Pilgrims on the Way

As I mentioned last time, central Belorado is covered in colourful murals, many dedicated to the Camino. This one depicts part of the road through the modern village, walked by either a medieval pilgrim or by Santiago himself – you decide. I’ll post one more mural photo tomorrow, and then it’s back on the road! Date: 11 April 2013Place: Belorado […]

Belorado is a charming town, and the Camino route is graced with several murals on what would otherwise be brick and stone enclosure walls. Eamon, Viola, and I pause for a moment to look at one of them. What historical event this is meant to evoke, I’ve no idea, but the part just out of view on the left includes […]

The bell tower of the Iglesia de Santa María La Mayor is surmounted by several stork nests, and here in the spring the birds themselves are flying all over the town. The church itself was originally a medieval castle chapel, and it was substantially rebuilt in the 16th and 20th centuries. Sadly, it was not open when we passed through. […]

Day ten dawns, and Eamon, Viola, and I get walking! Here we are actually in the town of Belorado, after having stayed the night in an albergue just outside town. We all felt much better after a good night’s rest, and in my case cold meds and three boxes of orange juice. We’re looking for a place for breakfast, but […]

Our Belorado albergue / holiday camp featured what I previously described as a “low-rent Disneylandesque people-mover pulled by a fake old-timey steam locomotive”. I don’t think my description actually did it justice. You decide. Date: 10 April 2013Place: somewhere just before Belorado (Province of Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Santo Domingo de la Calzada (La Rioja, Spain)

I took few photos that afternoon as we continued battling fierce headwinds, and I personally was sick with a cold. When we arrived at the outskirts of Belorado at about 4:30 PM, we three literally checked into the first place we came to. It seems to primarily be a holiday camp or something, complete with low-rent Disneylandesque people-mover pulled by […]

These faithful hounds guard a house in Villamayor. The one in the back has had its legs broken, and the body is propped awkwardly atop the feet. I’m not sure why I was so fascinated with these – I took three different photos of them. Perhaps they reflected my mood at the time; I was feeling a little broken myself […]

There’s no way around it. These days, the village of Villamayor is basically a truck stop on the N-120. The full name of the place is Villamajor del Río, and my guidebook notes that it is sometimes called “the place of three lies” as the “major” implies a large town, where this is a small village, and the creek it’s […]