May 11 Granja to Tabara (Stage 26)

Joan at Tabara

We had a very slow start. I spoke to the owner of the hostel last night and he assured me that we could leave at 6. Well the whole place was locked down. We went through the door out to the hall leaving our walking sticks to look around and the door shut. We were locked in a hall and are sticks locked on the other side. We knocked and called no luck. I climbed out the window to see if we could climb in a different window to get our sticks. No luck. We were climbing in and our of windows dragging a small ladder with us. Finally at 7 they opened the door and we took off. An absolutely gorgeous walk with fields and pine forests a roman bridge and a river. We walked about 16k and came to a small town with a bar and had breakfast of toast and cafe con leche. We finished up our walk at the town of Tabara. We wandered through town. I stopped at the ayudacimiento and asked for the key to the albergue. We walked up and met a Spaniard that stayed over because he has a cold or the flu. This albergue is free no cost. It is a dormitory with about 16 beds. It has one shower and a kitchen. We went to a good restaurant and got the perigrino menu. We had paella and fish soup for the first course and lamb an turkey with potatoes for the second. We of course had bread and wine with gaseous water. Desert we chose ice cream. Delicious. The cost was 10 euros each. We will check our walk for tomorrow and then return to the albergue.

On the road to Faramontanos

Faramontanos

Lunch break at Faramontanos

Joan enjoying a break

Stu at Roman Bridge 

Plaza Major Tabara

Roman Bridge near Tobara

Stu at Plaza Major Tabara

On the wall of the church

Joan at Tabara

May 10 Montamarta to Granja de Moreruela (Stage 25)

We left about 0630 after having a sumptuous breakfast of toast, jam, sweet roles, oranges, cafe con milk with chocolate, and tea. We started out of town up a small hill with the moon on our left and the sun just beginning to rise on our right. We were surrounded by fields of gold the entire day. We walked around  the Ricobayo reservoir that was only half full . We then saw the impressive ruins of Castrotofate's castle. This castle was the seat of the knights of the order of Santiago. It was the capital of Leon's kingdom in 1176. We continued walking thru the Castilla Leon prairies. We stopped at Granja de Moreruela  for supplies and directions to a small hostel out of town. This is where the Camino de la Plata turns north toward Astorga, and we go north west to Sanabria, and Ourense. We are leaving the Roman Road and moving on to the Camino Sanabres. This road will lead us into the mountains of Galicia. We will be crossing rivers and arroyas and seeing sanctuaries and hermitages. We found our hostel about 3k out of town and had a good lunch of mixed salads, ham, potatoes, chicken, wine with agua gaseosa, bread and ice cream.  Much of the ham and chicken was stuffed into the bread for tomorrow's mid walk meal  Our lunch was 10 euros each and our room was 30 euros. All the hot water we could use was free. Often at the albergues the first users get the hot water. Just one of the many reasons we like to get an early start. The daily temperatures are increasing. We are down to t-shirts and skirts. 

the day just beginning. the moon will shortly be overpowered by the sun

Ruins at Castrotorafe

Wide angle Ruins at Castrotorafe

Ruins at Castrotorafe

 

Road to Granja

The crossroad in Granja  right to Astorga or left to Ourense. Yellow arrows either way

Hostel outside Granja on the way to Astorga

May 9 Zamora to Montamarta (Stage 24)

We really slept in and had a good breakfast and left our hotel at 8 . The sun was up and no rain clouds in the sky . The Camino was well marked and we walked through fields of mustard and grains. The first town we came to Roales de Pan was a lovely village. When you enter there is a stone cross and a small garden with both fruit trees, vegetables and statues. The statues are of Perigrinos, animals, birds, and religious statues. It is all tended by an elderly couple that welcome you to come in and talk. The amazing thing is that they get ideas from an art teacher in California through the Internet. This little farming town has just a couple hundred people. It was a delightful start to our day. We marched on having to stop once to take off our long sleeve shirts for short sleeve . It was very warm and the road was dry and easy to walk on. We passed more fields and arrived in Montamarta. I had called ahead to a casa rural to reserve a room for us. We are staying at Casa del Sastre . If you go to the Internet and look up Casa del Sastre, Montamarta, Spain you will find it. It is a lovely old house and our room has double beds with sheets and a comforter. Everything clean and beautiful. We have a large bathroom across the hall with a large shower. When I called she asked if we would want lunch so of course I ordered lunch. She would make it any time that suited us. She has a large patio and washing facility   When we got there we washed our dirty clothes, boots and hung them in the sun. We had the best lunch we have had on the Camino. She started with a cream of zuchini  soup with warm bread and wine and water. She then served a lettuce, tomato salad with red peppers and olives and pork loin. It was delicious. Desert was a delectable chocolate pudding and a flat chocolate candy with a pineapple flavor. We are now in our room resting. Stu has past out. He doesn't call it sleeping. The cost of the room is 40 euros. The lunch 9.50 euros each. We are getting so spoiled. Tomorrow we will leave the Camino de Plata that continues on to Astorga and start a new Camino de la Sanabres that goes up into the mountains and terminates in Santiago. We walked over to the Alberques, that we thought would be full and there is only  Josette, Jean Claude and Jean Paul and one other person. We were glad to see them and they us. Being the only ones left of the original Seville group, we hope to take pictures of the five of us in front of the Cathedral in Santiago. Time will tell.

On the Way to Montamarta

Garden in Roales del Pan

Stu 

Navigation aid 

Entering Roales del Pan

Scene along the Way

Stu recuperating

Fellow pilgrim

More scenery

 lunch by candlelight

Church in Montamarta

Montamarta

Tomorrow's departure route

May 8 Cubo to Zamora (Stage 23)

We left a little after 6 from our warm and cozy bunk room. It had rained all night and was lightly raining when we left . We weren't paying as close attention as we should have. We bore left at an intersection instead of going straight along the railroad tracks. This cost us dearly adding an hour of slippery walking. The Camino to Zamora goes through Villanueva de Campean a very small village 13 k from Cubo. The scenery, what we could see, was beautiful. The road which was muddy with ditches and puddles was terrible. Your boot treads filled up with mud and you would slip every step. It took an extra hour to go 13 k and I was exhausted when we got there. We went into a bar an met a couple from France we knew and our little mushroom from Ireland that pops up everywhere, Irene.  She speaks German, French, Spanish, and English. We had a coke and coffee and continued are walk another 19k. The sun came out but the road continued to be slippery and muddy. We finally arrived 2 hours more then our estimated time. We then walked the city. It is on the bank of the Rio Duero. It was developed by the Romans. There is a beautiful Cathedral  and would you believe 22 Romanesque churches. They were built in the 12 and 13 century. Google the province and city of Zamora. We got in after 1400 and everything but the Cathedral is closed until 1700. We found a hotel with a bath tub and we soaked our aching bodies.

Bridge into Zamora

Stu luxuriating...sort of

Long road to Zamora

Wet day

Joan not having fun in the mud

Camino friends

May 7 Valdunciel to El Cubo de Vino (Stage 22)

On the Way to Cubo

This village, originally called El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino, has approximately 500 inhabitants. It is south of the Rio Duero and rich in grape vines. Whereas the region to is north is rich in corn fields and called Tierra del pan. We left our small albergue at 0600 and walked a path lit by the full moon. We walked a dirt road that was well marked.  After about an hour, the sun began to come out from behind the clouds, and the color of the land filled in. We were surrounded by birds and insects that sang to us. We passed trees imbedded in fields of green and sheep calling for their moms. We arrived at 10:30 a mere 20k. This camino differs from the France Camino in that their are long distances between alberques and bars. The alberques are small so to get a bed you must leave early. We only walked 4 hours. We could have done 2 more. Unfortunately the next place was 32k and a 6 hour walk. So we stopped here and played on the exercise equipment in a park nearby until the albergue opened. It was not suppose to open until 12:30, but he opened an hour early for us. He also gave us the only private room with blankets and a heater. It has a kitchen so we made lunch of rice, beans, onion, zucchini, red pepper and olives. It was Jean Claude and Josete's 47 wedding anniversary. We surprised them with this meal when they arrived. I am writing this while my better half sleeps. Today Stu lost our last pair of sun glasses on the camino. By the time we get to Santiago he will have an empty back pack and I can go shopping.

Stu waiting for the albergue to open

Joan waiting for the albergue to open

Doiing the laundry

Signing in at the albergue

Stu after a day's walk

Stu and Joan

A private room

Jean Claude and Josette celebrating their anniversary at Cubo