Peter Camino

The historic castle at Ponferrada. June 30 Yesterday may have been the hardest, but today was the longest - and the hottest. When I passed through a small town at noon, the pharmacy clock was saying 33 degrees and it got much hotter than that before I arrived at my destination four hours later. But to backtrack a bit. I woke up very grumpy because of the stratospheric noise I'd endured from soon after 9pm to nearly 1am. It was Saturday night in Molinaseca and directly below my window was a live rock band playing at unbelievable volume. It was a fairly classy hotel and I was very disappointed that they wouldn't have thought to at least mention it. I couldn't find and air conditioning in the room. It was very hot when I went to bed and I'd opened the window, but that wasn't possible once the music started. Added to that disappointment, they didn't start breakfast until 7.30am, when I had a very long day ahead and just wanted to get away early. I was d...

The river at Molinaseca was a very welcome ending to a very tough day June 29, 2019 Starting out in the early morning. Even up here in the mountains, there’s a contract between the wildness of the terrain and the intrusions of civilisation – the horse troughs and the power pylons – they all have to do with providing power in some way. One thing that’s been apparent from the start is the number of houses for sale – some in good shape, but mostly run down or falling down – how much would you pay for this one, which I spotted at 5km and just over an hour after my 7.12am start from Rabanal? But to rewind a bit. My hotel at Rabanal was very nice – I can’t blame them for the dogs that set up a barking competition every hour or so during the night. I was packed and ready for breakfast by 7am. Although it’s hard to zip up my suitcase when I put my pack in there as well, it’s worth it for the freedom of just having a little bag slung over one shoulder – I hate the wet s...

June 28 Friends and family in NZ have been messaging, telling me it's hot here in Spain - they saw it in the news. They're right. Clear blue skies all day yesterday and today. The sweat was fairly prolific and I knocked back a fair amount of the agua. Today I left behind Astorga, with a few parting photos of the Gaudi church and the cathedral (which you can see in the photo album at the bottom of the page). I was pretty lethargic, probably as a result of too much wine last night. I was greeted from behind with a chirpy Kia Ora, as Linda and Chris steamed by. Later I caught the Irish and chatted to them awhile before I stopped off for a coffee at the village of Santa Catalina at just past the 8km mark. It was starting to get very hot by them and we'd started to climb into the hills, so I just plodded on, arriving here about 12.30pm. Rabanal is the starting point for a mountainous section. It's fairly remote. In the 12th century the Knights Templar had a pr...

Approaching the town of Astorga (pop 12,000) June 27 This could be one of those days when I don’t get to post a blog. I’m on the top floor of a fancy hotel in a very nice attic room, but the internet doesn’t quite reach this far. I’ve got a connection, but it’s so weak if won’t even load my emails, although it’s working on it. The trouble is, that every time I leave the room, I have to take the electronic card with me, the power in the room goes off and my old laptop very quickly has its battery go flat, so nothing keeps loading. To go back to the beginning: Last night I was in the very frontier town of Villadangos, where the heavy traffic thundered past until late at night and started up again before 6am in the morning. I’d met two nice Irish women in the lift earlier on and thought I might talk to them over dinner – no one else seemed to speak English. Dinner wasn’t until 8pm, so I was pretty peckish. When I went in, I saw a large table set up and half occupied and ...

June 26 That photo just about sums up a fairly desolate walk. It was 22km of city streets or walking alongside busy roads.  Fortunately, breakfast was at 7am. I was up early, dropped off my suitcase, knocked off some food and was on the road by 7.20am. Because I was on the east side of Leon, I had to walk the streets for a long time - nearly two hours before I cleared the suburbs about 8km later I met the obligatory statue, took photos of pelicans and bodegas and then it was just a solid walk down the main road. I didn't really mind the surroundings. I've started to stop fretting about just about everything as I empty out my brains. I hope I leave some room for new stuff. My friend Linda from Christchurch came by with her husband Chris. I met Linda when I arrived at St Jean Pied de Port and have since seen her in Pamplona, Logrono and Burgos, so not for ten days or so. Chris had come out from NZ and now they were walking together, but he was a har...

June 25 The rain was forecast to stop today. I looked out the window and the road was dry, so I set off on the kilometre walk to the old part of town, dressed in running shoes and a hoodie. Of course it started to rain again. I prowled around for a while, making sure I knew how to get out of town tomorrow, then retreated to my room for a bit of rest. I passed some nice buildings, but it's not much fun being a tourist when you're all soggy. On the way back I saw a hostal close by that offered pilgrim meals, so I went in and asked what time they started dinner. After a good deal of mime and misunderstanding, it turned out to be 9pm - I certainly won't be eating then, as I have plans for an early night tonight. Out the window, I can see a mysterious shopping complex, so I went in and found a huge department store. On the ground floor there are all sorts of designer departments, Desigual, Timberlands, Lacoste - all that fancy stuff. I nearly bought a wallet (I stil...

On the outskirts of Leon on a rainy day. You can see the trail disappearing over the hill, top right. June 24 A rainy day. It's not so bad - the third rainy day out of 21 - and the forecast is for hot sunny days coming after (when the rain stops about 10am tomorrow). I loved last night's hotel. There were only two pilgrims in residence at the four-room hotel and the other was planning on taking the bus, so I wandered downstairs at about 7.45am to have the entire dining room to myself.  You never know what you're going to get at breakfast. Sometimes it's lavish and all laid out - sometimes you just sit and wait to be served, never knowing what's to come. It was like that this morning. I sat down, fresh orange juice appeared and I was asked if I wanted coffee or tea (cafe con leche is my thing in the absence of a flat white). Soon after I heard eggs frying and two arrived, along with two thick white slices of toast and some butter. I find my app...

June 23 Mansilla de las Mulas - as far as I can make out it means the place where you saddle the mules. It was another relatively boring day - long straight paths alongside a road. It had the advantage for me that it was relatively short (19km) and the surface was good, giving my various ailments a chance to sort themselves out. I had one of the most comfortable days for more than a week, walking slowly with my audio book for entertainment and no distractions or conversations. I woke early - soon after 6am, after a quiet early night and a good sleep. There was no sign of life, let alone breakfast, in fact I was locked in (although my room key got me outside). I went to the albergue next door for a coffee. They told me the owners of the hotel I was in were crazy, that they were tired of running a hotel and generally slack. By the time I was packed, it was 7.30am and it looked like breakfast might materialise, but I decided to hit the road. The storks in the cathedral w...

  Another day on the endless plains of the Meseta June 22 I'm blessed with some relatively short days as I deal with the various ailments that come my way. I'm treating each day as a rest day until I regain my awesome best. Today I started alone and early (7.30am). If I walk quickly, I strike on my heel and that rarks up my blister. If I can place my foot flat, it's kinder to the blister, but not so good for my arthritic toe joint. By walking more slowly, that impact isn't so great. It's not very sociable - the ear pods are a deterrent to casual conversation - but it means I can choose my own pace, This morning I did all I could to ease things. I packed my day pack into my suitcase, which is transported and just carried a small shoulder bag. Not so much to carry and if gave the heat rash on my back a break. That's improving now anyway, since I consulted Dr Google and started applying calomine lotion. As you walk through a fairly featureless landscape...