Tuesday, 14 May 2024Vilar de Barrio to Xunqueira de Ambia14.5 kilometers When we woke this morning, we had concerns that it might be a challenging walking day on the Camino route towards Ourense and Santiago de Compostela. There was heavy rain overnight amounting to almost half an inch. Rain means mud on natural trails, so we were hoping that today’s route would be partly over paved secondary roads. And much of the route was on […]
Monday, 13 May 2024Laza to Vilar de Barrio19.5 kilometers The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route today from Laza to Vilar de Barrio was characterized by another climb up, over, and down a mountain. A long, steep, unstable climb up, a bit of a rolling section at the top, then a steep but less unstable path down to Vilar de Barrio. It was a cloudy day, threatening rain from the outset, and the rain did come […]
Sunday, 12 May 2024Campobecerros to Laza14.4 kilometers Today’s walk on the Camino de Santiago was characterized by stunningly beautiful vistas as we descended along the side of a mountain into the valley and the town of Laza. We are now in Galicia and everything is a little greener than central Spain. Here is an example of the scene looking across the valley as we descended the mountain. The walk today was another day of walking […]
Saturday, 11 May 2024A Gudiña to Campobecerros23.1 kilometers Today’s walk from A Gudiña to Campobecerros was a difficult 21 kilometers characterized by going up and over a mountain, steep, rocky, and unstable at times. The views of the scenery around us were striking and beautiful. One of the best views was of a large reservoir or man-made lake behind a dam that we never could see. The walk was to be 21.1 kilometers. We took […]
Friday, 10 May 2024 Vilavella to A Gudiña 14.2 kilometers Today we started in Lubián, the last town in Castille Y León. We will be in Galicia from today until ending our pilgrimage walk in Santiago de Compostela. Because of the very long, tiring, and frustrating day yesterday, we decided to forego the long uphill climb after leaving Lubián, instead, taking a taxi to Vilavella. Starting there, the day’s walk will be about 14.2 kilometers […]
Thursday, 9 May 2024 Puebla De Sanabria to Lubián 35.7 kilometers Today’s walk was long and the first 2/3 or 20 kilometers were uphill to the highest point on the Camino Sanabrés. Added to that, we got lost a couple of times on what we hoped would be an easier downhill walk. Getting lost was due to the apps having different routings. The different routings were precipitated by the high-speed rail lines having been under […]
Wednesday, 8 May 2024Asturianos to Puebla De Sanabria15.6 kilometers Today was an interesting day, full of ups and downs, both physically and emotionally. The day was really characterized by walking on natural (dirt or dirt/rocks) roads through a very wet forest at times. And the recent rains left some of the lower parts of the road ankle-deep or deeper in soft mud. When not negotiating the best way through the mud, the forest was beautiful, […]
Tuesday, 7 May 2024Villar de Farfón to Mombuey15.5 kilometers Today’s walk was characterized by natural paths all day, the first half in a semi-forest, and the second half across a lengthy, very wet, and sometimes muddy grassland. The skies were clear, and we could see snow on the mountains in the distance from recent unseasonable snowstorms much farther north. Last evening we were transferred from the end of the stage in Villar de Farfón to […]
Monday, 6 May 2024 Calzadilla de Tera to Villar de Farfón 11.3 kilometers Today’s stage walking on the Camino Sanabrés was characterized by warmer, clear weather under blue skies with occasional white fluffy clouds, and by a short stretch, almost bushwacking through a dense, almost jungle as we walked through the forest up to a hydroelectric dam over the Rio Tera. The route today is generally west, partly along the Rio Tera, over the dam, […]
Sunday 5 May 2024 Tábera to Santa Marta de Tera 20.4 kilometers Today’s walk was characterized by two things. First, it was cool today, but not quite as cold as the previous days. Today was heavily overcast, windy, and threatening rain most of the day. for the last couple of hours, there was an almost continual light rain. We are hoping the wind will blow the clouds away tonight. Second, for at least a couple […]
Saturday 4 May 2024 Granja de Moreruela to Tábara 26.5 Kilometers Today we started covering the route that I was unable to complete last year. The last two days we walked this year, I walked last year, from Zamora to Montemarta and from Montemarta to Granja de Moreruela. The overlap is because we chose to start at Zamora, primarily because there is direct train access from Madrid to Zamora. So now we are on the […]
Friday, 3 May 2024Walking from Montemarta to Granja de Moreruela23.3 kilometers Our second day of walking on this pilgrimage was a little more challenging than we all expected. The distance, at 23 kilometers, was not particularly far, and the temperature being fairly cool prevented overheating. Sometimes when the wind came, I was downright cold. A year ago at this time while I was walking this route, the temperatures were easily 10-12 degrees Fahrenheit higher than […]
