A Camino Surprise

Eighteen months ago I wrote about a chat Ruth had with an elderly Spanish gentleman named Dunicio (see November 1, 2014 post). It was about 2 hours out of Sarria where we had met him, and he had asked Ruth to pray for him and his wife Castora. Ruth had done just that when she reached Santiago, and many times since. So today we watched for him as we walked this segment. For a good while we felt that we must have passed his home, and it seemed so unlikely that he would be out at just the moment we were there.

Then, on the road ahead, was an old man walking toward us. No cows or dog with him this time. He didn't look quite the same, but we stopped him and ask his name, and as he spoke we realized it was him. I showed him the short video I had taken of him in 2014. Ruth asked about Castora. "Si, si, Castora bien.". We shared a few laughs despite the language barrier and his hearing loss.

He gave us two more walnuts.

We will continue to pray for them.

Here is the picture I took in 2014, in the excitement today we did not get the camera out this time.

Day 29 and 30 - To Samos and San Mamede

Two more beautiful days. Much of yesterday's walk down from Fonfria was clouded in fog, but the sun burned it off just before we reached Triacastela, and the walk to Samos was one of the prettiest afternoons ever.

One more important item from the Fonfria visit. Ruth noticed a picture of a baby on the wall near the desk of our host Miguel. He and his wife were indeed the proud parents of the 8 month old baby boy. This boy was not only special to them, but to the whole village, for it was the first baby born to the families of Fonfria in 22 years!  Most of the young people move to the bigger cities, and Miguel told us the farming life will disappear from this area once the older generation is gone. The Camino has provided his family a way to stay in the small town.

The Benedictine monastery in Samos is very impressive. It once had 100 monks in residence. Now there are 8, all of whom participated in the 7:30 pm Mass in the surprisingly cold church.

Today is our 30th day of walking on this trip, and as a reward to ourselves, we walked a very short day. We are at a highly recommended albergue in San Mamede.  It has a very comfortable common area, and a sunny courtyard in which we are relaxing at the momment. It's a bit difficult to not feel bad for the passers-by, looking at us while they move with obvious pain and fatigue. Many of them stop at the long gravel entrance to consider whether or not to stop. The three shaded hammocks seem to call out. Most go on. The major town of Sarria is just an hours walk, and it also has it's appeal.

We enter the land of the "tiny little backpacks and great big shells" tommorrow.

Quote from RA's journal: "How many verses of 'How Great Thou Art' will it take to get me up this hill?"

There's a beautiful valley down there somewhere

The fog lifts

The large monastery of Samos

A muralled hall of the monastery

Much of these two days was through dense forest on nice trails,

With more up and down than this picture shows

We are always thankful for a place to stay, 

Especially so when it is this nice

Day 27 and 28 -To Ruitelan and Fonfria

A fantastic two days. First, over a mountain, and then over a mountain range. We left Villafranca and started straight up a very steep road on Tuesday morning.  The route leveled out about 1000 feet above the valley floor in the middle of a recently burned area (it has burned since our 2012 visit).

The valley name, Valcarce, is derived from the Latin for narrow valley, valle carcere. The hardest part of the hike was the desent into Trabadelo, reminding us of the narrow valley. We continued to the little town of Ruitelan and the albergue Pequeno Potala. There were 9 of us who shared the evening meal of soup, salad, and pasta - it seems this is the standard pilgrim meal.

Wednesday we crossed the mountain pass into Galicia, the province of northwest Spain. It was the last big climb of our trip, although the up and down will continue through the hills to Santiago. We are in one of the best refuges on the Camino, Albergue A Reboliera in Fonfria (Cold Spring). There are 10 of us in the common area sharing our stories and trying to plan the next few days (there are several more folks taking naps, doing laundry, etc). It is SO nice to have a comfortable sitting area in which to relax in the late afternoon.

Ruth and I agreed the weather was perfect. A little frost on the grass this morning, and just warm enough for our final few kilometers mid-day.
Quote from RA's journal: As Sarria nears, the excitment level in the pilgrims increases.

A selfie on Tuesday morning, showing Villafranca and the beginning of the Valcarce valley

Spring flowers in the burn area

Above the clouds as we cross the pass

Welcome to Galicia

Our favorite pilgrim statue, a depiction of Saint Roque.

Day 25 and 26 - To Columbrianos and Villafranca del Bierzo

Our friendly shadows have returned. The sun is out, the mornings brisk and the afternoons pleasant. The Ponferrada valley reminds us of the Bozeman area in southern Montana, a plain of several miles with snow on the peaks in the distance. Villafranca is on the western edge, just where the hills meet the mountains. It is our favorite town in Spain, and we just discovered a wonderful rose garden near the Plaza Mayor. Ruth says in two more weeks the blooms would be amazing.

Because we slowed our pace, we've lost most of the familiar faces. There will be new folks to meet tonight, hopefully over a shared bottle of local wine.

We've stayed in a few places that were rundown or dirty. Tonight's stay, Albergue de la Piedra is wonderful. The Rio Valcarce is tumbling down the narrow canyon, and the building is literally built partly into the mountain bedrock. The only problem is the beds are on the 4th floor, the "banos" on the third, the kitchen on the second, and the exit on the first. Too many stairs for tired pilgrims. The hosts Urai and Libbia are great.

Quote from RA's journal: The reasons for walking this pilgrimage are as varied as the pilgrims themselves.

On the old stone bridge entering Molinaseca

Wisteria in bloom in Ponferrada

Vineyards near Villafranca

We now have about 600 kilometers done, and about 200 to go

Bridge over the Rio Burbia

Days 23 and 24, To Rabanal and Acebo

Rabanal is truely one of our favorites. Less than 2 hours walk from Cruz de Fero, nestled in the hills above the great plains of Spain, and with prayers chanted in Latin every evening. The scripture for the service was Romans 8:1-2; There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus....Read in 4 languages so that everyone present could hear in their own tongue.

This blog is primarily a travel journal of our Camino, but the Cruz de Fero is a very spiritual place. Thousands of pilgrims have placed stones at the base of this cross, which represents the cross of Jesus. The scripture from the night before repeated in my head as we approached the cross. As is our tradition now, we stood nearby and sang the old hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross". And while we ate a snack, I thought about the words of Paul, and what has become my core belief about God: If we want to know what God is like, we must look at Jesus. It is impossible for us to imagine what the Divine is like without contemplating the life of Jesus. He was Immanuel, God with us. Each time he encountered people who felt unloved, he loved them. He refused to retaliate toward the violence he suffered, to the point of pronouncing forgiveness on all mankind as some of his final words.

So we continue our Camino with the large numbers of folks from all over the world. The evening in Rabanal was great, and the decent into Acebo was steep and rocky.  Acebo is a 'city set on a hill', you might even say a mountain. Even though it is well below the top, the slopes still drop off quickly to the west.

The forecast is as unreliable here as it is anywhere. The rain continues. Temperatures in the 50s.
Quote from RA's journal: "Today the Camino Frances feels more like a pilgrimage, the Via de la Plata felt more like a hike."

This is an odd pilgrim sculpture

Castrillo de Polvazares is a very stony town

There must be a better English translation

Looking back at Rabanal

Spring comes late in the high country

One more kilometer on the asphalt to avoid the mud

Day 22 - To Astorga

We reached the 500 km mark today (about 325 miles).  We are begining to feel it. It did not rain, but the flood waters from the last couple of weeks finally gave us fits today.  The mud was horrible in spots. For the first time ever we were forced to remove our boots and put on our crocs/sandals and wade down the "road", in a later spot we decided to just walk through 200 yards of swamp with our boots on, and finally we just chose the highway for the last 4 miles. The good news was that the swamp washed the mud off our boots!

The only other pilgrims we have seen for 4 days are James and Lucas. Now we are in the Astorga albergue which has 150 beds, and dozens of folks coming and going (we have joined the Camino Frances, which is much busier than the Via de la Plata, which we have now completed). We do have a private, one bunk room tonight, but it will be a bit of a shock tomorrow to have many of these pilgrims pass us on the trail.

Since we are back on the Camino Frances, which we wrote about in 2014, I will plan to post only every few days instead of everyday as I have been trying to do. We plan to shorten our walking distances over the next few days to give our bodies a chance to recover.

Our beds last night were hospital beds, we have many different types of refuges on this trip

Another railroad bridge to cross

This is a great trail when it is dry

In English: SAINT JAMES THE PILGRIM

The last few kilometers, our friend James leads the way

Day 20 - To Alija del Infantado and Day 21 To La Baneza

"Rain makes corn,
Corn makes whiskey,
Whiskey makes my baby
Feel a little frisky.
Rain is a good thing."
Luke Bryan

Day 20
Some days are difficult, not because of what that day holds, but what has happened the previous day. This is the case both on the Camino and in life. Today was one of those days. Yesterday's long walk, and particularly the rocky railroad bed, drained our energy. We made it through today's 22 km, but is was not easy.

Alija is a charming town with hills of bodegas nearby (see our October 18, 2014 post for details about these).

The old bridge today reminded us of the one in the movie, where Tom (Martin Sheen) drops his backpack into the water. The Rio Orbigo is much too big to jump into in pursuit of lost luggage. At least it is right now.

Lucas caught up with us late yesterday, and again this evening. He is a 19 year old from England. We all walked to dinner in the rain, although we had to settle for "raciones" at the bar because the only restaurant is closed on Tuesday!

Weather: Low: 49F High 58F Steady, light rain almost all day. A little break here and there, and a bit heavier at times.
Quote from RA's journal: The camino teaches a lot about human nature.
Tips for pilgrims: This stage is 95% on asphalt. The little towns we passed through had stores and bars but all were closed, so we were glad we had some snacks and water.

Day 21
We had a choice today of more asphalt or a dirt track just east of the highway, but near the river. We did some of both. You'll notice a theme in the pictures. Water. We took a farm road back to the highway before we got to the flooded area, but still had to get by a few big puddles.

Weather: I lost my watch/thermometer today, so no more exact temperatures. Rain showers off/on all morning, but the forecast is looking better.
Quote from RA's journal: I'm glad the locals farmers are happy with all this rain!
Tips for pilgrims:  I'm sure the dirt track next to Rio Jamuz is nice in dry weather, but it is challenging when the bottom land is flooded.  Once again, there were no places open for food/drink/bathrooms along this route.

All geared up

Bodegas near Alija del Infantado

Another old bridge

Vineyards that will turn the water to wine.

Spanish version of our Tuesday walking group

Crops of Poplar trees and grain next to each other

Day 19 - To Benevente

"Walking takes longer....life is too short to waste on speed". Edward Abbey

It is odd to walk when others are traveling so much faster. A car goes by on the highway and within one hour they are in a town we will walk to in 4 days. A jet passes over, and in one hour it will travel the distance of our entire 5 week Camino. On the other hand, we probably walked more distance than the snail will cover in it's whole life. It's also odd what I think about while walking.

Today was truly one of the most incredible days of our Camino life. We are now on a four day walk that very few pilgrims make, from Granja to Astorga. The last person to stay in this albergue was 5 days ago!  The most direct route for today was along an abandon railroad, including 8 bridges that have rusted for decades.  In addition, there is currently record flooding of the river and streams these bridges cross. We were adviced against this route by the man in Bar Borox in Barcial, but then a man in a car met us on the alternate gravel road and informed us that the lower route was flooded. So off we went down the old railroad. It was very slow going due to large rocks and blackberry brambles. We met another local walking the opposite direction, who obviously had crossed the bridges, and this was really the only measure of confidence we had.  We made it safely across all obstacles. I'll let the pictures try to tell the story.

Weather: Low 39F High 67F Foggy and cold, then turning mostly sunny.
Quote from RA's journal: "Sometimes a guardian angel looks like an old Spanish man in a car."
Tips for pilgrims: Don't believe everything the locals tell you, sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. I can tell you the old railroad route is difficult, but not impossible. It is the shortest route, and the only reasonable one when the river is flooding.

We took the right fork today.

(both the opposite of left and the correct one)

Cold foggy morning

The snail moves inches as we disappear over the horizon

As we begin down the old railroad bed

Ruth prepares to cross one of the small bridges

The bridge over the main river channel

The normal pilgrim path

Our destination for the evening

Day 18 - To Granja de Moreruela

"We travel to feel like a kid again; because we hope to experience the world as new, and because we believe the best way to learn about it is to play in it. In travel ... we embrace the possibilty of being wrong, not out of necessity, but because it changes our lives for the better." Kathryn Schultz in 'Being Wrong'.

This quote is from one of my favorite books. It helped me embrace the possibility of being wrong. It helped me accept others when they seem to be wrong. It has helped me manage the ways in which I am wrong about so many things every day on the Camino.

Decision time. If we walk to Astorga it will be 22 days on the Via de la Plata. That feels like enough. It has been a wonderful journey. But like the 'kid' in the quote eventually needs to return to their own backyard, we are ready for some familiar territory. So in the morning we will continue north to the Camino Frances as most of the other pilgrims go west. James plans to join us. It will be about 14 more days from Astorga to Santiago if things go as planned.

There are several factors: the number of pilgrims going west on the Sanabres, the distances between food/water, the condition of the trail, the unsettled weather forecast, the fatigue we currently feel.

The distance on each route is nearly identical, but we will have much more flexibilty once we reach Astorga. That should be a four day walk from here.

Weather: Low: 43F High: about 62F with just a few sprinkles as we walked into Granja

Quote from RA's journal: Perspective: It's so much easier to truly appreciate the sun after many days of rain."

Tips for pilgrims: We learned today of three more pilgrims that exited Zamora on the wrong road (see yesterday's tip).

Iglesia de la Virgen del Castillo

Ruth trying to avoid the mud

Castillo Castrotorafe from the 12th century. 

Only a few walls still standing.

I can't believe I'm putting a cat picture on my blog!

This seems to be pattern.

If it is not raining,, it feels like rain is imminent.

Day 17 - To Montamarta

Two tales to tell. First the pleasant one. Last evening was charming. Bridgett came in late after walking 30+ km from El Cubo. Dinner was nearly ready in the kitchen, so we invited her to join James and us for pasta. She insisted on going to get some champaign, so off she went (it is her last day on Camino). She returned with the bottle and numerous dessert choices, and we all ate as much as we could, including three desserts each! After dinner, other folks joined us and we sang folk songs of several countries. The ones I remember were American, German, Spanish, French, and Austrian. I believe my favorite was Aidlewies.

The second tale is of today's trek. One simple mistake and we ended up walking for an extra hour.  Everything seemed perfectly normal. We had yellow arrows, we were going generally north, we saw James' footprints in the mud, and it was raining. Hard. In fact, if I could have looked at the GPS track on the tablet I would have realized we were going a bit too much west, but the hard rain made it impossible to get the electronic device out with no shelter to be found. And it all felt right anyway, so there was little be concerned about.

Then the Camino Portugese sign showed up next to the trail. This was not right. A branch of the Via de la Plata leaves Zamora going mostly west, and joins the Camino Portugese, and that was where we were. There was a town a few hundred yards ahead, so we walked to it to try to get out of the rain and figure out a plan. After getting a GPS lock while in a little shop, we realized that we were north of Zamora, but about 4 km west of where we should be. The map showed a couple of roads heading north and east, so we took the most direct option to get us back on the VdlP, and 3 hours later we were in nice warm shelter.  Three hours after that, Ruth has a big pot of soup on the stove, it should be a fine evening. 

Weather: No idea of temperatures, probably in the 50s, but hard rain all morning, seemingly getting colder each hour. A little sunshine and a little hail in the afternoon.
Quote from RA's journal: "Camino blessings happen in the most unexpected ways."
Tips for pilgrims: Don't believe any guidebook that say's the way out of Zamora is simple. James walked out ahead of us on the wrong route, and we did the same. Three other men, each independantly, were just a few minutes behind us, all of them on the wrong path! (One German, one Frenchman, and man from Holland, so not all following the same guidebook). They needed our assistance to get pointed back the right direction. Since we do not know where we made our mistake, my only advice is to be sure you stay close to the N-630 highway and if you find youself going west for more than 5 minutes you are probably on the Portugese fork.

P. S. We really appreciate the comments on the blog and will try to respond to them soon. Internet access is not always easy to find. Ruth is sad to miss a good spring snowstorm in Denver!

Last evening's table

Only one picture from today!