Author: Thom

Our Belorado albergue / holiday camp featured what I previously described as a “low-rent Disneylandesque people-mover pulled by a fake old-timey steam locomotive”. I don’t think my description actually did it justice. You decide. Date: 10 April 2013Place: somewhere just before Belorado (Province of Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Santo Domingo de la Calzada (La Rioja, Spain)

I took few photos that afternoon as we continued battling fierce headwinds, and I personally was sick with a cold. When we arrived at the outskirts of Belorado at about 4:30 PM, we three literally checked into the first place we came to. It seems to primarily be a holiday camp or something, complete with low-rent Disneylandesque people-mover pulled by […]

These faithful hounds guard a house in Villamayor. The one in the back has had its legs broken, and the body is propped awkwardly atop the feet. I’m not sure why I was so fascinated with these – I took three different photos of them. Perhaps they reflected my mood at the time; I was feeling a little broken myself […]

There’s no way around it. These days, the village of Villamayor is basically a truck stop on the N-120. The full name of the place is Villamajor del Río, and my guidebook notes that it is sometimes called “the place of three lies” as the “major” implies a large town, where this is a small village, and the creek it’s […]

This iconic sign appears after a solid bit of roadwalking from Viloria de Rioja, just as the Camino is about to rejoin the N-120 highway. I’ve no idea what it means or how long it’s been there. We saw it in 2013, and it was still there in 2016. Although it’s meaning is unknown (to me, at least), I think […]

As I’ve mentioned over the past few days, our spirits were pretty low on this stretch of the Camino. We were exhausted, walking into the wind, and I was sick with a cold. And then, in this unassuming little village, we passed a group of pilgrims. For once, we were not the slowest pilgrims! Huzzah! The very thought gave us […]

There’s no doubt that the Meseta is beautiful. While this is a look down on the ubiquitous N-120 highway, there were points where the Camino dipped into a shallow valley and all you could see was a blue hemisphere above and a green hemisphere below, horizon to horizon. The wind was back with a vengeance, and we were definitely struggling. […]

To cheer myself up, I bought a chocolate bar while we were in Castildelgado. I only had a couple of bites before I put it in my backpack and then promptly forgot about it for a several weeks. By the time I found it again, it had dried out to a chalky, crumbly mess. It was, however, totally worth it […]

While I don’t actually remember the subject of the conversation, I’m pretty sure we weren’t actually lost. Castiledelgado is a pretty small village, and there’s an arrow right there. But while Viola and Eamon are discussing, I’m having sneezing fits as my cold comes on full force. Date: 10 April 2013Place: Castiledelgado (Province of Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: […]