Walking the Camino de Santiago
After just another half hour or so, we come to the rambling village of Castildelgado. On our left, we see this. Whatever this was part of, and wherever it led, now it guards a field. I’ve often remarked here about my fascination for doors and gates, but even if you don’t share that fascination I hope that you see the […]
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This is the entrance to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de La Calle (Church of Our Lady of the Road) in Redicilla del Camino. The “Calle” of course is the Camino in this case. I love doors (as you know), but I particularly enjoy these benches, which are found all over this section of the Way. The white paint on […]
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The Spaniards love their heraldry, and the village of Redecilla del Camino is no exception. There were several such carved arms up on the sides of older houses, but this was pretty much the most spectacular. The Way so far this morning has been relatively flat and easy, but Francine was a little out of it – I described it […]
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We quickly come to our first Castillian village, Redecilla del Camino. Here we see our second sign welcoming us to Castilla y León. It’s a bit more modest than the previous one. We also see our first Castillian town sign, complete with map. Every village, every town, every city has one of these. Some are more helpful than others. The […]
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With this gigantic sign in the middle of nowhere, we leave La Rioja and enter Castilla y León. We are now entering the second Kingdom of our Camino, having left Navarra far behind. Even with this photo, it’s difficult to get a handle on how truly immense this sign is, made even more so by its isolation from any other […]
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We are still in the long shadow of Grañón just after sunrise. Soon, the sun will burn away the mist, but for now, we are still in the cool shadow of the oncoming storm. The steeple you see is the parish church where we stayed the night. The stormy skies are a portent of the days to come. Date: 10 […]
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That shadow you see across the valley is the shadow of the town of Grañón. The sun is barely above the horizon. The sky seems poised to break into storm at any minute, and far below in the shadow of nature and civilization both, Francine roars her defiance and joy. Or, it’s just possible that she’s singing show tunes. Date: […]
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A new day! We begin walking on April 10 about dawn. First breakfast was at the albergue, and we begin in high spirits, buoyed by the happy memory of the fantastic albergue parroquial de San Juan Bautista in Grañón. Date: 10 April 2016 Place: Leaving Grañón (La Rioja, Spain) Maps!
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The actual entrance to the town on the Camino is somewhat uninspiring. Truth be told, it’s a bit depressing with crumbled buildings and trash and bits of discarded concrete pipe. But you go up a set of stairs and just a few streets in, and it looks like this, so huzzah! Grañón is a solid little town with a good […]
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Camino graffiti is by turns inspiring or enigmatic or just plain silly. Wherever on that spectrum you think this particular one sits, however, it has special meaning for me. Partially this is related to the admonition of a priest when I was in high school exhorting me to “seek Truth” – which I proceeded to do for twenty years before […]
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