Author: Dee Dee Heslop

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Although probably not that unusual in July or August on the Camino, we discovered yesterday evening that there were no beds available in San Juan de Ortega, our intended destination for today. With the full realization of our pending difficult 16 mile hike, no one was too interested in extending it to the next town. OUR SOLUTION: take a cab from San Juan de Ortega to Burgos, 16 miles away. Book a room for two nights in Burgos, and then take a taxi back to San Juan de Ortega early Thursday morning and complete our walk back to Burgos. “Necessity is the mother of invention'” – and it sure beats spending the night in the woods. The first half of the day was very scenic and relatively easy. We left our alburgue just outside Belorado before 8:00am. Our route took us through rolling hills to the small village of Tosantos, three miles away. We had hoped to have breakfast there, but saw nothing open. An unexpected highlight, however, was the view of Ermita de la Virgen de la Pena as we passed by the town. What appeared to be a chapel carved in the side of a cliff was truly amazing. We later discovered that 800 years ago a woman, known as La Ermita ministered to passing pilgrims from a cave in the side of the cliff. A chapel was later erected in the cave opening in her honor and once a year the inhabitants of Tosantos take the path to the cave in the cliff and give thanks to God, Santa Maria, and La Ermita for blessing their town. From Tosantos we passed through the small villages of Villambistia and Espinosa del Camino, before arriving in Villafranca Montes de Oca. From there things got much more difficult, as in our next 2 miles we climbed continuously for over 800 feet to the top of a mountain ridge. We followed the crest of the mountain for about three miles where we unexpectedly found an Oasis. Over several years a lady had built a very clever rest stop, equipped with hammocks, benches, etc – in the middle of nowhere. She also had food and drinks – a much-needed stop before our last mile, straight downhill, dropping several hundred feet into San Juan de Ortega.

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Our first sunrise hike, leaving Ciruena, was spectacular! As we left the village, the sun first broke with a ray that illuminated the bell tower in the church. As we walked and the sun cleared the horizon, it produced vivid green and gold hues that flooded the fields on both sides of our path as we walked 3.5 miles to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Santo Domingo de la Calzada was the first of four towns we would see today, and perhaps the most interesting and beautiful. By Camino standards, with a population of 6,500, a nice size village, with every imaginable service. Included in those services was an ATM – a necessity on the Camino since the EURO is typically the exclusive form of payment. No EURO – NO BED! Four miles later we climbed a long steep incline to the town of Granon. Not much to see, except the Iglesia San Juan Bautista, a 15th century church. From there we passed through four more small towns, Redecillla de Camino, Castildegado, Viloria de Rioja, and Villamayor del Rio on the way to our final destination of Belorado. Counting our short walk around Belorado, we walked a total of 20 miles today! Everyone seems to be in good shape and even better spirits. Buen Camino!

Greetings from Ciruena, Espana! Long day today as we are trying to get back on track to be in Leon by May 11, when our daughter Alecia will join us. We left Ventosa before 8:00am and fairly quickly walked six miles to the city of Najera, where we had breakfast overlooking a rapidly running river. We were able to take almost one hour to eat and visit with some pilgrims we know from England. Our next leg was just shy of four miles, and brought us to the small town of Azofra, were we ate lunch and again visited with other pilgrims that we have met over the past 11 days. Our final leg was six miles and a continuous – and sometimes steep – climb through beautiful vineyards with snow- capped mountains to the south. The heat did become a factor, and there was little relief from trees, which were few and far between. We finally arrived in Ciruena, which was unlike any town we had seen thus far. Entering from the east, we saw numerous real estate developments -mostly empty. They all appeared to be 10 years old and clear!y part of a real estate boom gone bad. There was also the first golf club on our route – very new building as well. Steve and I remarked that we hoped that BBVA has not been involved in the financing! Our albugue was on the west side of town, clearly much older. Very nice private rooms and a wonderful pilgrims dinner, tonight. PS Our Spanish is getting a little better, as many of the alburgues, particularly in small towns, are run by families with little understanding of English.

Left Logrono at 8:00 AM and again headed west. An easy hike through the western end of the city – almost totally through beautiful parks. Had lunch in Navarete (8 miles away) and toured still another incredible cathedral – Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. The pictures don’t begin to begin to do it justice! Between Navarrete and Ventosa, about 4.2 miles, the trail followed a long straight road, all uphill. It seemed longer than the morning stretch simply because of the monotony of walking a straight concrete road for several miles. Still in Rioja Wine country, and we have clearly noticed that the vineyards as we progress are becoming more and more in bloom. Still a long way from grapes, Arrived at a private alburgue, San Saturnino, in Vintosa about 2:00pm. We are in a top floor room, with five beds – all for our group. We all showered and washed our clothes immediately – a Camino rirual. Had the bonus perk of a large group of clothes lines in the garden behind our rooms. Our clothes dried quickly, as we drank wine and talked with fellow pilgrims from all over the world. Camino life Is very SIMPLE , but incredibly fulfilling!

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It is becoming clear, after 9 days that this trek across northern Spain is beginning to take some degree of physical toll on us. Whether it is sore feet and blisters, occasional signs of shin splints, tightening of an old IT band injury, or recurrence of knee problems, pushing ourselves up and down steep rocky paths day after day definitely has consequences Today, we left Torres del Rios, climbed steep hills for 7.5 miles to the beautiful town of Viana. We stopped and took a break at a restaurant right across from the incredible 13th century cathedral- Iglesia de Santa Maria. Marched in to our Day 9 destination of Logrono, in the absolute heart of Rioja Wine Country! Gorgeous hillsides of vineyards -just beginning to bud – lined our entire path today. We have all fallen absolutely in love with Logrono! Didn’t hurt that when we bought a hamburger for lunch today – the WINE WAS FREE! Really a fun city.