signal, but it either would not connect or would not stay connected. Once we got down the mountains to Molinaseca we got back to full rate mobile broadband.

Greg outside The Phone House Pamplona

Old city of Pamplona - lots of people about at 7:30pm