We left kinda late today, our hostess said she would return at 8:15am for breakfast. We decided to wait even though her pilgrim meal the night before was lacking. Most of these places know your hungry, so the pilgrim meal is meant as a cheap filling meal, because more than likely, it’s the only one you get a day. I know for us it is. Her lodging was also more expensive, the last 2 nights, 5 euros a piece, she was 10. Dinner is normally under 10, she was 12, and I left the table still hungry. To her credit she did throw a coffee in at the end. 
But she never showed up the next morning we waited until 8:30, we needed her to call the service for us to see if they still had my poncho. So we had a long day ahead of us and a late start. 
4.9km later we were at a Cowboy bar for some coffee in El Ganso. He had all sorts of cowboy memorabilia and kept joking that he was Ramone. If you have seen the movie you would understand, it was a character they met in the movie ” The Way”.
Then 6.9km more, through 2 more villages and into Rabanal, then we started to climb. It’s really incredible that anyone even lives up here. 5.8km more and we are in Foncebadon. Some of these villages used to be abandoned but the Camino has brought new life to them. This one is considered the doorway into the mountain. We reach our highest point to date at 1,505m. Cruz de Ferro is 4,934 feet above sea level. It didn’t really seem like a climb to us because we have been climbing for days. Silly me i forget my rock, Al actually had 2, one was for him and one his brother. You know to be honest I’ve carried that dam rock more than half way across Spain, I’m keeping it! 
The roads/ paths today have really been horrible. It’s raining, slick and with uneven terrain. 
When we reached the top, the sun actually came out for 10 minutes, no rain. Then we started down, it started to rain again.
6.5km later we are walking, still in the rain through a gorge, Rainbow, gorgeous! The path is really horrible, I can’t say it enough, the rain just intensified it. When we finally got to Acebo, another4.7kms. I was so done. The downs really kill your knees, we went up for days and down in a few hours. 
Acebo was a disappointment, 5 Albergues, NoBeds! At this point it was 6pm and pouring. We have never walked this late. We were turned away, again and again. I couldn’t believe it, at the church, where I would have slept on the floor, we were told, ” only another3.8km, just over the hill. 
We were crushed, Al was also pretty heated, all that hill climbing, and the decent, to be sent away in the rain at 6pm. We ended up in a great place, Riego de Ambros. They had a kitchen and a washer, we were not up to cooking but we needed our laundry done. The bedrooms were also cool, one bunk on the floor and the other above and then pocket doors, so you had a room to yourself, cool. Also we used the washer, no dryer, then went to get dinner, which was fantastic. The man at the Alburge hung out all our laundry for us! He didn’t speak much English but I think I conveyed my gratitude. Lots of mucho gracias and head bowing. Also there were only 5 of us there, so it was nice. 
Tomorrow day 22, not a good day, we were jinxed, you know who you are.
Until then, 
Be well.

A colder and wet day. 
We had been blessed with good weather until today. Honestly it wasn’t too bad except that as it started raining harder and we thought maybe we should break out the rain gear. Where is my rain gear? Ahhh , no where to be found. we thought of the last place we saw it was Burgos when we had sent the bad ahead. it was attached then, but we have had good weather and didn’t notice until today . Allen had his packed inside his pack but mine was attached by buckle to my pack, I have no idea how a buckle came undone. On purpose, maybe, maybe someone didn’t have one,I don’t know. Anyway, no rain gear and its a pretty wet out. We found a store with ponchos, and I need a poncho to cover the pack. The dang thing is only made of Plastic, it has all ready split down the middle. I’m cold and wet to the bone. 
We stopped for coffee at this fantastic place, the guy who ran it has done his own Camino and he had taken pictures of bridges, and mounted them all on a poster, impressive. 
Then we went over this fantastic bridge, 19 arches, I think. Anyway it’s one of the best preserved medieval bridges in Spain from the 13th century. Just a very pretty town.
We made it to the big town at the end of our page, Astorga, I got a lovely pink plastic poncho here. I actually found a jacket on the ground which had Camino 2013 embroidered on it, I thought cool this can take the place of my poncho. People leave stuff all over the trail here. for some reason they just don’t want to carry it any more. Mostly boots, sweaters, even a sleeping bag once. I didn’t think that was the case here. I figured someone just dropped it. At the top of the hill I saw this guy, rushing back. we are all going the same way, you don’t see people walking toward you very much. Oh well, I found the owner, bummer. 
We just passed through Astorga, pop: 12,000′ lots to see, I wish we weren’t so rushed. Another walled city with lots of historic buildings. Astorga was a major crossroads since Roman times. From here we start heading up, back toward the mountains. 
We stayed in Santa Catalina, another very small town, just 50 people live here.
Tomorrow we reach La Crus de Ferro, which will be the highest point on our entire route.
Until then,
Be well.

We left our little albergue in Calzada del Cota in the dark. What was nice about being alone is that we didn’t have to worry about disturbing others with rolling up our bags or all the things we do in the morning.
We continued to walk along the road, 5.4km until the first town, Bercianos del Real Camino. What’s funny is that there seems to be a little feud going on with real verses new camino. When I have said we diverted from the book, we are actually sticking to the”real” Camino. The downside is that it is a super highway now, in this part of the country anyway, so we walk beside it, or at least in the vicinity of it. Not so fun.
Another 7.6 km we made it to El Burgo Ranero, and we met up with Avril again. We have seen various people again and again, almost daily, some people we don’t see for days, and you wonder what happened to them. As an aside, we are horrible at names, maybe you already know this, and we call people by their country, as in, where did Germany go?What has been nice and kinda weird about meeting people on this trip is that when you see people you have met before, maybe a few days later, it’s like seeing long lost friends. I don’t know if its like making a connection when people share a traumatic situation, because nothing traumatic going on, yes life changing for some. 
There are a lot of people on the Camino who are walking it for fun, adventure, finding the spark in life they somehow lost, atonement, all sorts of things. We have been asked to share our reason why like its this big personal secret. Then other people at the table share their reason. We have heard ourselves referred to as, well they watched that movie, that’s why they are here. Well we are here yes because we saw the movie, but it is more then that. Some of you have also seen the movie, but you didn’t want to go. I have always wanted to learn Spanish, Spain has always fascinated me, it’s a surprising cheap vacation, my fantastic husband went along with it. 
So we are here for fun, adventure, love of life, commitment to each other, a desire to be alone again, we haven’t been for some time. We start each day with prayer, giving thanks for all of you who are supporting us, some have really gone above and beyond to take care of our kids or animals. This trip took a lot of planning, but we are loving it. Will it be life changing for us, I hope so, I am always trying to improve, I know I am not as good as I wished I was. Life sometimes creeps up on us and years slip past and all of a sudden your 50 or 60. Life is to short not to take a chance once in awhile. So we are here because I saw a movie and said to Al, ” hey, you want to go to Spain? And he said, ” we’ll if you want to” 
Sorry, rambling again, back to the camino, anyway we walked a total of 26km today and ended up in Reliegos. We stayed at a private albergue, no wifi again! They did have a kitchen though and we made our own dinner. It was a pretty good night.
Tomorrow we head to Leon.
Until then, Be well.

Half way point, can I get a Woot!
More of the same kind of walking conditions today, this stuff is okay if it’s small and mostly crushed, it’s a pain in the…foot if it is bigger and sharp, just saying.
We have deviated from the suggested route of our Brierley guide. We are still on the Camino but in certain places you have choices. In this case we chose to walk this way because we wanted to go through a certain town! The other route bypassed it. The Camino has changed through the years due to roads and other things that have affected the trail. Brierley, a purest wants us to walk through forest glades, honestly we are at the point where we ask, what’s the shortest route? It is kind of funny, the trail leads us off the road and into and through every town, then back to the road. Umm intentional? Yes, I think so, which isn’t so bad, but there’s no one there, a lot of these towns are empty of people. 
Today we left the Palencia region and entered the region called Leon. The trail continues to look the same, no hills, well minimal, gravel tracks, cement, not a lot of shade. 
We did walk through a big city today, after about 23km. Sahagun. We also hit a mile stone, the halfway point. yeah!! 
Then we continued 4 more km to arrive at this little unmanned albergue. They just had a donation box and a key in the door. 
Al and I did the usual, showers, laundry, walk the town. Our room had several sets of bunk beds, the little building was divided into two halves. With a bathroom on each side. Each bathroom had a single commode and included a shower, The shower was a hose on the wall with a drain in the floor, doable. We were the only 2 on our side. I made sure that the other people there, 3 of them, knew that Allen snored, so we had the room all to ourselves. What ever works you know. 
Anyway the lady who ran the Albergue also was the wife of the guy who ran the bar. It took us awhile to find it. We did a circuit of the town and could not find the bar, all these towns have one. I knew it was there somewhere. So we went back to our building and I started to read the book left for people to leave comments in. Well mostly they were in another language, but these 2 guys from Wisconsin wrote about the wonderful bar by the church. Okay now we had a way mark, out exploring again. (Note: bar here is not just drinks, it’s where we go for coffee, lunch, snacks, dinner and drinks, and sometimes the only place open during siesta.)
It was a wonderful bar, we told the bar man, not knowing about his wife that we wanted the standard Pilgrims meal. Not expecting too much. So he tells us, Un momento! He calls his wife who show up and immediately changes the channel of the TV from soccer to Spanish soap operas. Oh my goodness , has any one seen these, they are addictive, Al and I were enraptured by them. We only knew every 10th word if we were lucky but they were mesmerizing. We had to be called away to where they set dinner up for us. And the meal, steak, eggs, bacon roasted red peppers, and the salad. Now the salads here are different, they always have asparagus from a jar, olives, corn, a tomato, lettuce, shredded carrots and tuna fish. The tuna makes it somehow, I don’t think they drain it, and it becomes the dressing, it doesn’t sound good here, but believe me it is. Then after dinner as we are paying up she sets p 2 shots for us, she said it help our stomachs, I think that’s what she said. I have no idea what it was, didn’t want to be rude, it smelt like chocolate and went down like liquid fire. A volcano in my throat, then bliss. WOW! I’d like to know what that was. We walked back to our building and went to bed.
Another adventure for tomorrow. Until then be well!!
ALS note: Dorean says I snore, she never hears herself. I believe the pot is calling the kettle black.

Well another beautiful sunrise, the sky behind seems to light up with a burgeoning fire and the sky ahead changes from dark to pale blue, lavender, indigo and pink, just lovely.
We walked awhile in the dark along side the road, 10km, until we arrived at Carrion De Los Condes.
I made a mistake here, because I told Al that the next town has this really fantastic church I wanted to go into. turned out we just walked right past it, not next town, this town. I didn’t find that out until the next town, Caldadilla de la Cueza, another 17 km away. Bummer. 
This town was a commandery of the Knights Templar, and a fantastic Templar church, Santa Maria. Our guide again told us not to miss this church. Well we did, next time I guess.
Toward the end of the town we walked past San Zoilo, a former monastery, now a luxury hotel, Enormous. 
Then we walked part of the original Roman road again today, in the scorching heat. This road is amazing, can you imagine, still being used after 2000 years! Our faithful guide tells us how this used to be bog land, no stone. They had to import over 100,000 tons of rock just to get the road above winter flood levels. Wow! 
I can testify what a trail it was to walk, no shade, we only had an apple and essentially not enough water. Al became the enemy when he started rationing me to half a sip. The water in my pack was at least 80*, I drank it anyway. Toward the end of our walk, Avrail met up with us again, she said maybe just over the next hill. Al had already said that once. I hate that. It turned out to be after the 3rd hill, then in a heat shimmer I said,” I think I see the line of a roof”, Al said, ” probably a big rock” . It was a roof, there was the town at the bottom of a hill. And thankfully a water fountain, we each drank a whole bottle. Our albergue had a pool, but no kitchen. Ah why? We were put into two bunks on the 2nd floor. 
Okay I haven’t said anything so far but at this place it was more of a problem, well not for Al but me. Mixed bathrooms. I have a problem just in a girls room getting undressed. I told one women a few days back, ” I am not a fan of group showers”. Sorry I can’t help it. One big stall, 4 shower heads, no thank you. You have to be super happy in your own skin I think to be any kind of ok with that. In high school, I was a chunky teenager, I would skip gym. now after having 4 kids and 40 more years on me, I’m a chunky old women with lots of stretch marks. I am not showing them off as badges of motherhood, sorry!
Anyway, I walk into the bathroom for a shower and there are naked girls, young women, I could have been a man. They didn’t care. I know I am in Europe, but I thought girls with girls, guys with guys, ok. But now I don’t have to just worry about some random women catching me naked, but some guy, I don’t think so. I will stand on one leg with the other leg on the toilet to get dressed if I have to. 
I know, I’m ranting, anyway another long walk tomorrow.
Until then,
be well.
Allen’s note: Ok for the ones of you that know Dorean I have to tell you this tidbit. As Dorean mentioned we walked a long way.Roughly seven hours of walking. To put that in perspective imagine walking from New London to Norwich, or from Norwich to Mansfield, Ct.. Now when we get in, we get our shower, wash our clothes and setup our beds and try to get things ready for the next day. Now understand that our feet are aching, you can hardly stand being on your feet. Would you not think that maybe it’s time to sit, contemplate, and rest. Noooo! Dorean now wants to get up, get out and have a walk around the town. Did I tell you that we just got done walking nearly 20 miles. She does not know how to relax, I am starting to think she has ADHD. 

We left Itero de la Vega kind of late for us, 6:10. We still got to see a fabulous sunrise.
Then we walked next to a canal. Our guidebook tells us that in the late 18th century these canals were built to open up more land for farming. The canal itself is pretty and we saw a couple of gentleman crabbing, at least that’s what it looked like to me. They had baskets they were tossing out on long ropes. Al thinks they were fishing for minnows. 
We came into a town that used to boast a pop. of over 2000 that has now shrunk to less than 200. Another pretty town with a big church. We stopped here for a coffee break at a fantastic albergue. It had a landscaped garden with a pool, iron worked sculptures and flowers in granite urns.There was a big apple tree in the center with a grape vine threaded through it. The best part was that they did not serve coffee in the traditional sense, first the owner/son sent us back out with two big cups, then he came out with these two pots, one had hot rich coffee and the other hot milk. His mom had made an almond cake and an apple tart. We resisted those. But we asked to get bocodillas to go, he said he would make us something better than the normal ham and cheese sandwich. He made a ham, cheese and onion omelet and stuffed that into 1/2 a loaf of homemade bread. I wanted to move in and never leave. We marked this in our book so next time we make sure not to bypass him.
We continued to walk along the canal, the sandwiches he made us for lunch we tore into as soon as we reached the corner after his cafe/albergue. After another 6km we crossed a lock into Fromista. Kind of a bigger town then we normally see, not quite a city I think. Lots of sidewalks. We had to walk along the road for another 3.5km into Poblacion de Campos, then still along the road for another 4.3 to Villarmentero de Campos. Where we stayed the night. 
This is another place we want to make sure to revisit. She put on the best pilgrim meal we have had so far. Normally every meal has a 1st and 2nd course then desert. First course may be salad, soup or pasta, she served all 3. Lentil soup, then a fantastic salad, then a pasta with vegetables in it. Also it’s always water or wine, so a few bottles of each on the table. Then 2nd course they usually ask in advance, chicken or pork, not a lot of choices. She brings out fried chicken, some kind of chicken nugget, fries and calamari. Then for dessert, more choices, maybe ice cream, yogurt, flan or fruit, she brings out slices of 2 kinds of melon. And we could eat all we wanted family style, it is usually just a plate or bowl that they hand you. Once we were given a bowl and every course was put into the same bowl, kinda different. 
Anyway greet place, she was a huge Bob Marley fan and his music blasted the whole afternoon. We shared a room for 8 with just 2 other gentleman. Had another early night because of an early start tomorrow.
Until then,
Be well.

Our13th Day. 
We left town early in the darkness of pre-dawn. It is such a beautiful county, the windmill lights flashing on and off, the incredible full moon was actually causing Al to cast a shadow. I was afraid he was going to break out into song again, you know, moon shadow, moon shadow. I took a picture even though I didn’t think it would come out, but it did. I will post it for you. The sunrises are so awesome, I know I take a lot of pictures of them but I can’t help it. I have already taken over 1000 pictures on my phone. I have no idea how many are on my camera.
We caught up with a Dutch women we had met earlier halfway up a hill and watched the sunrise together. it is so incredible that we are meeting people from all over the world every day. We then continued to walk with her throughout most of the morning. We came down a hill and tucked into the fold of the meseta was the cutest little town. Hontanas also has a small population, 80. 
After about another 5km a lot of walking on cement, we then passed the ruins of the covento de San Anton XIVth. According to our Brierley guide again, this was once an ancient monastery and hospice that was founded in the 11 century by the Antonine Order. On a hill over this town is another ruin that was once a castle. We stopped here again for another rest. And our Dutch friend decided to stay here in San Anton.
We also met up with the women who is Australian but lives in England and had given us all the tips about visiting her country. We walked with her throughout the day .We then passed through Castrojeriz, this seems to be a boom town, construction all over the place, restaurants, a shopping strip and even a hotel.
After we left this town little did we know of the climb we had ahead of us. First we had to cross over the rio Odrilla on a roman causeway. We climbed up Mostelares, there was a sign warning us that this would be a 12% incline, there were a lot of switchbacks but we continued to climb 900m. Then going down, another warning sign, the decent had an 18% decline. Oh my gosh, it was horrific, it went steeply down for 350m then a more gradual decent. And the surface was cement, I mention how we hate cement right? After a long day walking the last thing you want is to walk on cement.
I didn’t take a single picture after this, I was done, and we still had to walk another 7.6km. I was not exhausted, but emotionally spent. When we got to the albergue, finally, I just about cried. It was the worst I have felt so far. The bottoms of my feet hurt incredibly. Before arriving into town there were signs saying just ahead, or only 2km more, so it was in my head that we were done, but we weren’t. And it happened more than once, the road winded around and you could never see the town. Then another sign, a turn, another dirt road and we still couldn’t see the town. Another corner, there it was. 
After a short rest, shower, some text messages from a dear friend and hand washing all our clothes, I was as good as new. I then dragged Al all over the little town. We found the grocery store, the most they ever have are 2 isles but they usually have everything you want. Then the town square had free wifi, so I was able to send a blog posting out and Al checked his e-mails. We looked all over to figure out where to eat and just ended up back at out hostel and had a pilgrim meal there. 
Tomorrow no big hills, but we have more cement in our future, 
Until then, 
Be well.