Ladies toilet - YECH!

On the way to Foncebadon

Ladies on the Caminos - PLEASE do not leave your toilet tissue on open ground for everyone else to see and trip over.
Nearly every open piece of ground - which could normally be used as a picnic site - is being taken over by peregrinas as an open air toilet site. 

DRIP DRY LADIES !!!!  Or, carry your unsightly toilet paper with you in a plastic bag and get rid of it in the first available dirtbin.

Hola!

Hi Mobs and Douglas we're having a great time thx for message luv u lots just introduced Amarula to our fellow peregrinos.

Burgos to Leon and Astorga

We got a Jimenez bus from Logrono to

Burgos. 

From Burgos we got an ALSA bus to Leon - all tickets were pre-booked and paid for online

Jill, Janette, Theresa and Zuretha joined us in Leon.
We took an ALSA bus from Leon to Astorga and started walking from there to Villafranca del Bierzo

Olives, grapes, figs, apples, quince, chestnuts, almonds, blackberries all the way

We have had fruit all the way so far.  The brambles are laden with black juicy berries.  The figs are turning purple on the branches.  Some of the pears are so large that we are not sure what type of pears they are.  Olives are hard and green, chestnuts drop their hedge-hog balls on the paths.  There are pecan nuts, walnuts and almonds.  The grapes are amazing, all the vineyards purple with tight bunches of ripe grapes.  In the sops we can buy rasberries, plums, greengages and nectarines.  It is harvest time in Spain.
Walking in spring is wonderful for the spectacular wild flowers, the cooler weather and the large European stork that one sees on their huge nests on top of towers, steeples and specially built poles. The wheat, barley and maize fields are rolling green seas: the brambles are in full bloom, the olives, pecans, almonds, apples, quince and figs along the way have tiny clusters of fruit just emerging.

In autumn, the cereals have been harvested and a beige stubble remains. The brambles offer juicy blackberries all along the way. Figs are ripe, the chestnuts, almonds and pecan nuts are bursting their shells on the branches. Ripe apples lie on the ground, plump quinces ripen on the trees. It is harvest time and although the wildflowers have wilted away nature is generous with their fruits.
There is something wonderful about both seasons.

Part Two - amaWalkers on the move

The first section of the amaWalkers Camino ended in Logrono. Today we get a bus to Burgos where we will spend the night. Tomorrow we take a bus to Leon where 4 new amaWalkers will join us for the walk to Santiago. We will travel to Astorga and start walking to Rabanal and onwards to Villafranca del Bierzo.  Ultreia!!

After a few days walking in the cereal fields of Navarra and La Rioja it will be great to be back in the mountains. I've checked the weather forecast for that area and each day is between 12oC and the highs from 25oC to over 30oC. I have been carrying long trousers, tights, 2 fleece tops, scarf and Beanie thinking we might have colder weather in the mountains! We. Are hoping for cooler weather from Sarria to Santiago.

Progress on the Camino

I took this photograph used on the heading of this blog in June. 3 months later and there is a large construction going up in the field on the left facing the village. It looks like a complex of duplex flats. What a pity they didn't build it a bit further back or on the other side. It will dominate the view and obscure that lovely approach to the village.

This concrete and stone path down the hill to the magnesite factory outisde Zubiri is a welcome change as the dirt path used to be a death-trap in wet weather.

The eucalyptus forest outside Arca is making way for a new Autovia between Santiago and Lugo.  There is also a new highway being built between Santiago and Finisterre that will cut down travelling time to about 45 minutes.  One can see the roadworks cutting through the 'montes' forrests on the way to Fistera.

Busy Camino

 The Camino is very busy with large numbers of pilgrims vying for beds in all the villages. Beds in towns and villages are booked by midday and even large albergues have 'Completo' signs up soon after opening.
In Zubiri a woman was desperate to find a bed as everything was booked from Roncesvalles to Larasoana and Trinidad de Arre. The hospitalero in Lorca said that this year was crazy - much busier than last year. In Cizur Menor we met two couples from Belgium who were trying to book beds ahead in Puenta la Reina that day.

The tourist office told them that everything was full - hotels, pensions, albergues etc. I phoned the Hotel Jakue and managed to find them the last two rooms at R65 each. In Los Arcos we met them again. They were intending to stay in Logrono and had tried to book ahead but were told that everything was fully booked there and also in Viana - 9km before Logrono. I called Jose in Viana (whose apartment we had booked ) and he found them 2 rooms in his aunt's apartment. I am so pleased that we have pre-booked accommodation all along the way. Its hard enough to walk up to 25km a day in the hot sun without having to worry about where you will sleep at night. Over 134000 Compostelas were issued in Santiago up to end of August but those only represent pilgrims reporting at the Pilgrim Office there. Many more pilgrims are actually on the Camino who don't intend walking to Santiago - like Brian and Tricia, and the two couples from Belgium who are only walking to Burgos this year. when we started out from Los Arcos this morning there were pilgrims strung out on the path before and behind us as far as the eye could see. "It looks like Moses and the Exodus" said Brian, and he was right.

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