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I woke up at 5:30 AM and it was quite strange to wake up in a place with 10 bunkbeds and no one occupying any of them. I got ready slowly and by 6:30AM, I was on the road. Nowadays sunrise is a bit late, almost at close to 8AM so I was met with darkness. Today there was a 45% chance of rain up until noon, and sure enough, my rain jacket came in handy because it indeed was raining intermittently. Using the headlamp, I kept walking. Since I had skipped dinner last night, I was

By 9AM, after having breakfast with my friend, I saw my friend off to the fork in the road that led to the Frómista rail station so he could go back to Germany. I then kept walking on the Camino towards Carrion De Los Condes. I was surprised to see the couple of folks again whom I had seen two days ago in Hontanas. Generally, I was not meeting people a second time on the Camino once I saw them, because they were following the 33-stage program, and I was hoping to finish a bit

Today was a special walk day because my friend from undergrad, whom I had not seen for over 20 years, had flown in from Germany expressly to walk with me for a day. We started at 7AM from Hontanas. He had originally planned to accompany me for three days and therefore had a backpack which was much heavier than it needed to be for just a day. Our start coincided with dawn and we could see the beautiful countryside almost from the time we started to walk. We walked at an easy p

Last night, I went to a restaurant in Burgos named Cobo Tradićion, that had a Michelin rating. Since the municipal Albergue closed at 10:30 PM, I told the restaurant to hurry up serving the multicourse dinner so I could make it back to my bed without being locked out. Sleeping late led to waking up later than usual and I was out on the street by 7:30 AM. What a delight it was to see at least 50 pilgrims out and about and also to notice the restaurant right across the street.

Today was a little chilly and windy. The Albergue was in a very old castle, and it was closed on multiple sides for the night. It took me a long while to walk around and find the way out to get on the Camino. Once I was on the path, I was hit with a steep climb as I was getting my bearings for the day. Also, during the process of getting ready to head out, I heard pilgrims getting a little bit testy with each other because somebody's alarm went off waking others up, a slightl

This journey of 25-mile distance with a 2,100 feet climb was my plan today and I was starting a bit later than usual, at 5:45am. Cirueña has many thousands of fancy looking apartments and most seemed empty and forlorn. I later discovered that Cirueña has many golf courses and people come in better weather to stay there and to play golf. As I left, I took a picture of the blue house, my Albergue, that my French roommate had liked so much and which reminded him of his favorite

It was 4 AM, time to get going. There were a bunch of kids from Chicago who had come to play football in Pamplona and they were on their way back to US. They were noisily getting ready as I arrived at the café to get a strong dose of coffee to start the day At 5 AM, I started walking with Stephan. In a few minutes, I saw the two Romanian pilgrims who I had run into in the past few days and today I struck up a conversation with them discovering their names as Gabriel and Neill

There are several good iPhone apps for the Camino. I used the one named 'Buen Camino!' for the first few days and it's name is the same as the greeting pilgrims exchange when they see each other walking. This app has a good map and a big bold line tracing the path of the particular Camino one is walking on. I came across another named 'Camino Ninja'. It is good for day planning. Today, I used it for deciding how far I will plan to go and the distance/elevations I will cover.

I met several people yesterday who were very easy to get along with. Sergio from Ireland and Stephan from Finland decided to walk early with me in the morning and attempt a 36 km to the next destination named Los Arcos. After a while, Sergio backed out, but since he was very tall, I knew he would catch up even though he may start late. I had told Stephan that I would start around 5:15 AM. I woke up at 4AM and was leaving by 5AM and was very surprised that Stephan was ready an

I woke up at 5 AM. It was pretty dark and I discovered it was going to be a rainy day. My watch and phone were charged. Breakfast was supposed to be served at 6 AM. With German precision, at 6AM the speakers in each room started playing uplifting music, and that meant the lights could be turned on and I didn’t have to tiptoe around. With a quick breakfast of cheese slices and tomatoes, I ventured out. At breakfast, I met a young 20 year old Dutch student who had just finished

I was super excited about waking up and doing the walk this morning. The prior evening, the couple of companions had decided to start today's walk at 8 AM, thereby freeing me mentally to start as early as I could. I was ready by 5 AM and started walking by 5:15AM. It was very cold, 31° F and I was walking in the dark, not having the foresight to put my black diamond headlamp in an accessible compartment of the backpack. I missed my way, rediscovered it, backtracked and got on

The Albergue house rules were to make no sound until 6:45AM but I was awake by 4 AM. I was able to get ready without making any sound and waking up the three other bunkbed mates. The breakfast was available exactly at 7 AM as promised and consisted of freshly baked bread, coffee, tea, cheese, Nutella, and jam. Basically a whole set of carbs and a boiled egg. I filled about one liter of tap water in the bladder, packed my backpack, walked over across the street to the pilgrim'

I found a really cheap American Airlines miles ticket for San Francisco to Madrid round trip and it came with its minor inconveniences. Instead of the usual 12 hour direct flight, it took me via Phoenix and Charlotte to Madrid thereby using up 25 hours. During the last 500 miles of the journey, the airplane map presciently kept showing Santiago de Compostela every minute. The customs line for non-Europeans was separate and when I was called, the officer completed stamping my

Several months ago on the Apple news, I read an article by someone who walked the Camino for his 50th birthday. Several days later, I was inspired to do the same. Over the next few months, the idea became more and more entrenched in my mind, and I decided to attempt it. There are many routes of the Camino and I finally planned to do the Camino Frances from St. Jean Pier de Port to Santiago de Compostela, a distance of 780km, approximately 500 miles. To prepare for the trip, I