Blog No. 213 - Camino Soul Songs Part 19: 28 March 2025

On Thursday the 2nd of May 2013, I walked from Leon to Villar de Mazarife.  The Brierley distance from Leon to Villar de Mazarife is 23 kilometres.  On the way here, I met and travelled with Harold, Juan and Helen.  I had lunch with them in the albergue.  Once the Camino got out of the Leon suburbs, this was easy travelling.

I omitted from the diary entries, any references to any of the physical ailments that I endured as I walked the Camino.  These omissions were probably done because the pain I was suffering from the blisters on my feet was extreme.

I had wrongly assumed that after several days of walking, my feet would simply toughen up, the blisters would heal and I would not get any new blisters.  My confident belief that the blisters would go away, proved to be completely wrong.  The blisters never went away, and as old blisters healed, new ones immediately came along to replace them.  Every morning before I started walking, I unbandaged my blistered feet and replaced the bandages and lotions that I hoped would make sure that the blisters did not become infected.  I had brought a comprehensive supply of blister repair equipment with me and I used it every day.  Although the blisters kept on coming, they never became infected, even though they always burst. This was either because of the walking I was doing or because I deliberately burst them at the end of the day’s travel.

The blisters were most difficult to cope with at the start of each day’s walking, but after about an hour, I ceased to notice the pain that they generated; the pain was still there, but receded into the background.

Apart from the blisters, I also experienced severe pain in my left shoulder and this made carrying the 10 kilogram backpack difficult.  As with the blisters, the start of walking was the time when I was most aware of the pain in the shoulder.  As the day wore on, the shoulder pain joined the blister pain as just another background irritant which I could ignore.

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Walking out of Leon took time.  It is a large city and the Camino slowly snaked its way through the city streets.  

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The river that flows through Leon is the Cares River.  Leon was founded by a Roman legion and the name Leon is derived from the Roman word “legion”.  I took this photo on 2 May 2013. 

 

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A civic artwork in Leon inspired by the Camino.  This artwork is on the route out of Leon. 

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Part of the line of pilgrims winding its way out of Leon on the 2nd of May 2013. 

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The line of peregrinos stretched out behind me as I left Leon. 

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On the way to Villar de Mazarife on the 2nd of May. 

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Sign on the approach to Villar de Mazarife, location of the albergue in which I stayed.. 

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Diary Entry Made on Thursday 2 May 2013

I am at an albergue at Villar de Mazarife.  I arrived here from Leon at about 1:20 pm.  On the way I met and travelled with Canadian Harold who is 82 [Note: Harold was only 81 at that time.] and doing his 10th Camino.  I also met Harold's friend Juan who is Spanish who is doing his 6th Camino.  I also met Helen from Toronto.  Helen is a corrections officer.  I had lunch with Harold, Juan and Helen in the albergue - which has a bar.  It was easy travel today once the Camino got out of the suburbs.  The Brierley distance was 23.1 kilometres.

There was no wind, no rain and there was wonderful sunshine.  It was easy travelling and no particular body aches or pains.

Distance Walked Today: 23.1 kilometres.

Total Distance Walked So Far: 469.3 kilometres.

Total Distance Covered So Far: 490.5 kilometres including the 21.2 kilometres by taxi.

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Soul Song Number 22 - Easy Strider

(2 May 2013)

It rained overnight in Leon.

Moisture tapped at the window of the hotel room.

At first you thought there must be mice.

So you turned on the light and made a noise,

Hoping to scare off the rodents.

The rain didn't scare so easily though.

It continued tapping and scratching until it was ready to go.

It was still raining when you fell asleep.

Next day the rain was gone,

Replaced by crisp, clean, cold sunshine.

Replaced by sunshine that needed no wind as a support act.

The sunshine gathered strength as your feet flew through the streets of Leon.

At last it happened.

The suburbs gave their last gasp.

Now you walked completely freely once more.

You were back in the gentle green countryside of Spain.

The hunched up pilgrim of the last few days became transformed.

Instead of Mister Plod, you became Easy Strider.

In what seemed like no time at all, you were in Villar de Mazarife.

Once again you became a pilgrim moving easily through the rhythms of the day.

Blog No. 212 - Camino Soul Songs Part 18: 27 March 2025

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Although it was not raining when I started walking on that Wednesday, it was bitterly cold.  I kept my gloves on all day

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Rain puddles littered large parts of the Camino as I walked on Wednesday 1st of May 2013.

 

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The rain had greatly increased the water carried by the rivers and creeks crossed by the Camino as I made my way towards Leon.

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Another view of the rain soaked Camino. 

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As the Camino approached Leon, the long line of peregrinos was stretched out like multiple beads along a loose string.

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The city of Leon covered a large area, including this street, which I walked along after I misread a Camino direction sign.

Amy, the fellow peregrino. Amy spoke some Spanish and was able to get directions to enable us to walk from the suburb where we had finished up after misreading the Camino sign, back into the centre of Leon. 

I stayed the night of that 1st of May 2013 in the Hotel Paris in Leon.  It was Margaret’s birthday and I felt I was entitled to celebrate the event by staying in a comfortable room in the hotel. 

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Diary Entry Made on Wednesday 1 May 2013 at 3:45 pm

I am in a hotel room in Leon - I have it all to myself - a birthday treat!  I think I checked into the room at about 2:00 pm but I got to Leon at about 12:30 pm.  The Brierley distance to the Leon cathedral is 18.6 kilometres but I actually walked further.  On the way through the suburbs the Camino did a fork and I took the wrong fork to a closed down municipal albergue and a Camino dead end.  As I started to retrace my steps I met Amy, an American girl from Missouri who had done the same thing.  She speaks some Spanish and got directions into the city centre and helped me find a hotel.

The Brierley distance to the now closed municipal albergue is 18.9 and I estimate that Amy and I walked about another 1.5 kilometres to reach the cathedral in the city centre, making a total of 20.4 kilometres of walking for today.

Amy has walked from Burgos and gets the train to Madrid from Santiago on 14 May.  She has done 8 years of study to qualify as a doctor and starts a 5 year residency in California when she gets back.  She is a very pleasant young woman.  She continued walking after I organised my room.

I have sent nearly all of my clothes to the hotel laundry.  Yahoo! Everything will be clean!

The hotel is called the Hotel Paris Leon.

Distance Walked Today: 20.4 kilometres.

Total Distance Walked So Far: 446.2 kilometres.

Total Distance Covered So Far: 467.4 kilometres including the 21.2 kilometres by taxi.

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Soul Song Number 21 - Leonising

(1 May 2013)

It didn't rain today.

There was no bitter wind today.

You didn't walk thirty kilometres today - only eighteen.

Your calves and thighs don't hurt today.

Even your feet don't really hurt today.

How can this be?

Easy.

Today is Margaret’s birthday.

And that means what?

It means you are Leonising.

You are sitting in a hotel room in Leon.

What is your biggest concern today?

That too, is easy.

When precisely will your sparkling clean laundry be returned to your room?

That is your biggest concern.

There is another concern.

Will you eat in your room tonight?

Will you eat in the hotel restaurant?

Or will you go somewhere else to eat?

These minor matters constitute your biggest concerns,

On this Margaret’s birthday.

You ponder them as you Leonise and as Santiago grows closer.

What else have you done while Leonising?

Why you visited another cathedral.

That is what you have done!

Blog No. 211 - Camino Soul Songs Part 17: 26 March 2025

On Tuesday the 30th of April 2013, I walked from Bercianos del Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas.  The wind had eased off by this Tuesday, but the rain substituted for the wind.  It was extremely cold and extremely wet for most of my pilgrimage that day.  I walked about 27 kilometres that day.  The albergue at Mansilla de las Mulas was run by a family and it was warm with good quality food.  Because I arrived at the albergue in the early afternoon, I was able to rest for most of the afternoon.  

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Throughout the whole of my walking on that Tuesday the 30th of April, I walked through continuous rain.  I stopped trying to avoid getting wet because trying to avoid the wet was impossible and pointless.  I accepted that I was saturated and that I would continue to be saturated while I still had walking to do that day.  In a sense, it was a relief to abandon myself to the rain. 

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All peregrinos became saturated by the rain on that Tuesday.

 

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As a South Australian, I was astonished that it was even possible for so much rain to fall.  It is a cliché, but it is factually true.  South Australia is the driest State in the driest country in the world.  Our summer officially lasts from 1 December to the end of the following February.  The rain stops falling at about the end of November and virtually zero rain falls until late April in the next year.  Our maximum summer temperatures often reach 37 Celsius at about 10.00 am and stay at about 37 Celsius until well after sunset.  Summer maximum temperatures – without a drop of rain falling for months on end – regularly reach 45 Celsius.

My body was shocked by the combination of the bitter cold and the rain which fell all day.  When it does rain in Adelaide, it is unusual for the rain to last all day. 

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Even the Camino way marker looked half drowned by the rain.

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My walking that Tuesday was almost a swim through a continuous world of water.

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Diary Entry Made on Tuesday 30 April 2013 at 3:15 pm

I am at an albergue in Mansilla de las Mulas.  The Brierley distance from Bercianos del Real Camino is given as 26.6 kilometres.  I left Bercianos del Real Camino at about 7:30 am and got here at about 1:30 pm.  That makes 6 hours to cover 26.6 kilometres which gives a rate of about 4.43 kilometres per hour inclusive of a half hour break for coffee and tortilla.

The walking was hard work today.  It was raining lightly when I left Bercianos del Real Camino, but the rain increased steadily as the walk went on.  I met two very pleasant Australians who have just got married and who are doing the Camino as part of their honeymoon - Anthony and Miriam..

I was first into this albergue and I got the pick of the beds and first use of the hot water in the shower.  It has a bar downstairs, a pilgrim menu and breakfast for €20.00.  It is a great place to stop and get out of the rain after four days of very hard walking because of the wind and rain.  I have only 18 kilometres to go tomorrow to reach Leon.

Distance Walked Today: 26.6 kilometres.

Total Distance Walked So Far: 425.8 kilometres.

Total Distance Covered So Far: 447.2 kilometres including the 21.2 kilometres by taxi.

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Soul Song Number 20 - Dances With Rain

(30 April 2013)

Your boots go splash.

Water sloshes over your legs.

You don't care anymore.

You are dancing with the rain.

There are flat ruts made by countless boots.

These are the best places to put your own boots.

There is a surer surface.

These ruts are lower than the middle of the track though.

So they are full of water.

Water seeks out the lowest possible level.

So it is difficult to walk in the ruts without getting very wet.

You have tried walking on the very edges of the Path,

But the edges all have slopes of their own.

Slopes that direct the water into the ruts.

Slopes that direct the water all over your feet and legs.

So you gave up on trying to avoid the ruts made by other pilgrims.

Everywhere you walk is full of water,

So at least you can try and walk where there is a firm footing.

That means that now you are dancing with the rain,

While your feet and boots get even wetter.

While the rain soaks your entire body.

While the cold numbs even your teeth.

Why are you doing this?

Sometimes you are certain.

At other times the reasons are fogged by rain,

Just like today is fogged by rain.

You tell yourself, you are on a pilgrimage.

You want to wash the rubbish from your mind.

That is why you are here.

So the rain continues to tumble down,

While you continue to do your dances with rain.

Blog No. 210 Camino Soul Songs Part 16: 24 March 2025

On Monday the 29th of April 2013, I walked from Calzadilla de la Cueza to Bercianos del Real Camino, a distance of 33 kilometres.  This was yet another day of walking throughout the day in bitter cold with a strong, freezing wind.  Bercianos del Real Camino translates as Berciano of the King’s Camino.  I took a wrong turn when I missed a Camino direction sign and walked much further than I had intended that day.  The albergue at Bercianos del Real Camino was run by volunteers who made great efforts to ensure that the peregrinos who came to the albergue were given good, nourishing food and warm beds.

When I arrived at Bercianos del Real Camino, I received a text that My friend Nes had survived emergency open heart surgery, was now in intensive care, but was expected to live.

As I edit these Camino Soul Songs 12 years after my Camino walk, I wonder what happened to persuade Nes to refuse to come to Margaret’s funeral.  Margaret had been Nes’s friend too.  In the evening before his open heart surgery, Nes had cooked dinner for Margaret and told her he had indigestion.  In reality, the indigestion had been a heart attack.  Margaret liked Nes. 

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The hardship of getting from Calzadilla de la Cueza to Bercianos del Real Camino involved more than covering the distance.  It was bitter cold, a bitingly cold wind blew and peregrinos seemed to shrink into nothingness and not be visible.  This photo was taken soon after I began.

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It was disheartening to be constantly walking alongside very busy roads.  Some peregrinos can be seen if you look carefully into the distance along the track

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Yet more highway travelling.  This was an extremely hard day. 

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Even the waterways seemed to be depressed on that Monday 29th of April 2013. 

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Roads, roads and yet more roads; plus wind and cold, wind and yet more wind and cold.

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Seeing this crudely painted sign on 29 April did not make me feel I was any closer to Santiago de Compostella. 

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Diary Entry Made on Monday 29 April 2013 at 6:05 pm

I arrived at the albergue in Bercianos del Real Camino at about 3:25 pm after setting out at 7:10 am this morning.  I was actually intending to walk to Calzada del Coto but I miscalculated.  Calzada del Coto is on the main Camino route and Bercianos del Real Camino is an Opcion.  I missed the turn off to Calzada del Coto and finished up in Bercianos after walking about 31 kilometres.  [Note: The actual distance was about 32.7 kilometres.]  This meant today was the 4th successive day where I had walked about 30 kilometres or more.  The only upside is that it reduces tomorrow's travel to about 26 kilometres.

What a day!  The wind blew all night and all day today.  It was bitter cold and had a speed of about 30 kilometres per hour I think.  It was mostly but not always at my back.  Sometimes it was strong enough to buffet the backpack around on my back.  This came on top of yesterday's battering.

I walked with my head sunk into my shoulders and my shoulders hunched against the wind and the cold.  I didn't take the gloves off all day.  I am still wearing them as I write, plus my beanie and my rain jacket inside the albergue.  It is difficult to imagine how the day could have been more exhausting.  My feet and legs ache all over.

This albergue is a "donativo" staffed by volunteers.  It is clean and functional but very, very cold.  The Menu Peregrino at 8:00 pm is also free.

I got a text today saying that Nes had a quadruple bypass and that he is as well as possible given that.

Today I passed over the half way mark of the Camino.  What a way to do it!

Distance Walked Today: 32.7 kilometres.

Total Distance Walked So Far: 399.2 kilometres.

Total Distance Covered So Far: 420.4 kilometres including the 21.2 kilometres by taxi.

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Soul Song Number 19 - Far Too Much Wind Walking

(29 April 2013)

Today was supposed to be an "easy" day,

With only about twenty five kilometres to cover.

So you should have been cruising.

You got it wrong though

You got it so wrong that God herself must have been smiling at your error.

It started the moment you opened the albergue door this morning.

The wind tried to steal the door from you.

Just like yesterday. it was blowing at about thirty kilometres per hour.

It came out of the east and it was bitter cold.

All day you again listened to the flapping of the sleeves on your rain jacket.

All day your hat was plastered flat on your head by the wind,

Assuming shapes its designers could never have imagined.

You had no choice.

You had to plod across the cold, cold landscape.

The landscape mocked your hopes as well as the wind.

Today, the Camino was in love with travel along major roads.

Today, the Camino was unable to shake off an infatuation with the mundane world.

You consoled yourself.

At least the walk should be over by about 1:30 pm.

You got that wrong too.

You took a wrong turn.

That meant the Camino took you straight to Bercianos del Real Camino,

That meant the Camino walked you straight into an additional two hours of walking..

It was 3:30 pm when you stood shivering in the albergue.

What a day it had been!

What surprises the Camino had wrought!

You always knew the Camino would be very hard work.

All that hard work to draw a little closer to Santiago.

The day had one more surprise in store.

This one waited until you had arrived at the albergue.

Your friend might have had "a minor heart attack",

But repairing his heart had not been a minor exercise.

The doctors had given him a quadruple bypass.

The doctors had given him a few nips and tucks just to keep him alive.