The Wanderers

The mountains are now behind  us.  Or at  least, the mountains we have been in, or heading towards, are now behind, though for me there are more to come.  We are now in the Bierzo Valley, a wine growing region. We walked over several high hills with views of ever widening valleys below us.  The past few days we have been quite isolated, passing through very few villages.  Looking back to the mountains.  and looking forward.  This day was no different, only passing through one village, Quintana de Fuseros, where we created some diversion, and hilarity, in the bar.  Trying to find a bed, and just as importantly, if we could eat, in Labaniego proved to be somewhat difficult.  As we worked our way through  the process the whole bar got involved, issuing advice and directions to the two "chicas".  They were quite amused by the two Aussie women peregrinos.  The end result was that we found a room in a cas...

We had a wonderful relaxing night staying with Laura and Anna, both of us getting a really good night's sleep.  Anna used her magic fingers on my foot and leg, giving me a massage which helped the recovery process.  Laura is a powerhouse, loves to talk, and was unbelievably helpful to us. Anna and Laura's home, which they also use as an albergue.  We began the day with Anna and Laura dropping us in the village of Vegarienza. This gave us a head start, saving me with my bad foot having to climb a fairly steep hill.  Nonetheless, we still had plenty of climbing to do as we went up to the village of Fasgar which is a steady climb of about 300 meters, up to 1,318m. A renovator's dream, the last building in town as we left Vegarienza.  This was a lovely day passing through some delightful villages. One which was a surprise was Barrio de la Puente.  We took a detour down to the river for a rest and discovered an old...

We have had two good days of walking since returning to the path from Leon.  We caught the 9.00am bus and had indulged in a second coffee before heading off from la Robla by 10.00 am.  There was an earlier bus at 7.00, but even leaving our hostal at 8.00 am we were still in the half dark! We had to be very careful leaving la Robla as this is where two paths - the Camino San Salvador and the Camino Olvidado - merge and separate.  Getting ourselves sorted we set off on the way, taking a while to leave the industrial parts of the town.  Indeed these past two days we have passing numerous quarries, the first one being about an hour out of the town.  Leaving la Robla  We had company as we walked through one village.  These are big dogs and they made us feel nervous,  and so we didn't linger to take photos.  It is not only cars that that are parked in village streets. We stopped and had lunch in a bus...

After leaving Puente  Almuhey  we had a wonderful walk along quiet rural roads and pathways.   We passed through some delightful villages and steadily climbed to a height of 1,116 metres.  It sounds a lot, but we actually began at around 970 metres. The view of the church in Puente Almuhey.  The bridge (Puente) that gives the town its name. The first village,Tarantila, we pass through.  The walls around Palacio Renado Over the past few days we have been bumping into Elena and Agostin - 2 Spanish  peregrinos.  We have stayed in the same abode for several nights, and yesterday, while we were resting, they caught up with us.  We sort of followed them after that, and we all ended up at the Santuario de la Virgen de la Velilla, an absolutely lovely  spot.     Santuario de la Virgen de la Velilla.  Note the grazing horses. The pilgrims hostel at  Sant...

Well, it has been a couple of days since my last post, but we have only really had one day of walking! We left Cervera de Pisuerga on a glorious cool, sunny morning making good headway up hill.  The path quickly left the road and headed along rough tracks, even involving a bit of bush bashing.  We began with a fairly stiff climb which levelled out on what may have been an old railway line leading from a mine in the hills.  Lovely paths, interesting ruins, and great views. We had magnificent views of the mountains and I had to stop frequently to photograph and admire the scenery.  We stopped, rested, and ate lunch in the porch of a church.  This has actually been the first time we have done this as either there has been nowhere to sit, or it has been in the sun, but this time it was a perfect spot, and we were able to eat our picnic lunch of empanadas in comfort. Our lunch spot in Cantor...