Pilgrims on the Way

Today we climbed to the top of the Camino Primitivo. After Borres, the Camino route splits into two options: a low road and a high road. Paradoxically, the high road probably has easier climbs, at least according to those who have done both. The downhill, on the other hand… The mountains were enshrouded in mist the whole climb, and on […]

Cool and drizzly morning. We started late, as today was to be a short day. Breakfast in the albergue, followed by a trip to the post office to send forward my uneeded gear. Forgot to set the tracker until we were over an hour out of Tineo. A long steady uphill through forests overlooking steep hillside pastures. We passed a […]

Late start this morning. We had breakfast in the albergue at 7 AM, and it was an hour later that we finally managed to get out the door. Shallow uphill climb out of town; nothing like yesterday, though. Under the forest canopy, through a land filled with bubbling streams and waterfalls, tiny grottoes and hulking industrial ruins. This was followed […]

The long 5 km climb out of Grado is brutal. The last push is steep enough that you almost want to scramble up on all fours. After this, the terrain is much more reasonable, though like yesterday there’s an awful lot of walking on concrete. There’s a little in the way of pilgrim services the first half of the day […]

I’m posting this in the early morning hours of May 10. Yesterday we walked our first stage of the Camino Primitivo, approximately 27 km.  We left our hotel just after dawn. The walk out of the city was cool and pleasant, although by the time we got into the countryside, the mist was already starting to burn off in the […]

Today we’re spending the day in the beautiful and delightful city of Oviedo. Sunday Mass at the cathedral – a stunning and majestic edifice constructed over the course of eight centuries. Somehow the succession of different architectural styles of the centuries blend into a harmonious whole. For breakfast I indulged in my typical Camino breakfast of café con leche and […]

Utterly exhausted. We were so tired and loopy while we were in Madrid that we didn’t manage much except breakfast at a lovely little panderia halfway to the city center. The Metro was partially closed, so we had to take a bus to bridge the service gap. But we were so mentally unable to go any further, that we just […]

We had a wonderful morning exploring North Boston. We took a water taxi from the airport, checked our backpacks at a nearby hotel, and set off to explore. We started with breakfast at Anthony’s, served by Anthony himself. Then we hit the Freedom Trail.  We explored the area around the old North Church, of “one if by land, two if […]

“The plan is nothing; planning is everything.” (attributed to Dwight Eisenhower) Our journey to Spain was scheduled to begin today with an early afternoon flight to LAX on Alaska. From there we’d fly British Airways to Madrid and then Iberia to Oviedo.  Last night, Francine was just starting to cook dinner, and I was finishing up some last minute chores. […]