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On the Camino: One Day at a Time, one Photo at a Time 5.0

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That climb out challenging but worth it once at the top.
On both sides of the alto!

Welcome, Nick! Beautiful images.
Feel free to take your time sharing them - on this thread we're only posting one pic per day, to see us through this long strange covid time. It's amazing that we've been going for over a year with no repetition.
 
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And remember, the local tipple is tinto Mencía. Bar staff are really impressed when you ask for it. So will you be when you taste it.
Thanks for the tip (pun intended)! Other drinks that I have learned are local to Spain are patxaran (anise seed and sloe liqueur), aguardiente (a mysterious concoction of just about anything that can be fermented), and in Santiago a Belgian comrade introduced me to a licor de hierbas from Galicia (photo) of which there are also many producers. I wonder, are there other interesting tipples that are native to Spain and/or the Iberian peninsula? Just want to orient myself properly for the next Camino!! 😋

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Welcome Nick,
Hope you are well. We haven’t communicated for a while. Remember we met at Monte de Gozo in June, 2018.
Wonder when us Aussies are going to be allowed to leave the country to walk another Camino?
Buen Camino,
Anne & Pat
Remember you well Anne and Pat, glad to see you continued on to Muxia and Finnestaire after Santiago in June 2018. I still have the photos Pat took of me in front of the Cathedral after we walked together into SDC, hope all is well with you both down there in Victoria.
Hopefully I'll see you back on the Camino some day when we retain our freedom.
Buen Camino xx
 
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On both sides of the alto!

Welcome, Nick! Beautiful images.
Feel free to take your time sharing them - on this thread we're only posting one pic per day, to see us through this long strange covid time. It's amazing that we've been going for over a year with no repetition.
Apologies VN, a bit carried away there after seeing some great photos from fellow Pilgrims. Wasn't aware of the one pic per day rule, didn't take too many so possibly am completo re photos. All the best.
 
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Santiago Oct 6, 2013. These beautiful ladies on either side of me are from Holland and loved to sing to me. I met them early on while walking to Zubiri and true to Camino tradition, they kept popping up throughout. I recall our stay in Fromista where we sat and talked. I cried and they comforted me. 💞 Magic.

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September 2016: There's a long story behind why this photo of the Hemingway statue in Café Iruña is important to me, but I'll give the short version.

My biological dad was a drunk. At his bedside in a hospital, I watched him die a horrible death because of it at age 51. Afterward, in my late 20s, I swore off alcohol to eliminate the possibility of a similar fate. For 21+ years I didn't touch it, no matter how much or how many times over the years I wanted an ice cold beer after a hike or yardwork, etc.

While planning for the 2016 CF, as part of my 50th bday celebration, I realized I wasn't like him nor would I ever be like him... so the abstinence "streak" could end with closure. I knew exactly how it should; my youngest son, fresh out of the military and who had never seen me take a drink, would buy my first drink in over two decades and I would toast Hemingway and celebrate. It played out exactly as I had hoped/planned. From that point onward, every time I even thought about being thirsty, I had a pint, and appreciated it as if I found liquid gold.

At one cafe on the stage to O Cebreiro, another pilgrim asked if he could take a photo of me with the beer because he said he had never seen someone enjoying a beer so much. Ha. When I shared the one-minute version of the story with him, he replied, "Well, I've heard of people walking a Camino to stop drinking... but this is the first I've heard of someone walking a Camino to start drinking!"
 
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pack.webp

Kit for my second Camino. Still a bit disorderly. Ah the joy of preparation for another Camino. What stays in what goes out. Which drybag to use?
The Camino del Ebro/ part Frances in 2013.
When I still wore those ugly but comfortable Crocs in the evening...
;)
 
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Thanks for the tip (pun intended)! Other drinks that I have learned are local to Spain are patxaran (anise seed and sloe liqueur), aguardiente (a mysterious concoction of just about anything that can be fermented), and in Santiago a Belgian comrade introduced me to a licor de hierbas from Galicia (photo) of which there are also many producers. I wonder, are there other interesting tipples that are native to Spain and/or the Iberian peninsula? Just want to orient myself properly for the next Camino!! 😋

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That looks suspiciously like orujo, fermented and distilled from the leftovers of wine making, and it has warmed and inspired many a chilly Santiago night.
 
Approaching Valcarlos, looking across to the steepish ascent you tackle right as you enter the village.
Every time I read posts from those who insist the Napoleon Route is the real way, I smile and think of this beautiful place and of the long history behind it. They don't know what they're missing but I've given up trying to disabuse anyone of their ideas. The crowd going the other way makes for properly contemplative first day (or two) out of St Jean.
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(@Nick B , I really like your avatar. Where is that?)
 
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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Approaching of Valcarlos, looking across to the steepish ascent you tackle right as you enter the village.
Every time I read posts from those who insist the Napoleon Route is the real way, I smile and think of this beautiful place and of the long history behind it. They don't know what they're missing but I've given up trying to disabuse anyone of their ideas. The crowd going the other way makes for properly contemplative first day (or two) out of St Jean.
I look forward to walking the Valcarlos route next time. All being well, when I walk again it will be exactly 10 years since I first walked the Frances - there is so much I've learned about this route since - places and history I had no idea about the first time. I'll stop and stay in different places and along the way take detours off the Frances to other places, other camino routes and back again to the Frances. I think I'll need about 4 months 😁
 
Approaching Valcarlos, looking across to the steepish ascent you tackle right as you enter the village.
Every time I read posts from those who insist the Napoleon Route is the real way, I smile and think of this beautiful place and of the long history behind it. They don't know what they're missing but I've given up trying to disabuse anyone of their ideas. The crowd going the other way makes for properly contemplative first day (or two) out of St Jean.
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(@Nick B , I really like your avatar. Where is that?)
Hi VN,

Thanks for that, by memory I stayed at an albergue at the first stop after Sarria. I checked the map and it must be Barbedeo/Vilei, just myself and a young German man in the albergue who told me about his night time walk into Sahagun over dinner and how scared he had been. He arrived at 4am in Sahagun and sat in the town centre waiting for the town to wake, he didn't bother with anymore night time walks.

The next morning I started walking towards Potormarin and not long into the walk I came through this beautiful piece of forest and thought "wow", pulled out the Samsung 6, took a snap and continued on. That's my best memory, most of the other shots I can't recall but this one stuck with me. I hope I'm correct, will confirm it when I next walk the CF...:)

 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
A selection of Camino Jewellery
@Theatregal mentioned a mousehole the other day, and I have to admit that that is exactly what I thought the opening to the Tunel San Adrian looked like from afar.
Vasco 2019.
View attachment 104428

The etapa I missed! I should go back.
I kept myself busy with looking at google maps of the Tunel area and saw lots of local walking paths. Parking lots were on the main road ( I guess ) from Zegama to Salvatierra ( you know how I lack any sense of direction... 😂 ).


 
Ideal pocket guides for during & after your Camino. Each weighs only 1.4 oz (40g)!
Holoholo automatically captures your footpaths, places, photos, and journals.
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
The impressive church in Oron, after Miranda de Ebro on the Via de Bayona. The camino stays on the main road here, so we didn't check it out.
Maybe we should have:
A pesar de tratarse de una pequeña población, cuenta con un es-pléndido templo parroquial del siglo XVI
(from https://core.ac.uk/reader/61540267 )
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May 30 2015. Former monastery of Santo Domingo in Santiago, now a superb museum of ethnography of Galicia. This astonishing piece of engineering is actually three spiral staircases which are parallel but never intersecting - they serve different levels in the building. If you look at the centre, you can see where each one ends.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Relief of Christ in Majesty in the Basilica of St. Sernin on Toulouse. The church gets a mention in the Codex Calixtinus and this relief would have been there when that was written as it dates from 1096. This photo dates from July 12th 2019, first day on our bit of the Chemin D' Arles.
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2nd ed.
Holoholo automatically captures your footpaths, places, photos, and journals.
Fail to prepare? reduce your risk by buying this book full of practical info.
2nd ed.
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
After Sahagun, Sept 2013. Who knows the old Roman road? OUCH!! 😓 All in all, I’m glad I took it. I met some wonderful Aussies at the alburgue in Calzadilla de Los Hermanillos. They invited me to dinner where I had the best fried eggs and bacon EVER!!! 😁 and the tienda had everything including a wonderful host.
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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Arnéguy
Valcarlos route on the CF
markers

photo taken October 15, 2014

Arneguy, marker.jpg

Who may cross a border in July 2021 has become legally complex due to the Covid crisis; nevertheless the old border markers still exist.

At Arnéguy on the French/Spanish border this stelle depicting chevaliers/ caballeros frames a sign pointing to the Spanish continuation of the CF towards Valcarlos, Ibaneta, and Orreaga/Roncesvalles.
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
L'Isle Jourdain, the town square. One of our low points on a camino, and our own fault entirely. We failed to acknowledge that not only were we in France, not only was it a Sunday, it was also the 14th of July. Everything was shut firmly after 1 o'clock. So we found ourselves walking along the edge of a busy highway navigating our way with google maps to an industrial estate where we had been assured there was McDonald's that would be open for business. Not your classic camino experience. Trekking back, we picked up a bottle of wine from a tabac to console ourselves in the little albergue on the edge of a (closed) tourist lake. There, we met the lovely Giles and Regine who shared their dinner with us, so we shared the wine, and several of the stages on the way to Somport. Sometimes things get better.
 

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Note says: Albergue de Redondela, CP. The year, 2013. We were there early enough, surrounded by the usual suspects of our fellow pilgrims.there were three polish pilgrims, our first time to encounter that nationality. Miners. One, with a fantastic camera. He took thousands of photos! I have photos of us all on a bench, but will not post without permission.. a blessed Camino, truly.
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Note says: Albergue de Redondela, CP. The year, 2013. We were there early enough, surrounded by the usual suspects of our fellow pilgrims.there were three polish pilgrims, our first time to encounter that nationality. Miners. One, with a fantastic camera. He took thousands of photos! I have photos of us all on a bench, but will not post without permission.. a blessed Camino, truly.
View attachment 104755
Kirkie,
I , too, stayed in Redondela at this Xunta albergue, Casa da Torre, but in December 2011 with only 1 other pilgrim. Cozy heat, hot showers and sophisticated dorms were great in this repurpose/renovation of a 16th c. town house using stone, wood, and tile.
 
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Portela Grande.webp

Alto da Portela Grande in Labruja. CP 2015.
Steep but short climb.
A lovely day.
 
The Igrexa de San Paio de Diomondi before Belesar on the Invierno - posting this photo today with thoughts of the wonderful news that the attached Bishop's Palace (on the left) will finally open soon as an albergue. Another of many reasons to walk the Invierno again.

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Join the Camino cleanup. Logroño to Burgos May 2025 & Astorga to OCebreiro in June
Saint Jean Pied de Port
rue de France, arch

photo taken October 15, 2013

St Jean Pied de Port, 15.10.2013.jpg

After arriving in SJPdP by train the first glimpse into the historic town center was always through this arch; here each new adventure began.... Ultreia.
 
Sunflowers are a cash crop, which is maybe why farmers get a tad annoyed when passing walkers treat them as a doodling pad or selfie op. They are spectacularly beautiful, though. This region of France is intensely agricultural. Every square inch that isn't a town or a forest is cultivated. July 15 2019.

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Join the Camino cleanup. Logroño to Burgos May 2025 & Astorga to OCebreiro in June
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Amazing. I missed that completely, @SabineP . Or if I saw it, nothing registered. 😂
That was on the way to Beasain. You were already in town couple of k's looking for the hospi and I was lazing around in that modern estate " barrio ' drinking a coffee. I remember you sitting on a windowsill of a shop waiting for me. We then went into bar Blai and had food before we were able to get into the albergue.
 
O Cebreiro
village

photo taken November 28, 2014

O Cebreiro 28.11.2014.webp

The last time I climbed the CF up to the mystic/ mythic mountain hamlet of O Cebreiro upon arrival the broad arch of the church porch kept me dry. Few pilgrims were about. Seen through the mist and heavy rain all was sepia as I rested thankful to have arrived at this beloved place once again.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Home safely from our travels! Managed to get back into Victoria before needing to isolate for 14 days! Just needed a COVID test which were negative, thank goodness. And now the whole of Victoria is in a 5 day snap lockdown!
Glad to be home and back on the forum, where sanity prevails. ;) 🙏 We have really enjoyed all your photos and posts while we were away.
Our last photo was approaching Barcelos on the CP, today we are approaching Ponte de Lima, one of our favourite towns on the CP, May, 2016.
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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Home safely from our travels! Managed to get back into Victoria before needing to isolate for 14 days! Just needed a COVID test which were negative, thank goodness. And now the whole of Victoria is in a 5 day snap lockdown!
Glad to be home and back on the forum, where sanity prevails. ;) 🙏 We have really enjoyed all your photos and posts while we were away.
Our last photo was approaching Barcelos on the CP, today we are approaching Ponte de Lima, one of our favourite towns on the CP, May, 2016.
View attachment 104945
Great photo, agree Ponte de Lima is beautiful.

Good to see you both safe down there, take care.
 
Home safely from our travels! Managed to get back into Victoria before needing to isolate for 14 days! Just needed a COVID test which were negative, thank goodness. And now the whole of Victoria is in a 5 day snap lockdown!
Glad to be home and back on the forum, where sanity prevails. ;) 🙏 We have really enjoyed all your photos and posts while we were away.
Our last photo was approaching Barcelos on the CP, today we are approaching Ponte de Lima, one of our favourite towns on the CP, May, 2016.
View attachment 104945
People have been doing it tough in Melbourne. Now it's our turn in Sydney. Little prospect of even visiting another part of our own country let alone going overseas for the next six months. First world problem though, we're not exactly dying on the streets as some poor devils are. Right now, the forum is definitely my happy place.
 
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Iglesia Parroquial de Santiago in A Coruña.

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I think this is inside the same church. A Coruña has what you might call raffish charm. We enjoyed a couple of days there waiting to fly out in 2019 - cheaper than flying from Santiago and they actually had flights.
 
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Gite Le Grangé, 16 July 2017, early morning. We found ourselves walking through a heat wave. Luckily, the gites all seem to have been built a few centuries ago with stone walls about a metre thick. It is amazing the heat protection you get from a metre or so of solid masonry. The other nice thing about the gites was the 'épicierie de coin', literally a corner grocery but actually a corner cupboard with exactly the right amount and type of supplies for walkers - cans, pasta, rice, soup and, of course, wine. Handy in a region almost entirely devoid of retail outlets.

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The recent live updates about the Camino del Ebro made me realise that I hardly took pictures of that Camino when I walked ( and took trains due to the flooding ).
I was just not in the mood taking out my camera in that horrid weather.
But here is Alfaro , the town famous for the many storks. But on that quiet grey Sunday even the storks were hiding. La Colegiata de San Miguel Arcángel.


 
Home safely from our travels! Managed to get back into Victoria before needing to isolate for 14 days! Just needed a COVID test which were negative, thank goodness. And now the whole of Victoria is in a 5 day snap lockdown!
Glad to be home and back on the forum, where sanity prevails. ;) 🙏 We have really enjoyed all your photos and posts while we were away.
Our last photo was approaching Barcelos on the CP, today we are approaching Ponte de Lima, one of our favourite towns on the CP, May, 2016.
View attachment 104945
Glad that you both are back again safe and sound. Your handsome photo of Ponte de Lima brings back memories of happier and easier times for many of us. Thank you for sharing.
 
3rd Edition. Vital content training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Gite Le Grangé, 16 July 2017, early morning. We found ourselves walking through a heat wave. Luckily, the gites all seem to have been built a few centuries ago with stone walls about a metre thick. It is amazing the heat protection you get from a metre or so of solid masonry.
...
Those thick stone wall may be great for summrr cooling but nevrr take a bunk/bed next to one in winter. In an unheated space they are frigid.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Join the Camino cleanup. Logroño to Burgos May 2025 & Astorga to OCebreiro in June
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Towards Ponte de Lima.webp

Towards Ponte de Lima ( 2015 ) . No rest day like @Anne&Pat but I arrived early enough to walk through the streets of this charming town. I treated myself to a nice hotel that night so I did not stay in the albergue. I heard it was very crowded. Very strange because I hardly saw pilgrims that day.
 
Auch (pronounced like the first syllable of ocean). The Albergue was upstairs somewhere in the rambling diocesan headquarters. It had a distinct air of being hastily improvised but had everything we needed including company, we met or re-met a lot of friends there. The town has a lovely feel to it: steep cobbled streets, honey coloured stone and half-timbering and a beautiful cathedral with lively wood carvings in the choir some of which seem unlikely to have been approved at a high ecclesiastic level, if you know what I mean.
 

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...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
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