Bears at Altitude

Right now it would almost be true to say that we have our heads in the clouds, as we have climbed up to O Cebreiro, at 1330m, a very high and tiny mountain top village, where you feel you're on top of the world and can look down on the rest of the world.

O Cebreiro is famous for the very old (9th century) church of Santa Maria Real, where Franciscan monks offer assistance to pilgrims, and also for it's pallozas, round structures with thatched roofs.

Fortunately we didn't have to climb all day to get here, just this afternoon. The morning's walk was not one we were looking forward to. We had read, most recently, in the German comedian, Hape Kerkelling's, book about his walk along the Camino, that you were dicing with death as you walked beside a main road, with lots of sharp bends, with traffic whizzing past, just millimetres away.

Thankfully, it is very different now. A new motorway has been built to carry most of the traffic, and concrete crash barriers have been built to separate pilgrims fom the few cars that come along.







The road also follows a fast moving river and also diverts off from time to time into a series of very pretty villages. There are lots of stone churches which today, for once, were all open, and there are lots of traditional buildings, many with wooden overhanging balconies. It was very pleasing to the eye, and also fascinating to see the huge concrete stilts carrying the new motorway way over our heads.

We also came across an encouraging mile marker, with St James of course, that told us we are now a long way from Roncesvalles and not so far from Santiago ...





This afternoon we had to ascend about 500 metres in 8km. Most of it was off road on good paths and through varied terrain. We passed through a couple of small farming hamlets which thankfully offered refreshments. We had our first ice cream which was very welcome as it was very hot this afternoon. We were very impressed by the Brazilian pilgrim runner who ran past us, at speed, on one of the steeper sections.

O Cebreiro hoved into sight at just the right time as we were getting increasingly hot and tired.
We found our pre-booked room o.k. and were soon rejuvenated, especially when went outside to take in the dramatic mountain views. The slopes are all very green and fertile.

Gio had an exciting time when we went to the church to look round and get a stamp for our pilgrim passports. It was given to us by a very nice Franciscan monk who admired Gio's Franciscan t-shirt and wished all 3 of us a buen camino.

We went back to the church at 7.00 p.m. for the Mass, but sadly the Pilgrim blessing which we really like, was only given in Spanish so we efectively missed it.

Sadly no wifi this evening so far, so you may have to wait a while to read this.

Lots of love, the Camino Bears xxx

Bears in Bierzo

Hola mis amigos,

Today we report in from the lovely little town of Villafranca del Bierzo. Bierzo is a little known Spanish wine growing region, this is probably because the wine is produced for Spanish consumption only. We're not sure if we've tasted any yet*, as it may be too good for pilgrim menus, but certainly all the wine that's been included with our meals recently has been very good.

Today we did walk through lots and lots of fields of grape vines and it is clearly harvesting time as lots of families were out picking grapes. As we did in France, we gave them lots of cheery waves and got lots back.

Today's walk was hard on the old paws again as there was a lot of road walking. Our first stretch took us into the historic town of Ponferrada. Here we had breakfast with the best pastries of the Way.

The route of the Camino took us past the ancient Templar castle. What an impressive sight this was, though like most things in Spain, at 9.30 in the morning it was closed.


It seemed a long way out of Ponferrada, and the way marking was very poor. The yellow Camino arrows were very thin on the ground.

We had lunch of €1 mini pizzas, made by a baker, beside a river, dangling our paws in the cool water.

By the time we'd reached Villafranca and found a room in a Casa Rural (very nice) it was 4.00 p.m. and, if our GPS is right, we'd walked nearly 22 miles, although it wasn't supposed to be that far.

After the usual post arrival washing of self and clothes, we had a very productive visit to Tourist Information. A very nice lady booked us a hostal room for tomorrow night at O Cebreiro, which means we don't have to hurry on the 3 hour climb up, aftercare long walk, to try and beat others to the accommodation. She also told us where we could go to print out our boarding tickets for our flight home, so that important job is now done.

We've now just finished a fine 'menu del dia' meal, rather than the usual pilgrim meal - just €2 more - and it made a pleasant change although we still had flan! *We asked and the wine was definitely a Bierzo region wine. It is lovely.

Hopefully back soon, wifi permitting.

Thanks Fred's Mum for all your comments, which are encouraging us greatly.

Love from the Camino bears xxx

Highs and Lows in More Ways than One

While the Gaucelmo albergue was lovely, last night and early this morning, we were reminded of why we don't like staying in albergue dormitories too much, and prefer our own room.

By 9.00 p.m. lights were out in the dorm and people were in bed, so we had to do everything by headtorch. Then, we'd hardly got to sleep, when alarms started going off at 5.30 a.m. and our fellow pilgrims were getting up.

Still, the English hospitaleros gave us breakfast (very unusual in an albergue) so this was a good start, then we exchanged email addresses so we can stay in touch and hopefully see them when they go to Walsingham next Easter, which is near our bear cave.

Even without hurrying, we were back on the Camino at 7.30 a.m. It was actually still dark and we worried about missing a yellow arrow waymarker. We really do fail to understand the attraction of setting out at 6.30 or earlier.

We were glad when it got light as today's walk was through some beautiful mountain scenery and most of the time we had dedicated dirt tracks which were much kinder to our paws than hard surfaces.

We climbed up through scenery that reminded us of crossing the Pyranees at the start of the Camino in Spain.

Our first stop of the day was at the famous Cruz de Ferro, a small iron cross on top of a big wooden pole. This in turn stands on a huge pile of stones left by pilgrims over many centuries. The idea is that you take a stone of some significance with you from home, and lay it at the foot of the cross as a symbolic laying down of a burden, and also as a symbol of your efforts on the pilgrimage.

Here we are laying stones taken from one of our favourite stretches of beach at home ...


From the cross we went down a bit, then up a bit more, to the highest point on the Camino, 1,515m. The views were superb and it was warm and sunny.

We then started a big descent of 845m. We were glad of our shock absorbing stuffing, as our minders reported it being hard on their knees and little toe blisters.

We had to growl a few times at stupid packs of cyclists who insisted on riding their bikes down our, often narrow, steep and some times rocky, Pedestrian path, expecting us to leap out the way as they came hurtling down. Why they couldn't use the very quiet Tarmac road which was made for them, was beyond us.

We had thought about going onto Ponteferrada today, and we certainly had time to do it, but when we got to Molinesca, it was such a delightful spot by the river, that we simply had to stop. We knew it was the right decision when we were able get a room in a Casa Rural hostal, right by the river, overlooking the old bridge. How's this for the view from our room?


In any event we had walked a tough 16.5 miles to get here and there is always tomorrow.

We are currently finishing our wine at the end of our pilgrim meal, but before that we had a pleasant time relaxing by the river and talking to a very nice South African lady who, like us, likes hamsters.

We have also met 2 fellow Brits just now. They're finishing just down the road in Ponteferrada tomorrow, having walked from Leon.

Love from the Camino bears xxx

Taking Tea

Here we are again to report on the last couple of days.

Yesterday, we had another long day and covered over 20 miles, although it wasn't supposed to be that far. We've now gone over 70 miles in 3 days and an afternoon, but our paws tell us we won't be able to keep that up.

The start was a little dull as we walked 10 km in a completely straight line. It then got more interesting as we walked to the historic Hospital de Orbigo, crossing the longest pilgrim bridge in Spain, with it's 20 arches.

The way then took us off road for nearly 12 km, before a long slog in very hot sun, into the old Roman town of Astorga.

As we were tired, we felt the need for our own room, although we'd read that it was a town of hundreds of albergue spaces and overpriced hotels. We were, therefore, very lucky to get a basic room with a basin and a shared bathroom, in a small pension, just off the main square. We felt we'd really landed on our paws.

We enjoyed looking round Astorga and having a beer in the square, although the cathedral was firmly shut even though it was early Sunday evening. Typical of much of Spain!

While our female minder had a conventional pilgrim meal, our minder had the local dish - Cocido Maragato - which was a meat feast with chick peas, potatoes and cabbage, served back to front, as it was followed by a noodle soup. As it was a big plate of food we helped him eat it.

We had a good night's sleep in our room, and set out shortly after 8.00 a.m. for a much needed shorter day's walk - only 13.5 miles!

It was very hot again so a short day was very pleasant, and we could have several stops en route, including breakfast.

At about 1.30 we reached the monastery town of Rabanal where we wanted to stay as there is an albergue run by volunteers from the Co-fraternity of St James in England, of which we are members.

We waited until the 2.00 p.m. opening time, in a pleasant shady spot outside the delightful little church. This church was open, and, even better, a French pilgrim was making fantastic music on his recorder inside.

We had a lovely welcome from Betty and Dugald and 2 visitors, and it was great to be chatting in English.

The albergue is a wonderful building, with patio, big garden/field, barn and kitchen herb garden. It is spotlessly clean and very well organised and the beds are smart and well spaced.

We haven't actually had the free time we thought we would, as we have been busy chatting (English pilgrims are a rare commodity) and, bliss, we even got to take afternoon tea, with our new hospitalero friends.


Shortly, we are going across the road to join the Benedictine Monks for Vespers, and Gio will be doing the English reading - apparently the lesson is read in 4 languages.

In the meantime we are typing away in the garden where the sun is now a pleasant temperature and our washing has already dried.

Bye for now,

Love from the Camino bears xxx

P.S. 1 hr later, Vespers didn't happen as the singing monk has had to go to hospital, but we're still going for Compline & Pilgrim's blessing at 9.30

Leon and Beyond

We're now at the end of day 3, and we've already walked 50 miles which, considering day 1 was a short afternoon, is pretty impressive, and we have in fact surprised ourselves.

Mind you our paws have felt every mile of it, and they're sore, although not as blistered as our female minder's. Given the amount of hard surface walking we've done, we think our minders would have been better off wearing shock absorbing running shoes than walking boots.

Once again we set off at 8.00 a.m. and enjoyed our 7 mile walk into the city of Leon, much more than we were expecting. We think some new paths have been added since our guide books were written, to keep pilgrims away from the traffic, and it was all quite pleasant.

On the pedestrian streets into the city, we found some lovely new Camino waymarks, which Gio shows to you ...


... and we also found a rather nice statue of St James with a nice flat resting place for bears on top of his head. While we rested there, our minders rested on benches and had pain au chocolat for breakfast.


Temperatures this morning were most pleasant for walking, at 15•C, but when the sun came out at lunchtime they shot up into the twenties.

As we're not really city bears, we didn't spend long in Leon. We found free wifi to post yesterday's blog, visited the cathedral and had a coffee, then headed out of the city past the most amazing Parador, featured in the film 'The Way'. We could only dream at staying at a place like that.

Once out of Leon, accomodation was a bit thin on the ground, which is why we had to do 22 miles today.

The first albergue we tried was full. The next had room but said there was a problem as they were hosting a party for the village and there would be noise. The fact that we could get a room to ourselves, a simple room with just a unmade double bed in, outweighed any potential disadvantage of noise.

We haven't been back yet to see how noisy it is, but the party is outside and we will be inside. In any event we have ear plugs and
we've only paid €5 each, so we can't complain.

I'm sure we'll sleep well.

Lots of love from the Camino bears xxx

Our First Full Day

We got up early this morning, as the nice lady looking after our accommodation, told us breakfast was at 7.00 a.m. We went down at 7.00 only to find the dining room in darkness; we suspect she actually meant from 7.00 a.m.

She heard us from the kitchen though, and we were soon tucking into toast & cafe con leche. After learning that the local shop was closed, we asked her if she would sell us some cakes, and she agreed. We at least had something to sustain us, along with our uneaten crisps from yesterday, on the long lonely stretch of 15 miles before the next civilisation.


We set off at 8.00 a.m. following the metal scallop shells in the road, and we made fast progress as it wasn't as hot as yesterday. We were walking on a hard and rocky track across what seemed like a giant prairie, with only a few other pilgrims and trains for company. The road was an old Roman road, the Via Trajana, and sections which show the Roman construction techniques, are being preserved behind some rather nice fencing.


We reached, what for most people is the end of the stage - the town of Mansilla de los mulas - at 2.00 p.m. For once we found a church open, so had a look in and also obtained church stamps for our pilgrim passports. Gio asked for one for the credencial he carries and very nearly got his Society of St Francis t-shirt stamped. A quick witted minder had to intervene and the passport was duly stamped.

We felt it was too early to stop walking, so decided to do just over another 6 km to take us closer to Leon. But first we stopped for a cafe con leche and a coke to rest and rehydrate. A couple of very nice Norwegian pilgrims joined us at our table. The poor lady was having difficulty walking due to an inflamed tendon, and we felt very sorry for her. It could be worse though, as she always planned to finish at Leon, and she should make Leon tomorrow.

We reached our destination, a village suburb of Leon, shortly after 4.00 p.m., arriving with a nice young Austrian man called Michael.

We found ourselves a room in a hostal and made ourselves comfortable and insected the blisters one of our minders has got, after walking 18 miles on a hard surface.

The drawback of our accommodation that we have discovered, is that meals aren't served until 9.00 p.m. We don't think many pilgrims stop here, as pilgrim meals are always served at 7.00 p.m.

Still we will be able to wait, and it does give us a chance to write blogs and diaries first.

Lots of love, the Camino Bears xxx

To be a Pilgrim: Take 2

It was Stansted Airport that we were reporting from last night and we were there ready to fly out to Valladolid early this morning.

We are very excited about this trip as it is no ordinary holiday. We have returned to Spain to resume our pilgrimage to Santiago, which we started 2 years ago and sadly didn't complete, due to a minder foot injury. If you didn't read our posts at the time, you can go back and read them now.

This time we really hope we will complete the remaining 240 miles to Santiago. We have over 2 weeks to get there, so paws crossed.

Back to this morning, we touched down at Valladolid at 11.30 a.m. local time and the train we wanted to get left at 12.30 - and, the train station is 35 minutes away by bus.

Thanks to a small airport and a great taxi driver who understood our 'tenemos mucha prisa' (we're in a hurry) we made it with time to spare.

The train took us to Sahagun, which was the place where we sadly said goodbye to the Camino 2 years ago. Then we thought it was a depressing place, but today it was lovely. This was in part due to us being pleased to be back, but also, Sahagun does have some very nice bits, including lots of historic religious buildings and an old bridge spanning a delightful river.

By 2.40 p.m we were walking out of the town and on the camino proper. It felt really good to be following the yellow arrows and scallop shell symbols once again.




We also found a new character starting to appear - a camino mouse, dressed as St James. What fun!

About 5km out of Sahagun we had choice of routes. We chose the road less travelled, and had the path all to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon. It also got us away from the dreary senda - side of road path - which can be a virtual pilgrim motorway.

It was hot walking, but we got to cool our paws in a fast flowing stream.

We reached our intended destination of Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos by 5.30 and, on calling in at the municipal alberque, ended up being told there might only be 1 bed free.

While someone was checking for spare beds, we spotted they were in very cramped cubicles. We quickly decided we didn't want to stay there anyway, and, politely, took our leave and scuttled off to a nice looking place we'd just passed, which was offering rooms.

What a great move. We now have our own en-suite room, at a very sensible price (unlike England) and we're currently enjoying the pilgrim menu our establishment offers. The wine is very smooth and the menu choice extensive.

What a great start to Camino 2011!

Lots of love, Gio, George, Yorkie and Pedro xxx