And We’re Back!
Many apologies. The blog has been down, it appears, for three days while we were away from any web access. Your normal service is now restored, and we’ll do our best to catch you up in subsequent posts.
» Read moreAuthor: Thom
I’ve Been through the Desert
It seems like I´ve been walking the long, straight paths of the Meseta forever, though in truth it´s only been six days. Less than a week! But many of the photos taken are of the road I´m travelling, generally a straight line to the horizon. There´s a lot of time to think on the Meseta while you walk through the […]
» Read moreThe Meseta Begins to Leave its Mark
15 April 2013 Today Eamon and I walked a record-breaking 34 km. The walk to Fromista along the Canal de Castilla was very pleasant; it was not yet hot (we left at 7:30), and a cool breeze blew through the trees beside the canal. Lunch was in Fromista, where I spent some time in the Romanesque masterpiece of the Iglesia […]
» Read moreInitial Thoughts on the Meseta
Third Sunday of Easter 14 April 2013 Hot. Dry. Sunny. This is the Meseta, a large arid plateau that makes up the middle third of the Camino through Spain. The Meseta is said to be the second trial of the Camino. In the first third, you are tried physically. In the bleak Mesta, you are tried mentally. It has not […]
» Read moreHoly Places
13 April 2013 Burgos Cathedral this morning. I really wish I could upload photos from this connection, as I probably took a hundred or more. We spent about two hours wandering through this – superlatives fail me – magnificent? glorious? fantastical? – Gothic marvel in stone. I was a little disturbed by the decision to turn much of the structure […]
» Read moreBurgos
Boots still wet, and wind still howling, the long deathmarch through the industrial wastelands surrounding Burgos needs little in the way of narration. Suffice to say, it was not the most charming possible introduction to a city. The central portion of the old city is beautiful, but very trendy and expensive. The cathedral is beautiful – perhaps the most spectacular […]
» Read moreSwimming to San Juan
11 April 2013 Felt much better after a good sleep and three boxes of orange juice. We left Belorado in good form and breakfasted in Tosantos. It was a sunny, if breezy still, walk through the countryside we´d come to expect – brilliant green farm fields in bowl-shaped valleys. We lunched in a picturesque truck stop in Villafranca Montes de […]
» Read moreFlorida Vindicated!
Patrick was correct, as it turns out. We found out that the local news reported sustained winds of 45 kph on the day we walked into Sto. Domingo.
» Read moreSanto Domingo and His Chickens
10 April 2013 After the severe physical trail of yesterday, we were determined to take it easy, starting late and perhaps only going as far as Granon, or maybe Redecilla del Camino, some 11 km distant. Before setting out, we explored the Cathedral. Santo Domingo himself is buried in the crypt, and I knelt there for a while, imploring the […]
» Read moreLa Rioja! Where the Wind Comes Whipping down the Plain…
09 April 2013 When you think that the Camino can´t get more demanding, it usually does. We left Ventosa (which apparently means “windy”, which should have been our first clue) at about 7:30, despite our best efforts to be out the door by 7. By 9:30, we were drinking our cafe con leche´s in Najera, 10 km on. In Najera, […]
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