Rabanal del camino to Molinaseca – 28 kms

Today was probably the most interesting walk so far.

We saw a man doing Camino on a unicycle. I thought I’d videod him but I hadn’t.

We were wandering along when a snake came at me. I screamed then stopped and tried to take a step back, but Mike was blocking my path.

‘What is it now?’ he asked, used to my screaming.

Too terrified to say anything I just pointed and we both stayed silent as a large snake slithered across the road in front of us and into the bushes.

A moment’s silence, then we continued, hoping it wouldn’t jump back out at us. It didn’t.

Other than that there was a lot of dowhill. I’d heard there was a dangerous rocky downhill into molinaseca and people were recommending to go down the road. This was plastered all over Facebook and the Camino forums.

I thought I also would go down the road because of my knee. I waited for the danger signs. They didn’t happen. I waited for the steep downhill. It didn’t happen.

Next thing we’re in Molinaseca and I’m wondering what all the fuss was about. As far as I was concerned, it1 was the most interesting walk on Camino so far.

We sat by the river, had a couple of beers, then ordered a pilgrim dinner. It was different to most meals and was quite yummy.

After dinner we bumped into some people from south America who we’ve said hello to on the trail weeks ago but we’ve never officially met.

When we met it was like we were old friends, even though they can’t speak English and we can’t speak south American. It’s a kinda weird camaraderie between walkers when they’ve walked 800 odd kms together.

We also bumped into close Walker, but he was taxiing to ponferadda as he’s on a tight schedule.

My starter

Mike’s starter

Astorga to Rabanal del Camino – 22 kms

Today we encountered the close Walker, similar to the close talker on Seinfeld.

When we left our hotel this morning we were followed out by an American walker who had also stayed there.

We were walking along a narrow bit of road and he was right behind me. I said to Mike, let’s step aside and let this guy past.

The guy heard me and said, ‘nah that’s ok, I’m walking slow too.’

We walked and chatted for a bit with the usual interview of where are you from, Portland? Yes I wanna go there, blah blah etc etc.

He stopped to take some photos of a church and we continued on.

Next thing I sense someone behind me, and sure enough, he’s snuck up on me again, right behind me. Creepy.

We crossed the road and I stopped and adjusted my shoe to let him get ahead.

Then at the next town I stopped and filled up my water bottle. Next thing, he’s right on my tail again. So I moved to the other side of the street and he started tailgating Mike.

I saw a bar up ahead. ‘Mike, let’s stop and get a croissant.’

So we did and in the distance I saw him leech onto a couple of girls.

He seemed nice enough, but I don’t like someone 3 feet behind me, let alone right there. We’ll see if we cross him again.

Tonight we went for an early dinner. 6pm! It’s like being at home in the winter. As well as that, the temperature dropped to 26 degrees and I was really cold. Dammit! It was the one night we came out without a jumper.

We got chatting to a guy from Germany and a lady from Switzerland. They both started before us from st Jean and have been taking their time also. It’s nice to meet others that don’t think it’s a race.

Big day tomorrow.

My starter

Mike’s starter

Stork in the church

Leon to Astorga – 50kms

Today we said goodbye to our bikes. They were a good travel companion and they cut 10 boring days of walking to 4 days of cycling.

Astorga is a nice town. We looked at some Roman remains buried under the streets. We also had a look through the fairytale palace and castle which had lots of old things in it dating back to the 1500s.

Neither of us had the energy for tapas bar crawling so we opted for the pilgrim dinner at our hotel.

Roman remains

Cycling into Astorga

Sahagun to Leon – 56 kms

Today was much cooler and a nice easy ride into Leon.

Bum and Feet had a heated debate over whether to leave the bike in Leon, or continue to Astorga. Feet won. They reasoned they had two more weeks of walking and that Bum should put up with one more day of pain. Take one for the team, they said.

Both knees said they were fine either way, so we have the bikes for another day.

We arrived in Leon at midday and spent the afternoon looking around, but it was soooooo busy. There are so many people here and I’m not used to it. Glad we are only staying one day.

We headed into the old town just after 7pm in search of tapas.

A man from a restaurant tried to make us eat at his restaurant .

‘No thanks,’ we said. ‘We want tapas.’

He then went on a spiel about how tapas would not fill us up and we have to buy a drink to get them. Geez. We know how tapas works.

The first tapas place we tried was Jamon Jamon and they gave us a generous serving of meat and cheese on bread for just $1.80 each including beer.

The next place was called El Gaucho, and we had a garlicky soup and fried potatoes with minced chorizo. Oh so delicious. Again only $1.80 each including beer.

The third place gave us a glass of sangria with mushrooms and fried potatoes. Only 1.50 each.

We’re full and for half the cost of a pilgrim meal.

That’s Leon done and dusted. Off to Astorga tomorrow.

Boadilla del Camino to Sahagun – 66kms

Today was one of those days I just wanted it to be over.

The alburgue we stayed at last night was amazing. Our double room was like a hotel room and we had a fun pilgrim dinner. And, as they knew people would be leaving early to avoid the heat, they served breakfast from 5.45am.

We also had planned an early start but when the alarm went off at 6am I was like ‘off. Turn it off’As a result, we didn’t leave until 7.30am and were last to leave.

It started out nice with a ride alongside the canal with my bum screaming at me every time we went over a bump.Then the roads became monotonous and straight. We we thankful for tarmac for most of the day. It would have been awful walking that section as what took us one day on the bike, would have taken three days by foot.Riding an electric bike is awesome, that is until the battery runs out.

We are trying to decide whether to leave the bikes in Leon or continue riding to Astorga. I’ll have a talk with Bum about it tomorrow. Feet have already offered their advice.

We arrived at our hostal at 1pm, and after showering I passed out and didn’t wake again until 4.30pm. I think the heat has gotten to me.

At 5pm we went to the bar to grab a drink and we bumped into a girl we met at Orrison. The first person we’ve met since we were there 3 weeks ago.She has been struggling and started doing 32kms in the heat to try and make it to Santiago. As a result, blisters are sending her home from Leon.

We had a pleasant evening with a lovely pilgrim dinner for just 12 euro including wine.

A long road with no shade.

Burgos to Boadilla del Camino – 63kms

The heat today was brutal. We knew it was going to hit 39 degrees and weren’t looking forward to riding 60 kms in it.

It was 9.30am by the time we picked up our bikes and transferred our stuff to panniers. Far too late to be leaving.

It started off well, loving being back on the bikes. That was, until I got a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere, in the searing hot sun sign. Not sure how long it took Mike to change it, but once done it was now the hottest part of the day.

We cycled on and there was no shade for miles. Thankfully we thought to pack 3 sports drinks as well as 3 litres of water, and this helped.

The wind picked up quite strong and you might think this was a good thing, but it felt like it was blowing out of a hot oven.

We’d met a couple of cyclists at a small town, and the guy was suffering from the heat and feeling sick. They still had another 20kms to cycle to the place we were staying at, but I suggested they stop where they were. No point taking chances for the sake of a $50 hotel booking. Thankfully they did because the next 20 kms were brutal. No shade at all.

With only 9 kms to go, we found a shaded spot and rested. We were both on the verge of heat exhaustion.After a half hour break and lots more water, we decided to take the road route rather than the gravelled pilgrim route. Best decision ever.

Oh and hiring power assisted bikes was a good decision too. They really help at the end of the day and for climbing a hill in the hot sun.

66km tomorrow and a forecast of 40 degrees. Eeek.

Rest day

It was a high of 39 degrees today, hot hot hot.

We got up early to organise some bikes for the next few days as the thought of walking in 40 degree heat does not appeal. So we’ve booked our bikes and pick them up tomorrow.

There is a decathlon store 30 minutes walk away so we headed there for some cycling supplies. 1 hour later we find the store in the middle of nowhere. Turns out there was a free bus we could have caught.

I got some cycle shorts and gloves, and Mike bought some togs. While we were there we ate Macdonald’s. I know!

Anyway, tonight was much better. Still hot but we found a great bar. We sat down and ordered two beers. They reeled off a list of tapas we could have for free with our beer. We said, ‘you choose’.

So every time we ordered a beer they bought us a free tapas and it was fantastic. A great vibe and a great night.

It’s 11pm and still 34 degrees.

Atapuerca to Burgos – 20kms

Today was a nice easy walk to Burgos. My feet aren’t hurting as bad as they were last year, and my knee is getting better. I even managed to walk down the stairs like a normal person.

There are two ways into Burgos. The main way is through an industrial area, and the other is a nice walk alongside the river.

Mike sussed out the route but when we got to the turn off for it, there was a big X telling us not to go that way.

We ignored it and went that way, wondering why nobody was following us.

We walked around the airport hoping to see some planes taking off or landing, but it was deserted.

After about an hour of walking we saw the Camino signs again and picked up the river path. I don’t understand why they don’t offer it as alternate route.

Some other people got lost and spent an extra hour walking.

We are staying in a hotel with a bath and it’s pure luxury. I washed my clothes as I sat in the bath.

We had dinner with some people who we met on the trail, but the food was average and overpriced. Two of the guys kept ordering bottles of red wine, which was fine. Wine is cheap in Spain, usually only 1 euro per glass in a bar.

Anyway, the bill came. We’d had 3 bottles of wine for the table and the price was 18 euro. That sounded about right, 6 euros a bottle. Nope. It was 18 euros per bottle! That’s pretty common price in NZ but not here. We felt we were taken advantage of.

We are here for two nights so we’ll explore on our own tonight, see if we can do any better with the food.

Other than that, Burgos has an amazing cathedral. Even I was impressed. There were some cool statues too.

Walking to Burgos, way over yonder.

Belorado to Atapuerca – 30 kms.

Well, we made it. 30kms without too much pain.

We started the day with a record early start of 7.15am. We had time for a quick vending machine coffee then were on our way, no breakfast.

The first town had a cathedral built into the hillside, but no breakfast.

The next town had breakfast so we stopped for juice and tortilla. Yum yum.

It was an okay walk for most of the way. For the first half there were lots of little towns and we made sure to rest our feet at every opportunity.

Then we got to a bit where it was 12kms straight, no water and only a couple of resting places. And it dragged. A long road which never seemed to end.

After 27km we saw our friends from the previous evening relaxing by the side of the road drinking beer.

“Come join us,” they said.

“We can’t, we are booked at the next town, 3 kms away.”

“Stay, have a beer,”

“Mike, let’s see if we can stay here.”

“No, we’re booked in the next town.”

“Awww, but I want to stay and play.”

“No.” Was his reply.

So we said goodbye to our fun friends but planned to meet in Burgos. Under the clock at midnight.

Santo Domingo to belorado – 24kms

271 kms so far

We had a peasant start to the morning with a stale baguette dipped in vending machine coffee.

We started early at 7.35am to avoid the heat, and got ten minutes out of town when I realised I’d lost my sunglasses. So backtrack we did. Thankfully we found them back in town, lying on the footpath. Phew.

It was a fairly boring walk today alongside a motorway for a lot of it. There were many trucks barreling by, and a few of them blasted their air horns and waved at us. That broke up the monotony a bit.

We walked through fields of opium poppies, at least we think they were. I wasn’t game to try some in case I fell asleep.

We tried to book the next town which is 24 kms away, but they’re fully booked. Now we have no choice but to walk 30kms tomorrow, something we swore we wouldn’t do again.

Oh well, we’ll have an early night, or so we thought .

We had dinner with a couple we met a few days ago. He is from Peru and she is from Germany. Turns out we all get on really well and as well as multiple top ups of Red wine, the owner brings us shots! Yikes!

Oh well. Wish us luck for our 30 kms tomorrow. Eeeek