Walking The Camino de Santiago

Congregational members, Martha Bailkowski and Louise Procter-Maio are in Spain walking the Camino Frances to Santiago de Compostela from May 5-25. Here are their postings from the pilgrim path.

 

Wednesday May 8

Leon, Spain ... Day 1 ... and we are off!

Hello from the Camino! A few pics from our first day of walking. We walked from Leon to Villar de Mazarife - about 20 kms. Beautiful sunny day. It took us 7 hours with breaks. We are tired but all is well!

This was a stop along the way. This fellow had coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, bananas, muffins plus other goodies. All for a donation! Also had his computer set up for anyone needing a connection. Such is the way of the Camino.

Thursday May 9

Two very tired pilgrims got to Astorga tonight. It took us almost 12 hours but we covered 30 kms. We took much needed breaks along the way and monitored our feet. We won't need much rocking tonight!

Friday May 10

Only 20 kms today but it was HOT! Left Astorga this morning and arrived in Rabanal around 5 pm. Mainly flat but some tricky terrain. Beautiful scenery. Tomorrow is a big day as we make our way through the mountain to Moninaseca.

The birds are storks. They build these huge nests often on church steeples. You can see the mother standing watch.

Saturday May 11

Your pilgrims made it up and down a mountain and then around a mountain. Rabanal to Molinaseca. 28 kms. Very challenging terrain. You can see the cross where the pilgrims leave their stones. There is a sundial there that tells you the time using your shadow. It took us 12 hours of walking but we made it.

Sunday May 11

Molinasera to Villa Franca del Bierzo - 32 kms. The flowers are beautiful - roses, Cala lilies, geraniums, poppies. Louise is airing her feet and changing her socks and shoes; also snack tine. Less than 20 kms to Santiago! Chilly this morning but will warm up this afternoon. The villages are just lovely to walk through. 

Monday May 12

Villa Franca del Bierzo to Las Herrerias. 20 kms. On our way just after 7 am today. Rained off and on. Thankful for our rain gear. The walkers were a colourful group with all different colours of ponchos. Arrived around 2:30 pm. You can see the 'floating clouds' in the mountains. We are grateful for an afternoon to resst and have some down time.

Tuesday May 14

Two drowned pilgrims walked uphill from Herrerias to O Celebreiro. Here we are entering Galatian Country.

On the climb up; rocky and very muddy; we always stopped to marvel at the view. We were especially grateful for our poles today.

Wednesday May 15

O Cebreiro to Triacasteela 21 kms. Your pilgrims saw mostly overcast skies with lots of showers. It was chilly - around 6 with the wind chill. We even  had hail and a fallen tree that we had to traverse by sitting on the trunk, swinging our legs over to get to the other side. Still, beautiful scenery. There was a very meaningful Mass at the church in O Cebreiro last night. Louise read the prayer in english; others read the prayer in their native tongue. The priest gave us all a stone with the yellow arrow on it. I am hugging the plinth that says we are 150 kms to Santiago which is half way from Leon where we started. The very large tree that Louise and I are standing in front of is an 800 year old chestnut tree! Our walk was about 7 hours.