Author: Thom

As the Camino has continued its journey from the Pyrenees to the Meseta, the terrain has been getting flatter and flatter. These hills are a shadow of the wooded hills of early days, and the forests are nearly gone now. This is what I consider great walking terrain. Or it would be, if we weren’t still walking into strong winds. […]

This is the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista in Grañón, the site of the town’s famous albergue. We had by this point decided to press on walking, so I would not stay here until 2016. Just what is going on out front is anybody’s guess. Giveaway for the poor? Rummage sale? Closing up of market day? Date: 10 April 2013Place: […]

This building in Grañón is typical of the construction of many older buildings in this stretch of the Camino. It’s clearly not built with standardized anything. There’s a rough charm of this type of construction that I really appreciate. I mean, the plaster needs a new coat, and if it were me I’d do something to seal up those timbers […]

We were feeling good. Before we could make any decision about whether we were going to stay here or press on, we filled up our water bottles at the local fountain. We were all feeling surprisingly strong. We’d walked 11km, it was only 11:30, and we weren’t even ready for lunch. Date: 10 April 2013Place: Grañón (La Rioja, Spain)Today started: […]

After yesterday’s difficult and long walk, we initially decided that today we would take it easy. We didn’t even start walking until almost 10 AM. Our little party now consisted only of myself, Eamon, and Viola. We had expected to end the day in Grañón, the first town we came to, as we had heard great things about its albergue […]

Being a Christian pilgrimage route, the Camino has many, many roadside crosses and shrines. This particular one exists as the result of a medieval boundary dispute between the towns of Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón. This site gives one popular version of the story: It is said that, many centuries ago, there was a dispute over an extensive […]

To the west of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, the Camino returns to a rural landscape. Before my first Camino, I didn’t even know what sheep smelled like. Now, I can’t see a photo like this without remembering the smell. Not unpleasant, but perhaps not optimal. Date: 10 April 2013Place: between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón (La Rioja, […]

Santo Domingo de la Calzada is so named because the saint spent his life improving the Camino road, and in particular he built the first causeway (calzada) over the Río Oja where this bridge now stands. Over the centuries, a series of flash floods on the river washed away several bridges on this site, and the current one mostly contains […]

Following our tour of the cathedral and museum, it was time to bid a tearful farewell to Patrick and Petra. Patrick was heading home to Florida; he would finish his Camino in subsequent years. Petra had to bus ahead to Burgos to be sure she would make her plane out of Santiago in time. This was the last time I […]