ST. JEAN PIED DE PORT- beautiful town, very friendly staff at the pilgrim's office, very strange lady at the albergue.
- 27.5 km - tough walk, lots of uphill, lots of downhill, lots of sheep. Breathtaking scenery.
RONCESVALLES - Amazing abbey, 1 abbey, 2 bars and that's all. Slept in a chapel with 120 other pilgrims. Church service- spanish- understood 2 words, blessed for our journey. Brie and bread for dinner. Friendly germans- seemed to be sleeping in the german section! Boys on the left, girls on the right and mixed in the middle. lights out at 10. good sleep - early start 5:45.
- 37/38/39? km - seriously tough, legs nearly fell off, not enough food, uphill, downhill, loose rocks and blisters.
TRINIDAD DE ARRE- so pleased to be there 2 really nice big fat americans, beautiful building, really nice priest/ albergue keeper, spoke spanish - small converstaion, didn't understand. Coffe machine! and litchen, cooked our first hot meal; spagetti/garlic/tomato soup. legs very dodgy, hannah went to shop, Jam! good breakfast, late start' 8:00.
- 27.2km- really enjoyable walk, windy, wind turbines. two really nice americans; angela and chris. big blister, strange slovakian took a picture of me and hannah.
PUENTE LA REINA- lovely town with beautiful architecture (as usual) small room with 6 beds, all middle aged people (they slept alot) we relaxed in the garden and bought a beer! and washed my underpants- both a first for the trip. albergue owner really wanted to massage hannah's legs. avoided slovak lady. got cash.
- 22km- beautiful level walking, very hot, thousands of snails, possibly some sort of snail orgy! vineyards, fig trees and aniseed fields. easy walk. very spanish.
ESTELLA- pretty old town centre, big beautiful church. very busy little town the old surraounded by the new. the albergue was very welcoming and very busy, nice soup for dinner. had a shave and used the internet. beardy woman is following us. mexican with giant blister. man had coughing fit in the night, but nice free breakfast; toast butter jam and coffee.
- 31km- fantastic walk again today, lovely weather. long, dusty roads stretching into the distance, acres of corn. road lined with pretty flowers. alergic reaction to plaster.
TORRES DEL RIO- very pretty, beautiful cobbled streets, village sloping down a hill, pretty cats. village men playing basque handball. albergue was friengly, good shower. 4 people in our room, german man with smelly boots. chickpeas and veg for dinner -can of coke-. eveing outside listening to other people's conversation, german and english! didn't sleep alot, big amazing electrical storm.
- 34ish km- ovecast and muggy walk, first few villages were beautiful. cheered on by celebrating locals. long trudge through city.
NAVARETTE- nice little, big town. quite busy, nice architecture, not much open- sunday. met really nice irish man in the albergue, only doing short part of the camino. lost beardy woman. Hooray! can't find our soap. got a free book and suncream. albergue filled up quickly- oped by 2 and full by 3. delicious dinner; cheese, bread, tomato and tuna. lots of koreans and japanese. €3 for the night.
- 25ish km- pleasant walk through vineyards. weather was overcast but warm, very good for walking. hannah's leg started to hurt.
AZOFRA- cool little place with nice new albergue, good shower. private room for €6. chris and angela showed up! had dinner with dennis, american principal of an international school in pakistan. shared his bottle of wine with us. big fat japanese boy enjoyed his dinner! good sleep, loud fiesta.
- 22ish km- really nice walking, flat with lots of wheat fields and lots of cyclists. walked with chirs and angela for a while.
REDECILLA- pretty little town with a fish pond. digging up the main road so was directed by builders and old men to the albergue. pretty new albergue and nice ladies running it, donation for the bed and lovely dinner. tripe and chorizo soup to start- 3 bowls! cheese omellette for middle and a yoghurt for desert plus jug or red wine and bread. really, really nice. good shower but forgot towel. good sleep.
- 22km- nice walk, long straight path in morning, next to main road, bit of a trudge. the afternoon was very hot, went off the road through quiet villages and lovely white wheat fields.
VILLAFRANCA- nice village, got to the albergue straight away. found a shop inside a bar and bought supplies. cooked delicious octopus and tuna spagetti and salad. french couple and german men arrived. nioce hot shower!
- 40km- lovely walk in the morning, beautiful scenery, weather was really very pleasant. walked 15km into burgos, very horrible walk through polluted industrial area, not enough arrows.
BURGOS- very pretty city very busy with a beautiful old section and a stunning cathedral. albergue was nice, really happy to be there; in a park. waited a little while for a bed, cold showers, nice picnic dinner in the park, very good sleep. hanging around in burgos waiting for primrose and isabelle in the morning.
- 6.3km- really short pleasant walk, weather was humid.
TARDAJOS - nice village with a small albergue, run by a very freindly german speaking lady - had a celebration for santiago day, the day of saint jack - my name day, we had a strange alcohol based drink made from coffe beans and sugar which was then set on fire in a big bowl and blessed...red wine and tortilla and lots of other good food.Sat in the german section again!?
- 30km ish - Reall beautiful walk today - the start of the meseta, the weather was hot, humid and overcast..lots and lots of wheat. throat infection.
CASTROJERIZ - long town on a steepish hill with little cobbled streets, nice albergue, new ithink - grumpy french lady in the que - feindly japanese albergue keeper. Primrose caught us up. nice dinner - lots of olives - sore throat! wandered around the town - there was traditional dancing and music.
- 32k ish - cold morning along the road with a few nice villages. got hotter.walked with chris and angela for a bit. feet quite sore at 30kish!
CALZADILLA DE LAS HERMANILLOS- really small donation albergue, nice comfortable beds. lazy little town. mostly english speaking people in the albergue for a change. grumpy cleaning lady, loads of soup for dinner.
- 25kmish- went the wrong way, long morning with flat walking, lots of wheat, walked with estelle for a bit. she is very slow.
MANUELA DE LAS HEULAS- absolutely beautiful city. a lovely little albergue, really sweet old man took him ages to do the peregrinos passports. beautiful courtyard full of tables and people, feasting and drinking- germans with a god, estelle from america, really nice swedish guy who ate with us. enthusiastic singing french people, german headmaster and martin the german.the hospitalero gave us a destiny card. risotto for dinner, delicious.
- 28km- pleasant walking, everything is green again, over the hill and saw leon. got lost on motorway. beautiful cathedral. got lost again.
VIRGEN DEL CAMINO- on the outskirts of leon, had a very nice chickpea and olive salad for dinner, not much happening here.
- 25km- along the road for the entire day but good weather, had lunch by a stream.
HOSPITAL DE ORBIGO- really lovely big little town with walled old city, lovely albergue, priest was there, pretty cobbled courtyard with lots of flowers. nice dinner, scrambled eggs and salad. swedish man in the morning
- 21km- good walk took it really easy, good weather and late start, stopped for coffee and churos in astorga. and looked at the massive, beautiful cathedral.
MURIAS DE RECHIVALDO- sleepy little town with not much to do, no shop, no internet. municipal albergue for €3 a few beds, no kitchen. strange shower. boccadillo with cheese for dinner. no food with us
- 22km- nice to be off roads again, everything has turned green, track through scrub up hill. walked with german man and his little dog.
FONCEBADON- nice village on a slope with dogs and cats. went to a bar to book our flights, met up with prim and isabelle again and went to the pub. really nice donativo albergue. fruit and biscuits out all the time. big communal meal. bit of a squeeze. paella, bread, salad, wine and more fruit.
- 19km- really beautiful uphill walk, and very steep downhill. dodgy knee. watched the sunrise over the mountain at the cross.
MOLINASECA- very different style of architecture to the other villages. slate roof tiles and dark oak beams. beautiful stone bridge with a nice river. met nice new german man with bad knees. albergue was €7 with nice clean rooms but people were grumpy. had a beer! said goodbye to primrose and isabelle, they are walking ahead and we're slowing down for our flight.
- 22km- lovely walk through villages, sleepy dogs, very, very hot, took the wrong path.
CACBENOS- nice town, lots of people swimming in the river, albergue was very, very nice, small double rooms all built in a circle around the church. sardines, free internet.
- 22km- easy walking, a little bit uphill, lots of pretty little towns and villages, nice stop for coffee.
VEGA DEL VALCARCE- really cool, long town again in a valley. big overpass bridges from one mountain to another, very colourful albergue with a nice lady running it. the most ridiculous little dog, looked like a rat. had a bottle of wine. had a bad nights sleep, as massive fat man snored like a big fat pig. wanted to shake him.
- 21km- really, really steep hill today, a long way up in the mountains again, and also through shady, wooded paths.
FONFRIA- little farming village, with lots dogs, cattle, chickens and tractors, really pleasant albergue. cool bunkbeds. tables outside made of logs. lovely hot showers and good coffee.
- 31km- nice first half of the walk, quite cold and uphill. through then middle of big cattle again. super aggressive german shepherd on a chain tried to attack us. later on the in the walk tonnes of people who are just doing the last couple of days. cheaters! loads of kids and fatties. all were really slow and noisy. mainly spanish.
SARIA- ugly industrial city. so mnay people waiting for the albergue, sat and waited in line. saw the group of young germna again, sat in a cafe with and watched the opening of the beijing olympics. bought a marble cake and a bar of chocolate ate the entire thing. delicious sandwiches for dinner!
- 22km- foggy walk, lots of mist, didn't clear until 11ish. met a danish man called thomas. loads of people on the road today all just starting their camino. apparently they all put it on their CVs and only to the last 100km.
PORTOMARIN- fairly nice town, big que again for the albergue. so many people doind the last 100km and filling up the albergues. lots of the get a bus or a taxi betwwen the albergues so they get there early, everyone else who started in st jean is bitter about it. they prebook the private albergues the day before and some poeple have had nowhere to sleep. enough moaning. had a nice icecream, made a soup for lunch.
- 23km- nice walk but quite cold, bit windy and wet. stopped in a nice little village for a coffe and met the dutch couple again, they don't like the people as well.
PALAIS DU REY- really not much here, headed into the main town for a shop nut everything closed. sunday... we got out dinner from a bakery. donuts bread tuna cakes and crisps.
- 27.5km- nice early start, weather was bad, lots of drizzle and very dark, had to use a torch for the first time. quite a bumpy walk, lots of little hills. wlaked through lots of 'gumtrees' mixed with oak trees, became very muggy and humid later on.
REBADISO- pretty river running past the albergues all old and made of stone. heated and warm inside. strugged to make pasta in a kitchen with no pots and pans. went and had coffe and icecream in the restaurant next door. was raining most of the night. didn't bother to shower, too cold!
- 23km- short walk, pretty easy going, ground was muddy. didn't have breakfast so was plaesed when we stopped. saw the dutch couple for the last time.
ARCO O PINO- not very pretty town, shop and albergue. all we need! nice dinner, pasta and tuna. had to walk a little way off the camino to get here, cloudy and rainy. feels strange being so close and not walking straight there. only a 15km day tomorrow.
- 15km- a beautiful walk. not too hot and not too cold. a very relaxing pace. walked with an english/scottish couple and danish thomas. stopped for coffee with everyone. very flat walking. nice lay in, strated at 8. big breakfast at the albergue. found chocolate spread and sweet milk bread and salami, delicious! lots of eucalyptos again!
MONTE DE GOZO- a really strange complex type of place with lots of seperate buildings, vending machines and gift shops.sleeps 800 people and has a overflow capacity of 1200. built for the popes visit in 1993. quite an ugly place with a very ugly monument. spagetti with tuna for dinner. waiting for thomas to wake up to see if he wants to eat dinner with us. can see santiago de compostella from here!
- 5km!- last walk of 5km really very easy, walking into santiago. got lost for the last time. walked into cathedral.
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA- we arrived, such a beautiful city 764km later. went to the cathedral, saw the saints, saw the remains of st. james. got our compostella form the pilgrims office, no nuns. just nice ladies. opted for the religious certificate. sleeping outside tonight in a concrete tube. no money. nice service at the cathedral. not writing any more should be able to remember this day.
..... slept in a big concrete tube in the garden s of the monastery, was really, really cold, got up at 4am and walked into the city centre. waited for a cafe to open to get coffee and churos.
