Stapleton Travel Blog

We had a wonderful communal meal last night with 10 people in our albergue. We caught up with Fernando from Brazil who was trying to heal from tendonitis in his heel.  There was also Catherine (firefighter from San Franciso) who was a doing the Camino by bike as well few French men, and 2 people from South Korea.  A French Canadian in our group started his Camino from deep inside France on August 11th and already walked 1100 kilometers.

The meal was served under a large wooden post and wooden screw that was used to crush grapes in medieval times. We were then escorted downstairs to a medieval wine cellar from the 10th century. We then went deeper into another room where we were shown where there was an escape route to the street as well as how this cellar was once connected to the castle in town. Incredible.

Today’s walk was a beast. We haven’t walked a 15 mile day in quite awhile.

We are healing our sore feet today with large mugs of “cervesas”.   The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful……….Tom

 

 

 

 

 

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We walked about 20 k today, all in the Meseta. It’s still very desolate and feels like you can see for miles but the sky is amazing.

While there are still some hills, much if the walk was on flat, level ground.  Many people choose to take s bus through the Meseta but they miss these ruins and very cool outdoor cafe.

As you get closer, the city  comes into view at the base of the mountain and you begin to see the ruins from a castle at the top.

 

Castrojeriz is a quiet little city, perfect for a late lunch after showers and laundry. 🙂

Burgos was beautiful and we really enjoyed sightseeing, eating and people watching but it was time to enter the Meseta.  This is the Prairie area that can be very desolate for miles but is still very  picturesque.

As we were leaving Burgos we met a Swiss woman, Renata who we walked with for the day.  She was doing the Camino in segments and just started this segment in Burgos. It was great walking with her, the conversation made the walk go quickly.

Many if you know that the movie “The Way” was the original inspiration for our Camino adventure.  We had the opportunity to stay ar El Molino, a farmhouse/ Casa Rural that is owned by Mila and Max whose daughter married Martin Sheen’s grandson.  There are a few pictures and movie posters signed by Martin Sheen and there was a wedding album we could look through.

The farm was interesting with lots of animals and old equipment.  They also had these bombs on the grounds although we’re not sure why.

We had a great communal dinner sitting with 2 women from Switzerland   and the surprise at the end was Grapa!

The day started with a beautiful sunrise.

 

We walked about 22 k to Burgos, a beautiful old city known for it’s Cathedral.  We are fortunate to be staying in a hotel right across the street.

 

We are fortunate to be here on a Saturday because that seems to be wedding day.  We saw 4 bridal parties just outside the Cathedral or the church across the plaza.

The Cathedral Plaza was incredibly busy with tourists, wedding parties and all of the restaurants.

We stopped to have a late lunch in the plaza before touring the Cathedral. There are 21 separate chapels in the Cathedral but we’ll  just show you the central one.

 

Hope you enjoyed the short videos.  We wanted to give a you a real feel for Burgos and more importantly the Internet speed at the hotel is super fast!

Adios for now.

 

Friday was another short day (16 k) because of the steep climbs and descents.  This one scared us a bit but it looked worse than it was.

It didn’t rain but was misty all morning.  The sign post below reads Santiago 532 kilometers!  We’really making progress.

 

We haven’t seen cows since the the first week on the Camino and we never saw them this close.  They are free range cattle and were just hanging out on the Camino path.

 

 

 

We arrived in Ages too early to get into the Albergue so we explored the town.  It was a pretty little town but not as friendly as some we’ve visited.

 

I think we missed the stork’s nest in the video, here it is on the bell tower.

 

 

 

 

The people really were not very friendly except the man who owned the albergue we stayed in.  He was very nice and we had a terrific dinner with a couple from South Africa.

We’re calling today a rest day because we only walked 11 k.  We feel a bit like slackers and our friend Craig from Nottingham, England confirmed this as he kept walking. That’s him on the right with Tom and Dennis from Canada.

We’really staying in an Albergue attached to a very nice hotel and the guide books say you need to plan on doing nothing because there’s nothing else in this village (population 200).  The hotel was right next to this beautiful church.

The grounds were beautiful and the room was nice with no bunk beds – that’s always a plus. Dinner was also one of the best we’ve had because of the connection to the hotel.

 

 

With not much else to share, we thought we’d give a snapshot of a day in the life of a peregrino.

Each day we wake between  5:30 – 6:00am and sneak out of the room so we don’t wake the other peregrinos.  We pack our backpacks and head out to breakfast at a local bar (most restaurants are simply called bars) where we have the most delicious  cafe con leche and some type of pastry.  We then walk in the dark until the sun comes up around 7:30am but it’s getting later every day.  We then stop for our second cup of cafe con leche if we can by 9am or so.

We stop about every 8 k to take off our boots and socks and give our feet a break.  Lunch can be anywhere between 11am and 2pm .  If it’s earlier we call it our 2nd breakfast ?

When we arrive at our destination we check in and have our credentials stamped.

At the Albergue we unpack, make up our beds, shower then do our laundry.  This could be by hand or sometimes we have the luxury of paying to have it done.

After laundry we explore whatever town or city we’re visiting.  We’re usually starving from the walk so we have tapas or pintxos to hold us over until dinner.  The locals take siesta from about 2pm til 5pm so we might nap during that time as well. This is usually when we work on this blog if the WiFi permits. After 5pm we go to the supermarcado for tbe next day’s supplies.  Dinner is later than we’re used to at 7:30pm.  After dinner we might stop for a glass of wine.  Lights out is at 10pm and we get our rest to do it all again the next day.  It’s a simple life that revolves around eating and walking but we’re enjoying meeting the terrific people from all over the world.

1. We had another early morning leaving Santo Domingo and the chickens. The terrain is changing; less vineyards and more wheat fields and fields of dried sun flowers. It’s still very beautiful.

The hay stacks are really huge, I know they don’t seem as impressive in pictures but the are taller than many of the homes here and sometimes as wide as a city block. So of couse we needed a selfie with the hay stack.

Today I felt a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz following the yellow brick road.

Belorado is a beautiful little city and we stayed is a nice Albergue with a reputation for good food.

The church has these huge stork nests and sits in front on the ruins of a castle.

Finally, there was a beautiful plaza where we could relax and have fun with the other peregrinos.

Thank you for all the comments, they  keep us motivated.  Let us know if there’s anything your curious about or if you have any questions

There are a few panoramic pics posted on Facebook that were too big for the website so be sure to check them out.

 

We are still in the Rioja region, walking though the beautiful vinyards to Santo Domingo.  We were high on a hilltop while the sun was still coming up – a perfect recipe  for the tallest shadow!

Santo Domingo is a very cool old city, many of the buildings date back to as early as the 13th century.  They have a tale they tell of a young man travelling from Hungary with his parents in the 14th century.  He was unjustly accused of stealing a chalice and hanged.  His parents, unaware of his fate continued to Santiago and on the return trip found him on the gallows but still alive thanks to the intervention of Santiago Domingo. His parents went to the sheriff to get him a pardon. The sheriff was in the middle of a feast said “your son is as dead as these chickens” and lifted the covers off the chicken platters.  The chickens stood up and crowed and the young man pardoned.  As a result of this the Cathedral in Santo Domingo has a cage we here there us always a live chicken. It’s in the cage pictured below.

It is a beautiful cathedral, even with a live chicken.

 

We came across this guy in thel cathedral. He seemed a bit out of place but we had to have a photo of the Lego Peregrino.

Attached to the cathedral is a tower we climbed despite our sore feet.  The views were worth it.

We had another nice dinner and met a couple from New Mexico as well as a few people from South Africa. Amazing to meet such nice people from all over the world.

The Albergue was okay but it was our first experience in a room wit 26 people in it.  The ear plugs worked really well but I still hope we can avoid this type of municipal in the future. Here’s a peak into the room…26 beds.

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Today was our amazing race day.  In Azofra there’s only one albergue and it’s a municipal where they don’t take reservations. We walked the 23.2 k as quickly as possible.  When we arrived we were team number 3 and somehow got room number zero. ?  The Albergue is great because we have our own cubical and there are no bunk beds.

This was a beautiful day walking through vineyards and olive tree groves. We are in the Rioja region and the red wine is inexpensive and really good!

 

This region has these signposts to help track your progress. Sometimes it’s better not to know.

 

We hit the 100 mile mark on 9/18!  We started the day early and enjoyed this beautiful sunrise. We almost missed it because we walk from east to west but a peregrino in front us  told us to stop and turn around.  Thank you Paul from Italy!

Our first stop was Logrono and the city was still recovering from the wine festival the night before.  We’ll spare you photos – just think NYC after St. Patrick’s Day.  They were hosing down the streets as we were leaving…felt like we were hosed out of the city.

We stopped at the cathedral in time for Mass and then went to the bakery (the bakery always follow church).

We stayed in a really nice albergue in Navarrate (see the view from our window below) and enjoyed the best food on the trip so far.  Amazing tapas and then a delicious dinner.  It’s a good thing we’re walking off the calories.

We visited the Church of the Assumption in Navarrete.  Keep in mind this is a church, not even a cathedral.