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29 May – The Old Chestnut Tree
In the small village of Ramil, just outside Triacastela, there’s a huge, old chestnut tree. It’s an impressive sight walking down the path, turning a corner, and there it is. It is more than 800 years old, 8 1/2 metres in perimeter. It looks like a beautiful sculpture of time, carved by nature. On May…
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28 May – To Fonfría
Yesterday (May 28) we walked from 0 Cebreiro to Fonfría, past a statue of a peregrino, with very sore feet judging by all the bandages he had. We got to our albergue quite early. The Albergue A Reboleira is a big albergue with many beds, but arranged so that you had a sense of privacy…
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26 & 27 May – From León to Galicia
We’ve been slowly walking uphill and into Galicia. We were in León for quite a while. Total elevation gain in the last two days had been about 900 metres. We’ve had really good weather, warm and sunny, comfortable for walking. This section has been one of the most beautiful so far of the Camino. The…
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25 May – El Día de la Patria Argentina
On this date, in 1810, people in Argentina took the first steps towards breaking away from Spain and becoming an independent nation. My brother and I wanted to celebrate in some way, but this is a small town with no Argentinian food available. So we had a bowl of lentil soup, a ham and cheese…
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24 May – To Cacabelos
Walking out of Ponferrada Ponferrada’s Old Templar’s Castle Ever onwards Less than 200 kms left to Santiago! Through beautifully kept vineyards To our albergue, El Molino And now dinner at Cafetería Siglo XIX And then … to sleep and rest for another day of walking.
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23 May – The Camino Provides
A couple days ago I was quite homesick. The evening before I’d found a homemade sign at a small donativo, where someone wrote down a verse from a poem by one of my favourite poets, Antonio Machado (picture above). A rough translation is: Last night while sleeping I dreamed … oh blessed illusion! That I…
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20-22 May – Cruz de Ferro
The last three days we’ve been walking up to the highest point of the Camino Francés, Monte Irago and the Cruz de Ferro. We made it there this morning, and now are in a small town called Riegos de Ambrós, about half-way down the mountain. The Cruz de Ferro or Iron Cross is an iconic…
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19 May – to Murias de Rechivaldo
Today’s walk started fresh and clear, with a coffee, orange juice and a pastry at the same café where we had the delicious salad yesterday. The Café Then it was about 8 or so kms over rolling hills with red dirt, fields of wheat, trees – a peaceful, beautiful walk. We came to an overlook…
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18 May – A Short Walk to Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias
Only 12 kms today. Yeah, say my feet! Today’s walk was a great improvement over yesterday’s. Big improvement. It was a sunny, warm walk on a dirt path, through a couple charming towns, to the small town where we’re staying. There are many bridges all along the Camino. Today we walked over the bridge at…
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17 May – An Dull Walk and a Magnificent Sun Halo
Today we walked 25 kms from León to San Martín del Camino. Shortly after leaving our albergue we walked by a historical building turned into a 5-star hotel. In front of the building there is a statue of a very tired peregrino. Getting out of Leon was about 8 kms through unattractive urban areas with…