On the Camino: One Day at a Time, one Photo at a Time 8.0

[Rowena]

Hontanas
CF, September 29, 2015

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Hontanas
CF, September 29, 2015

View attachment 116751

Edit: Looks like I am wrong. A Google satellite view of the El Afar looks similar to Rowen's pic of Hontanas.


This looks like albergue El Alfar de Hornillos in Hornillos. We stayed there. This bird flew into the glass door (open in your picture) and nearly knocked himself out. I had it keep company beside me on a table for about 15 minutes before enough sense came back that it realized it shouldn't be there and flew off.

 

[Rowena]

My post is a photo of the first cafe you come to at the entry to Hontanas. A great place for mid- morning café con leche and a snack if you have stayed in Hornillos the night before. I didn’t notice whether it was an albergue too.

 

[Reija]

Camino Frances, August 2016. This view is absolutely bound to bring back memories to anyone who's walked in sun flower season. Right?

 

[Chenahusky]

My post is a photo of the first cafe you come to at the entry to Hontanas. A great place for mid- morning café con leche and a snack if you have stayed in Hornillos the night before. I didn’t notice whether it was an albergue too.

It is the Albergue Juan De Yepes. Very clean,bright and modern. I stayed in a very comfortable privado room. The meal in the evening was a good opportunity to meet other pilgrims from around the world. CF June 2016.

 

[Caminogoat]

I will be arriving in Madrid on 02/28, and I will have 40 days. I am not sure where I am going, but open to any suggestions. Here is the map, which I bought from the Pilgrim's office back in November. Dear peregrinos out there, if you have 40 days, where would you like to go? I will go to the one that is most recommended. I know that 40 days are not enough for some of the longer routes. I don't have to complete it. Nevertheless, I would like to walk for all of you who would like to but are not ready to travel yet for one reason or another.

 

[Phoenix]

I will be arriving in Madrid on 02/28, and I will have 40 days. I am not sure where I am going, but open to any suggestions. Here is the map, which I bought from the Pilgrim's office back in November. Dear peregrinos out there, if you have 40 days, where would you like to go? I will go to the one that is most recommended. I know that 40 days are not enough for some of the longer routes. I don't have to complete it. Nevertheless, I would like to walk for all of you who would like to but are not ready to travel yet for one reason or another.

In 40 days, you could do:
Starting in Leon, the San Salvador (5 days), then the Primitivo (appx 14 days), then the Portugués from Porto (12-14 days), then the SdC to Muxia/Finisterre (5 days).

 

[kohara]

Playa San Martin, just west of Llanes on the Norte

 

[mspath]

near Montes de la Valdueza
photo taken November 25, 2014



Another pilgrim and I shared a taxi from Campo via Salas de los Barrios to Montes de la Valdueza to see a bit of the mountainous countryside south of Ponferrada.

 

[FourSeasons]

CF August 6, 2019 in Cacabelos. I was amazed at the ginormous wine press. Salute

 

[Anne&Pat]

Looking downstream on the Rio Douro from Ponte Dom de Luis I to the lovely city of Porto. CP, May, 2016.

 

[Theatregal]

September 26, 2012. Camino Frances. A rest and shared provisions for lunch, before Moratinos.

 

[dick bird]

I will be arriving in Madrid on 02/28, and I will have 40 days. I am not sure where I am going, but open to any suggestions. Here is the map, which I bought from the Pilgrim's office back in November. Dear peregrinos out there, if you have 40 days, where would you like to go? I will go to the one that is most recommended. I know that 40 days are not enough for some of the longer routes. I don't have to complete it. Nevertheless, I would like to walk for all of you who would like to but are not ready to travel yet for one reason or another.

I am tempted to say if you are in Madrid, start there on the Camino de Madrid. But it is about 18 days (give or take) to Sahagún on the Francés, leaving only 22 days left. Even skipping 4 days on the Francés by taking the bus from Sahagún to Léon and then following the Salvador to Oviedo (5 days) and then the Primitivo (16 days+/-) would be tight, but feasible if you walk longer distances and forego rest days (which would be a pity, and not really a good idea).

Or, start in Burgos, walk to Léon, follow the Salvador (5) and Primitivo (16) to Santiago and then, either walk to Finisterra or get the train to Ferol and walk the Inglés if you have time.

It would be nice to see Santiago. Another simple option might be to start the Via de la Plata in Mérida or Salamanca. Anyway, good luck and buen camino.

 

[Caminogoat]

I am tempted to say if you are in Madrid, start there on the Camino de Madrid. But it is about 18 days (give or take) to Sahagún on the Francés, leaving only 22 days left. Even skipping 4 days on the Francés by taking the bus from Sahagún to Léon and then following the Salvador to Oviedo (5 days) and then the Primitivo (16 days+/-) would be tight, but feasible if you walk longer distances and forego rest days (which would be a pity, and not really a good idea).

Or, start in Burgos, walk to Léon, follow the Salvador (5) and Primitivo (16) to Santiago and then, either walk to Finisterra or get the train to Ferol and walk the Inglés if you have time.

It would be nice to see Santiago. Another simple option might be to start the Via de la Plata in Mérida or Salamanca. Anyway, good luck and buen camino.

Thanks! This time, I would like to walk where I have not been. As of now, I am thinking about walking from Alicante to Zomora and see from there. Nothing has been decided, yet. I change my mind every day, and a few times a day!

 

[dick bird]

Thanks! This time, I would like to walk where I have not been. As of now, I am thinking about walking from Alicante to Zomora and see from there. Nothing has been decided, yet. I change my mind every day, and a few times a day!

There's the Lana, and the Vadinense. That should fill up your forty days nicely. Plus make me intensely jealous.

 

[dick bird]

“Different Ways to Pray”

There was the method of kneeling,
a fine method, if you lived in a country
where stones were smooth.
The women dreamed wistfully of bleached courtyards,

hidden corners where knee fit rock.
Their prayers were weathered rib bones,
small calcium words uttered in sequence,
as if this shedding of syllables could somehow
fuse them to the sky.

There were the men who had been shepherds so long they walked like sheep.
Under the olive trees, they raised their arms—
Hear us! We have pain on earth!
We have so much pain there is no place to store it!
But the olives bobbed peacefully
in fragrant buckets of vinegar and thyme.
At night the men ate heartily, flat bread and white cheese,
and were happy in spite of the pain,
because there was also happiness.

Some prized the pilgrimage,
wrapping themselves in new white linen

to ride buses across miles of vacant sand.
When they arrived at Mecca

they would circle the holy places,
on foot, many times,
they would bend to kiss the earth
and return, their lean faces housing mystery.

While for certain cousins and grandmothers
the pilgrimage occurred daily,
lugging water from the spring
or balancing the baskets of grapes.
These were the ones present at births,
humming quietly to perspiring mothers.
The ones stitching intricate needlework into children’s dresses,
forgetting how easily children soil clothes.

There were those who didn’t care about praying.
The young ones. The ones who had been to America.
They told the old ones, you are wasting your time.
Time? — The old ones prayed for the young ones.
They prayed for Allah to mend their brains,
for the twig, the round moon,
to speak suddenly in a commanding tone.

And occasionally there would be one
who did none of this,
the old man Fowzi, for example, Fowzi the fool,
who beat everyone at dominoes,
insisted he spoke with God as he spoke with goats,
and was famous for his laugh.
Naomi Shihab Nye

Through her parents, Shihab Nye has a background in and first-hand knowledge of both European/American and Palestinian culture and way of life. I like the juxtapositions and connections in this poem; between the journey to Mecca and the journey to fetch water, between the pain of exile and home comforts, between the scrupulous care of everyday work and the living in the moment. It is also a reminder that pilgrimage is not an exclusively Christian practice.



The picture is obviously not from a camino, but I thought it fits the poem. It is in Morocco, taken on a post-camino trip. There is a very strong link between Morocco and Spain, which both countries have now begun to acknowledge more positively.

 

[SabsP]

Not in Spain or France but it is on a Camino. More specifically the Via Limburgica ( in our gorgeous province Limburg ) in Belgium.
So when on a local trail you can also see the trusted blue/yellow signs.

Via Limburgica – Vlaams Compostelagenootschap

compostelagenootschap.be

Someone wrote a nice blog about this route.

Via Limburgica

van Thorn (NL) naar Namen (B)

vialimburgica.wordpress.com

 

[mai]

RE: Rabé de las Calzadas, CF
Some pilgrims mentioned this small village after Tardajos in this thread. I checked my photos and found this village map which impressed me very much.
April 12, 2019.

 

[Phoenix]

Villamayor de Monjardín
Estella --> Los Arcos
Cf, 6 Mar 2014

 

[Rowena]

Crossing the Tierra de Campos, between Itero de la Vega and Boadilla del Camino, CF, April 23, 2018

 

[Chenahusky]

CF June 2016. A nice walk from Los Arcos to Logrono. A warm afternoon, with a nice Menu del Dia. Black Risotto, followed by Spicy Chicken and vegetables, Apple pie and Coffee. All washed down with a lovely half bottle of Bauza Rioja, all for 11.5 Euros I miss Menu del Dias.

 

[mspath]

CF June 2016. A nice walk from Los Arcos to Logrono. A warm afternoon, with a nice Menu del Dia. Black Risotto, followed by Spicy Chicken and vegetables, Apple pie and Coffee. All washed down with a lovely half bottle of Bauza Rioja, all for 11.5 Euros I miss Menu del Dias.

View attachment 116839

Chenahusky,
Your meal looks great! I trust it was indeed buen provecho. ...Eating outside in comfort seems like an impossible dream today here in the grey weather of a French omicron winter.

 

[Theatregal]

September 22, 2012. Just past Hontanas are the remains of the Iglesia de San Vicente. Found a bit of info - I'll stop for a closer look next time!

Iglesia de San Vicente | Hontanas

Localidad: Hontanas Son los restos de la iglesia de un antiguo poblado medieval y que todavía conserva un paredón esquinal. En las inmediaciones quedan restos de un via crucis de la época.

www.hontanas.es

 

[mspath]

Leaving for Paris
photo taken October 14, 2013



At our local train station another solo adventure soon would begin from home to Paris, then to Bayonne via the overnight sleeper train from Gare d'Austerlitz, ending at last in the Pyrenees. My emotions spun with the thrill of this new 9th Camino Frances.

 

[Anne&Pat]

On the second floor of the Chapter House of the Cathedral in Porto, which is adorned with hand painted tiles, you will find this 16thC statue of Santiago Peregrino and a stunningly beautiful painted ceiling, with St Michael making up the central panel. CP, May, 2016.

 

[FourSeasons]

CF October 2, 2013 past Sarria……my kind of pathway.

 

[dick bird]

The Legs

There was this road,
And it led up-hill,
And it led down-hill,
And round and in and out.

And the traffic was legs,
Legs from the knees down,
Coming and going,
Never pausing.

And the gutters gurgled
With the rain's overflow,
And the sticks on the pavement
Blindly tapped and tapped.

What drew the legs along
Was the never-stopping,
And the senseless, frightening
Fate of being legs.

Legs for the road,
The road for legs,
Resolutely nowhere
In both directions.

My legs at least
Were not in that rout:
On grass by the roadside
Entire I stood,

Watching the unstoppable
Legs go by
With never a stumble
Between step and step.

Though my smile was broad
The legs could not see,
Though my laugh was loud
The legs could not hear.

My head dizzied, then:
I wondered suddenly,
Might I too be a walker
From the knees down?

Gently I touched my shins.
The doubt unchained them:
They had run in twenty puddles
Before I regained them.

by Robert Graves
https://www.poetrynook.com/poet/robert-graves


Graves is best known as a war poet and author of ‘I Claudius’, not works that suggest a liking for whimsy. This poem could be seen as whimsical (Graves did, in fact, have a lively sense of humour) but there is an underlying, anxious tone about how far we are in control of our own destiny, or in this case, our legs. Legs are very important to pilgrims. We need to pay attention to our legs. I suspect most of you will recognise this shot as somewhere on the last day on the Francés.

 

[SabsP]

Charming detail on a wall at Santa Olalla de Bureba on the Vasco Interior 2019.
This was next to an open café. A rare sight on this Camino.

Briviesca - Monasterio de Rodilla | Camino Vasco del Interior | Gronze.com

Etapa corta y básicamente llana, íntegramente por la comarca de La Bureba, y algo menos agradable que las precedentes por el contacto permanente con tres grandes ejes de comunicación: la autopista A-1, la nacional N-I y la línea de ferrocarril Madrid-Irún. Las pequeñas poblaciones intermedias de...

www.gronze.com

Bares y restaurantes | Santa Olalla de Bureba

www.santaolalladebureba.es

 

[Rowena]

Continuing my progress across the Meseta, here’s a photo of the Iglesia de San Pedro in Fromista.
CF, April 23, 2018

 

[Chenahusky]

CF June 2016. The ruins of the pilgrim hospital of "San Juan de Acre", with the Bodega Carral and Navarette in the background.

 

[Phoenix]

Estella --> Los Arcos
CF, 6 Mar 2014

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

The Holy Grail used to reside in San Juan de la Peña. Now a replica sits in the apse. The text is a Google Lens translation of a placard at the museum in the "new" monastery.

 

[mspath]

Rick,
Your images are perfect!

 

[Hugh Larkin]

Leaving Villafranca Montes de Oca, 16 May 2014. Walking with my sweetie

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Rick,
Your images are perfect!

Thank you. I really wanted to write an illustrated story about my quest for the Grail at the Chapel Perilous but I've already submitted the required photos.

 

[FourSeasons]

CF August 9, 2019 coming down from O’Cebreiro. Good-Morning sunshine.

 

[Theatregal]

Because of this thread, I continue to learn interesting new things hidden within my photos!
The photo today was taken of the view across from the train station in Bayonne as I waited for my train to St. Jean Pied de Port on September 4, 2012. When looking for a daily photo to post, I've always skimmed past this one but today I stopped and wondered about the neighbourhood and the church on the left.

Patrimoine bayonnais : un regard historique sur la collégiale Saint-Esprit

www.baskulture.com

 

[mspath]

Because of this thread, I continue to learn interesting new things hidden within my photos!
The photo today was taken of the view across from the train station in Bayonne as I waited for my train to St. Jean Pied de Port on September 4, 2012. When looking for a daily photo to post, I've always skimmed past this one but today I stopped and wondered about the neighbourhood and the church on the left.

Patrimoine bayonnais : un regard historique sur la collégiale Saint-Esprit

www.baskulture.com

View attachment 116956

Theatregal,
In your photo the center white building with blue trim, Le Monte Carlo, recently in the psst was a good small hotel/resto handy for overnights when your train arrived late from Paris.

 

[mspath]

León
plaza de San Marcelo
sculpture of Antonio Gaudi

photo taken November 11, 2011



Impeccable in bronze the architect Antonio Gaudi sits on a bench sketching while facing the Casa Botines, the trapezoidal fabric warehouse/factory he designed c.1892 which is now a museum

 

[SabsP]

Cee. I stayed at Pension Beiramar which is more on the outskirts of Cee, towards Corcubion.

Pensión Beiramar - Cee | Pensión | Gronze.com

Información del Pensión Pensión Beiramar, en Cee: precio, plazas, características, etc...

www.gronze.com

Olveiroa - Corcubión | Camino de Fisterra y Muxía | Gronze.com

Hoy por fin, después de tantas jornadas lejos del mar, llegaremos ante el océano Atlántico. La etapa clásica finalizaría en Fisterra, pero nosotros preferimos dividirla en dos para disfrutar con más tranquilidad del maravilloso entorno. Recorreremos paisajes sublimes, solitarios y con desniveles...

www.gronze.com

 

[VNwalking]

Dick, thank you. Really enjoying these poems along with your one-a-day.

I had no idea Graves had whimsy in him. That's a perfect camino poem.

Legs are very important to pilgrims. We need to pay attention to our legs

Feet too. Especially feet.
The Rio Iso at Ribadiso, CF. 2015.

I've always skimmed past this one

Haha. In real life on this end, too. I stayed right across the street in the Hotel Pays Basque. Do you think I paid any attention to this venerable Eglise? Mais non - I don't even remember it being there!

One of the best things about this thread is that I learn about things I missed, or will never see.

 

[Bronte DownUnder]

Camino Frances, August 2016. This view is absolutely bound to bring back memories to anyone who's walked in sun flower season. Right?

A field of sunflowers always makes my heart sing. Your photo Reija reminds me of our walk in France, June 2015, watching and waiting for the first bloom. When I saw my first one I became quite emotional and when I saw a whole field I knew I'd been walking a long time! Apologies if you've seen these photos before because I posted some last year.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Quinta das Alfaias, Fajozes near Vilarinho, where we stayed in May, 2016 on the CP. It was run by the family when we stayed there, it now seems to be a Hotel. It is about a km from the Camino. We seem to recall the husband telling us that he had been a Portuguese Air Force pilot and flew the last Air Force plane out of Angola. They were both very hospitable.

 

[Bronte DownUnder]

In 40 days, you could do:
Starting in Leon, the San Salvador (5 days), then the Primitivo (appx 14 days), then the Portugués from Porto (12-14 days), then the SdC to Muxia/Finisterre (5 days).

That's a great suggestion Phoenix as it would give a taste of a variety of Caminos. If I had 40 days Mera I'd walk the Camino Frances from SJPD to Santiago or even venture onto Finisterre, taking my time and perhaps spending nights at albergues or hostels that are in the lesser popular towns. It is the one Camino that tugs at my heart and if mspath has done that route 10 times then take her word for it. Buen Camino

 

[Bronte DownUnder]

View attachment 116822

Not in Spain or France but it is on a Camino. More specifically the Via Limburgica ( in our gorgeous province Limburg ) in Belgium.
So when on a local trail you can also see the trusted blue/yellow signs.

Via Limburgica – Vlaams Compostelagenootschap

compostelagenootschap.be

Someone wrote a nice blog about this route.

Via Limburgica

van Thorn (NL) naar Namen (B)

vialimburgica.wordpress.com

Thank you Sabine. I hadn't realised there was one through Belgium ... a country we love and have visited on several occasions.

 

[Reija]

A field of sunflowers always makes my heart sing. Your photo Reija reminds me of our walk in France, June 2015, watching and waiting for the first bloom. When I saw my first one I became quite emotional and when I saw a whole field I knew I'd been walking a long time! Apologies if you've seen these photos before because I posted some last year.

How wonderful!!

 

[Bronte DownUnder]

Thanks! This time, I would like to walk where I have not been. As of now, I am thinking about walking from Alicante to Zomora and see from there. Nothing has been decided, yet. I change my mind every day, and a few times a day!

Sorry Mera if I'd looked more closely I would have seen that you've already completed the Camino Frances

 

[dick bird]

I will be arriving in Madrid on 02/28, and I will have 40 days. I am not sure where I am going, but open to any suggestions. Here is the map, which I bought from the Pilgrim's office back in November. Dear peregrinos out there, if you have 40 days, where would you like to go? I will go to the one that is most recommended. I know that 40 days are not enough for some of the longer routes. I don't have to complete it. Nevertheless, I would like to walk for all of you who would like to but are not ready to travel yet for one reason or another.

Or, just to confuse you even more, how about the Olvidado from Bilbao to Ponferrada, then the Invierno from Ponferrada to Santiago? I'd check out the weather first though.

 

[VNwalking]

This time, I would like to walk where I have not been. As of now, I am thinking about walking from Alicante to Zomora and see from there. Nothing has been decided, yet. I change my mind every day, and a few times a day

How about~
•Vasco/Via de Bayona: Irun to Burgos
•Via Aquitana: Burgos to Carrion de los Condes (https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/something-old-and-new-on-the-camino-francés-via-aquitania-variants.72053/#post-984842) -
•Camino Francés: Carrion to Astorga -
•The Camino del Manzanal: Astorga to Ponferrada -
There are a bunch of old alternatves in this general area:

There are numerous ways to cross the mountain range knows as Montes de Leon in the east/west direction. All of them (see image below) are Ways to Santiago taken by medieval pilgrims and by later pilgrims.

The Manzanal pass is 1230 m high, compared to the Foncebadon/Cruz de Ferro pass which is 1500 m high. Lower is often better. A major Roman road (Via Nova) went over the Manzanal pass. It has always been and still is today a major traffic artery.

The author of a popular guidebook, perhaps the Brierley of his time for German and Flemish speaking pilgrims, wrote in 1495: If you follow my advice you turn right and you will have no mountains to climb. You will leave all these mountains to your left. I advise you to mistrust Rabanal. And if you follow my recommended route you will soon arrive in Ponferrada.

•The Camino Invierno - Ponferrada to Santiago. A real gem.

 

[kohara]

A baroque tour de force at the Museo de belles artes in Bilbao. Painting by Murillo of St Peter in tears.
This link will allow you to zoom in on the amazing detail in this work.
St Peter in Tears

 

[dick bird]

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
ROBERT FROST

On first reading, this is the antithesis of the camino – we just follow the yellow arrows. But we make a choice to walk, and we make a commitment to a path and a course of action, and once we have made the choice whatever happens as a consequence remains as our reality. We are the sum of our choices. That doesn’t prevent us looking back on what we might have done without a certain amount of regret, mixed with defiant acceptance that we are what we are.

This is not actually on a camino: in the spirit of the 'path not taken', we left a friend at Ribadeo and doubled back over the bridge - that bridge - in the dark, in the morning, in the teeth of a howling gale to join the Ruta Historica (which branches off the Norte at A Caridad) via Vegadeo by following the east bank of the ria where I took this photo. I can see why the original pilgrims didn't need Aymeric Picaud's advice to avoid ferry crossings. Later that day, we were eying up some overhanging figs in an old lady's garden when she spotted us, invited us in and treated us to a lengthy disquisition on the cultivation of figs and a large plastic bag full of said figs. I strongly recommend the ruta historica variant.

 

[Phoenix]

I wonder how many pilgrims have passed over this bridge to begin their journeys...

SJPdP
CF, 28 Feb 2014

EDIT: Kind of ironic that, without seeing the previous post, I posted a photo of one of the most walked parts of the CF immediately after @dick bird 's post about the road not taken...

 

[mspath]

View attachment 116981
The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
ROBERT FROST

On first reading, this is the antithesis of the camino – we just follow the yellow arrows. But we make a choice to walk, and we make a commitment to a path and a course of action, and once we have made the choice whatever happens as a consequence remains as our reality. We are the sum of our choices. That doesn’t prevent us looking back on what we might have done without a certain amount of regret, mixed with defiant acceptance that we are what we are.

This is not actually on a camino: in the spirit of the 'path not taken', we left a friend at Ribadeo and doubled back over the bridge - that bridge - in the dark, in the morning, in the teeth of a howling gale to join the Ruta Historica (which branches off the Norte at A Caridad) via Vegadeo by following the east bank of the ria where I took this photo. I can see why the original pilgrims didn't need Aymeric Picaud's advice to avoid ferry crossings. Later that day, we were eying up some overhanging figs in an old lady's garden when she spotted us, invited us in and treated us to a lengthy disquisition on the cultivation of figs and a large plastic bag full of said figs. I strongly recommend the ruta historica variant.

dick bird,
Thank you for sharing your memory of serendipity and posting this splendid evocative photo.

 

[Rowena]

Carrion de Los Condes
CF, October 1, 2015

 

[Reija]

A traffic jam, CF August 2016

 

[Chenahusky]

One of my favourite pavement/sidewalk markers. Navarrete. CF June 2016.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I've still got Agés photos to share but I'm going to step back a few kilometers to San Juan de Ortega.

 

[Turga]

I've still got Agés photos to share but I'm going to step back a few kilometers to San Juan de Ortega.
View attachment 117014

He.. I have the exact same photo from 2018

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

He.. I have the exact same photo from 2018

Not exactly. Yours is much better. I had to crop out a construction crane on the right and top but a ladder can still be seen. 2015.

I have other hidden quality issues with mine.

 

[Turga]

Not exactly.

Maybe not... but we both had very good (hot) weather and blue skies

 

[Caminogoat]

Or, just to confuse you even more, how about the Olvidado from Bilbao to Ponferrada, then the Invierno from Ponferrada to Santiago? I'd check out the weather first though.

Yeah, actually I was thinking exactly the same. Without COVID, I would have started from Arles or Alicante but I don't want to be on the road too long. Your suggestion is good for me in many ways because I can do all that and more in 40 days, and also, I can visit my Camino friends along the way. I have always been very intrigued by the name "Olvidado". It makes me feel nostalgic about the place that I know nothing about. I get this urge to go there and let them (not only the people who live there but also flowers, animals and the Camino itself) know that they have not been forgotten. I heard that there are more pilgrims on that route now and it's in the process of not being "Olvidado". Perhaps I can contribute to it in a very atomic-level minute way.

 

[mspath]

Maybe not... but we both had very good (hot) weather and blue skies

Turga and Rick,
I love both your pics. Here is another memory from 2004.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Snap!



Not as good a photo with the shadows, 2019.

 

[dick bird]

Yeah, actually I was thinking exactly the same. Without COVID, I would have started from Arles or Alicante but I don't want to be on the road too long. Your suggestion is good for me in many ways because I can do all that and more in 40 days, and also, I can visit my Camino friends along the way. I have always been very intrigued by the name "Olvidado". It makes me feel nostalgic about the place that I know nothing about. I get this urge to go there and let them (not only the people who live there but also flowers, animals and the Camino itself) know that they have not been forgotten. I heard that there are more pilgrims on that route now and it's in the process of not being "Olvidado". Perhaps I can contribute to it in a very atomic-level minute way.

Good luck. There are some excellent resources on the forum for the Olvidado, in fact the forum is one of the few places where you will find any resources at all. When we did it in 2019 we were told a total of 500 people had passed through in the entire year and the only other 3 pilgims we met were on other, intersecting, routes and none of them were aware of the Olvidado, but it is way-marked and some very enthusiastic people live along the route, and Peregrina 2000 is a strong advocate. Lets us all know how you get on.

 

[Theatregal]

September 7, 2012 - the lovely, small, overgrown walled cemetery just past Viskarrete on the Frances. I thought this cast iron grave marker with beautifully styled inscription was exquisite.

 

[mspath]

Revenga de Campos
Iglesia de San Lorenzo
stork

photo taken November 6, 2011



This stork was spotted near the CF path which parallels Palencia route P-980 west of Fromista/ east of Villalcazar de Sirga.

 

[FourSeasons]

CF April 21, 2016 about 40 minutes before Los Arcos. Yessssss! I really loved the early stages out in the open spaces.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Mosteiro de Vairao, before Vilarinho. Monastery founded in the XIthC . It has been refurbished to provide pilgrim accommodation, meditation room and museum. We went to Mass in the Chapel, it was packed for a special Mass for young people. CP, May, 2016.

 

[SabsP]

O Cebreiro 2011.

 

[VNwalking]

we both had very good (hot) weather and blue skies

I didn't.
Here it is in another mood - warts, crane, dumpsters, and all (also 2015, a cold rainy day in early April):

 

[Reija]

Thank you everyone for pictures of San Juan de Ortega. The pictures bring back good memories! The previous night we had had a communal meal in Belorado and San Juan meant seeing a lot of pilgrims that had shared the meal the night before. I couldn't easily find any pictures of mine from San Juan so I go ahead and post a picture of breakfast break on CP in June 2017. At the moment it is snowing slightly, the omicron wave is on and having a breakfast carefree along Camino seems like a wonderful dream. The girl in the picture, my daughter, is also dreaming of Camino but at this very moment is attending a univeristy lecture online. Have a good weekend with lots of wonderful Camino dreams, everyone!

 

[Phoenix]

CF, 9 Oct 2016

 

[Rowena]

Leaving Sahagun by the Puente Canto over the Rio Cea. The bridge is originally Roman, reconstructed in the 11th and 16th centuries.
CF, April 26, 2018

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Thank you everyone for pictures of San Juan de Ortega. The pictures bring back good memories!

Then I'll post another for you.

 

[Rowena]

Good catch, Kirkie!! At first I wondered what was funny about it…How do I edit that?

 

[Theatregal]

September 26, 2012. A chilly morning at dawn after San Nicolas del Real Camino.

 

[kohara]

Last summer on the Ingles

 

[Chenahusky]

CF June 2016, Logrono to Azofra. 23.5 miles/ 38 km. A long day, but the company must have been good, as I only have 4 photos and about ten lines in my journal. It apparently was a straightforward, warm, sunny days walk.
Photo enroute shows the river in Najera.

 

[Former member 49149]

Good catch, Kirkie!! At first I wondered what was funny about it…How do I edit that?

I see you edited it! I am sorry, I just could not resist the emoji! That apart, a lovely photo.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Igreja de Arcos, with beautiful blue tiles (Azujelos). Small village before Sao Pedro de Rates. CP, May, 2016.

 

[Nick B]

A photo of the Pyranees on the back window of a VW in Newcastle, Australia on the way to the local farmers markets this morning. Gave them a toot, wave, smile, thumbs up and a Buen Camino on the way past.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Peg and I just finished viewing a video about Barcelona so I will submit my Sunday post early with a shot from there.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar
Barcelona, Spain.


Compare with my earlier photo of Saint Ignatius:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/on-the-camino-one-day-at-a-time-one-photo-at-a-time-7-0.71843/page-5#post-972801

 

[mspath]

León
Cathedral Santa Maria de Regla
Cloister door

photo taken March 7, 2007



This elegant panelled door is the entrance into the Claustro/Cloister of the León cathedral. Both the Camino Frances and Camino Salvador pass through León.

 

[SabsP]

Bought a new cellphone and I found some pics on the old one ( I now know all there is to know about the Smartswitch function of Samsung... ).

Zegama in the morning. Seeing @VNwalking leave for the etapa of that day.
Left of her the quiet pilgrim from Barcelona whom we shared some albergues and lunches with.
I was a bit under the weather that day so decided to follow by public transport.

 

[FourSeasons]

CF July 27, 2019 LEON at night.

 

[dick bird]

Heaven—Haven
A nun takes the veil

I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.

And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

A poem that seems to be the antithesis of the camino, being about withdrawal to a fixed place, in my mind an island. But the camino is also a safe place – although paradoxically both a literal and a metaphorical journey and many people find a calm and peace on the camino away from the hurly burly, the noise of modern life. It also speaks about the devotion and commitment to the religious life, which were and are definitely part of the reason for embarking on a pilgrimage, and in the early Christian era, ascetic monks and nuns were seen as pilgrims (the word could also mean ‘outsider’) even though they withdrew into the desert in the Holy Land or Egypt and stayed there.

I love the rise and fall cadence of each verse, just like a wave rolling in and crashing.

I hope nobody minds me posting two photos, I couldn't choose which one I preferred. They are both on the Norte, both between Luarca and Ribadeo.

 

[Anne&Pat]

View attachment 117083

A photo of the Pyranees on the back window of a VW in Newcastle, Australia on the way to the local farmers markets this morning. Gave them a toot, wave, smile, thumbs up and a Buen Camino on the way past.

Wonder where they got that from Nick?

 

[Reija]

León
Cathedral Santa Maria de Regla
Cloister door

photo taken March 7, 2007

View attachment 117085

This elegant panelled door is the entrance into the Claustro/Cloister of the León cathedral. Both the Camino Frances and Camino Salvador pass through León.

Yes, those doors are amazing!

 

[Rowena]

I remember this as the least scenic part of the Camino Frances, between Sahagun and Leon. I have only a few photos to choose from. This roadside cross is between El Burgo Ranero and Reliegos.
CF, April 27, 2018

 

[Chenahusky]

CF June 2016. Between Azofra and Santo Domingo de Calazada. Probably a repost.

 

[Phoenix]

Pilgrims in silhouette setting out from Agés.
CF, 10 Oct 2016

 

[Theatregal]

A glorious morning along the Route Napoleon. CF September 5, 2012

 

[VNwalking]

Beautiful light pillar, @Phoenix!

Zegama in the morning. Seeing @VNwalking leave for the etapa of that day.

I'm glad I didn't look up much - it would have been intimidating. As it was, yes it was a climb, but not as scary or intense as it looks.
Here's the official end of Zegama, with the climb ahead, looking up at the mountain as the alpenglow was giving way to a milky early morning sky.

Edit - @Theatregal and I have stumbled simultaneously on a morning in the mountains theme.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Hospital de Orbigo
parish albergue
patio

photo taken November 14, 2011



Passing through this unroofed patio was very pleasant in fine weather; however during storms it was always a wet dash from the dorm on the left to the loo/shower on the right, especially in late autumn/winter.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Ponte de Lima, one of our favourite towns on the CP, May, 2016.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Puente de Órbigo on CF, June 2019

 

[SabsP]

Supermercado Dia at Salvatierra/ Agurain. Camino Vasco Interior 2019.
Close to the albergue municipal.
From the vegetable garden to your house!

 

[FourSeasons]

del Norte July 6, 2019: Day two after Pasaia and those 1,000 steps, still a bumpy road ahead.

 

[dick bird]

PILGRIM HYMN

Who would true valour see,
let him come hither;
one here will constant be,
come wind, come weather;
there's no discouragement
shall make him once relent
his first avowed intent
to be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
with dismal stories,
do but themselves confound,
his strength the more is.
No lion can him fright:
he'll with a giant fight,
but he will have the right
to be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
can daunt his spirit;
he knows he at the end
shall life inherit.
Then, fancies, fly away;
he'll not fear what men say;
he'll labour night and day
to be a pilgrim.

John Bunyan

The pilgrimage as metaphor. This is the original version as Bunyan wrote it in ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ while he was in prison in 1684 for refusing to stop preaching a form of Christianity that did not align with the orthodox Anglican version. He was there for twelve years. It speaks for itself really, in spite of being allegorical. It’s a hymn we often had to sing at school or in church so one night, while we were walking the Via de la Plata, when we had access to the internet, I googled the words. We memorised it and sing it when we need a bit of encouragement (and there is no one else within earshot). You can change the pronoun to she/her or they/them, things were different in the 17th century, but the message doesn’t change.

The church spire is that of St. James, Shere and the photograph was taken from a footpath (leading to the village of Gomshall) locally known as the Pilgrims' Way.

 

[Chenahusky]

First coffee of the morning. A small tienda in Granon. Coffee, food, wine and music, I love the tiendas. CF June 2016.