Walking the Camino de Santiago
This is the entrance to the tiny Ermita de la Inmaculada in the village of Orbaneja Riopico. Why these doors are designed the way they are, I’ve no idea. My cultural guidebook, usually the final word in such matters, does not deign to mention the place. Most of my guidebooks only mention the village in passing, if at all. None […]
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The church in question is the tiny Ermita de la Inmaculada in the village of Orbaneja Riopico. The dog in question was a friendly local who completely failed to give us directions to the nearest café. I don’t know his name. I’ll have a closeup of the doors (not the dog, sadly) tomorrow. Date: 12 April 2013Place: Orbaneja Riopico (Province […]
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Nope. I can’t explain this, but I kind of love it. It’s out in somebody’s front yard in the suburbia on the way to Burgos. Date: 12 April 2013Place: between Cardeñuela Riopico and Orbaneja Riopico (Province of Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: San Juan de Ortega (Province of Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain)
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Back on the road to Burgos after lunch, and there’s more road walking – despite what the map below indicates. Just past the edge of the village, somebody has painted this encouraging sign on their driveway. The villages here as we get closer to the city definitely have a more suburban feel to them, and it’s difficult sometimes to tell […]
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Sometimes Francine refers to the Camino as “eating your way across Spain”. It’s only partly a joke. Since you’re walking 20 to 30 kilometers on any given day, you quickly develop an appetite well out of the bounds of your usual eating habits. Couple with that the amazing regional varieties of cuisine, and even the lowly menu del día or […]
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Knowing that you’ll be carrying everything with you for a month, you try to pack light. It’s never light enough, as a long string of “free to take” boxes in the albergues along the Camino will attest. We pack our fears. Still, I don’t know of anyone who brought a clothes iron. Now a coffee machine… You’ll notice that this […]
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I appreciate good signage, and this one is great. Where’s the Camino? Where’s water? Where do I get my stamp? This sign has you covered. Mind you, all of these things are within sight of each other, so perhaps the sign is overkill – or maybe the locals got tired of answering the same questions from exhausted pilgrims. Date: 12 […]
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About a half hour after starting down the hill, we arrive in the village of… well, probably Cardeñuela Riopico. At least, that’s what it seems to be, when I compare my photos with Google streetview. It’s getting to be lunchtime, and whatever marked route we’re taking, it has nothing to do with the map below. It was closer to the […]
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Near the beginning of our virtual Camino, February 2020 Yesterday my beautiful bride Francine and I finished walking our virtual Camino from Lourdes to Santiago, a distance of roughly 957km. You’ve heard of staycations? This was a staymino. It took us just over a year. At least I got one thing accomplished during lockdown! We mostly walked around our neighbourhood […]
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This section of the Camino can be a little confusing on the maps. My notes are sketchy, and the map below in no way agrees with the map I actually had with me at the time. So that town in the distance may or may not actually be Villalval, which may or may not have been the next village we […]
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