Category: Map

Parts of the village of Liñares are no doubt charming, but the aspect it presents to those on the Camino look decidedly like a truck stop. We arrived at about 8:20 in the morning to find nothing at all open, frustrating our hopes for a proper breakfast. So we pushed on. Date: 26 April 2016 Place: approaching Liñares (Galicia, Spain) […]

Following first breakfast in town, which consisted of boxed juice and factory-made pastries, we walk back past the Xunta Albergue to the Camino. O Cebreiro is at some altitude, and you can see Rebecca and Francine bundled up against the morning chill. Quite a difference from yesterday! Date: 26 April 2016 Place: O Cebreiro (Galicia, Spain) Today’s Map:

We ran into many old friends in O Cebreiro: Penny – hobbled by blisters but still going strong – and the sisters from Colorado, Lauren and Francesca, who we haven’t seen since León. The next morning as we left the Xunta Albergue, mist filled the valleys surrounding the village, looking for all the world like the waves of the sea […]

Having climbed up the side of a mountain for most of the day, we take a well-deserved moment of rest at the gates of O Cebreiro before entering properly into the town. Rebecca snaps a photo of the church. Although I avoided taking photos of them, tour buses crowd this area off to the left of the photo. The Camino […]

Here we see Francine checking out the first of the new Galician Junta distance markers on the Camino. From here on out, these will display the distance to the Crypt of Santiago down to the meter. How accurate are they? Well, I’ve heard it said that they used GPS to calculate the distance. But unless you walked step by step […]

Galicia is the last of the Spanish Kingdoms traversed by the Camino. Traditionally the Meseta is very dry, and Galicia is nothing but mist and cloud and rain. This year, however, is not like other years. We had flooding on the Meseta, and nothing but blue skies here in Galicia. Date: 25 April 2016 Place: between La Faba and O […]

As we approached the marker denoting our entry into Galicia, our last Spanish Kingdom on the Camino, I turned around and took this photo. This is my last photo of the Kingdom of Castilla y León, and of the El Bierzo valley and cultural region. TL;DR – Spain is beautiful. Date: 25 April 2016 Place: between La Faba and O […]

Clearly, the heat was getting to me. Francine got this shot in front of El Refugio CaminArte, so this photo is slightly out of order. It was so hot on the long climb, that I zipped off the legs on my hiking pants. This is probably the last time I wore shorts. I can’t explain the pose or the goofy […]

Sometimes you need a reminder that the Camino is not some isolated path through Spain, but rather part of the warp and weft of the countryside through which it passes. In the rural areas you will occasionally have someone run a small herd of cows or a flock of sheep down the Camino. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s […]