Don's Camino

My priority today is to rest in preparation for the stages to come, and get over this nasty cold.

Ponferrada is best known for its famous castle, the Castillo de Los Templarios. Built by the Knights Templar in the 12th and 13th centuries, the castle guarded a strategic stretch of the Camino de Santiago in the kingdom of León.

The castle also housed the Templars’ library of about 1,400 ancient books.

The Templars have a fascinating and complicated history. They were both monks and knights, easily identified by their distinctive “cross pattée” that most people would recognize today (similar to the Maltese cross). Their string of castles protected pilgrims from Paris to Jerusalem, and they at one point owned the island of Cyprus.

Founded at the Temple of Jerusalem when it was held by the west (hence the name), their military might and banking prowess eventually made them too powerful. King Philip IV of France dissolved the order in the early 14th century, and had their leaders executed.

Freemasons trace their historic ancestry to Jacques DeMolay, the last grand master of the Knights Templar, executed on the Seine outside Nôtre Dame in 1312.

I restocked on cold medicine and visited the cathedral in the afternoon. With its huge Templar cross, there was no doubt under whose protection the church operated.

Ponferrada. 34 km, almost 10 hours.

In case you’re wondering, that’s 45,547 steps or 21 miles.

A long day of hiking, but I’m thankful to have my own room tonight to contain my sneezing, coughing, etc. The Paracetamol was helpful in controlling the fever, but not the other flu symptoms.

I stopped at the Cruz de Ferro (iron cross) at the first of two summits today, the highest point on the Camino at about 1,500 m.

I left my obligatory stone at the base of the cross along with thousands of others. Tradition says that the stone represents your sins or your sorrows. I suppose I’m lucky that I have few sins, and fewer sorrows.

I found an open pharmacy on the edge of town and restocked on cold medicine. As in most of Europe, pharmacies are a godsend. Most towns have several, but opening hours of any particular pharmacy are often anyone’s guess.

The most written-about section of todays stage is the dreaded “descent into Molinaseca.” Some posters to the message boards describe this as the single most traumatic section of the Camino, a steep descent over loose gravel and broken shale.

The definitive 2022 John Brierly guide recommends avoiding this stretch entirely and taking the “new path” along the highway between Acevo and Molinaseca. Brierly points out, for good measure, that 80% of injuries on the Camino occur on descents, not ascents.

Guess what? No path. No signage. Not even a shoulder along this stretch of highway.

After consulting with several other peregrinos, we all ended up pointing out boots downhill and taking the “80%” path, which was clearly marked. It more or less lived up to its difficult billing, but we all made it.

Because it was such a long day, it was one of those leave-before-breakfast and arrive-during-siesta days. The only open restaurant I could find in Ponferrada at the early hour of 8:00 PM was a Mexican place—a real novelty in Spain. I ordered the mole, which was actually quite good.

Sick today. I don’t remember the last time I had a cold. Not that easy to hike all day with a fever, vertigo, cough, congestion, etc. But I made it to Rabanal del Camino.

There are no pharmacies in this small town, and I used up most of what I got from the pharmacist in Astorga last night. Closest pharmacy is 24 km. The lady at the grocery sold me what remained of her personal stock of Paracetamol, which at least helps with the fever.

Unfortunately I’m in an albergue tonight, so will have to concentrate on not keeping others awake with coughing, sneezing, nose blowing, etc.

At some point in the early evening, I heard someone say, let’s go look at the monks. A short climb up into town led to a rustic monastery. Two monks presented a program, singing in Latin. I later learned that this is called “Vespers.”

I had a lovely pilgrim’s meal in a nearby Refugio before heading in for the night.

Tomorrow I’ll reach the highest elevation of the Camino Francés. There will be some steep climbs, but it helps that I’m already at 1,100 m. The treacherous part is the rocky descent into Molinaseca, which many have pointed to as the most dangerous part of the Camino.

Like the descent from Roncesvalles, there is apparently an option to take the road. The pilgrim’s office may not recommend this, as traffic can be dangerous, but that is what I’m planning.

I’ll send my pack ahead to Ponferrada, where I’ll take an extra day to try to get over this cold.

Somebody said, why don’t you just send your pack ahead every day, like most people? Perhaps I hadn’t realized this, but it does seem that many pilgrims have much more luggage than they are carrying. It’s only 6 euros, and the service is very reliable.

We’ll see how I’m feeling in a couple of days. Tomorrow will be a 32 km day, so I’ll plan on an early start.

Next stop is Astorga, a particularly long 30 km (19 mi) hike.

I woke up with a cold, headache, fever, congestion, aches and pains, etc.

I don’t remember the last time I had a cold, but I gather that they are common on the Camino. Someone I met stayed back a day in her hotel to recover, then took a bus to the next stop to stay on track.

Unlike most years, you can’t be too flexible with your schedule. The Camino is busy, and beds are booking up weeks in advance. So the idea of keeping to a schedule is important.

A woman from Ireland I walked with in the morning said she had also taken the “alternative route” the day before and ended up in the city 10 km away from her hotel. She seemed relieved that I had done the exact same thing. (Upon re-reading the Brierly guide later, the mistake was avoidable but understandable).

Today’s long hike included the transition from the long, flat Meseta “the plain in Spain” to the more varied landscape of Galicia.

Things I am thankful for so far on this trip:

Gear. Shoes and backpack are the two most important pieces of gear for the Camino, and both have been perfect. Thank you REI.

Weather. I’m sure I will have some hiking days in the rain as I make my way through Galicia, but so far, so good.

Layering. It’s been cold the last few days, 40s and 50s F. My light fleece plus my rain jacket have been perfect.

Technical fabrics. Shirts, socks, and skivvies are holding up well between washings.

Apple Watch Ultra. A gift from Victoria, the bigger battery lasts all day (unlike my phone) meaning she can track me from day to day.

I was feeling pretty sick by the time I got to Astorga, and went to the first pharmacy I could find. After some back and forth, the pharmacist gave me a powder for treating colds and flu (gripe, like the Old English grippe). Not a miracle remedy, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to get some sleep.

The Town Hall near my hotel is from the 17th century, and has bizarre, life-sized animatronic people who swing mallets at the bell to mark the hour.

I visited the cathedral and adjacent Palacio Gaudí. Yet another Gaudí masterpiece outside of Catalonia. The inside was even more impressive than the outside, with stained glass that rivals examples I have seen from Chagall and Matisse in France.

Mother’s Day in the US today, so of course I called Mom. It was two weeks ago in Spain!

Well, I got lost today. I suppose it was inevitable. The “alternate route” deposited me in Mazarife, almost 10 km away from my destination of Villadonga, after a full day of walking.

The map showed the more scenic alternate path meeting up with the main path well before Villadonga. But it did not. It is an alternate stage, not an alternate route.

I stopped for a sandwich about 5 km or 1 hour before my destination. But when I checked again, I was 2 hours away. An hour later, I was still 2 hours away.

Then I ran out of water.

Lesson 1: Don’t take the alternate path.

I stopped in an albergue along the highway and the hospitalero kindly called me a taxi. Half an hour later, I was at my hotel.

Lesson 2: Obstacle and adaptation.

There is nothing to do or see here. Dinner is offered at a restaurant 10 minutes away, in 3 hours. Breakfast is in another restaurant 5 minutes away. Tomorrow is the longest stage yet, 28 km, so I’d better get an early start.

The León cathedral is almost completely Gothic, having been completed in only 50 years during the 13th century. There is more stained glass here than in any other cathedral in Europe, except Chartres.

The interior is arranged in 4 layers: at the bottom is the “mineral” world, represented by the stone foundation; next is the natural world, with stained glass depicting plants and animals; the 3rd layer is the human world; and the tall windows at the top, so high that you have to stand back to see them, represent the biblical world.

Across the street from the cathedral is a small museum in the former home of 19th century businessman Francisco Blanco y Sierra Pambley, who founded a free elementary school in the 1930s. There were some antique typewriters there—the school taught girls to type at a time when girls did not normally go to school.

I must have read about this in my year of research for this trip, but I had forgotten that there was also a Gaudí building in León.

I’ve made a point of seeing the various Gaudí buildings in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guëll, etc. and feel like I have a pretty good appreciation for his style.

But on initial inspection, the Casa Botines doesn’t look like a Gaudí structure. Made out of brick with spires turrets at the corners, it at first appears to be modeled after a more conventional Castilian castle.

There is a statue of St. George slaying the dragon over the door, possibly in a nod to Gaudí’s Catalonian heritage.

But on closer inspection, the entire building is a dragon. The door is the mouth, the windows are the eyes, the fence supports the claws, and the roof shingles are the scales.

It took scholars 100 years to decipher Gaudí’s little joke.

Both the Iglesia de San Isidro and the Iglesia de Santa Maria del Camino were great examples of Romanesque architecture, with a collection of Romanesque art to match.

All in all a pretty good day. Ready for an early start tomorrow. I will be hiking in the rain before this trip is over, but it looks like tomorrow will not be that day.

I had an extra day in Burgos, so hiked up the hill to visit the ruins of the castle. Originally a Roman fortress, it had served several purposes in the intervening centuries. There was a beautiful lookout spot over the old city.

I found a museum in the Iglesia de San Esteban and went in for a look.

When I got back to my hotel, I saw that the door to the church of St. Nicolas was finally open. It is a small Romanesque church near the cathedral.

There were two hand-printed forms on the bulletin board inside the door. I recognized them as a “posting of the banns” from my time in Spain 30 years ago. When a couple intends to marry, their names are posted publicly for a period of time so that anyone who might object can do so.

Maybe this is done in Catholic communities everywhere, but I have only seen it in Spain.

I took the Renfe train across the Meseta from Burgos to León to save a few days. The Meseta is considered the least interesting—and easiest—part of the Camino, and a 90 minute train ride will save me 6 days.

When I leave León, I will have 13 more stages to hike. So I am almost at the halfway point.

The train was comfortable and efficient. There was someone sitting in my seat, but he moved as I mulled around checking my ticket and the seat numbers.

At the end of the ride, I realized that I was sitting in the wrong car!

I made it to my hotel in León on the Plaza Mayor. The taxi driver gave me some tips about what to go see tomorrow.

Things I’m eating here that I would never eat at home: bread, lots of it; French fries, come with most meals; potato chips, for the salt; orange juice, for a fast infusion of pure sugar, always fresh-squeezed here (“xumo“); rice, a couple of times; beer, when I arrive tired and hot in the afternoon and there is a local specialty.

You simply can’t be a picky eater here. Pilgrims need to eat what they can get, when they can get it.

As I’ve written before, there is no “lunch” or “dinner” per se in Spain. There is a late afternoon meal and a late evening meal, both called la comida (“food”). This makes lining up pilgrim time with Spanish time a challenge.

I read somewhere that Spanish people actually eat at normal times, or at least normal European times. But everything shifted later when Franco put all of Spain into Central European Time, like France and Germany, in order to be more modern.

It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Spain is just about as culturally distant from the US as you can get in Europe.

I spent the morning in the iconic Burgos Cathedral. Romanesque foundations with Gothic and Baroque augmentations.

The ticket agent pointed me to a small QR code on a poster in the lobby to download the guide. I couldn’t get it to download, and had given up when I saw another peregrino listening to the English version. You have to stand outside, she said, to get the cellular signal. Problem solved.

I’ve been in a lot of cathedrals, it this one is particularly ornate. Each of the 18 chapels is unique and has its own story.

Local hero El Cid (“el theeth” in Spain) is buried in the transept. Like many historical figures here, he is celebrated for having run out the Moors (Muslims) in the 11th century.

Stopped at the Farmacia to buy toothpaste. I couldn’t find it. I had the foresight to look the word up in advance, and asked the pharmacist for “pasta dental.” There was exactly one brand in the entire store, but fortunately I only needed one tube. I remember, when living in Paris in 1989, going out to buy toothpaste (“pâté dentifrice”) comprised a major outing of the day. I can imagine a European standing in the aisle of any US grocery store and marveling at the 75 different kinds of toothpaste.

In the afternoon I went to the Museum of Human Evolution. It was closed for siesta, of course (the website was wrong), so I went back later.

It is a sleek, modern museum inspired by the discovery in 1977 of 800,000-year-old pre-hominid bones in nearby Altapuerta. They are the oldest remains of their kind ever found in Europe, and reset the thinking of when man first migrated to Europe.

In addition to various bone fragments and skeletal models of early man, the museum had a full-scale model of Darwin’s ship, The Beagle, and a number of holographic displays.

It’s perhaps ironic that such a prominent museum of evolution is located in such a religiously conservative part of the world. There is even a life-sized sculpture of a nude pre-hominid family out front.

Last night for dinner, I ordered the pilgrim’s menu (pre-fixe) at a restaurant. It came with an entire bottle of wine. This is typical here, but I can’t imagine how I would have felt this morning if I had finished an entire bottle of wine with dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was a traditional Castillano garlic soup. Very good, and not too garlicky!

You can read all the books, watch all the videos, read all the posts, and scour all the websites. But there are a million things you just can’t know until you’re here. We call this “boots on the ground” in the business world.

Like, how hard is today’s climb going to be? Which things in my pack are absolutely essential, and which things could I possibly leave behind? Can I climb the spindly ladder to the top bunk in the dark? How do I sleep in a small room with 19, or 29, or more other (often noisy) adults?

There were a couple of minor setbacks, but the local advice I got for getting to Burgos from last night’s hotel turned out to be excellent.

You speak Spanish, she said (kindly). Just ask someone which way to go at the fork in the road.

There was no one to ask, but I somehow found the right fork off of the highway path and along the river path into Burgos.

I found my hotel, on the same square as the cathedral, but it was too early to check in. So I dropped off my backpack and walked around the city a little.

Just in time for the rain to come. Fortunately I grabbed my raincoat before I checked my backpack in. My gear has held up pretty well—I will no doubt have entire days of hiking in the rain in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow I’ll visit the cathedral and the new Museum of Human Evolution. A refreshing juxtaposition that the people of this very traditional religious community seem to embrace.

I heard from a fellow peregrino that there had been two deaths on the Camino last week, between St. Jean Pied de Port and Pamplona, where I was.

There are a few deaths in the Camino every year, but two in one week is somewhat unusual. One man died after all fall, and other from a heart attack. Heart attacks are the most common cause of death on the Camino, I’d read.

I ate my “take-away” breakfast before leaving the albergue. Ham sandwich with mayonnaise in white bread, as you might feed to a young child, and a vending machine croissant in cellophane. I certainly am eating things here that is never eat at home, but you have to take advantage of any food you can get.

The marker near the beginning of today’s trail said 554.6 km to Santiago. Progress since the 790 km sign last week! This number is strangely specific, as I’ve learned that distance signs here are often “approximate.”

I arrived in San Juan de Ortega (“St. John of the Nettles”) around 2:00, and found a decent bocadillo for lunch. There was already a long line of pilgrims waiting for beds at the municipal albergue.

The server at the cafe pointed me to a sign on the bulletin board with taxi information. I downloaded the app it referenced but could not get it to work. In the end I called the number (I don’t like talking on the phone in Spanish) and arranged a taxi.

My hotel was 10 km off the Camino on a major highway. I’m glad I didn’t decide to tack it on to today’s 24 km hike. Almost nobody got a bed in San Juan, so I imagine everyone was scrambling.

Difficult, but not impossible.

The door to the hotel was locked when I arrived. I called the number on the wall and a woman said she would be there in 5 minutes.

Took a walk around town after a shower. There is nothing here. The hospitalera said she could only serve dinner if more than two people made reservations, so I tried to check out the other options.

There’s almost nothing in this drab little town. It seems depressing after so many beautiful medieval villages, but I suppose this is how most locals live.

Across the hall is an American couple, apparently. Both have savage coughs that echo throughout the building. One or the other of them is always coughing, loudly. I hope I’ll be able to sleep, and that I don’t catch whatever they have.

The woman in charge had a change of heart and said she’d cook me dinner. Incongruously, she played Frank Sinatra on a Bluetooth speaker in the dining room. Another couple confirmed for dinner at the last minute, so it was a win-win.

I mentioned that I would need to get a taxi back to the Camino in the morning, but the hospitalera said that I was already on the old Camino route, only 15 km from the Burgos cathedral. She said it was marked along the way like the route in the guidebooks. I checked the map and will give it a try. What could go wrong?