Galicia

We are over the top, and at the foot of O'Cebreiro again, but 30km into Galicia.
While the others were having mad dentist dreams while napping in the Little Refugio of Horrors, Brian and Tom cycled up to check out the trail the guidebooks keep warning us about..Brian says.."Yes, it is muddy, yes there are rocks, but there is also a paved way, a narrow single track into the fog"...and so, after our coffee and bread breakfast, up we go. The single track is a bit longer, 9km instead of 7, and steep like the stairway to heaven..up,up,up. Dad disappears ahead, Tom passes me a little later, then Ann catches up. Brian goes the dirt path to make sure Tom didn't go that way, so Ann and I climb away, walking now.
0.2km, stop, breath, repeat.
This goes on for three hours, through oak, gorse, heather, fog, rain, up.
A mini Pyrenees...that climb went on for twice as long.
Finally, we are there..not a lot to see, on the windy, misty crest; but a bit further is the actual town of O'Cebreiro, with these round thatched Galician stone buildings..the books say are used for "humans or cattle".
Hmm...mother-in-law visiting? Change the hay in the spare room!
We hit the giftshop and Brian and I drain a beer while the others have hot chocolate, then...the descent that Tom and I have been looking forward to...30km! Down!
But..no,the books lied, three more little passes keep putting off the thrill. Finally, Alto de Ojo, the last pass, and the rain descends instead. Dashing into a conveniently located bar, we are reminded yet again we are not in California...a wave of stale tobacco smoke rolls out..it is warm inside, however, so we endure it, and have the first hot soup so far. The Spanish seem to like their white wine and soup warm, and red wine cold. A warning to you all...this is a foreign country.
The rain slacks off, and we go for it...at least, Dad, Tom, and I..Brian and Ann are too pokey...we are hot to get off the hill, a 7% grade for 15km. Alas, the ain and wind are not through with us, on one tack through the switchbacks the wind is so strong we have to PEDAL downhill, and coming about to the next switchback is a bit thrilling, but then we have a tailwind...heh, heh.
I leave those two losers behind, hitting 62.5km per hour. Of course, the next switchback repeats this, and then it is a straight run down to Triacastela, where we are now, in a pension called "Casa Olga"
120km to go, we need to slow it down a bit!

The Foot of O'Cebreiro

We are in Las Herreras, just at the beginning of the last tough climb of our Camino...plenty more little ones, yes...but nothing like this. 10% grade, for 7 kilometers. Yes...we have a rewarding 30km of downhill afterwards.
From Villafranca we had a cold, soggy ride farther up the valley, but it is narrower now, and a fast flowing river gets closer and closer. I am pretty damn cold, if you wear too much, you sweat like crazy under the raingear, not enough, brrrr. Stopping for hot chocolate improves my opinion of the world somewhat and we press on. If you let Dad get on pavement he's a road monster, and since the camino is beside a by-passed highway, we ride on it, and he just flies off. I just pedal on, bicycling is different from motorcycling in many ways...on the bicycle, I keep my eyes just ahead of the front wheel or looking about, no need to get depressed about the hills ahead. On a motorcycle, you look as far ahead as possible.
Oh, and that throttle thing is way groovy, man.
The place we stay in has three rooms over a bar/restaurant, we first ate lunch there, very good food, too, and then went down the road to a refugio.
This was extremely rustic, the beams holding the floor above up were whole logs, the beds were very spare, and apparently Ann had spoke to the refugio keeper, who'd said she would turn the heat...and disappeared. We tried napping, a normal event after we find beds to fall into..but two carpenters next door were practicing for a dental exam or something..from the sounds, it was a very serious impacted wisdom tooth extraction. After a bit of this (Brian and Tom pedal off, Brian said he didn't want to know what our dreams were)we go check out the upstairs, and find that the radiators downstairs are fed from a water heater in a cold woodstove, and...when the carpenters are still at it at 6pm, we go snag the rooms over the bar, where we eat another wonderful meal, have some great wines, and fall asleep to the sounds of the river chuckling about a joke it won't share. The birds here are very vocal, and wake us up early..as if Dad would ever sleep in.
There is a really nice old shepard here, Nero, I name him, after his emperial snout, which was seriously bent in an unfortunate accident...with the mangled ear as well, it was amazing how friendly he was. His fur felt like a sheep, quite thick, and never washed, I'm sure. Most animals in Spain are quite leary of humans, which is sad...and why we appreciate the ones who do let us approach.
The woman who asked when we wanted breakfast never appeared, and the dishes from our dinner are still at the table, so we hit O'Cebreiro on cafe con leche y pan.
Typical Spanish breakfast.

Ponferrada

Ponferrada has a huge Templar castle overlooking the town, we go check it out in the morning while Ann gets some work done on her term paper..the castle is in great shape, built in the 1300's, and repaired/remodeled many times..
We leave at noon to Villafranca, a sunny (off & on) ride across this lovely green valley, small farms with neatly plowed rows of peppers, wheat, grapes, and fields upon fields of blood-red poppies. Dad and Ann fell back taking photos of an elderly burro, Tom and Brian got farther ahead...I was all alone on a single lane road surrounded by poppies. Stopping to take a photo of a field of them, a car driving by pulls over, out leaps an older guy who asks to let him take my picture...I'm thinking...sure, take my photo, then take my camera...but no, he knew his way around the Nikon and got a couple shots of me, gave the camera back, shook my hand, saying "Buen Camino!", dove back in his car, and sped off. This all took less than five minutes..it was a bit surreal..
Villafranca is a very old town in the foothills...where we stayed in an old convent. This was a huge building, not sure of it's age, at least 200 - 300 years. We got to town late, so the refugios were full...Ann found us a choice of either the Bates Motel, a scary place by the highway, or a spot with only two rooms, a single and a double. This would require Dad and I to share a bed. I said "give me that guidebook!...what about this convent, it has 150 beds and some private rooms."
BaddaBing!
Really, really nice, huge echoing halls, 15' ceilings, we got lost in there several times. There were chairs on the landings with the ghosts of stern nuns in them. I could hear the "shush" and tapping of the rulers, as the nuns and nun-wannabees bustled about. Given the choice of working in the fields and dropping babies all your life or going to a convent, I can sympathize.
Imagine! Learning to read!
Most women had no choices whatsoever back then, with no food to feed them, it was the convent or die.

Day whatever

What day is it?
If it wasn't for my palmpilot, and the big parade in Astorga today...I sure wouldn't know.
We made it to Rabanal del Camino today, 40k from Hospital de Orbigo.
Pretty amazing considering we did two museum tours in Astorga,, one Roman, one the Camino museum in the Gaudi Palace, AND had a 86€ lunch in some....yes, tiny town. It was Cocida Margata, Ann said it was a stew, but it turned into a massive three course meal, plus desert. We knew we were in for something special when the plates came out...nice plates.
An old woman across the street yelled at the bar and we got instant service, I will post her photo with these words. She had five dogs around her, and a very musically talented bird hanging in a cage in the second story window. One of the dogs I named Leon, because of the cathedral...his balls were so big the first thing I said was...
"Oh My God"..just like the cathedral. Jesu Christe! Watching him walk reminded me of the bells in the cathedral tower..
Clang! Clang!
Anyway, the food was really bizarre, a platter of mystery meats, followed by garbanzo beans and cabbage, followed by a chicken noodle soup-like dish, followed by a desert from heaven, some kind of custard. The entire family served us, we had different faces every course..then, the owner sent out a round of some ice-cold liquor in tiny frozen beer mug-like glasses...he said that would help us make it up the mountain. Urp.
Clang! Clang!
Another 15k after that, we are here, 2/3's of the way up to the "Cruz de Ferro", where pilgrims for centuries have left rocks from home. You won't believe how tall this pile is. Tomorrow we finish the ascent, in 6k we climb about 400 meters, then descend 1000 meters in 10k. Dad is changing his brake pads for this..It is quite cold up here, tomorrow morning will be nippy as hell.
As far as the Gaudi museum..suffice to say that he was a stunning architect, my favorite, and if we can pound the kilometers out and get Santiago early, we may jet to Barcelona for more. His use of arches, pillars, tiles, windows...unreal.
Again, no photos allowed, but Germans a'plenty clicking away.
time for bed....
Here we are in Ponferrada, the other side of the Cruz de Ferro, 1508 meters. This is the spot where pilgrims traditionally leave a small rock from home, mine was from Big River beach. The climb from Rabanal was not too bad, especially since the camino was on a small paved road. It was quite cold, yes. The descent was
rippin'! My max speed was over 55kph, but I tried to hold it to 40 and below.
We are now past the highest point on the Camino, in a beautiful green valley approximately 50k wide, with O'Cebreiro to climb in a few days, then a rolling landscape of hills like Mendocino county.
We are going to look for pizza tonight, and I will try to post this. I decided to spare you Leon's backside, imagination should suffice.

Hospital de Orbigo

Somehow, via the Camino forums, I knew this was a special place...no-one said anything in particular, but the name drew me...as did the entry to our aubergue for the evening.
Walking through the ancient doors, the patio/gardens just pull you in. The host is lancing a walkers blisters, and I wait until he is finished. He stamps my Camino passport, and shows me the rooms..WC here, internet there, washing tubs and clotheslines over there, rooms full of bunks here, here, here, and here. We get a room to ourselves, but it soon has 5 walkers as well. We've a lot of respect for walkers, they travel a difficult path.
Today was pretty easy, a late start, we change plans yet again and cycle out of Leon, not fun. Traffic, smog, beeping drivers, all conspire to keep us on our toes, with sensors on high.
Finally, though...out in the fields again. 41k today, to Hospital de Orbigo. The longest bridge on the Camino is here, and a long story too. The church steeple has four storks nests, all fully occupied. Damn, those are BIG birds! Think small terydoctyls..with beaks and feathers...Seriously, as big as a large turkey's body size, and a wing span that has to be close to 6'.
There is a jousting field, the long story involves jousting, and in two weeks there is a tournament here.
There are Japanese, German, English, American, French, and Eastern European peoples on this camino so far, this particular aubergue was founded by a Dachau camp survivor. Of all the places so far in both our Camino's, this is only second to Granon, the church there was awe-inspiring in its simplicity, grace, and hospitality. I had a prawn and mushroom dish last night in Leon, and I am sure I found the same mushrooms today, they start out as normal white balls boiling out of the ground, and split into petals later-I saw the petal form on a steep slope and would not trade momentum for a photo, but got a good shot the earlier stages later.
Tonight is going to be an earplug night, I can tell. Several people have yet to return, but the symphony is building.
Speaking of which!...there are some very cool frogs making music in the ditches and ponds here, quite unusual...I got a movie of one such ditch so you can hear them.
Cool! The place we are in for coffee and crossaints has a laptop on the bar...no ethernet cable, so I try my WiFinder....bingo, free wireless

Leon

Here we are in the biggest town we will go through on our way to Santiago. We are in a pension, 4 stories of rooms, about 8 per floor, and the matron is on the second floor, across from Dad and I.
We can see the Leon Cathedral spires from our window, over tiny, tiny streets and tile roofs. After the pretentious Burgos cathedral, a monument to conspicuous consumption in the form of the Bishop, I was not prepared to like this one....But.
The first words out of my mouth upon entry were..."oh, my god"
800 years old, with the finest collection of stained glass windows in Spain, and I think Europe, at least original stained glass. It is a bit difficult to photograph something so huge, but here is a detail of one of the doors. Photographs were not allowed inside, this did not prevent the Germans from marching around clicking and flashing...one guy was taking photo's of the 'No photographs' sign...tacky.
Time to head out again, we are walking around looking for good things to eat! Oh yes, and stamps for all these cards I have to write yet.
You may have noticed Tom posting in Spanish so his teacher can see he is not slacking off, Ann probably will as well.
Wow, Friday night in the big city...11pm and this place is just getting going..kids everywhere, people walking, chatting, bars and cafe's and restaurants crowded.
Time to pack up, we may bus out, might train, might cycle...but the mountains are coming.
Food here has been marvelous
TaTa, amigos y amigas!

Day Three

Ok, the official name for the town I so ungraciously called 'turdpile' is Calzadilla de los Hermanillos. Our hostess, the chef/ma from the previous evenings dinner, was way too nice to leave it at that, and besides...the next town deserves the name even more. Mansilla de los Mulas..'Hands of the Mule?'...This was a 22k ride from the last town, across Roman Rubble Roads...politely...a constant butt massage from a sadistic massuese using a bat. Poor Dad & Brian have no suspension, so it is even worse for them. Mansilla is where we get our first flat, Tom picks up a spike through the rear tire. I take the opportunity to look for wireless and notice mule size prints in the cement sidewalk, and later, large piles of green goo in the road, so Mansilla takes the Turd Queen crown. Dad later gets surrounded by sheep, a whole flock being driven through town. One photo in this post is of the town gate, they all had/have walls, and the gates closed and guarded at night. There is a nice scene of
the wheat fields and pilgrims meandering into the distance, and an old bridge, one of many...there is a photo of what the RRR surface looks like. A decently maintained Roman Road has flagstones, we think this is the road base. This was the road from Rome to the mines in Astorga, where we will be in a few days.
We cheat in Mansilla, and catch a bus the final 15k into Leon, the Camino books suggest this, the way in is alongside freeways, through grimy factories, and over bridges with tissue-paper thin spaces to ride. After we saw this from the bus, we aredamn glad! Saturday morning we will do the same to get out of Leon.

El diario de Tom 23/5/2008

Me gusta mucho la comida de Galicia. Mi favorita es el calamari. Me gustan
las conchas también. Salvo la cáscara porque es seña para el Camino de
Santiago. Fuimos a la Catedral de la ciudad de León. La Catedral es muy
grande! Fue construída hace ochocientos anos.

No me gusta la bebida chocolate aquí. La bebida "chocolate caliente" es
muy pesada. Chocolate con churros es muy bueno.

La gente no habla inglés. Es muy dificil para mí hablar el español. Me
gusta mucho hablar pero es muy difícil para mí. Me gusta hablar pero no
aquí. Me gusta hablar mucho en la California.

El diario de Tom 20/5/2008

Ayer fuimos a Ledigos. Fuimos para 48.3 km en las bicicletas para seis
horas. No me gustó el camino porque tiene muchas piedras. Me gusta la
comida. Mi comida favorita es el jamón. Me gusta la bebida también. Mis
favoritas son el café y la coca-cola.

Day Two

We are in Sahagun now, 18k out of Ledigos. We are sitting in the town square, having coffee. Ann and Tom are doing homework, Dad is walking around shooting photos. I still have yet to find an unlocked wifi signal, at least, one strong enough to get these out. I might just use the WiFi-where app as a location finder and walk around until the one free one is strong enough to lock onto.
That didn't work...but I had a nice walk. Sahagun is a nice town, but it is too early to stop. We got picnic stuff, the next town is 25k away, no water, no food. Somewhere in there we stop on the trail and bust out the food..red wine,olives, pate, salami,french bread, cherries, and a strange pear thing. Ann snags an old steel pot and has it dangling from a handlebar the next two days. She also points out some Spanish thyme, and I grab a bunch for my vinaigrette, when I get home to make a batch. We stop in a tiny town..(have I mentioned they are almost all tiny?)and look at the refugio...4 rooms, 2 bunks per room, dark and gloomy...seemed ok to me, 5€! Dad and Ann poopoo this, and find a rose in this turd pile, a huge hostal all empty, built on Grandpa's land, cook is Ma, daughter is the waitress, photos and mementos all over the walls. This was a really nice spot, but was more pricey. The rain started about twenty minutes after unpacking..so far it has only rained at night, nothing i
n the day, and not enough to mud-bog us. We are on a gravel path most of the time, through wheat pastures, on and off old Roman roads...(Roman=Rough)
Here is an old monastary in a copse of trees I forgot to post.
Pretty pooped tonight, so I am zapping this out and bidding you all a good night.

Day One

Cycling, that is...
The blush is off the rose, so to speak...
We did 48.3 kilometers today, I did about 10 more because the sender for the trip computer fell off almost as soon as we hit the dirt...but I did find it, and it is ziptied back on. We are in a very small village called Ledigos, which has the only cat and dog we've met yet in Spain that was not very afraid. The Camino is quite crowded with noisy Germans, we are in an auberge that is 7€ a night, dinner was great, 3 course, two bottles of wine, one of water, five of us, 40€. Dad is giving me a lot of Nikon and photography tips, I am glad he brought his camera this time.

Train ride!

I've loved trains...since I was tiny...
So much better than the bus! The car is full of children from some school, all middle school age, rapid-fire Spanish flying all around. We have to take the local, no bikes allowed on the express, but the stops won't be too bad. This one we are on now goes to Palencia, then we transfer to one up to Fromista, where we left off last year.
These red flowers are everywhere, calling them 'red' does not do them justice...
Well, that was a real thrill...the kids were two groups, boys & girls, apparently on field trip to Madrid from Palencia. One very cute one asked, in perfect English, where we were going, and another asked my name en Español, and they said theirs, which of course I can't remember. It was a fast several hours surrounded bymachine-gun gossip! They played a card game, charades, sang songs, and swapped back rubs, my kinda kids....
We transferred to the Fromista train after the kids got picked up in Palencia by obviously happy parents, and here we are, in the same hostal we stayed in 18 months ago...I can't explain the joy of being back on the Camino, but we are all very happy to be here. Tired, yes...but joyful.
Having said that, g'night!

We are in Madrid, at Carmens apartment..this is the place with the python shower...and the lights on timers....ohhhhh, yes. I remember this!

we are up and at it....long damn trip, crying baby in the seat in front of me on the SF-London flight...yuck. Nice video on demand on the plane, tho...tons of movies to watch. I was a bit groggy when we got here, but slept ok, dad was snoring bigtime, but i just slept on my good ear and let the deaf one deflect him!
plans are to catch the 1:30pm train up to Fromista, probably not get there until 8pm or so tonight.

Carmen and her sisters swooped onto the airport and swept us away, just what we needed!
everyone kisses your cheeks , both sides, men and women...I like that tradition! They are so nice to meet us with all this energy and we need it.

We should be on the Camino tomorrow...

Hope you all are well, we are doing fine here. There are clouds everywhere, and showers occaisonally, but we are going many miles north, weather will be different.

Davy

Here we go again, a year and a half later, back to Fromista and the camino. Same people, same bikes, same mud.
Buen Camino!

David Russell