Pilgrims on the Way

Following a leisurely breakfast, I walked outside and snapped this photo of the medieval bridge upon which we crossed the Rio Meruelo. For me at least, on Camino I rarely remember to look back and take photos from the other perspective. You can see the structure of the bridge clearly, as well as the feisty little river below. Date: 23 […]

In Molinaseca, the Camino takes a sharp left turn over this medieval bridge over the Rio Meruelo. Beyond this footbridge is the charming medieval town center, with its narrow streets and overhanging buildings. More important for us at the moment, at the end of the bridge is a restaurant where we can finally have our breakfast. During breakfast, we run […]

This photo showing Francine entering town gives you a much better idea of the layout of Molinaseca. It’s a lovely place, and I think I’d like to stay overnight here and explore the town on a future Camino. Date: 23 April 2016 Place: Entering Molinaseca (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s map!

Well, we made it down the slip-sliding hill to the road leading into town. Only a couple of hundred meters now to the actual town, which is just about as charming as they come, although it’s a little difficult to tell from this photo. About this time, we lost track of Stijn, who forged ahead. Date: 23 April 2016 Place: […]

The Camino winds down and around through hills and valleys as we descend into El Bierzo. Finally, we catch the first good look at the town of Molinaseca. That looks like a pretty steep climb down just to get to the road. Date: 23 April 2016 Place: Approaching Molinaseca (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s map!

During the descent into the Valley of El Bierzo, we ran into Billy again. Remember Billy? We hadn’t seen him in ages. Truly, the Camino is a small world, despite its size. Here you see Billy leading Stijn and Francine down the slippery slope. Beautiful view and great weather. Still no breakfast, though. Date: 23 April 2016 Place: Between Riego […]

Normally when the Camino crosses a stream, there’s a bridge. Or at least stepping stones. Not here. In the photo, you can see Stijn gingerly making his way across, but we all had to do it. At least it wasn’t at flood stage like many places earlier on our Camino. Sorry about the blurry quality. Many of this morning’s photos […]

The next morning, after a bitterly cold night, we left town without breakfast – absolutely nothing in this eerily empty town was open. The road out of Riego de Ambrós begins with this scramble downhill on what appears to be exposed granite. It’s slippery when wet. In fact, I was a little woozy from a bad sleep and no food, […]

As mentioned in previous days, the buildings lining the empty streets of Riego de Ambrós all look newly built or refurbished. It’s a ghost village, immaculately kept. Just keeping the hanging baskets watered on all of the empty houses is probably a full-time position. It seems like a lovely place, and I wonder if it’s nothing but summer houses. Date: […]

As I mentioned yesterday, Riego de Ambrós is a most peculiar village. Every building looks newly built or refurbished, all in the local traditional style. And yet, the streets are empty. The houses are shuttered. Nobody seems to live here. We counted five locals in a village that could easily house hundreds. Date: 22 April 2016 Place: Riego de Ambrós […]