I have eight minutes on the machine and will start an entry, to be finished tomorrow with pictures.

The walk from Hospital de Orbigo to Astorga is not long. After going through two small but prosperous farm villages, one climbs onto the meseta, the Altos, where the fields are wide and long and there is no habitation. Finally one comes to the Cross of Turibio, the location on the western edge of the plateau where one first sees Astorga and its cathedral.

Arriving in Astorga at the end of days walk, there is nothing more enjoyable than imbibing a beer in the square while waiting for the noble figures, one on each side of the bell suspended over the Ayuntamiento, hammer the strokes of the hour. The Episcopal Palace was designed by Gaudi whose capacity for creating interesting spaces inside a building was unsurpassed. One almost wishes that the contents of the museum inside were removed so one could enjoy the palace as Gaudi created it. Next door is the cathedral, again under continuous renovation. Its high, high arches always take one´s breath away.

León to Hospital de Órbigo

Yesterday and today we have been walking along beside Highway N120 which connects Leon with Astorga. We were always on a path dedicated to the pilgrims, but most of the time too close to the highway to be pleasant. Tonight we are in Hospital de Órbigo, and tomorrow will leave the highway far away to one side.

Just beyond the outskirts of Leon we stopped at the Santuario of the Virgen of the Camino, the patron of León. The baroque statue of the Virgen inside the sanctuary belongs to the middle ages, but the building and its neo-gothic apostles on the facade are only fifty years old. We were fortunate to arrive while mass was being performed. Wandering about the interior we were startled to find a chapel dedicated to the Virgen of Guadalupe, the patron of Mexico. We chatted with the Arturo, the resident priest, who had studied in Encarnita's home city of Granada and learned that a very important benefactor for the sanctuary for many years had been a family from Mexico.

Altar, Virgen del Camino

Facade, Virgen del Camino

Apostles, Virgen del Camino

In San Martin we stopped for a snack in a delightful albergue, Albergue Santana. Whereas the standard albergue provides only dormitory style accommodation in rooms that hold 30 or 40 pilgrims, Benito, the owner, had concluded there were many pilgrims like us. His establishment provides a number of rooms with two beds, some with a double bed, and a private bathroom and shower. The entire facility was very modern and well equipped.




The long romanesque bridge at Hospital de Orbigo has a story to tell. Well back in the middle ages, an important noble, Seur de Quiñones, was a prisoner of love. The lady who was the target of his affection continued to resist his suit. To break free, Quiñones and his eight knights challenged any and all to combat with lances. Challengers came from all over Spain and from other countries. For a week, on the field that lies at the foot of the bridge, knights engaged in jousting and several hundred combat engagements took place. When score was taken at the end of the week, and all this was recorded by a notary of the time, one knight from Navarre had been killed. The very definite edge Quiñones and his supporters had in the outcomes enabled Quiñones to feel freed from his prison of love. He then went to Santiago de Compostela and gave to the cathedral the bracelet he had wanted to present to his lady. To this day, the bracelet forms part of the high altar.

Leon is a jewel of a city.


I learn more about the Basilica of San Isidoro each time I visit it. It is not just the frescoes. It has been central to the history of Leon and of Spain for many centuries. Its library houses a series of tenth and twelfth century Bibles, the earliest in visigothic script, produced by the mozarabes, Christians living under the tolerant hand of the Moorish rulers.




One goes back and back again to the cathedral, to catch the play of the changing light through the stained glass windows. The vaults of its ceilings reach up to extraordinary heights.



Encarnita went to mass a second time on Sunday. She had not realized that the large church that forms part of the Hostal had a Sunday afternoon service.





Hostal San Marcos








Today, Monday, we had to leave. Sending ahead by post some literature we had collected en route in an effort to keep the weight in our packs down, and recharging our cell phone at an ATM, we left Leon. Exiting the city is a drearier process than I remembered. When Bill and I did the Camino it was fall, and we were most days underway an hour before it became light. Perhaps that is why my memory is not so jaded.

We followed close to the highway that connects Leon with Astorga, until we reached the town of Villadongas de Paramo, where we are now. The weather has been most favourable: sunny blue sky with some clouds, little wind and a coolish temperature. Great for walking.

Tomorrow we will go to Hospital de Orbigo, site of a wonderful story from the days of knights and chivalry. The day after we will be in Astorga.

From Burgo Ranero we had another day´s walk across the Tierra de Campos (equivalent to the "prairies") to Mansilla de las Mulas. We took advantage of the late afternoon to have a taxi drive us out to the church of San Miguel de la Escalada. It was built in the eleventh or twelfth century immediately after the Christian king retook the territory from the Moors. The local people were quickly converted back to Christianity, but their artisans and workmen knew only moorish construction designs and techniques. As a result the church is completely moorish in style, horseshoe arches and all.





Today we left the plains and arrived in the city of Leon. This cathedral always exerts a greater presence in reality than it does in one´s memory. The stained glass high in the vaults of this masterpiece of gothic architecture is breathtaking. I couldn´t wait for tomorrow, and returned to the cathedral as soon as we had checked in to the Hostal San Marcos.






Tomorrow morning we will visit the romanesque Basilica of San Isidoro with its very old but well preserved frescoes. Tonight and tomorrow night we stay in the Hostal of San Marcos, one of the "must see" visits for any tourist in this region. Its entry facade, its lobbies and layout, its cloister and church are memorable. The meal in its dining room was exquisite. A definite high-light for the pilgrim.

Yesterday our grand-daughter, Gabriela, was confirmed into our faith.
Congratulations!!

And, coming up is the birthday of our grandson, Nicholas.
Four years old on Tuesday.
Happy, happy birthday, Nicholas.

FROM YOUR ABUELITA AND ABUELITO.

Today we walked 17 kilometres from Sahagun to Burgo Ranera, a small farming town. Tomorrow we walk the same distance to Mansilla de las Mulas, a somewhat larger farming town. All very much in a straight line. Today there was only one town between breakfast and supper; tomorrow there will be another, somewhere between lunch and tea time.

The path unfolds in a white gravel straight line mile after mile all the way to the distant horizon. Immediately on our left is a neverending row of plane trees; on the other side of the plane trees, vast ploughed fields of red earth alternating with light green fields of young oats. Underneath our path is an extensive irrigation system that can be tapped into for the benefit of the crops.

On our right, on the other side of the grass, is an asphalt road, so narrow and so little used it has not even been deemed worthy of having kilometre markers installed. A half mile farther over is the new auto-route; two miles the other side of that is the alternate route, the Roman Trajan route that runs in parallel to our path for 25 kilometres or so from Sahagun until they rejoin at Reliegos.

The weather was a mixture of blue sky and sun, and scudding white clouds. We were walking into a strong westerly wind, and the temperature was chilly. Hour after hour of the same.

It is on this stretch through Castille, from Burgos to Leon, with its enormous lack of variety that makes one wonder why one has decided to walk the whole way? But on Saturday, the day after tomorrow we will be in Leon. And on Sunday we will have the opportunity of enjoying the exquisite stained glass windows of the city´s gothic cathedral, and the frescoes of its romanesque Basilica of San Isidoro. One can revive and relive the sense of anticipation that the medieval pilgrims, traveling under much more difficult conditions, must have had as their journey took them to the west.

Today we walked a short distance from San Nicolas del Real Camino to the old city of Sahagun with its distinctive architecture. Control of this part of the peninsula shifted back and forth between the Christians and the Moors. When King Alfonso VI and the Christians took over in the eleventh century, they offered the moors the right to continue living there if they converted to Christianity. Those who converted were called "mudejars". Naturally Alfonso wanted churches erected. The only artisans available, however, were skilled in building according to the Moorish tradition. As a result the early churches are all built of thin red flat bricks, and display the typical Moorish arches.

Tonight is the big football game: Barcelona versus Valencia for the Copa del Rey. Game starts at 10:00 pm.

The marker on the other side of the road marks the halfway point from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela. 400 kilometres away in each direction.

Last night Encarnita and I were now situated in Calzadillas de la Cueza, a small village on the plains of Palencia, la Tierra de los Campos. We followed a straight road for 17 kilometres that was devoid of towns and houses. The occasional farm building and irrigation equipment beside the track was all that revealed the human touch.

Yesterday we reached our destination just before the rains came. Today the weather held, and we had a beautiful walk along back farm roads. The land is slightly more undulating than it was yesterday, and the wheat is further along in its annual progress. Away off to the north we can see the line of the Cantabrian Mountains, which we will meet later in our journey.

Tonight we have the only private room in a small albergue with a beautiful patio and, the young woman who runs it promises me, has an excellent kitchen.

It is now Monday, the 11th of May and we have just arrived in Calzadilla de la Cueza, having walked across broad, flat plains for the last 16 kilometres.

We are finding access to the internet to be infrequent, and very difficult to upload photographs, of which we are taking plenty.

Hermitage of San Nicolas




Our longest walk took place a couple of days back when we left Castrojeriz. Vast fields with this years crop just starting. Coincidences always occuring. The waiter in a restaurant Bill Hunter and I had eaten in six years before immediately identified me as Canadian; he still has a relationship with the young Canadian woman he was interested in the first time we met him. Bouncing into the restaurant came Alejandro Sandoval, whom I would call the ambassador-at-large for Itero de la Vega. We had met him six years before when he was sitting on the edge of a field way out in the country, making a census of pilgrims: 2 Canadians, 1 Belgian, 3 Spaniards, and so on. This time he entered the room in a merry mood, danced with the youngest woman he could find, and picked up the conversation with us.

Bridge over Rio Pisuerga, that serves as the boundary between Burgos and Palencia.















Fromista, 25 kilometers after Castrojeriz (all in one day), has two beautiful churches, a romanesque basilica whose lines are perfect, and a tall gothic structure. Then we were on to Villalcazar de Sirga, with its enormous church, testimony to richer times in the past.

Encarnita and I are now back on the Camino. We had a boisterous dinner with friends in Madrid. Bus next day to Burgos. Sightseeing two marvellous monasteries: Cartuja de Miraflores and the Royal Monastery of Las Huelgas. Then on to the Camino Frances in the direction of Leon and Santiago. Two easy days from one camino town to another, before a longer day of 18 kilometers to Castrojeriz. The unending fields stretching out with their spring crops only recently emerging from the soil. Birds and bird songs all day long. The bluest sky you could imagine.

If I am lucky I will be able to post two pictures of the typical towns. A long single street with a row of houses on each side, fields behind. The heart we found today, a creation of Brian, the reikai master whom we met last year.

Here we are, rushing about in the second half of Saturday afternoon, preparing to leave this evening for Madrid and Burgos to begin the second stage of our Camino. Last year we finished in Burgos, El Cid's cathedral city; Tuesday we will set out on foot to the west: Castrojeriz, Leon, O'Cebreiro and finally Santiago.
Organizing for a two month absence leads to a frenzy of activity, including many details that one would normally put off for tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that. We are both looking forward to a gin and tonic on the plane, contemplating the peacefulness that comes with knowing that all we have to do during the day is walk fifteen or twenty kilometres, find a place to stay, and enjoy a meal. Cannot wait.