May 5
May 5 Las Herrieas to Triacastela 32 km. I’m afraid my steripen finally failed to function properly, and I was visited by that Italian mobster Sal Manella. Felt rocky all day even though it was once again a beautiful walk. Heading up over a rise I turned to find a farmer with his two dogs. […]
May 4
May 4 Villafranca to Las Herrieas. Some days the walk is not really the highlight. I missed the mountain path turn out of Villafranca so it was a road walk most of the day. Apart from a pleasant stop by a stream in the shade, an unremarkable day that was redeemed by the simplest of […]
May 3
May 3 Ponferrada To Villefranca 28 km. Moving through new climates, flora, fauna, and architecture. The first, most noticeable shift was in the trees, gone are the olives (more or less) replaced by apple and cherry. Atop every bell tower and electric pole are huge stork nests. The birds stand above them, glowering down at […]
May 2
May 2 El Gamso to Ponferrada 42 km. Early on in Walden, Thoreau says, “It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.” ( I recall my son Charlie once saying that was his favorite line). Thoreau’s […]
May 1
May 1 Hospital de Orbigo to El Gamso 31 km. This day took me across the rest of the meseta to the edge of the first line of mountains leading into Galicia. The highlight was midday in Asturga, arriving on a Sunday at the center city as mass let out. Crowds filled the square while […]
April 30
April 30 Leon to Hospital de Orbigo 32 km. Enjoyed my hotel room with a late start for an uneventful day. After making my way out of the city which had stark shadows from the bright morning sun, and then some suburbs, the path moved out into the fields, first on a muddy track but […]
April 29
April 29 Puente de Villarente to Leon 12 km. A short morning stroll through the suburbs with good company brought me to Leon, home of an impressive Romanesque church and a gothic cathedral with some of the finest stained glass in all of Europe. After many nights of Albergue snoring and uneven sleep, I opted […]
April 28
April 28 Calzadilla de la Hermanillos to Puente de Villarente 32 km. A day out on the big empty. The first 25 km were through slightly rolling fields broken by a few canal crossings, but really just path and sky. It ended finally on arrival in Reliegos and the Torres bar which was covered with […]
April 27
April 27 Calzadilla de la Cueza to Calzadilla de la Hermanillos 35 km. Another day on the flats, with only two details that stood out. For some days there have been what, for lack of a better term, I’ll have to call hobbit houses–dwellings built into the rise of a hill, part in, part out […]
April 26
April 26 Fromista to Calzadilla de la Cueza 35 km. The meseta, the plain these days where I walk, has many old canals which were once used for transportation but now primarily serve irrigation with weirs that divert water into long heavy concrete aqueducts. The fields remain rapeseed and hay, beautiful, green but boundless, slightly […]