Author Archives: jmwtarland

The walk from Fromista to Carrión was along the path beside the road. Obviously not the most interesting of vistas but full of birdsong and different crops in a the fields.
Looking for coffee, we followed the signs for a heavily advertised cafe slightly off-route only to find it closed! Arrived at the next village to find the elderly couple running the cafe having a right barny much to the amusement of their international clientele😀. Met up with a few kent faces at the next cafe including Kate and Steve who we arranged to have dinner with later. Arrived at our Hostal around 11 and managed to get into our room. There was a launderette next door so Susan got all our washing up to date. Met our American ladies and Newcastle John for a drink before dinner in our Hostal. Very good. I had a starter of artichokes and Kate informed me that she wouldn’t be walking behind me the next day. Susan and I took a walk and had a nightcap in an old traditional bar. I was fascinated to see live (I think) bullfighting on the tv. There were a few older men watching it and when the matador delivered the coup de grace they got up and left. Just like full-time at football.
On a general note we are hearing of more and more people with various injuries. We are fine but my blister is still causing me discomfort and we both felt our shoulders a bit sore today, consequently we have arranged for our backpacks to be shipped tomorrow.

Set off at 6 ready for quite an uphill hike. There was low cloud (or mist, I’m never very sure) hanging over The Valley which made for a fantastic sunrise. Had our usual coffee and juice stops at a couple of villages along the way. There are massive fields of wheat everywhere and some pretty impressive irrigation systems. Some of the churches have these huge stork’s nests, duplex nests as one of our young American friends called them😀. We also saw what I think was a vulture. The walk into Fromista is along a canal towpath which sort of reminded us of Fort Augustus. There was a rather smart restaurant across the road from our hostal so we booked dinner for 7.30. Thought we would be a bit romántico seeing it was Friday night! Met Kate, Steve, and Pete and Pat (from London) for a drink before dinner. We had a lovely evening although my duck was a bit on the teuch side. Spoke to a couple of young South Korean guys that I had seen frequently. They are actually based in Madrid and run a company that arranges Caminos for Koreans. Susan will hate me for telling you this, but the older guy said he had noticed how she interacted with everybody and he said she had an aura about her. How lovely was that. Bed around 9.30, slept well.

Early start again. Another good walking day as it was quite overcast until we arrived at our destination around midday. Had breakfast enroute with Steve and Kate and then a further stop for juice before arriving in Castrojeriz. Had a very interesting philosophical discussion with a chap called Mau (see photo) who hangs about a ruined monastery outside town. He told us to go into his ‘house of silence’ in town? Staying at a hostel called aCien Leguas – according to our host Fernando a league was what a Roman soldier would walk in an hour so we were a hundred hours walk to Santiago. Had a tapa of black pudding and had a relaxing afternoon. Susan went out to explore what is a beautiful old town and actually visited the house. She found it quite moving. Had a drink in our hostal with Glenn and Shelley from Hawaii and Derek from Texas. And then coincidentally Kate and Steve turned up to join us for dinner. Fernando had given most of the staff a night off as they are virtually fully booked now for the season so we had to endure a fixed menu of garlic soup, paella and ice cream. Shelley informed us of her belief in past life regression and the fact that she had written a book on the subject. We listened politely of course but I think it fair to say she didn’t convert anybody to her beliefs! We then had a nice blether with Fernando over a nightcap. He had worked for a year in Manchester so knew the U.K. quite well. Slept well.

Pics to follow…..

Left Burgos just as it was getting light as we were told the route out of the city was a bit complicated. Beautiful countryside again with abundant wild flowers alongside fields of what we think are different root crops. We argue as to what are potatoes or carrots etc but in reality we haven’t a clue😀. Initially walked with a nice couple from Los Angeles, Ricardo, originally from Argentina, and Mercy, originally from Ecuador. They had intended carrying their backpacks but changed their mind after the first day! Had our usual coffee stop followed by a fresh juice stop, arriving at our hostel around midday. Dave and Stacey came in for a drink on their way to the next biggish town. Met a lovely lady from Kent, Kate. She was on her own but had just spent a couple of days in Burgos with her husband. She had just met a guy from NZ, Steve, who could not find a bed anywhere (that was his story anyway!) and had offered the spare bed in her room to him. There was a small garden so we relaxed between there and the room before exploring the village. That took all of 10 minutes so we found a bar and had a beer with Bill and Janice from Washington State. They were telling us they do a lot of wild camping but have to be careful of snakes, bears etc, not a hobby for Susan and I methinks. They were asking if we knew Steve? We said which Steve and they said, you know the guy from NZ who’s sleeping with Kate tonight! Back to our hostel where I pulled 2 tables together and had dinner with the aforementioned and Luiz and Andreas whom we had met in Burgos yesterday. Dinner was simple fare. We were conscious that the woman who checked us in during hanging our the washing, was serving in the bar in the afternoon, was now cooking dinner…. Early night although we really enjoyed an unnecessary last bottle of red with Luiz. He is a lawyer and was telling us some fascinating stuff about the Spanish property market among other things that are a little vague in my recollection…

We had a super evening in the hotel, 3 course dinner with wine, pre and post dinner drinks, coffee, and while I don’t want to belabour the costs involved in our little adventure, we had the most memorable stay, including Susan borrowing a sewing kit, and getting a pack breakfast / lunch, our entire stay came to around £100. Off very early on a serious pace, we covered the first 8 miles in not much over 2 miles. The temperature was very much higher today. Our speed gradually decreased as the day wore on and when we met an Italian couple on the outskirts of Burgos who offered to share a taxi into the town centre we did hesitate a little…. Anyway we soldiered on fortified by a beer on the way in at the Liverpool Bar ( note – Laura &Zahir😀). When we eventually got to our hotel, around 3.30, we were excited to get a bath, and really excited to see it was some kind of jacuzzi affair, which Susan with her usual youthful exuberance turned on before the water rose above the jets and soaked the entire bathroom! Many of our crew were going to spend a couple of nights in Burgos, so we all arranged to have a final drink together. We said we would forward our itinerary to them with a view to meeting up later in the walk. Ate our sandwiches in the room and had an early night.

More pics to follow….. now internet is better…..

Best laid plans……gang aft a-gley. We set off very early still undecided as to what we were going to do regarding a bed for the night. The temperature really dropped overnight to only 3°C when we set off which I actually quite enjoy, Susan not so much. We met David and Stacey and found a small (heated!) cafe for a coffee, which delighted the girls. Two of our regular gang are suffering. Rita from the USA has developed what sounds like cramp in her calves and Tomas from Asturias has got breathing difficulties and has arranged a hospital appointment for tomorrow. We met Sam and Ernie again and they asked us if we had paid for the wine last night, which we had, as they were charged this morning for the same bottle. Anyway I don’t think they will be losing any sleep over the 8 euros! Anyway by 9am we had walked 7 or 8 miles when we passedt

a lovely old building that had been converted to a hotel. Susan said why don’t we just try and get in there? We were absolutely delighted to get a room😀. The building itself was previously used as a pilgrim hospital going back to the 14th century apparently. Spent a really relaxing afternoon in our room girding our loins for a 22 mile hike tomorrow. We have arranged for our backpacks to be transported, so that should help a lot.

Had a really nice night with Dave and Stacey, there is something life affirming about sharing a pizza and red wine with interesting young people. Very early start today although we needn’t have bothered being quiet as we were escorted out of town by a drummer. We can only assume that the idea is to wake the local populace in time for 7am mass. Our plan today was to get over the half way point and have a nice ‘Sunday’ breakfast somewhere. In the event there was nowhere open so we actually had to settle for an omelette sandwich at our destination. We passed a couple walking with daughters of 7 and 11 to which Susan gave some of our chocolate biscuits. I was thinking I hope we don’t meet any more children otherwise my little share will have gone! We actually arrived too early to get into our accommodation so we had a couple of beers with a couple of our American friends. A relaxing afternoon and then we arranged to all meet at our hostal for dinner. Met yet another American couple, Samantha and Ernie, didn’t like to ask Sam her age but when she said her eldest son was 62, I guess that told a story…. Lovely dinner and in bed for 09.30. Not sure of plans for tomorrow as our original hotel says it hasn’t got our booking, as it also said to Sam and Ernie – suspicious or what? Susan has vetoed my plan of just turning up and creating a scene in favour of getting a taxi into the nearest big town (Burgos) and staying there, and getting a taxi back in the morning.

B Interesting start to the day. We were about 30 minutes into our walk when we came across around half a dozen people gathered around someone lying in the road. I know I’m biased but I must say Susan did a great job. She took charge, got me to take out a silver blanket that I’d forgotten we had (thanks Dana😀), then phoned for an ambulance (although she then passed the phone to a Spanish person in case of any confusion), she then insisted that the other walkers carry on while she um stayed and comforted the poor guy. B🗑😁🏑😆uHe was Danish and called Lucas (our grandsons name). He was in a lot of pain so we were thinking appendicitis but who knows? Anyway Susan called the ambulance service again and they advised that it was on its way. It duly arrived and we left Lucas in their capable hands. The whole episode probably lasted 40 minutes but felt longer. My blister seemed a little inconsequential after that. Another good walking day, warm but with a cooling breeze. We had our usual stops along the way, the last one being in Cirueña where we had a beer at the Albatross golf club. The first one I recall seeing on the Camino. We met David and Stacey on our arrival and arranged to meet them in their very chique Parador at 7, then onto a local Italian restaurant for dinner. Our own accommodation is decidedly dowdy with a view of a brick wall opposite. Susan says photos to follow as wifi not good where we’re staying.

I seem to remember dreaming of buses and taxis during the night! Anyway we had an amazing night wandering through the pincho bars in Logroño. Met an interesting 4 guys from Glasgow, all of whom seemed to know every bar we knew so we will be looking out for them the next time we are down. One of their daughters is a singer called Kitty – whom I’m sure you will know Kay. Oh and Ally, one of them may have been a past president of the Glasgow RICS. Not that he was behaving as such! Anyway off we set at 06.15 with something less than a spring in my step I would have to say. Not helped by the fact that we managed to get lost on our way out of town, but the locals are lovely and soon put you right. However once again the weather was perfect and we had a great day strolling through the wine region. It was interesting to see the last of the snow on the Sierra de la Demanda (no, me neither?). Met up again with the most delightful (have to say that as they want to read my blethers😀) couple from Australia, David and Stacey. All being well we plan to have dinner together tomorrow evening. For the the first time this trip we are staying in an apartment. It is really nice to the point that Susan got quite emotional at the sight of a washing machine. Once we got settled we had a wander around a few bars – think we gained some kudos with the local young team when we joined them in a round of Jäegermeister’s, although Susan sips hers like a girl😀. Bought some bread, cheese and pate and had a nice night in.

Once again the weather was very kind although we were conscious that the temperature is rising as the day progresses. We had a lovely stroll through the countryside leaving Navarra to join Rioja. Incidentally the barman in the restaurant last night assures me that Navarran wine is just as good as Riojan wine but that the Rioja region has spent millions on promoting their product. Sounds plausible? My blister plaster (not sure if I had mentioned previously, but I tend to get a blister in the same area every walk) had come off a couple of miles before we arrived so I was very glad to get to our hotel. Lovely room, 9 foot bed, bath, and bay windows overlooking Logroño. Most of our fellow walkers don’t actually know where they will be staying on arrival – something I know a lot of them worry about. Much as I admire their fortitude, 50 odd pounds for a guaranteed room has to be money well spent in my opinion. I am currently sitting in a pavement cafe while Susan finds a shop to buy some yoghurts for breakfast and susses out a couple of pincho bars that we have been recommended along the way.