Today we left Rabanal del Camino and headed to Molinaseca

Today’s highest altitude would be just over 1,500 metres which was not too challenging as we started the day already at 1,122 metres. The sun was out and, as usual, is was pretty cold as we set off, climbing straight out of Rabanal del Camino. The town appears twice in Book V of the Codex Calixtinus (an anthology of background detail and advice for pilgrims following the Camino – written in 1138-45) as “Raphanellus”. In the first reference, in chapter II, it is referred to it as the end of the stage: “The ninth goes from León to Rabanal. The tenth, from Rabanal to Villafranca , at the mouth of the Valcarce [river] valley”. The second reference mentions it as the first of the places where the Viatores who worked on the Route and their services worked in the time of Alfonso VII: “They prepared, for the pious love of God and the Apostle, the Camino de Santiago from Rabanal to Portomarin , prior to the year of the Lord of 1120”.

The views were nothing short of stunning as we made our way slowly up the mountain until we came to the small village of Foncebadón. The gradient of the path didn’t lessen as we went through the village but it was good to walk on a paved area instead of the stoney path.

Still climbing we eventually reached the top of Alto del Mojón (1507m) and stopped briefly at the Cruz de Ferro (a wooden post with an iron cross on top). A replica of the original cross is kept in the Museo de Los Caminos in Astroga. At its base, a mound of pebbles and dirt has been forming over the years due to the tradition of pilgrims bringing stones here from their homes, or placing local stones here as memory of loved ones.

Not quite at the top of our climb today, we continued onwards on paths flanked by multi colours of heather with views of the rolling countryside (and a couple of very young calves) before peaking in view of a military transmission base at the top of Pēna Llaba (1531m). We also got our first view of Ponferrada ( a city we will walk through tomorrow) down at the bottom of the mountain.

Having reached the top in two days of climbing we now had to descend all the way down in one go on paths that were pretty Stoney and very steep in places (thank goodness it wasn’t raining or it would have been a nightmare descent). The views continued to amaze, it was a balance between looking at the scenery and looking a the ground to not trip over anything. There were even large areas of wild lavender growing right on the path edge. We could see small towns nestled within the mountains with improbable looking roads being their only access as well as a couple of small towns (seeming to subsist purely from El Camino).

Up until now the path had been pretty open but now, for a period, it was quite closed in with vegetation as we continued down the mountain. At this stage we met a man from the UK who had finished the walk in Santiago and was on his way back to St Jean – from where he was about to walk to Jerusalem and then Ethiopia, a very impressive effort!

At the end of a pretty bruising descent (approx 900m over 10km) we finally arrived in Molinaseca where we checked into our hotel before heading out for some lunch (overlooking the river) and a deserved sit down.

Tomorrow Mike will be joining us at some stage during the day as we walk to Villafranca del Bierzo.

Today we left Astorga and headed for Rabanal del Camino.

Astorga is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. The Roman city was founded in 14 BC, being named by Emperor Octavian as Asturica Augusta, now known as Astorga, and became an important administrative and military centre. The walls of the town were rebuilt by Bishop Nuño around 1242 and they underwent several repairs during the Middle Ages. The Roman city had thermal baths with hot, warm, cold water systems, sauna’s and two main sewer systems that are still in use today.

As we walked out of Astorga it was nice to get back into the countryside and start to see mountains in the distance again. The Meseta (large flat plains located between the cities Burgos and Leon) was very flat and with not the most varied scenery so we were pleased to be through it. Lots of people apparently skip this portion but it is a part of the Camino Frances and needs to be experienced. We passed by the barracks of The 63rd Field Rocket Launcher Artillery Regiment which is attached to the Field Artillery Command of the Spanish Army. Although the regiment is called “rocket launchers”, currently both the regiment and the Army do not have these materials, since the Teruel system was decommissioned on December 31, 2011. 

We now began what would be a steady climb throughout the day. Instead of fields of crops there were bushes, trees, hills / mountains, villages nestling amongst it all, the sun was shining and the cold wind was (for the vast majority of time) absent!

We kept on walking slowly upwards, nothing difficult and quite enjoyable. We passed through a couple of small towns with the inevitable stork’s nest on a church tower. A small finch impossibly balanced on the top of a small branch waited patiently for me to take a photograph before flying off. The last picture is of the mountains we thought we were going to have to cross tomorrow but thankfully they slid gracefully off to our side as the day went on.

As we were now closing in on our destination for the day we passed an Albergue that had setup a few large teepees in a field, I wonder how many bunks they could cram into each of those. Slowly the town of Rabanal del Camino came into view as did the mountains behind it (which we will cross tomorrow). The town itself has an old church which was very plain inside (although plainly ancient as well) – there were people praying so no photos this time.

Tonight we are sleeping at an altitude of over 1,000m for the first time this trip. Tomorrow we will peak at 1,515m as we head to Molinaseca.

Today we left Oncina de la Valdoncina / Villar de Mazarife and headed to Astorga.

This was the last time on this trip that we would walk and then get a transfer to hotel / back to where we left off. It was very sunny (hence the squint in the first photo) but also very cold.

Villar de Mazarife owes its origins to Mazaref, the head of an illustrious family of Mozarabs from Córdoba who, under the protection of privileges from the kings of León, undertook the great enterprise of repopulating the upper Páramo. The road from Villar was very straight as far as Villavante – not much of note was happening other than farming activities in the fields and a couple of tractors on our path.

We walked through the village of Villavante and out onto another lengthy, straight road. In fact these two straight roads comprised the first 1/3rd of today’s walk. After being passed by a geriatric tractor we then walked along beside the railway line for a while before approaching the town of Hospital de Órbigo.

We crossed the Puente del Paso Honoro, which is a medieval bridge from the  13th century, built over the Órbigo river. It is now too big for the current river, but before the construction of the Barrios de Luna reservoir the river’s flow was much greater. The bridge has 19 arches and has been a national monument since 1939. The name of the bridge comes from a famous jousting tournament that took place in the Jacobean Holy Year of 1434.

The path had been flat up to this stage, now we faced a climb (not too arduous) for the next few kilometers. The scenery was a mixture of crops and scrub, one pretty field of poppies and purple flowers stood out. Soon enough we were at the top of the hill, marked by a cross, and could see Astorga and its cathedral in the distance. It was a reasonably short walk from there, down the hill and into Astorga, where we checked into our hotel and then set out to check out the sights (and maybe have an ice cream).

The Episcopal Palace of Astorga is a building by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. Built between 1889 and 1913 and designed in the Catalan Modernisme style, it is one of only three buildings by Gaudí outside Catalonia. When the original Episcopal Palace was destroyed by a fire in the 19th century, Bishop Juan Bautista Grau y Vallespinos, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Astorga, desired to assign the design of the new building to his friend Gaudi.

Next up was the Cathedral. The gothic edifice was begun in 1471, within the same walls of its Romanesque predecessors from the 11th-13th centuries. The construction lasted until the 18th century, so its original Gothic Style appearance was added to with elements from later styles, such as the Neo-Classicist cloister (18th century), the Baroque towers, capitals and the façade, and the Renaissance portico. With a rectangular layout, it has an architectural closeness to the German Gothic style. Above is a photo dump of the beautiful interior, altars and chapels.

Of course we had an ice cream!

Tomorrow we start climbing back into the mountains and head to Rabanal del Camino

After a great rest day in León, and 15km of “strolling”, today we headed out to Villar de Mazarife.

León was founded in the 1st century by the Roman legion Legio VI Victrix which served under Caesar August during the Cantabrian Wars (29-19BC), the final stage of the Roman conquest of Hispania. In the year 74AD the Legio VII Gemina settled in a permanent military camp that was the origin of the city. Its modern name is derived from the city’s Latin name Castra Legionis. The Romans established the site of the city to protect the recently conquered territories of northwestern Hispania from the local Celtic tribes and to secure the transport of the gold extracted in the province — especially in the huge nearby mines of  Las Médulas— that was taken to Rome through Asturica Augusta (modern-day Astorga – tomorrows destination).

We walked nearly 1/3rd of our distance today to get out of León and its suburbs, crossing the River Bernesga via the Puente Roman de San Marcos. The walk was through the various suburbs, including interesting shaped apartment block sandwiched between the railway and busy road.

Before leaving the city limits, we came to the Santuario de la Virgen del Camino – built between 1957 and 1961 by the architect Fray Coello from Portugal replacing the previous church that had become too small to accommodate all the parishioners and pilgrims. Its construction was financed in part thanks to the Leonese patron Pablo Diez, owner of Groupo Modelo, a multinational beer company from Mexico. It is governed by the Dominican Order, who promoted a modern-style church, both in its architecture and in its sculptural decoration.

We passed a few more “hobbit” houses and then the rest of the walk to our end destination for the day was across a very flat plain, even if it was at about 900m elevation. Lots of scrubland as well as crop fields. Apparently the good weather we are having has come about a month early and the lack of rain is already affecting the crop growth.

A relatively short day today, only 21km, meant that we walked into Villar de Mazarife and waited for our transfer back to our hotel. The hotel was 12km back the way we had come (we walked part it earlier) and we will get a transfer back to Villar de Mazarife tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we head to Astorga.

As per our last rest day, today’s post will be mainly pictorial.

We started the day with a stroll along the river and around the old town. Notable items above are the León bullring, León FC ground and the Casa Botines, one of only 3 Gaudi designed buildings outside Catalonia – unfortunately the museum is closed on Tuesdays!

The above are from the Convento de San Marcos – the majority of which is now a luxury hotel.

These pictures are from the La Basilica de San Isidoro de León – such amazing frescos and ceilings.

Finally, from the Cathedral – the stained glass is a wonder to behold.

Tomorrow we resume our walking and head to Villar de Mazarife.

Today we left Sahagún / El Burgo Ranero and headed all the way to León.

Having spent our second night in Sahagún, and catching up with our friends from USA, Germany and Australia/New Zealand who we left behind when doing a double stint a couple of days ago, we took our transfer back to El Burgo Ranero to restart our walk from where we finished yesterday.

It was pretty cold and very overcast as we left El Burgo Ranero. The most popular theory about the origin of the town’s name is that it comes from the number of frogs that populate the lagoons in the area. In 1126 the town is mentioned as Burgo de Sahagún due to the settlement of merchants from Sahagún who wanted to take advantage of the rise in popularity of the Camino de Santiago.

Walking along fairly unremarkable roads we passed the Aeródromo Villamarco, there was no activity there that we could see, and then saw the town of Villamarco in the near distance and crossed over an irrigation channel called Arroyo Madriz de la Cava.

Walking past a couple of “hobbit Houses” or Bodegas and another “monument to pilgrims” we passed through the village of Reliegos and headed down the road to Mansilla de las Mulas, which would be our final destination of the day if we weren’t walking a “double shift”.

Walking into Mansilla de las Mulas we took the opportunity to stop at the Iglesia de Santa Maria. The church, restored more than a decade ago, has three naves and was built in the 17th century on the ruins of its namesake. No stamp available at the church (we think the guardian had not yet arrived as the lights were also off) so, as we walked through the town, we stopped at a random cafe and got our stamp there.

Other than patches of poplar trees (planted in a very regimented fashion) and crossing the Rio Esia and the Rio Moro, it was a pretty uninspiring walk towards León. Of course we saw more storks nesting up high and also a few donkeys and then we got our first glimpse of León in the distance.

We got to our hotel and had to negotiate with housekeeping to have laundry done by tomorrow (after the guy on reception said it was not possible!) and then headed into the old town for a coffee and a deserved / needed ice cream.

Tomorrow is a day of exploration / sightseeing in León.

Today we left Sahagún and headed to El Burgo Ranero

As has been usual for the last few days, it was pretty chilly (it looks warm but it wasn’t!) as we left our hotel but did start to warm up once the sun had risen a bit further. Sahagún gets it name from the place where the remains of Saints Facundo and Primitivo were buried in AD304. They were two brothers who were exposed as Christians at the time of the persecution of Christians under Roman rule. They were martyred, beheaded, and their remains thrown into the Cea River. The place later became frequented by Christians because it had a reputation for frequent miracles. A temple was built over the burial place which appeared in documents such as “Sanctus Facundus”, “Sanct Fagunt” and “Sant Fagun”, which, in time derived to the town’s current name.

As we left Sahagún we crossed the Cea River by way of the Puente Canto – originally this was a Roman built bridge but was replaced in the 18th century using the ashlars (finely dressed stone) from an unfinished chapel. We continued along a tree lined path for a while until emerging back into the open countryside as the path continued alongside the road (a feature for most of today).

We walked for a while and then came across the charming Ermita de la Virgen de Perales It is a simple brick building with a belfry that was attached to the Hospital in the 12th century. Every last Sunday in April, the residents of Bercianos go on a pilgrimage here to collect the carving of the Virgin, popularly known as ‘La Perala’, and transport it in procession to the hermitage of San Roque in the town, where it remains during the month of April and May.

Then we did the remainder of our walk today, passing through Bercianos with a view to the town cemetery in the distance and a unique style of bell tower which is a replacement for the original tower of the Iglesia de San Salvador. A long stretch of (relatively uninspiring) road led us into El Burgos Ranero and a finish to our walk for the day.

One item of note, though, was the Laguna de Valdematas, which seemed to be a wetland nature reserve. The noise from the resident frogs and birds was enough to drown out the busy close by main road. Volume up in the video above to hear it.

Today we got as far as El Burgo Ranero and then had a transfer back to Sahagún and tomorrow we get the transfer back to El Burgo Ranero and then walk 37km to León.

Today we left Calzadilla de la Cueza and headed to Sahagún.

Possibly the worst breakfast ever meant that we decided to hit the road earlier than normal and stop for a coffee / pastry along the way. Very little to say about Calzadilla de la Cueza as it is such a small hamlet. The name Calzadilla comes from a diminutive of road (from the Latin calciata which means road) in reference to the Roman road that runs through it and, possibly, de la Cueza due to the River Cueza passing through.

It was a crisp (aka very cold) but sunny morning as we set off and much of the early walking was beside fields that were either just plowed or full of wheat as usual – there was even a resumption of distant mountains on the horizon. The path took us through the small villages of Ledigos and Terradillos de los Templarios.

We spent a few minutes admiring the wildlife before heading down the path again and into the village of Moratinos for the belated breakfast coffee but also to celebrate reaching half distance for El Camino and halfway for today. The “houses” in the hill are not hobbit homes but are “bodegas” used in the past for food storage and wine-making – Moratinos is one of several hillside bodega groups visible along the Camino trail, part of a wine culture that dates back 2,000 years to the Romans.

Not a lot to report about on the final walk into Sahagún as the path pretty much ran along the main road the whole way. Eventually we saw Sahagún in the distance – it certainly looked a lot bigger than Calzadilla de la Cueza! Of course we saw more Storks occupying high spots and then arrived at our hotel – Hostal Domus Viatoris.

After some lunch we had a bit of a wander round town and saw the Arco de San Benito, built in 1662, showing the royal coat of arms and two sculptures of Alfonso III and Alfonso VI, two of Sahagún’s main benefactors. We passed by the Iglesia de San Tirso, which is no longer a place of worship, built in the  12th century and is among the most representative of Castilian-Leonese Mudejar architecture. Finally we saw the remains of the Monastery of San Benito and Clock Tower – built in the 12th century in honour of the Holy Martyrs Facundo and Primitivo who were beheaded by the Romans.

We walked up to the Santuario de la Peregrina to collect our “half-way” certificates. The first stone of this was laid in 1260 and in 1358, when building was still ongoing, Pope Innocent VI granted indulgences to all worshippers who made a financial contribution to the building. In 1835, after the war of independence, the convent was abandoned.

Tomorrow we head to El Burgo Ranero

Today we left Frómista and headed to Calzadilla de la Cueza. This was a “double shift” as we combined two days of a “normal” itinerary into one longer day.

Regarding the title of this post – 3 were good and 1 was bad. At breakfast there was a man who was so “ripe”, and his hair looked like it hadn’t been washed for days, that he caused a gag reflex. Then he went to cut a slice of cake – he grabbed hold of the whole cake with his hand as he cut his slice – that was cake off the menu for me!

The background to the picture above is the Church of San Martin de Tours. Dated from the 11th century, it is one of the most complete Romanesque temples in Europe.

Frómista itself was born as a settlement near a Roman villa called Frumesta vacceos, a name derived from the word frumentum (Latin for wheat) due to the abundance of wheat that existed in their fields. During the Middle Ages this settlement became a city of splendour and around the year 1066 the Monastery of San Martín was built, ordered by Doña Mayor, widow of King Sancho Garcés III of Navarre.

We walked through a couple of small villages on the way out of Frómista – Población de Campos and Revenga de Campos before we got to Villalcázar de Sirga. There we stopped to take a look round the Iglesia de Santa Maria La Blanca, built by the Order of the Templars at the end of the 12th century, in the transition period from Romanesque to Gothic and finished in the 14th century. King Alfonso X the Wise composed the Cantigas de Santa María (a set of 427 compositions in honor of the Virgin Mary) inspired by one of the images that are kept in the church. This was where we had the second of our “smells” today – the freshly cut grass bizarrely smelt like emulsion paint!

The road was very straight and flat (easy to walk on but monotonous) as we walked into Carrión de Los Condes. On the normal itinerary this would have been our stop point for the day. But this was only halfway – as the rain was starting we decided that a stop for coffee and pain at chocolate was necessary. On the way out of Carrión, we crossed over the Puente Mayor – a rebuilt representation of the old bridge over which the locals passed hundreds of years ago with carts and horses. It currently has a total of 7 large arches and, unlike the old bridge, it does not have fortified doors at each end.

From Carrión to Calzadilla is a pretty straight flat path with no towns in between. The rain did materialize (it was very cold) so out came the raincoats for the first time. Thankfully this wasn’t a long, or very heavy, downpour, and the rain was soon replaced by the sun. This was the time for the third “smell” – the air smells so fresh after some rain dampens down all of the dust. There looked to be some heavy downpours around but thankfully they avoided us.

The final stretch also provided our final “smell” – that of wild rosemary. It was enough to make me hungry for some cooked lamb! We then walked into town, with a view of the town cemetery in a field to our right, and then to our hotel. There were less poppies in the fields today but there were a lot of blueish flowers in a few fields to give a different look. The manager said he had no record of our reservation even though our bags had been transported and were in front of him. Anyway after some back and forth he gave us our rooms – if some walkers had arrived before us and taken the available rooms then it could have become interesting.

Tomorrow we head to Sahagun.

Today we left Castrojeriz and headed to Fromista

It was pretty chilly as we left this morning but we knew there was an imminent hill that would warm us up! Castrojeriz is a unique stop on the Camino, which crosses the town for more than 1,500 meters, making it the longest urban journey on the entire Jacobean route. In terms of notable people, Constance, second daughter of Pedro I the Cruel, King of Castile, and Maria de Padilla was born in Castrojeriz in 1354 and married to John of Gaunt , Duke of Lancaster and third son of King Edward III of England.

Walking out of Castrojeriz, we could see the Alto de Mostelares waiting for us. The ascent was 130m over 1.26km and pretty steep in places. It was good to power up the hill and get the heart going so early in the morning! From the top we had great views back to Castrojeriz.

We then walked across the valley with wonderful colours of flowers all round us, even the edge of the path was teeming with colour. We could see the church of Itero del Castillo in the near distance, but we wouldn’t be heading that way today.

More walking through crop fields and flowery paths and we came across the Ermita de San Nicolás. This is an Albergue (hostel) now in the old church of the pilgrims’ hospital from the 12th century, and run by volunteers – it seems to get rave reviews, we also added another stamp to our pilgrim’s passport. We then crossed the Puente de Itero, over the River Pisuerga, which is one of the longest bridges on the Camino with eleven arches.

We passed (briefly) through Itero de La Vega and then back into farmland where there was plenty of irrigation happening. Some of this presumably came from the Canal de Pisuerga that we crossed en route to Boadilla del Camino.

As we passed through the village (we think this was a stopping point for today as the crowd thinned considerably afterwards), the most noticeable thing was the number of storks nesting on buildings. We counted 4 nesting pairs on the roof of the church and a further nest on the (water?) tower as we left the village.

Our final stretch of the day, before getting to Fromista, was alongside the Canal de Castilla. This was constructed between the last half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century and runs 207 km through the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Valladolid in Castile and León. Its width ranges between 11 m and 22m and depth is between 1.8m and 3m. It is protected by a heritage listing now – parts of it are still in use, although there are only limited possibilities for navigation: it also irrigates 48 municipalities.

As we walked into Fromista there was plenty more evidence that the storks have occupied this area – they especially seem to like churches!

Tomorrow is a longer day, 38km, as we combine two legs of the itinerary and head to Calzadilla de la Cueza. This means that we will now be a day head of all the people we have been passing daily – it has been fun recognizing people, saying hello and having a quick chat where they seem receptive. So for the second half of our journey we will just have to pass and recognize new people 🙂