Mérida might be the perfect place to start a Camino. It is a small but interesting city for a pre-Camino rest day, and the next day’s walk is really nice. It begins with a stroll past this Roman aqueduct. And a quick inspection of a Roman dam… What a gorgeous day! Now in Aljucén at…
Once past the 3 or 4 days of bad jet lag, I’ve been sleeping well – both in private rooms and with company. Today’s walk featured MUD! Not deep stuff, but persistent. It accumulated until my boots were heavy, and there was no way to avoid it. That lovely red clay, that the olives and…
Long walk, basically alone – flat, good walking surface (packed dirt farm road), through olive groves, vineyards and grain fields. Not especially scenic except for some nice colours and distinguished olive trees. Easy walking except there is no place to sit even for a 15 minute rest. Perching on a granite marker is not comfortable…
Our boots were barely dry this morning and the weather uncertain. K decided to take a rest day, but R and I took to the road. The day turned out fine for walking. Or cycle… The highlight of the day was grilled cod at restaurant Jero in Villafranca… Followed by a good night’s sleep in…
First, last night’s albergue was great – I do recommend it. The walk started out nice enough but the rains came. Today’s hghlight occurred when I was soaking wet, boots included, after 16.4 km of walking. I was alone, having lost sight of Belgian K and German R when they entered the village. The rain…
Hostal Extremadura in Monesterios is not on my recomended list. Freezing cold and no charm, but the price was right. On leaving Monesterios, go left around the far side of the stadium. I didn’t, and walked a km or 2 before checking my GPS track. On returning, from the WRONG direction, there is a very…
This morning I woke up feeling reasonably rested and thinking that a 20 km walk was a reasonable thing to do. The weather included a bit of everything except snow (and that would not have surprised me). I started out wearing full rain gear, for warmth, took it off, put it back on, etc. Generally…
Today I spent entirely alone, except for exchanging greetings with the couple from Montreal when I passed them. (It is nice to know there is someone behind me on the trail.) Sometimes I think about how it would be nice to company and other times I think how much people miss in their experience if…
Seeing Clarely 