Meseta Day 1 - Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza

10.6 miles. A short, but beautiful day walking under clear blue skies across a broad landscape of fresh green wheat fields. Most of the day's walk was along a 2000-year old Roman road, straight as an arrow through the farmland. The road is occasionally bordered by rows of cottonwood trees which provide patches of shade--welcome relief even on temperate days like today, but surely tiny bits of heaven in the scorching days of late summer.

Jeanette's ankle is better after two days' rest, but we had her backpack transported today to ease her load. Plus we picked up a pair of trekking poles from the left behind box at one of the albergues in Santiago before we left there, using them takes a bit of additional stress off her gait.

Typical scene from today's walk.

Oasis on the meseta: cerveza, bebidas, bocadillos -- all the necessities of life on the Camino.

Tomorrow is another short day, only eight miles to the village of Moratinos and a stay at the Peaceable Kingdom of Rebekah Scott, a well-known Camino figure, and her husband Patrick.

Santiago to Carrrion de los Condes

Today was almost entirely spent on a long bus ride, the first and longest part being from Santiago to Leon (6+ hours), then an hour layover in Leon, and finally 2 more hours on a milk run bus into Carrion. It was interesting to watch the terrain roll by, much of which was familiar from our 2013 walk on the Camino Frances route, but obviously from a different perspective.

The only disappointment was arriving at 6:00pm in Carrion and finding the Santa Maria albergue full, plus being too late to hear the famous singing nuns. So we got a room at the hostal (small hotel) across the street. The upside was meeting a couple at dinner who are full-time RVers. During the course of conversation, it turned out that they are Mike and Terri Church, the authors of perhaps the best guidebook of camping and campgrounds along the Alaska Highway and our veritable bible for our Alaska journey a few years ago. Small world indeed!

Tomorrow we start our five-day trek across the meseta, filling in the gap in our previous Camino which I've regretted missing ever since. 

No photos today -- the inside of a bus is nothing worth preserving in pixels to show the folks back home.

Photos from Last Two Days

Our last walk through a wooded area.

The Cathedral of Santiago. The main entry is undergoing renovation.

With Johnny Walker.

Santiago - Meeting Johnny Walker

No, it's not that Johnny Walker. This Johnny Walker is a delightful Scotsman living in Santiago who splits his time between overseeing a pilgrims' support organization and playing the organ at St Augustine church. His real name is John Rafferty, but JohnnyWalker is his pseudonym on the Camino Internet forums, blogs, and as the author of several guidebooks for various Camino routes. It was special for us to meet him because it was he and one of his volunteers from the Amigos del Camino that found our backpacks that were stolen at the end of our 2013 Camino. Many of you may remember that incident from our blog entries at that time, so I won't repeat the story again, but it's still in the blog archives for anyone who's interested.

John arranged a lunch with us, Stephen, who actually found the backpacks, a couple of their friends from Canada, and a visiting American professor who's researching and writing a book about some of the sociological aspects of the Camino--an interesting group to be sure, with quite a stimulating conversation around the table. Much our discussion, of course, was about the backpack incident, from both our experience and theirs. They were, for us, camino angels extraordinaire. I will try to post a photo or two, but am still limited by the weak signal in this ancient stone building.

In closing, one edit from last night: it was late and I got my miles and kilometers mixed up. We walked 260 kilometers on the Camino Portugues, which is approximately 160 miles.

Day 14 - A Esclivatiude to Santiago

11.9 miles. Well, once more we made to Santiago almost unscathed. The last time it was my foot--this time it was Jeanette's. But the main thing is, we walked the entire 160 miles/260 km--not quite as far as we did in 2013 on the Camino Frances, but what can I say: we're getting old.
We left at a little after 7:00 this morning and arrived at the Cathedral Plaza at about 1:30; not a great average, but that included stops for breakfast and lunch along the way. About half was on country lanes and forest trails, and the other half was a long trudge through the suburbs and inner city of Santiago. Coming into Santiago from this direction was not nearly as pleasant as coming in from the French route. But here we are, and tomorrow we meet our super camino angel from 2013, but that's a story for tomorrow's post.
I don't have a good connection, so I'll let Jeanette's photo suffice for now and try to get a couple posted tomorrow.

We made it!

Hooray! We arrived at Santiago today at about 1o'clock. 

Day 13 - Caldas de Reis to A Esclavitude

Approximately 16 miles. This was the longest day of our Camino. Most people stop in the town of Padron at the end of this stage, which would mean a long day of 16 miles into Santiago tomorrow, but on the recommendation of our friend Kris, we elected to walk another 4 miles today and make tomorrow's walk into Santiago only 12 miles. But adding the extra miles was tough on Jeanette, whose tendonitis made it a slow, limping challenge. I know what it  was like, though, having gone through the same thing with my plantar fasciitis on the Camino Frances four years ago.
It was a mostly pleasant stroll on quiet woodland pathways until Padron, then the trudge along hot urban streets through the city. Leaving Padron the trail followed a winding maze of narrow alleyways though a couple of ancient villages before finally arriving here at A Esclavitude. In order to pamper ourselves with a good night's sleep and to rest Jeanette's foot, we booked a room in a small hotel.

The vineyards here in this part of Galicia are above ground, on trellis-like structures. Sometimes the Camino paths walks beneath the vines.


The roses in front of the ancient stone wall made a pretty picture.