Bernie the German Shepherd from Castrojerez

[RENSHAW]

Anyone know the full story of the dog that loved to walk with pilgrims and used to follow a selected pilgrim to the next town where his owner would have to collect him or he would go the whole way to Santiago.

 

[WolverineDG]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

The bar/restaurant it still open & although Bernie has gone to doggie heaven, the new dog has been known to traipse after pilgrims up the hill before turning around & heading for home.

Kelly

 

[suekenney]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

In 2001 I walked with Bernie from his home, La Taberna in Castro Jerez. We walked 24kms together and when we arrived in Fromistra I noticed a lot of people knew the dog but I wasn't sure whey. I tried to get him into the albergue but the hosptelera sternly marched him out. I found out from an Argentinian pilgrim that he was a legend on the Camino. Each day he would choose a pilgrim to walk with but when he got to Fromistra, he refused to walk back home. Someone from the village would have to drive him or call his owners to pick him up!!!

Bernie inspired me because of his unconditional love but also because he was a lot like other modern day pilgrims. When I arrived in Santiago I also caught a ride back home. I decided that I would walk the reverse route one day and did the Camino "al contrario" twice. You can read the story about my experience with Bernie in the book My Camino or listen to it on a storytelling CD I recorded in 2003 called Stone by Stone. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/suekenney

Love you Bernie.
Sue

 

[Anna-Marie]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

They had a bunch of newspaper clippings about him at the bar where he used to live (it's right on the Camino route) when I passed through two years ago--it seems he was quite famous!

I can't remember if any of the clippings were in English, since I could've more or less puzzled them out if they were Spanish.

Anna-Marie

 

[newfydog]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

I love that place. Anyone remember the bird that would come sit on your shoulder? He'd get jealous if you gave Bernie all the attention.

We stopped there for lunch, had so much beer that when we found they rented some rooms upstairs we just stayed. I mentioned once that I had a pilgrim's stamp in my real passport, and perhaps alcohol was involved. That's the stamp.

 

[RENSHAW]

The Bar is wonderful and the food is exceptional. I had a fat cat plonk istself on my lap and she asked if I could take Her to Santiago? I just love this bar with the animals , but please , some more about Bernie , the dog that loved to walk the Camino.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

don´t know about Bernie, but I know Jackie, an enormous Leonese Mastín, who lives at the pilgrim hostel in Terradillos de los Templarios. Occasionally he will walk with pilgrims, but only as far as Moratinos, the next village along the camino. He hangs around the plaza, greeting pilgrims and cadging food, then comes to MY house and hangs out until his owners come for him, sometimes hours later.

There are plenty of stories of pilgrim dogs following along the trail. Our dog Tim came to us with two French pilgrims, from the trail outside Carrion de los Condes. And Don Trigo, another dog from the same neighborhood, followed Pieter Pannevis, a Dutch pilgrim, all the way to Santiago. (Pieter took him back to Netherlands with him, and Don Trigo was featured for a long time on the Santiagobis website.)

Reb.

 

[WolverineDG]

Re: Bernie the German Sheperd from Castrojerez

Thanks for supplying the name! On my last trip through in 2009, I stopped & petted the dog & the cat before I did anything else. Ended up getting quite a bit of food for only 2 euros. :mrgreen: It's a great place to eat dinner at night too. Didn't know they rented rooms....maybe on my next trip....

 

[notion900]

I was followed all day up the mountain by the lovely Runa the Mastiff from Villafranca Del Bierzo. Anyone else encounter this dog? For a while two hunters dogs were following Runa, but we managed to throw them off, Runa however was more tenacious and had to be collected by her owner from the German hostel.

 

[RENSHAW]

Just commenting on this thread as I do not have the computer literacy to post the link