James the Intrepid Pilgrim

16 October 2017 Walking day 33: 20 kilometers Today, Monday, 16 October 2017, I walked into Santiago de Compostela and arrived at the cathedral. I made it! This is the end-point of the 800 kilometer Camino Frances. Unfortunately, the cathedral is undergoing a multi-year cleaning, and is covered in scaffolding, but this is the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela: My body is tired, my feet are tired and sore. I am stopping my 2017 Camino […]

15 October 2017 Walking Day 32: 21.5 kilometers Today was another really nice day walking on the Camino de Santiago, although it was noticeably more humid than in past days. For the past two or more weeks, the temperature at the start of the day has been in single-digits (Celsius, 38-50 Fahrenheit). Today, coming out of the hotel in Arzúa, was 18 at 8:15 AM! (64 F).  Dark, but already warm and already humid. We […]

14 October 2017 Walking Day 31: 28.8 kilometers Today was a very nice walk on the Camino de Santiago. There were definitely some challenges, but it was a very nice day. The day started out in the pre-dawn darkness at about 6 C (40 F), and gradually warmed to be about 28 C (82 F) and just a little more humid than in recent days. I started again in the pre-dawn darkness at about 8:00 […]

13 October 2017 Walking Day 30: 30.5 kilometers Another day of the Camino in which I started before the sun rose, and walked up hill. This up hill stretch was much like yesterday, with a steep section more than 1.5 kilometers to Monte San Antonio, then 12 kilometers up to the high point for the day at Sierra Ligonde. With about 6 kilometers to go to Palas de Rei, I made a diversion of 5 […]

12 October 2017 Walking Day 29: 22 kilometers For many of the pilgrims on the Camino route today, this is their first day, since many start the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Sarria, 110 kilometers from Santiago de Compostela. For me, it was just another day, slightly shorter than some, and with the knowledge that I have only five days of walking to Santiago de Compostela. It was challenging, though, as the first 11-12 kilometers […]

11 October 2017 Walking day 28: 25.5 kilometers Today started out the coolest so far, at about 5 degrees C (38 F). I decided to walk to Sarria from Triacastela via Samos. Samos is home to one of the oldest monasteries in the western world still operating, having been founded in the 6th century. And the alternative route via Samos from Triacastela to Sarria is mostly in the forest. I am walking alone today, as […]

10 October 2017 Walking Day 27: 21 kilometers Tuesday the 10th of October, finally a day that is written the same in the U.S. as the rest of the world, 10-10-2017 or 10/10/2017. All of the world writes the date dd/mm/yyyy while for some inexplicable reason, in the United States, we write mm/dd/yyyy. The international format makes more sense to me, as it is the smallest to the largest. Regardless, today it October 10, and […]

09 October 2017 Walking Day 26: 30 kilometers (many, many steep uphill steps) Today we left Villafranca del Bierzo and walked by a river along what used to be a main road, now replaced by a freeway higher up in the hills surrounding the valley. It was chilly in the river valley all morning, starting at about 8 C (42 F) with a bit of a wind blowing. A good morning to keep the layers […]

08 October 2017 Walking Day 25: 25.5 kilometers (many, many steps) We are now in the Bierzo Valley, between the mountains over which we walked as we passed Cruz de Ferro yesterday, and the mountains we will cross tomorrow as we climb up to O’Cebreiro. The Bierzo valley has a microclimate very well-suited for growing grapes, and as the Camino goes through the Bierzo valley, we see many, many vineyards. Today we were in vineyards […]

07 October 2017 Walking Day 24: 32 kilometers Note: No step count today. I believe my FitBit has died. It is no longer charging, and this will leave me unable to document the number of steps every day. I was hoping to see just how many steps I took on the Camino de Santiago, and was on track to record over a million steps on this walk. But, my FitBit is older and not up […]

06 October 2017 Walking day 23: 21 kilometers 27,676 steps Today we walked up hill, and while it was not steep, it was gradually up hill all of today’s walk from Astorga (elevation 850 meters, 2800 feet) to Rabanal del Camino (elevation 1160 meters, 3810 feet). Tomorrow we shall cross over the highest point on the Camino Frances, Alto Altar Mayor at elevation 1515 meters (4970 feet), a few kilometers after Cruz de Ferro at […]

05 October 2017 Walking day 22: 20.5 kilometers 29,727 steps I left Mercedes and Massimo, the caretakers of the charming little B&B Molino Galoches outside of Villavante at 8:00 this morning, just as Tom and Julie were walking by on the Camino path along the rail line. We walked to Astorga, a very historic city of 15,000 population with deep roots in Roman and Spanish history. During the Roman empire, Astorga was the capital of […]