Pilgrims on the Way

The city of León is an astonishing juxtaposition of the old and the new. While this is true of many parts of Spain that we visited, it seemed especially obvious in this great city. This was the first scene like this I recorded, but it would not be the last. The only down side is that we were paying so […]

I have no doubt that Puente Castro began its life as a charming village along the Río Torío, with a thriving Jewish Quarter. Nowadays it’s basically part of the suburban sprawl of the great city of León. In fact, it’s officially listed as a barrio (neighborhood) of León, with the river separating it from the rest of the city. Date: […]

While this might have been the first time in Spain I saw a fast food conglomerate advertised, it was not the last. In all my Camino adventures, though, I don’t recall actually seeing one of the restaurants. In any case, you can certainly tell we’re approaching the big city – you don’t see a whole lot of billboards on Camino. […]

This bridge over the Río Porma is now relegated to the use of automobiles (and, weirdly, livestock). Humans and bicycles have their own, much more modern, bridge from which I took this photo. I always enjoy these funny little dichotomies of modern automobiles on a medieval bridge. The bridge is as long as it is because the river frequently floods […]

The Camino between Mansilla de las Mulas and León is a string of closely packed villages, the likes of which we haven’t really seen since before we entered the Meseta a week or more ago. As we go, they get less and less like villages and more and more like suburbs. Here we see Eamon walking through the first of […]

We left Mansilla de las Mulas, crossing a nondescript bridge over the Río Esla. I saw this lone fisherman standing amid the wildflowers on the banks of the river, and it immediately struck me as about a bucolic and romantic image of this part of Spain as you’re likely to see. Date: 19 April 2013Place: between Mansilla de las Mulas […]

We left our albergue in Mansilla de las Mulas at about 8:30 in the morning. This stone cross, or Cruceiro, is near the edge of town. Normally, these mark Medieval boundaries or places of justice. Since this one is pretty clearly within the boundaries of the town, I suspect this was for the latter rather than the former. Today’s goal […]

Here we see three pilgrims – exhausted, sunburnt, but clearly having the time of their lives. From left to right, Heather from Scotland, your humble narrator, and Eamon from New Zealand. Heather and her father were biking the Camino, and Eamon and I ran into them over the course of a handful of days before they zoomed ahead of us. […]

The municipal albergue in Mansilla de las Mulas is memorable both for having a wonderful interior courtyard, as well as an on-duty nurse to tend to ailing pilgrims. My friend Santiago had developed some serious blisters on this day, and the nurse helped drain and dress them. Santiago’s feet proved extremely sensitive to the touch, so here we see the […]