LIVE from the Camino My Camino Torres - November 2024

[David Tallan]

2 November 2024
The Camino Torres is not named after towers; it is named after Diego de Torres Vilarroel, who is said to have walked it on his pilgrimage to Santiago. But don't let the pilgrimage fool you, he had quite the reputation, and not really a holy one. There is a reason the official start of this Camino (at least, according to the "official" GPS tracks) is not at the cathedral but by the Cave of Salamanca, home to the School of Necromancy. That's where the bust of Torres is. And there is a reason they put it there:

'The unruly and rebellious Diego de Torres Villarroel, who was a professor at the University of Salamanca, published for years an Almanac in which he made predictions, some very striking and which turned out to be correct, such as those referring to the death of Luis I, the French Revolution and the Esquilache mutiny. The rest of the works of the one who called himself "Great Piscator of Salamanca" are full of a fondness for the extraordinary and the occult, astrology and alchemy. Torres defined himself as "a scholar between a witch and an astrologer, with the appearance of a devil and the perspectives of a sorcerer." He was one of those terrible libertine students, mockers, night owls, rebels and braggarts who abounded in Salamanca and of whom Cervantes said: "The devil himself has the student inside his body."'

With that as a bit of an introduction, on to today's Camino. I left the albergue at around 7 am. I stayed just long enough to say goodbye to my replacement hospitalero, Valentín. It was still dark, but the first part is lit. You start by crossing the Roman bridge, the opposite way from the Via de la Plata. For the first hour or hour and a half, there was no signage, and I relied completely on the GPS tracks I had downloaded. Once the signage started, though, it was fairly decent. I was still happy to have the tracks, though.

I thought I might stop in Peñasolana for a little breakfast at a bar, but Google was telling me that none of the bars had opened yet (which seemed reasonable, given the time), so I kept walking on. There seemed to be another option for a bar at El Encinar de la Rad, and Google told me that bar was open, but a local walking his dog told me it was closed, and I have known Google to be wrong often enough that I trusted the local, gave up on my detour, and headed back to the Camino. I ended up stopping to eat from the food in my backpack at Rodillo, sitting by the road, at shortly after 11.

Today was a long day, about 33 km. It started off reasonably cool, but by the end I was just walking in a tee shirt. Once you are out of Salamanca and its immediate environs, most of the walking is on dirt farm roads and tractor trails, until the last couple of km into Robliza de Cojos. While it isn't completely flat, it definitely seems like a meseta. There were a fair number of cows by the road, at one point in walked through a flock of sheep, and I even saw a bunch of pigs running around in one of the fields with the cows. I also passed through several large areas where holm oaks were being cultivated. I figured they were oaks because they have acorns, but the leaves didn't look like any oaks leaves I had seen before. Eventually, I used an app to identify one of the trees and satisfy my curiosity.

As mentioned, it was a long day's walk, just over 8 hours. I was pretty tired when I got here. I WhatsApp-ed the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived, and after a bit she replied letting me know where the key was and saying she would be by a little later to register me. Needless to say, I am the only pilgrim here. It seems I am #70 for 2024.

The albergue is small but has most of the essentials. There was a bed made up for me with a real fitted sheet and pillowcase, and a whole heap of blankets. There are also some coffee pods and teabags, and a coffee maker and microwave. There isn't a laundry sink, just the tiny sinks with the toilets and in the shower room, but there is a clothesline hung up on the patio behind the albergue. My only complaint is that the toilets lack seats. Cristina, the hospitalera, came by at about 4:00 to register me and introduce me to the amenities. I gave her one of my buttons. She took a photo of me, I think for a post in the Camino Torres Facebook group.

After I finish this, I think I will head over to the bar (near the town pool) and see what I can get to eat. Then it will likely be back here for hopefully a restful evening and an early bedtime.

Photos: the bust of Diego de Torres Vilarroel, saying goodbye to my albergue (now Valentín's), the first cow of the day, typical signage (they really like the little blue squares with the arrows), cows amongst the trees, holm oaks, some other weird trees I didn't get close enough to try and identify, the road goes ever on (at least, that's the way it seemed today!)

 

[AlanSykes]

It seems I am #70 for 2024.

Wow, numbers are really going through the roof. I was #16 of 2017 on 18 November 2017. And no fitted sheets back then, or hot shower - I washed at the truckstop on the motorway a km or so north.

 

[David Tallan]

Wow, numbers are really going through the roof. I was #16 of 2017 on 18 November 2017. And no fitted sheets back then, or hot shower - I washed at the truckstop on the motorway a km or so north.

Clearly the hot showers are attracting more pilgrims. Think of how many they could get with toilet seats!

 

[trecile]

She took a photo of me, I think for a post in the Camino Torres Facebook group.

I found it:

Camino Torres | Hoy en el Albergue de Ayuntamiento Robliza DE Cojos ha llegado David peregrino de Canadá | Facebook

Hoy en el Albergue de Ayuntamiento Robliza DE Cojos ha llegado David peregrino de Canadá !! Buen Camino 😊🥾🥾

www.facebook.com

 

[Tincatinker]

Clearly the hot showers are attracting more pilgrims. Think of how many they could get with toilet seats!

Ah, David, you’re suggesting that a pilgrim in search of comfort should pack a bog-seat along with the bog-roll?

(toilet seat and toilet paper for the elucidation of non English speakers )

 

[alexwalker]

Right; so then we're on it again, with a new adventure. David, your elaborate writing is a very good reason to follow your (yet another) thread. Thank you very much!

But that Torres guy sounds a bit scary... Wouldn't walk at nighttime in his footsteps...

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Hey David, you’re finally off ! Woop woop

I’m back home and will get my Torres and Geira notes written up ‘soon’
It was very chilly when I started mid September but lovely temperatures later on. I can imagine that it is even cooler for you.

I really enjoyed the first few days in Spain with the lovely Albergue ladies. They seemed to have a communication system to notify each other when a pilgrim was coming. Very sweet memories.

I have to say that the Torres is now competing with VdlP for my favourite Camino. I have so many gorgeous memories. I’m sure that you’ll accumulate many also, David

Blessings, Grace

 

[Ella L.]

2 November 2024
The Camino Torres is not named after towers; it is named after Diego de Torres Vilarroel, who is said to have walked it on his pilgrimage to Santiago. But don't let the pilgrimage fool you, he had quite the reputation, and not really a holy one. There is a reason the official start of this Camino (at least, according to the "official" GPS tracks) is not at the cathedral but by the Cave of Salamanca, home to the School of Necromancy. That's where the bust of Torres is. And there is a reason they put it there:

With that as a bit of an introduction, on to today's Camino. I left the albergue at around 7 am. I stayed just long enough to say goodbye to my replacement hospitalero, Valentín. It was still dark, but the first part is lit. You start by crossing the Roman bridge, the opposite way from the Via de la Plata. For the first hour or hour and a half, there was no signage, and I relied completely on the GPS tracks I had downloaded. Once the signage started, though, it was fairly decent. I was still happy to have the tracks, though.

I thought I might stop in Peñasolana for a little breakfast at a bar, but Google was telling me that none of the bars had opened yet (which seemed reasonable, given the time), so I kept walking on. There seemed to be another option for a bar at El Encinar de la Rad, and Google told me that bar was open, but a local walking his dog told me it was closed, and I have known Google to be wrong often enough that I trusted the local, gave up on my detour, and headed back to the Camino. I ended up stopping to eat from the food in my backpack at Rodillo, sitting by the road, at shortly after 11.

Today was a long day, about 33 km. It started off reasonably cool, but by the end I was just walking in a tee shirt. Once you are out of Salamanca and its immediate environs, most of the walking is on dirt farm roads and tractor trails, until the last couple of km into Robliza de Cojos. While it isn't completely flat, it definitely seems like a meseta. There were a fair number of cows by the road, at one point in walked through a flock of sheep, and I even saw a bunch of pigs running around in one of the fields with the cows. I also passed through several large areas where holm oaks were being cultivated. I figured they were oaks because they have acorns, but the leaves didn't look like any oaks leaves I had seen before. Eventually, I used an app to identify one of the trees and satisfy my curiosity.

As mentioned, it was a long day's walk, just over 8 hours. I was pretty tired when I got here. I WhatsApp-ed the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived, and after a bit she replied letting me know where the key was and saying she would be by a little later to register me. Needless to say, I am the only pilgrim here. It seems I am #70 for 2024.

The albergue is small but has most of the essentials. There was a bed made up for me with a real fitted sheet and pillowcase, and a whole heap of blankets. There are also some coffee pods and teabags, and a coffee maker and microwave. There isn't a laundry sink, just the tiny sinks with the toilets and in the shower room, but there is a clothesline hung up on the patio behind the albergue. My only complaint is that the toilets lack seats. Cristina, the hospitalera, came by at about 4:00 to register me and introduce me to the amenities. I gave her one of my buttons. She took a photo of me, I think for a post in the Camino Torres Facebook group.

After I finish this, I think I will head over to the bar (near the town pool) and see what I can get to eat. Then it will likely be back here for hopefully a restful evening and an early bedtime.

Photos: the bust of Diego de Torres Vilarroel, saying goodbye to my albergue (now Valentín's), the first cow of the day, typical signage (they really like the little blue squares with the arrows), cows amongst the trees, holm oaks, some other weird trees I didn't get close enough to try and identify, the road goes ever on (at least, that's the way it seemed today!)

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You are in for an adventure...albeit a much more controllable one than I set out on in 2018. I was trying to avoid a 'three-peat' on the Sanabrés. I did it without GPS guidance, relying on the University of Salamanca guide. After a while, those fences of the real cañada de Extremadura become comforting...and, indeed, there is a 'pilgrim alert' jungle telephone in place.

 

[bullingtonce]

2 November 2024
The Camino Torres is not named after towers; it is named after Diego de Torres Vilarroel, who is said to have walked it on his pilgrimage to Santiago. But don't let the pilgrimage fool you, he had quite the reputation, and not really a holy one. There is a reason the official start of this Camino (at least, according to the "official" GPS tracks) is not at the cathedral but by the Cave of Salamanca, home to the School of Necromancy. That's where the bust of Torres is. And there is a reason they put it there:

With that as a bit of an introduction, on to today's Camino. I left the albergue at around 7 am. I stayed just long enough to say goodbye to my replacement hospitalero, Valentín. It was still dark, but the first part is lit. You start by crossing the Roman bridge, the opposite way from the Via de la Plata. For the first hour or hour and a half, there was no signage, and I relied completely on the GPS tracks I had downloaded. Once the signage started, though, it was fairly decent. I was still happy to have the tracks, though.

I thought I might stop in Peñasolana for a little breakfast at a bar, but Google was telling me that none of the bars had opened yet (which seemed reasonable, given the time), so I kept walking on. There seemed to be another option for a bar at El Encinar de la Rad, and Google told me that bar was open, but a local walking his dog told me it was closed, and I have known Google to be wrong often enough that I trusted the local, gave up on my detour, and headed back to the Camino. I ended up stopping to eat from the food in my backpack at Rodillo, sitting by the road, at shortly after 11.

Today was a long day, about 33 km. It started off reasonably cool, but by the end I was just walking in a tee shirt. Once you are out of Salamanca and its immediate environs, most of the walking is on dirt farm roads and tractor trails, until the last couple of km into Robliza de Cojos. While it isn't completely flat, it definitely seems like a meseta. There were a fair number of cows by the road, at one point in walked through a flock of sheep, and I even saw a bunch of pigs running around in one of the fields with the cows. I also passed through several large areas where holm oaks were being cultivated. I figured they were oaks because they have acorns, but the leaves didn't look like any oaks leaves I had seen before. Eventually, I used an app to identify one of the trees and satisfy my curiosity.

As mentioned, it was a long day's walk, just over 8 hours. I was pretty tired when I got here. I WhatsApp-ed the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived, and after a bit she replied letting me know where the key was and saying she would be by a little later to register me. Needless to say, I am the only pilgrim here. It seems I am #70 for 2024.

The albergue is small but has most of the essentials. There was a bed made up for me with a real fitted sheet and pillowcase, and a whole heap of blankets. There are also some coffee pods and teabags, and a coffee maker and microwave. There isn't a laundry sink, just the tiny sinks with the toilets and in the shower room, but there is a clothesline hung up on the patio behind the albergue. My only complaint is that the toilets lack seats. Cristina, the hospitalera, came by at about 4:00 to register me and introduce me to the amenities. I gave her one of my buttons. She took a photo of me, I think for a post in the Camino Torres Facebook group.

After I finish this, I think I will head over to the bar (near the town pool) and see what I can get to eat. Then it will likely be back here for hopefully a restful evening and an early bedtime.

Photos: the bust of Diego de Torres Vilarroel, saying goodbye to my albergue (now Valentín's), the first cow of the day, typical signage (they really like the little blue squares with the arrows), cows amongst the trees, holm oaks, some other weird trees I didn't get close enough to try and identify, the road goes ever on (at least, that's the way it seemed today!)

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Sorry to say, Torres sounds like my type of guy--letting his mind roam free instead of being restrained and constrained by culture, society, government, etc. My mom would probably agree with me. Nice photos although the sculpture of Torres looks like someone wanted to intentionally make him appear to have a devil face but, then again, maybe not. In any case, would be a thrill to have a conversation with him, especially letting him see what the world is today or, rather, what it is not. Chuck

 

[David Tallan]

3 November 2024

I think I have, indirectly, been experiencing some effects of the fiesta this weekend. There wasn't much to eat at the bar yesterday, although communication issues may have exacerbated things. When I got to the bar, it was super crowded and noisy. I asked if they had anything I could eat and, unable to hear we'll what the answer was, said "yes" to what was offered, picking "lomo" as an option. What is ended up with was a very small lomo and cheese sandwich, probably less than half the size of a typical bocadillo. I went back to the bar and mentioned that I had just walked 33 km to get there, might there be a bit more food to sustain me? I was able to snag a small plate of chicken nuggets as well. I supplemented those with an apple I had brought from Salamanca and then went to sleep early. I did also get a barra of pan, that the hospitalera picked up for me from a nearby gas station and dropped off on her way home. That proved useful today.

It was a shorter walk today to San Muñoz, just under 20 km. Once again, there were no services, water, etc. I needed to carry everything with me. Like yesterday, the day started off quite cool and foggy, but ended up warm and sunny by late morning. Once again, I was mostly walking along dirt farm roads or tractor paths. This time, there were a number of gates to go through that I had to open and close behind me. But the last gate, not marked on my GPS track, was more of a barrier. It was padlocked shut. Fortunately, it was next to a ditch and where the fence passed over the ditch there was a gap I could crawl through and pull my backpack and poles after me. From there, it was a short walk to the highway, along which the Camino continued for a bit. I WhatsApp-ed the source of the GPS tracks letting him know about the locked gate. He said that the farmers were not allowed to put a locked gate on the public thoroughfare and he would be in touch with the municipality.

In the early part of the day, mostly I was walking by cattle and horses. The animals were less present for the latter part of the day. It was mostly flat, but did get a little hilly towards the end, with San Muñoz hiding behind a hill until you were practically in it. I stopped for a quick breakfast at about 9:30 (about half way there) of bread, cheese, and chorizo.

When I got to the albergue, the hospitalera was attending mass, but she came by afterwards to let me in. This albergue is in the doctor's house, which he rarely uses. It does have a toilet seat, but lacks hot water. I think that's because the gas is turned off in his absence.

After cleaning myself a bit, shaving, and changing, I went to the bar, which the hospitalera said could feed me. They were also extremely busy, and it took over an hour of waiting from the time I got there until I got my plato combinado. I asked for a bocadillo for tomorrow as well, and arranged to pick it up at 8. I mentioned how busy the bar seemed (there were dozens and dozens of people of all ages) and he said it was the fiesta weekend. Tomorrow there would be four people. I expect the bar yesterday and today would have been more ready to feed pilgrims if I weren't competing with such a crowd for their attention.

Photos: the locked gate, sunrise behind the horses, I almost missed this turn, where I sat for breakfast, the road ahead (and mountains in the distance), today's albergue

 

[bullingtonce]

2 November 2024
The Camino Torres is not named after towers; it is named after Diego de Torres Vilarroel, who is said to have walked it on his pilgrimage to Santiago. But don't let the pilgrimage fool you, he had quite the reputation, and not really a holy one. There is a reason the official start of this Camino (at least, according to the "official" GPS tracks) is not at the cathedral but by the Cave of Salamanca, home to the School of Necromancy. That's where the bust of Torres is. And there is a reason they put it there:

With that as a bit of an introduction, on to today's Camino. I left the albergue at around 7 am. I stayed just long enough to say goodbye to my replacement hospitalero, Valentín. It was still dark, but the first part is lit. You start by crossing the Roman bridge, the opposite way from the Via de la Plata. For the first hour or hour and a half, there was no signage, and I relied completely on the GPS tracks I had downloaded. Once the signage started, though, it was fairly decent. I was still happy to have the tracks, though.

I thought I might stop in Peñasolana for a little breakfast at a bar, but Google was telling me that none of the bars had opened yet (which seemed reasonable, given the time), so I kept walking on. There seemed to be another option for a bar at El Encinar de la Rad, and Google told me that bar was open, but a local walking his dog told me it was closed, and I have known Google to be wrong often enough that I trusted the local, gave up on my detour, and headed back to the Camino. I ended up stopping to eat from the food in my backpack at Rodillo, sitting by the road, at shortly after 11.

Today was a long day, about 33 km. It started off reasonably cool, but by the end I was just walking in a tee shirt. Once you are out of Salamanca and its immediate environs, most of the walking is on dirt farm roads and tractor trails, until the last couple of km into Robliza de Cojos. While it isn't completely flat, it definitely seems like a meseta. There were a fair number of cows by the road, at one point in walked through a flock of sheep, and I even saw a bunch of pigs running around in one of the fields with the cows. I also passed through several large areas where holm oaks were being cultivated. I figured they were oaks because they have acorns, but the leaves didn't look like any oaks leaves I had seen before. Eventually, I used an app to identify one of the trees and satisfy my curiosity.

As mentioned, it was a long day's walk, just over 8 hours. I was pretty tired when I got here. I WhatsApp-ed the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived, and after a bit she replied letting me know where the key was and saying she would be by a little later to register me. Needless to say, I am the only pilgrim here. It seems I am #70 for 2024.

The albergue is small but has most of the essentials. There was a bed made up for me with a real fitted sheet and pillowcase, and a whole heap of blankets. There are also some coffee pods and teabags, and a coffee maker and microwave. There isn't a laundry sink, just the tiny sinks with the toilets and in the shower room, but there is a clothesline hung up on the patio behind the albergue. My only complaint is that the toilets lack seats. Cristina, the hospitalera, came by at about 4:00 to register me and introduce me to the amenities. I gave her one of my buttons. She took a photo of me, I think for a post in the Camino Torres Facebook group.

After I finish this, I think I will head over to the bar (near the town pool) and see what I can get to eat. Then it will likely be back here for hopefully a restful evening and an early bedtime.

Photos: the bust of Diego de Torres Vilarroel, saying goodbye to my albergue (now Valentín's), the first cow of the day, typical signage (they really like the little blue squares with the arrows), cows amongst the trees, holm oaks, some other weird trees I didn't get close enough to try and identify, the road goes ever on (at least, that's the way it seemed today!)

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By the way, your posts are very good, very interesting. Keep them up! Chuck

 

[Freewalker]

Have a wonderful Camino Torres David !! I will be following you closely as plan to walk it in April 2025. Thanks very much for every post and all the info ! Absolutely invaluable. Take good care and don't overdo the first few days! Hydrate hydrate hydrate with the 30+ kms as we all know dehydration can cause muscle tears, blisters, tendonitis and many more ailments. I have to constantly remind myself of this . ENJOY every second.

 

[peregrina2000]

This albergue is in the doctor's house, which he rarely uses. It does have a toilet seat, but lacks hot water. I think that's because the gas is turned off in his absence.

Your picture shows the same place that I stayed. When I was there (and @gracethepilgrim had the same experience a few weeks ago), I stayed in the part of the house where the Ukranian family was living. Meeting and talking with them was as they say “impactful.” But I think I stayed in the part of the house with the doorway on the left. And if you look closely above the door on the left, it looks like there are bolt holes there, where they perhaps used to have the albergue sign. So, I’m thinking that they decided to let the Ukranian family have their privacy and move pilgrims over to the unoccupied right side of the house.

Did you meet the Ukranian family?

And I’m wondering if the Bar Chan is still the place that’s open? It had been opened by a South American family that the mayor found living in Salamanca who needed a job. She brought them to San Muñoz and was particularly proud of the fact that their children plus the Ukranian boy brought the school-aged population up to the legal minimum (6?) for getting a teacher/school back in town.

So many questions, sorry, but I remember this camino like it was yesterday.

 

[David Tallan]

I haven't seen the Ukrainian family and no mention was made of them. Bar Chan definitely still seems to be run by the South American family, who do their cooking across the streets. One of the boys was regularly bringing over trays of food.

 

[caminka]

Thank you for your very detailed and informative posts, David, I will be following them with great interest (as I have been those in Salamanca). This camino (and the Geira) are moving rapidly up my list. Buen camino!

 

[David Tallan]

4 November 2024

There were fewer people at the bar when I went to pick up my bocadillo at 8, but it wasn't close to empty. The bocadillo was still warm and I decided to have some of it before heading to bed.

I got a slightly earlier start, it was 6:45 when I left, today, as it was a bit of a longer walk than yesterday and I wanted to be sure to arrive in time for comida. So once again, I was walking for the first hour or so before it got light. The first hour or so was also on a paved road, so I was glad I had lots of reflective yellow tape on my poles and backpack to make me visible to the few drivers. I couldn't see the actual sunrise because it was blocked by trees, but the pre-sunrise was beautiful.

At the beginning, at least, the scenery was very similar to what it was yesterday. One difference I'm noticing on this Camino - in addition to the usual cows and occasional horses in the fields and farmyards you pass by, on this Camino I am also seeing pigs. They are especially noticeable because just the other day someone posted in the Camino de Santiago sub-reddit that there were no pigs to be seen in Spain.

At about 9:30 I passed one of those endless flat fields that I remember from the Frances meseta (except not wheat) that make me think of Saskatchewan - just flatness going on forever. But that wasn't to be my future today. After 11ish, it was actually quite a hilly day, down steep rubble-strewn paths to the bottom of a valley and then up the other side. There were several of these one after another, until I reached the top of a hill, looking down and seeing the whole landscape stretched out before me into the distance.

At one point near the end I departed from the GPS tracks, following the advice of a fellow pilgrim who had walked the route last week. The GPS tracks do a detour around the Yeltes River, but she advised cutting straight across the river, which was bone dry and just a river of rocks now. You save a km or two that way. I thought I would give it a try, following her directions and it worked well. The yellow arrows I saw on our "shortcut" seem to indicate that at one time the official route went this way.

I got into Alba de Yeltes at about 1:40 and WhatsApped the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived. She showed me around the albergue and turned on the water heater for my shower. Today, both a toilet seat and hot water! She took me down to the bar and introduced me. Today, only a few regulars, not the huge crowds of the last couple of days. For comida, I had lentil stew and chicken breast, with an apple for dessert. I will go back at 8 for a light supper of a soup and omelet, and to pick up my bocadillo for tomorrow.

After comida, the water had heated for my shower and I did laundry, which is hanging up and hopefully drying.

The albergue seems to be in the old schoolhouse, judging by the classroom next door to the dorm (which itself has a chalkboard on the wall). There is currently a group of Spanish senior women who seem to be meeting in the classroom.

Photos: a beautiful pre-sunrise, a flat field stretching on forever (actually looking quite green and spring-like for November), pigs, down the hill and on and on, the River Yeltes on my shortcut, my bed for the night.

 

[peregrina2000]

The albergue seems to be in the old schoolhouse, judging by the classroom next door to the dorm (which itself has a chalkboard on the wall). There is currently a group of Spanish senior women who seem to be meeting in the classroom.

The albergue is named in honor of Aurora’s husband, that’s his picture on the wall. He was a camino pilgrim and died of some terrible disease. Before his death, he moved mountains to get the albergue opened, and it is such a nice legacy to his memory. Aurora is a bundle of energy and we are lucky that she has so much commitment to carrying on with the albergue, because I think that without her, it might not be such a priority in the village.

 

[David Tallan]

The albergue is named in honor of Aurora’s husband, that’s his picture on the wall. He was a camino pilgrim and died of some terrible disease. Before his death, he moved mountains to get the albergue opened, and it is such a nice legacy to his memory. Aurora is a bundle of energy and we are lucky that she has so much commitment to carrying on with the albergue, because I think that without her, it might not be such a priority in the village.

He was also a HosVol volunteer hospitalero. One disadvantage of resizing the photo to 20% to make it easier to load was that it seems to have messed up the text on the poster. Next time I will try 40%. That didn't mess up the poster text as much.

 

[trecile]

One disadvantage of resizing the photo to 20% to make it easier to load was that it seems to have messed up the text on the poster. Next time I will try 40%. That didn't mess up the poster text as much.

I've noticed that too. I think that it depends on the original size of the photo.

 

[Peter Nordberg]

4 November 2024

There were fewer people at the bar when I went to pick up my bocadillo at 8, but it wasn't close to empty. The bocadillo was still warm and I decided to have some of it before heading to bed.

I got a slightly earlier start, it was 6:45 when I left, today, as it was a bit of a longer walk than yesterday and I wanted to be sure to arrive in time for comida. So once again, I was walking for the first hour or so before it got light. The first hour or so was also on a paved road, so I was glad I had lots of reflective yellow tape on my poles and backpack to make me visible to the few drivers. I couldn't see the actual sunrise because it was blocked by trees, but the pre-sunrise was beautiful.

At the beginning, at least, the scenery was very similar to what it was yesterday. One difference I'm noticing on this Camino - in addition to the usual cows and occasional horses in the fields and farmyards you pass by, on this Camino I am also seeing pigs. They are especially noticeable because just the other day someone posted in the Camino de Santiago sub-reddit that there were no pigs to be seen in Spain.

At about 9:30 I passed one of those endless flat fields that I remember from the Frances meseta (except not wheat) that make me think of Saskatchewan - just flatness going on forever. But that wasn't to be my future today. After 11ish, it was actually quite a hilly day, down steep rubble-strewn paths to the bottom of a valley and then up the other side. There were several of these one after another, until I reached the top of a hill, looking down and seeing the whole landscape stretched out before me into the distance.

At one point near the end I departed from the GPS tracks, following the advice of a fellow pilgrim who had walked the route last week. The GPS tracks do a detour around the Yeltes River, but she advised cutting straight across the river, which was bone dry and just a river of rocks now. You save a km or two that way. I thought I would give it a try, following her directions and it worked well. The yellow arrows I saw on our "shortcut" seem to indicate that at one time the official route went this way.

I got into Alba de Yeltes at about 1:40 and WhatsApped the hospitalera to let her know I had arrived. She showed me around the albergue and turned on the water heater for my shower. Today, both a toilet seat and hot water! She took me down to the bar and introduced me. Today, only a few regulars, not the huge crowds of the last couple of days. For comida, I had lentil stew and chicken breast, with an apple for dessert. I will go back at 8 for a light supper of a soup and omelet, and to pick up my bocadillo for tomorrow.

After comida, the water had heated for my shower and I did laundry, which is hanging up and hopefully drying.

The albergue seems to be in the old schoolhouse, judging by the classroom next door to the dorm (which itself has a chalkboard on the wall). There is currently a group of Spanish senior women who seem to be meeting in the classroom.

Photos: a beautiful pre-sunrise, a flat field stretching on forever (actually looking quite green and spring-like for November), pigs, down the hill and on and on, the River Yeltes on my shortcut, my bed for the night.
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Great to follow you on your Can't wait for my Camino to start in a few months. Your texts will be very useful to me.

 

[Pilgrim9]

David, you are a particularly articulate and interesting writer. Thank you for putting the effort into these notes, especially in view of the fact that you have walked umpteen kilometres before the writing.

 

[peregrina2000]

He was also a HosVol volunteer hospitalero.

I didn’t know that, David. That makes the naming of the albergue in his honor even more meaningful, I think. What a nice legacy.

 

[André Walker]

Clearly the hot showers are attracting more pilgrims. Think of how many they could get with toilet seats!

Toilet seats. What a luxury. Why do you need a toilet seat if there's a sink?

 

[peregrina2000]

David, here’s a totally random question for you. What are you doing about phone and data service?

More cañadas in your future, I love them! And if your Torres/Geira is like mine, you will not encounter any of the water crossings that @Magwood described in her springtime Torres blog. I was not upset about that, though the wildflowers that all that water brings would have been nice.

 

[David Tallan]

Toilet seats. What a luxury. Why do you need a toilet seat if there's a sink?

I will still use a toilet without a seat over a sink, for the kinds of things I use a toilet for.

 

[David Tallan]

David, here’s a totally random question for you. What are you doing about phone and data service?

More cañadas in your future, I love them! And if your Torres/Geira is like mine, you will not encounter any of the water crossings that @Magwood described in her springtime Torres blog. I was not upset about that, though the wildflowers that all that water brings would have been nice.

I've got a Vodafone SIM and I just recharged it so that it will last the rest of my trip, giving me more that 200GB to play with until Dec 2.

 

[David Tallan]

Tuesday 5 November 2025. Alba de Yeltes to Ciudad Rodrigo.

I got an early start today (about 6:20) because I wanted to get into Ciudad Rodrigo in time to see the town. The first 8 km were on paved road, but I think I prefer that surface when walking in the dark. I don't use a headlamp, preferring to let my eyes adjust to the dark and the wide, smooth surface is easier to walk on with less vision. With my reflective tape, I'm not so worried about cars. By the time the paved road ended, it was getting light. That was also the time it started raining. Yes, we got rain today. A few hours of steady rain and then on and off after that. I eventually found a tree to provide some shelter, with a suitable place under it to sit, for me to pause and eat and drink.

Today I had the full range of roads, paved and unpaved, wide, narrow, and just a thin line that sometimes almost faded away. Through fields and pastures, forests and scrubland, and eventually into the town. Pigs were in evidence again, and like we sometimes find ourselves walking amongst the cows and sheep, not separated by a fence, so it was with the pigs at one point today.

I'm staying at the Palacio de la Antigua Audiencia hotel on the Plaza Mayor, recommended by another forum member who had done the Torres. María Jesus at reception was very nice and gave me some materials from the tourism office and went over what there is to see and do, and what I might want to see first before it closed, because it wouldn't be open in the tardes (the post office, located in a historic building, being one of those). I set off to see a bunch of the historic buildings, after which I planned to have some comida and visit a supermarket to restock my food supplies. I also (unsuccessfully) looked for a couple of geocaches.

If you are ready to splurge a bit on accommodations, Ciudad Rodrigo has a parador, located in a 14thC castle which looked very nice. Non-guests can, for €2, climb the tower and visit the garden and walls. María Jesús said there were quite a number of steps up the tower, but after October 31, I wasn't worried.

Unfortunately, after I was done the first round of sightseeing at 3, I found a likely looking place to eat next to the supermarket, only to be told that the kitchen was already closed. So when I went shopping I decided just to get provisions I could provide for myself today.

Back to the hotel for a shower, shave, and change of clothes before setting out to run some more errands (recharge my pre-paid SIM and take out some more €). Then I was off to the cathedral. The paper from the tourism office said they were open from 5-8 in the afternoon. I got a stamp there and, as a pilgrim, entry to the cathedral and museum and the audioguide were free. But it wasn't open until 8. As we approached 6, she was pretty clearly shutting things up and when I asked if it was closing I was told I had 5 more minutes. After the cathedral, I wandered aroundbthe adjoining Plaza and back to the hotel while participating in the Forum Zoom Chat. Then I had something to eat, browsed a bit, and wrote this. Which brings us to now.

Photos: pigs on the path, not the path but next to it, the Ciudad Rodrigo post office, the parador, the Portico of Pardon, the cathedral choir

 

[AlanSykes]

Oh no, you missed Ciudad Rodrigo's Muséo del Orinal, 2000 or more urinals, pisspots, commodes and bedpans from 27 countries dating back over 1000 years.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

Oh no, you missed Ciudad Rodrigo's Muséo del Orinal, 2000 or more urinals, pisspots, commodes and bedpans from 27 countries dating back over 1000 years.

Probably where the missing toilet seats from the albergue in Robliza de Cojos are....

 

[Freewalker]

Tuesday 5 November 2025. Alba de Yeltes to Ciudad Rodrigo.

I got an early start today (about 6:20) because I wanted to get into Ciudad Rodrigo in time to see the town. The first 8 km were on paved road, but I think I prefer that surface when walking in the dark. I don't use a headlamp, preferring to let my eyes adjust to the dark and the wide, smooth surface is easier to walk on with less vision. With my reflective tape, I'm not so worried about cars. By the time the paved road ended, it was getting light. That was also the time it started raining. Yes, we got rain today. A few hours of steady rain and then on and off after that. I eventually found a tree to provide some shelter, with a suitable place under it to sit, for me to pause and eat and drink.

Today I had the full range of roads, paved and unpaved, wide, narrow, and just a thin line that sometimes almost faded away. Through fields and pastures, forests and scrubland, and eventually into the town. Pigs were in evidence again, and like we sometimes find ourselves walking amongst the cows and sheep, not separated by a fence, so it was with the pigs at one point today.

I'm staying at the Palacio de la Antigua Audiencia hotel on the Plaza Mayor, recommended by another forum member who had done the Torres. María Jesus at reception was very nice and gave me some materials from the tourism office and went over what there is to see and do, and what I might want to see first before it closed, because it wouldn't be open in the tardes (the post office, located in a historic building, being one of those). I set off to see a bunch of the historic buildings, after which I planned to have some comida and visit a supermarket to restock my food supplies. I also (unsuccessfully) looked for a couple of geocaches.

If you are ready to splurge a bit on accommodations, Ciudad Rodrigo has a parador, located in a 14thC castle which looked very nice. Non-guests can, for €2, climb the tower and visit the garden and walls. María Jesús said there were quite a number of steps up the tower, but after October 31, I wasn't worried.

Unfortunately, after I was done the first round of sightseeing at 3, I found a likely looking place to eat next to the supermarket, only to be told that the kitchen was already closed. So when I went shopping I decided just to get provisions I could provide for myself today.

Back to the hotel for a shower, shave, and change of clothes before setting out to run some more errands (recharge my pre-paid SIM and take out some more €). Then I was off to the cathedral. The paper from the tourism office said they were open from 5-8 in the afternoon. I got a stamp there and, as a pilgrim, entry to the cathedral and museum and the audioguide were free. But it wasn't open until 8. As we approached 6, she was pretty clearly shutting things up and when I asked if it was closing I was told I had 5 more minutes. After the cathedral, I wandered aroundbthe adjoining Plaza and back to the hotel while participating in the Forum Zoom Chat. Then I had something to eat, browsed a bit, and wrote this. Which brings us to now.

Photos: pigs on the path, not the path but next to it, the Ciudad Rodrigo post office, the parador, the Portico of Pardon, the cathedral choir

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Absolutely loving your posts !!! All photos are fab and some beautiful ....thanks very much for taking the time to post.
Did the Hotel give you a pilgrim discount ? Did you reserve on Booking ?

 

[gracethepilgrim]

Loving your posts, David.
Memories of my September Torres.

I've just posted my notes here Grace's Torres 2024

 

[David Tallan]

Oh no, you missed Ciudad Rodrigo's Muséo del Orinal, 2000 or more urinals, pisspots, commodes and bedpans from 27 countries dating back over 1000 years.

It was particularly recommended to me by María Jesús. But by the time I had done the cathedral, I was done. Especially since today is another 30+ km walk.

 

[kptorrahk]

Just a little curiosity for all those interested in unique memorabilia of the Camino Torres...

When I walked the Caminho Portugues Interior in 2023 I stopped in Peso da Regua to take the train to Porto to continue on the regular Camino. I went into the tourism office kiosk along the Douro for a stamp and the attendants were stoked a pilgrim had stopped by. That seemed to never happen. They didn't seem to be aware about the existence of the Caminho Interior but they did (how ironically) have a huge collection of Camino Torres merchandise (think pens, bath towels, tshirts etc).

I got a FREE Camino Torres tshirt that i have worn on all my Caminos since and that has garnered lots of attention.

 

[David Tallan]

Wednesday 6 November 2024, Ciudad Rodrigo to Aldea de Obispo

I got an early start today, leaving at about 6 am, because I knew today would be another long day, over 30 km. It was dark and misty, but I knew it wasn't cloudy above because when I looked up the stars were very visible. Once again, the starting walk was on paved roads for the first hour, before changing to a wide and visible dirt road. The route today was probably about 40% paved roads, 40% dirt roads, and maybe 20% dirt paths/tractor trails. Lots of cows today. It remained misty for a while in the morning before clearing and getting quite warm. One decision I am regretting is bringing that extra hoodie I bought in Salamanca instead of sending it along to Santiago. I shouldn't have second-guessed my original decision about how many were enough layers. It was just that cold snap in October in Salamanca and seeing the photo of all that snow in La Alberca made me worry about what it would be like a month later and further north. But after the first hour or so, as it stands, all I am wearing is a tee shirt.

Today I passed through a few villages and even had a chance to stop in one of them, Gallegos de Argañán, for a stamp from the Ayuntamiento and another stamp and cafe con leche at the bar. My first opportunity for an en route cafe con leche this Camino. She didn't have anything to eat for desayuno but slipped me a couple of cookies/biscuits.

As I got closer to my destination, about an hour out, I got a WhatsApp from the hospitalero checking to see when I would arrive and letting me know when the shops, bars, and pharmacy would be open and closed. I wanted to arrive in time for comida, and that was my first thing to accomplish when I arrived, remembering the closed kitchen from yesterday. When I got here, some schoolchildren who were doing some sort of sport outside greeted me and one, at the direction of the teacher, showed me where the albergue is. I WhatsApp-ed the hospitalero to let him know I had arrived.

He gave me a quick tour of the place and when he saw I wanted to eat, took me to a recommended bar, saying he would come back for the formalities later. Unfortunately, the places here, like in some places on the Salvador route, need a day's notice if you want to eat. I wish he had mentioned that (and given me their number) when I let him know I was coming. After some conversation, since there was only one of me, I prevailed upon them to make me a plate with some meat and fries, accompanied by some nice warm buns and an Aquarius. But if anyone has plans to do this route, when you call or WhatsApp to reserve a bed, it might be worth checking to see if you need to reserve a meal in the village. That was one thing that was very handy about Ender's Guide to the Salvador. It was very good about alerting you and preparing you for that sort of thing. The hospitalero was confident that they would come up with something, and if not, had another bar as a backup plan. But a little advance notice would probably have got me something better from happier hosts.

After that it was back to the albergue for a rest. I was fine when I walked into Aldea de Obispo but was hit by exhaustion while waiting for my meal. And after resting for a while, I can really feel the aches. It's like it was on my 2016 Camino (although I am not hobbling quite so much right now, I can still really feel it). I should have done more training. I didn't do as much as I did in the lead up to last year's Camino and I am paying for it now. I think I may also be getting some blisters on my baby toes. When I started to really feel it on my right foot I paused and wrapped the town in some hikers wool I had been given, but I'm not sure how much that helped. Fortunately, tomorrow (to Almeida) is quite a short day, and the next day (to Pinhel) is regular length. I hope they rest me up enough to prepare me for the doozy the day after (Pinhel to Trancoso).

Update: the hospitalero was just here and gave me clean sheets and a towel. Luxury! I put my sleeping liner/quilt away. He also mentioned that the heating us on (they also have air conditioning in the summer). When he heard I was only going to Aldea, he told me about what the place has to offer and where to find the tourist office. He also mentioned that the fortress just ourltside the village will be open tomorrow from 10 am, since it will be Thursday. So maybe I will have a nice sleep in.

One other thing I was going to mention. I've noticed a pattern in Spain where they like to paint benches with slogans against violence against women. I passed a few of those today.

Photos: cows in the mist, obligatory long shadow photo, the long road ahead, a nice tree, first view of Aldea de Obispo, bench with a message

 

[chinacat]

It’s interesting reading your account together with @gracethepilgrim ’s.

Hope your feet feel better tomorrow, David!

 

[Freewalker]

Hi David - hope you are feeling stronger... Make sure you are eating tons of protein. I always carry jerky, hard boiled eggs etc. as don't want to start digesting my muscles as very hard to rebuild after 50yrs. Water water water. Take it easy for the next 2-3 days, maybe cut the stages in half
I usually train for 6 weeks to a month beforehand but still feel exhaustion whilst walking any Camino/ Chemin. Aquarius is excellent for replenishing. Listen to your body fellow peregrino or your feet and aches might worsen. I now start with 15kms for a several days and gradually increase by 5km increments. You'll be fine in a few days.... ENJOY ! Gorgeous photos !

 

[alexwalker]

But after the first hour or so, as it stands, all I am wearing is a tee shirt.

Where did you put your pants?

Oh yes, those long shadows... Don't we all know them...

A bad friend is like your shadow: On a sunny day, he's impossible to get rid off.
On a cloudy day, you will never see him...

Buen Camino!

 

[David Tallan]

Well, I think I may be experiencing my first ever bout of gout. As I was getting ready for bed yesterday I noticed that the big toe on my left foot was very painful. At first, all I could think of was that I had stubbed it a few days ago. But it had been fine since then. Why was it acting up now? And then I thought "big toe, hmm, my dad had gout so I am genetically susceptible, and it most often shows up in the big toe" so I looked up gout on the medical websites, and the symptoms seem to match. I'm waiting now for the pharmacy to open. Of course I brought along paracetamol instead of ibuprofen.

What a time for this to happen!

 

[Dani7]

Gout can be very painful and the pressure of anything against the toe can be challenging to manage at any time let alone on a camino. Diet can help with the inflammation. You may have read this or researched this already but your diet can help offset some of the symptoms, especially in the acute phase.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-...ealthy-eating/in-depth/gout-diet/art-20048524

 

[David Tallan]

Gout can be very painful and the pressure of anything against the toe can be challenging to manage at any time let alone on a camino. Diet can help with the inflammation. You may have read this or researched this already but your diet can help offset some of the symptoms, especially in the acute phase.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-...ealthy-eating/in-depth/gout-diet/art-20048524

The challenge with my diet the last few days is that there has been zero choice. There is one place to eat in the village and you get what they give you.

 

[J Willhaus]

The challenge with my diet the last few days is that there has been zero choice. There is one place to eat in the village and you get what they give you.

Yup! Not the Camino for picky eaters!

 

[peregrina2000]

The challenge with my diet the last few days is that there has been zero choice. There is one place to eat in the village and you get what they give you.

Oh, David, I’m so sorry to hear this. I don’t know much about gout, but based on the link to Mayo in an earlier post, I can see what kind of food you should be eating. Almeida is a big enough place that you should be able to find all the “good foods” in stores if not in restaurants. And in Pinhel, if you are going to stay in the Casa da Praça the owners are young and have a case with lots of local non-processed products for sale, so I bet they will be able to help you get the kind of food you need. The restaurant across the square from them is kind of upscale and I had lots of good choices. I don’t remember its name, but the owners recommended it. No french fries and slabs of lomo. Your upcoming stages are going to have more options for food choices, so I have my fingers crossed that you will be able to carry on and will see that an improvement in your diet helps with your toe!

 

[David Tallan]

I'm thinking that if it doesn't improve, I may look to take a taxi for part of the stage from Pinhel to Trancoso and similarly for one or two other of the longer and tougher stages. I managed today's stage but it was a short one. Tomorrow's to Pinhel doesn't look to be exceedingly tough. But Pinhel to Trancoso is tough enough without toe troubles. If I were to do so, which part should I taxi? Taxi the first 10 or 15 from Pinhel and walk the rest, or walk the first 15 or 20 and taxi the last past to Trancoso?

I really prefer to walk it all, but I prefer to make it there even more.

 

[Peter Nordberg]

Sorry to hear. Hope you recover quickly. I really enjoy your daily reports.

 

[peregrina2000]

Taxi the first 10 or 15 from Pinhel and walk the rest, or walk the first 15 or 20 and taxi the last past to Trancoso?

If you look at the elevation profile, if elevation is a consideration, there’s a steep uphill right at the end. But that steep uphill takes you past an anthropomorphic tomb if you’re into that sort of thing. (it’s not too far outside the walls so you could go see it even if you taxi in).

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pinhel-trancoso-113655706

Here’s my summary of the day:
Today was another completely off road walk through rural areas with lots of vineyards, apple orchards, pear orchards, some cattle grazing, and some big fields of grain. It was just a perfect camino day, through a few small villages, but mostly out in the countryside

So I don’t think there are any big attractions that you would miss. And it’s probably much easier to get a cab in Pinhel than 20 km from Pinhel.

One more unsolicited suggestion - try Uber. I was shocked last month when I was able to get Ubers from as far as 65 km away from Lisbon to get back to Lisbon. And MUCH cheaper than cab. People in the towns would always tell me there’s no Uber here, but they were always wrong! I would just play with it today, see what you see if you plug in Pinhel or some point where you would want to be brought into Trancoso. Since you have virtually unlimited data you can get it from out in the boonies, but I would test that from Pinhel by putting in some random village as the pickup point with destination Trancoso.

Oops, and I have yet one more unsolicited suggestion - Trancoso has a museum devoted to Isaac Cardoso, a Jewish doctor who was a physician in the Spanish court for some king. There is also a judería where you can see some of the carvings that the Jews put on their walls to convince the inquisitors that they had really converted to Christianity. I found some of those, but I had to look hard as many were hidden by bushes and vines. I thought it was very interesting.

Fingers crossed; I can tell you that your fan club very much agrees with this sentiment.

I really prefer to walk it all, but I prefer to make it there even more.

 

[CarolamS]

Oh David I am sorry to hear of your difficulties. I do hope you will be able to continue but sometimes our bodies have other ideas!
Sending you my very best wishes
Caroline

 

[David Tallan]

If you look at the elevation profile, if elevation is a consideration, there’s a steep uphill right at the end. But that steep uphill takes you past an anthropomorphic tomb if you’re into that sort of thing. (it’s not too far outside the walls so you could go see it even if you taxi in).

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pinhel-trancoso-113655706

Here’s my summary of the day:
Today was another completely off road walk through rural areas with lots of vineyards, apple orchards, pear orchards, some cattle grazing, and some big fields of grain. It was just a perfect camino day, through a few small villages, but mostly out in the countryside

So I don’t think there are any big attractions that you would miss. And it’s probably much easier to get a cab in Pinhel than 20 km from Pinhel.

One more unsolicited suggestion - try Uber. I was shocked last month when I was able to get Ubers from as far as 65 km away from Lisbon to get back to Lisbon. And MUCH cheaper than cab. People in the towns would always tell me there’s no Uber here, but they were always wrong! I would just play with it today, see what you see if you plug in Pinhel or some point where you would want to be brought into Trancoso. Since you have virtually unlimited data you can get it from out in the boonies, but I would test that from Pinhel by putting in some random village as the pickup point with destination Trancoso.

Oops, and I have yet one more unsolicited suggestion - Trancoso has a museum devoted to Isaac Cardoso, a Jewish doctor who was a physician in the Spanish court for some king. There is also a judería where you can see some of the carvings that the Jews put on their walls to convince the inquisitors that they had really converted to Christianity. I found some of those, but I had to look hard as many were hidden by bushes and vines. I thought it was very interesting.

Fingers crossed; I can tell you that your fan club very much agrees with this sentiment.

I was wondering if hitchhiking might also be an option. But I will look into Uber.

 

[David Tallan]

Thursday 7 November 2024, Alba de Yeltes to Almeida

Today was a short day, but not an easy one. Yesterday I was complaining about above few aches and some possibly incipient blisters. They were the least of my problems. As I remembered from 2016, the aches were gone by morning. And the blisters or hot spots weren't a problem today. But something else emerged last night. The Big toe on my left foot really started to hurt, especially at the joints. It hurt whenever something touched it. It hurt whenever I moved it. It looked like it might be swollen a bit. I went to get some ibuprofen from my little medical kit, only to discover I had packed paracetamol instead. So I took one of those, but I'm not sure it did anything. It hurt all night.

In the morning, I wondered what it could be. I had stubbed that toe, but that was a few days ago and it had been fine since then. If it was the stub, why be fine for days and then suddenly start to hurt now? Then I remembered - big toe - my father had gout and that was where it hit him. I looked up "gout" on the main medical websites and the symptoms seemed to match. The treatment listed was NSAIDs and some specialized medicine to reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

Fortunately, today was a short day, with a planned late departure so I could see the nearby star fortress. I ended up leaving about an hour later than planned because I had to wait for the pharmacy to open so I could by some ibuprofen. There wasn't a Centro de Salud in this little village, just a doctors office that is open on a small schedule. So I did the next best thing. My sister is a recently retired GP, so I took my questions to her, chief among them being: :do I have to leave the Camino and find a doctor or can that wait until I get home?", and "if I feel up to it can I walk on this or might that really damage it and I have to rest until it is better?". Of course, the time differential being what it is, I had already walked a ways before I got the answer. Because, after making myself a bocadillo breakfast and taking an ibuprofen, I started walking, limping my way out of Aldea de Obispo. In the end, my sister thought it was probably not gout (because I was managing to walk on it), but just a very sore toe. Whatever it is, it's painful and slows me down noticeably.

I did stray off the trail a bit to see the star fortress where @peregrina2000 stayed (I think the hotel may have closed, but as the hospitalero promised, the fortress was open for me to walk around, although I think the hotel interior was locked. I didn't check that part). The hospitalero also told me I had two choices for route to Almeida: I could walk the road straight there, the traffic not being very heavy. Or I could take the Camino which would be a bit longer and might have scary sheep dogs. I took the Camino. I'm pretty sure it was a bit longer, but the softer surface for most of it may have been better for my feet.

After the ibuprofen kicked in it really did make a difference. I still had something of a limp for most of my walk, depending on how close I was to peak effectiveness of the ibuprofen, I expect.

About half an hour or do after the fortress, I think, I crossed the border into Portugal and entered my first Portuguese village, where I stopped for a cafe com leite. There were a couple of guys in the bar having sn animated discussion, one speaking Portuguese and the other speaking Castellano.

I made it okay to Almeida and walked though the town to the tourist office, which was closed. Then it was a bit further to the hotel where I had booked a room. Check in wasn't officially open yet but she assigned me a room, gave me the key, and said that I could rest and come down to check in later.

So I went upstairs to rest, book the next couple of nights' accommodations, and catch up on some social media. While I was waiting for the check in to open, I took some paracetamol (apparently, you can take it at the same time as ibuprofen, just stagger the doses so each is taken half way between doses for the other). I still don't think the paracetamol helped. When I went to check in, my toe hurt worse than it did when I arrived.

After checking in, I hobbled to the grocery store (fortunately quite close) to get some bread and fruit to set myself up to self provision some meals (along with the cheese and sausage and chocolate and tuna I am carrying). With the ibuprofen, it is really important to have food on hand. Then I asked my hosts about a nearby restaurant. I am getting practice using Google Translate on the go. Then I came up to my room to write this and wait until time for supper (and my next ibuprofen). Unfortunately, my room seems to be just out of reach of the hotel wifi. (I was originally given a room on the first floor but switched to the second floor when she realized i was going to it right away). And while I have way more data than I can possibly use, only 5% or so of it (11GB) is available in Portugal. I know 11GB is probably a lot, but I am going to be here for a while so I am inclined to be conservative with it. [Edited to add: I found there is another network for the first floor with the same password that reaches here.]

So that brings us to now. I have heard that Almeida is a very nice town with much to see, and was thinking about heading back in to see it as I walked through the centre of it on the Camino towards the hotel, but with the state of my foot when I went out to get groceries, I changed my mind. So, aside from dinner, I expect I will be staying here tonight.

Photos: the fortress near Alba de Yeltes, the border with Portugal, a Camino arrow pointing back towards Spain (is this one of those Caminos that goes in both directions?), first sight of Almeida, closer view, the walls of Almeida, Almeida street scene

 

[Freewalker]

I was wondering if hitchhiking might also be an option. But I will look into Uber.

Absolutely hitchhike ! I always meet interesting people.
I don't stick the traditional thumb out but sort of wave them to stop. They always oblige, yet important to wear shell around your neck so instantly visible. Or say you are a Pilgrim in discomfort with a bad foot. I've "auto stopped " alone and with a very tall male Italian and we were never turned down.
Take good care of that toe, fellow Torontonian. A little rest goes a long way. Sending tons of healing vibes

 

[peregrina2000]

In the end, my sister thought it was probably not gout (because I was managing to walk on it), but just a very sore toe.

So what is indicated now? Pain relief, sandals, what’s your sister’s advice?

 

[alexwalker]

Sorry to read about your troubles. All the best to your healing.

If you don't have time constraints, go slow.

But please continue writing

 

[David Tallan]

So what is indicated now? Pain relief, sandals, what’s your sister’s advice?

Ibuprofen. Possibly taken with the paracetamol doses half way between the ibuprofen doses (although the ibuprofen helps a  lot more. I dont seem to need to run away from the Camino to find a doctor unless I find I am unable to walk.

 

[peregrina2000]

Ibuprofen. Possibly taken with the paracetamol doses half way between the ibuprofen doses (although the ibuprofen helps a  lot more. I dont seem to need to run away from the Camino to find a doctor unless I find I am unable to walk.

Well, even if it’s not gout, I would still recommend a great meal at the restaurant across the square in Pinhel. I hunted to find its name and I’m virtually certain it’s Entre Portas. Trip Advisor gives it lots of great reviews if that means anything. And then if it’s nighttime when you leave, you will see the light show on the squirting water in the square!

 

[Old Hillwalker]

3 November 2024

I think I have, indirectly, been experiencing some effects of the fiesta this weekend. There wasn't much to eat at the bar yesterday, although communication issues may have exacerbated things. When I got to the bar, it was super crowded and noisy. I asked if they had anything I could eat and, unable to hear we'll what the answer was, said "yes" to what was offered, picking "lomo" as an option. What is ended up with was a very small lomo and cheese sandwich, probably less than half the size of a typical bocadillo. I went back to the bar and mentioned that I had just walked 33 km to get there, might there be a bit more food to sustain me? I was able to snag a small plate of chicken nuggets as well. I supplemented those with an apple I had brought from Salamanca and then went to sleep early. I did also get a barra of pan, that the hospitalera picked up for me from a nearby gas station and dropped off on her way home. That proved useful today.

It was a shorter walk today to San Muñoz, just under 20 km. Once again, there were no services, water, etc. I needed to carry everything with me. Like yesterday, the day started off quite cool and foggy, but ended up warm and sunny by late morning. Once again, I was mostly walking along dirt farm roads or tractor paths. This time, there were a number of gates to go through that I had to open and close behind me. But the last gate, not marked on my GPS track, was more of a barrier. It was padlocked shut. Fortunately, it was next to a ditch and where the fence passed over the ditch there was a gap I could crawl through and pull my backpack and poles after me. From there, it was a short walk to the highway, along which the Camino continued for a bit. I WhatsApp-ed the source of the GPS tracks letting him know about the locked gate. He said that the farmers were not allowed to put a locked gate on the public thoroughfare and he would be in touch with the municipality.

In the early part of the day, mostly I was walking by cattle and horses. The animals were less present for the latter part of the day. It was mostly flat, but did get a little hilly towards the end, with San Muñoz hiding behind a hill until you were practically in it. I stopped for a quick breakfast at about 9:30 (about half way there) of bread, cheese, and chorizo.

When I got to the albergue, the hospitalera was attending mass, but she came by afterwards to let me in. This albergue is in the doctor's house, which he rarely uses. It does have a toilet seat, but lacks hot water. I think that's because the gas is turned off in his absence.

After cleaning myself a bit, shaving, and changing, I went to the bar, which the hospitalera said could feed me. They were also extremely busy, and it took over an hour of waiting from the time I got there until I got my plato combinado. I asked for a bocadillo for tomorrow as well, and arranged to pick it up at 8. I mentioned how busy the bar seemed (there were dozens and dozens of people of all ages) and he said it was the fiesta weekend. Tomorrow there would be four people. I expect the bar yesterday and today would have been more ready to feed pilgrims if I weren't competing with such a crowd for their attention.

Photos: the locked gate, sunrise behind the horses, I almost missed this turn, where I sat for breakfast, the road ahead (and mountains in the distance), today's albergue
View attachment 180141 View attachment 180139 View attachment 180144 View attachment 180142 View attachment 180145 View attachment 180143

Cami9no Torres has been on my short list for a year or so now, so I really appreciate your well written and descriptive posts. Please continue.

 

[David Tallan]

Friday November 8, Almeida to Pinhel.

Today was a long day, much longer, it seems than it was supposed to be. My plan says 22 km for today and my fitness app says over 30 km. The best laid plans....

My foot more or less behaved itself last night, except for a bit at about 11 pm after I took the paracetamol. I wasn't sure if that was what caused it, or if it was just happening then because that was when the effectiveness of the ibuprofen was starting to wear thin. So I decided not to take the paracetamol during my walk today, just the ibuprofen, and see what happened. My foot was feeling much better in the morning - until I put my shoes and backpack on and started walking. Then I was back to limping and slow speeds, at least for the first half an hour until the ibuprofen kicked in. It was better then, but still not as good as when my foot is feeling okay. Without the ibuprofen, my speed is averaging close to 3.5 km/hr; with, close to 4 km/hr; healthy, over 4.5 km/hr.

I'm feeling very confident that my sister was right and I misdiagnosed myself with gout. Something else is going on. At various points of the day, different parts were feeling the pain: it seemed to move from the toe to the front of the arch to the ball of the foot over the course of the day. I did feel more pain for a bit at about 11, when I would have taken the paracetamol, but not as sharp as it has been when I did take it, and it went away after a while.

But to talk about the walk for a bit. I started shortly before 7 and, this being Portugal and not Spain, it was already light. We are definitely into more hilly terrain here, and one thing that really stood out today was the granite, which pokes although the ground cover and also appears as large boulders. It reminded me of home, just a bit north of Toronto on the Canadian Shield where my family has a cottage. There was a lot of ups and downs today, descending into valleys and climbing out of them, culminating with the climb to and through Pinhel at the end (although I don't think it is as big as tomorrow's climb to Trancoso). There were also a lot of orchards today, with some sort of yellow apple or other yellow fruit. Many of them looked pretty horrible, to be honest, with large black patches and malformations, but some looked fine. I, of course, left all of them on the trees.

One of the highlights of my day was my stop at the São Cristovão Cafe in Pereiro, where Dona Maria Julieta looked after me. She made me a big mug of cafe com leite and brought over these big, thick cookies/biscuits to dunk in it. She also brought over her pilgrim guest book and carimbo (stamp). So I went digging deep in my backpack for my stamp, to stamp in her pilgrim guest book, and my leftover buttons to give her one. She was so happy with the button that she brought me a chocolate bar. And when, before leaving, I asked how much for the coffee she said it was on the house. Then she pointed me to the Camino and said I could just follow the yellow arrows to Santiago.

This is a good place to talk about Wikiloc, because I don't just follow the yellow arrows. I (usually) also follow Wikiloc tracks provided by Luis Quintales, which you can access through the Camino Torres website. For this trip, I bought a subscription to Wikiloc. One of the benefits that brings is that if you are following a track and you wander off, it alerts you with a noise. Then you can look and see if you want to get back on the track. Usually, once or twice a day, I've been saved from going off piste by more than a few metres by this warning. Sometimes it warns me and I ignore the warning, like the other day when I took the shortcut over the dry riverbed. Or when I find I am on a parallel tractor track that will soon rejoin Luis' track. Or today, when he wanted me to go off-road on a trail that disappeared into scary bushwhacking amongst the boulders. I decided to stick to the road which his unfortunate path soon rejoined. I noticed that the yellow arrows also indicated the road.

But at one point today, I missed the warning noise, and went seriously off trail into nowhere. I was following the yellow arrows. At one point someone had painted red arrows that overlapped the yellow arrows, but I didn't see any other yellow arrows to follow, so I followed the ones that were there. In hindsight, I think the red arrows were meant to indicate not to go that way, but that wasn't clear. I would definitely recommend yellow Xs, a more universally understood symbol. So I went on my merry way for a km and a half or two km, before a pickup truck that was going to pass me didn't, and made sure I knew that I was way off the Camino. I pulled out my Wikiloc, thinking I would show him the track I was following but immediately saw just how far I had strayed. This all happened shortly after my stop at the cafe. So that was certainly part of the reason why today's walk was much longer than planned.

I had timed my arrival thinking I could eat lunch in the restaurant @peregrina2000 had recommended and take my next ibuprofen with the meal, but the restaurant was closed (according to Google, opening at 4), so I sat on a bench in the praça and had some bread and fruit with my ibuprofen. Then I headed to where I am sleeping tonight (Alecrim Rosmaninho Guest House), about a km away and hung around here. I was done done done.

I think I will have the energy, in about half an hour, to head back to the restaurant. We'll see what tomorrow brings. But I expect to be ready and willing to hitchhike at least part of the way. Then I sm also considering turning the next two days into three and using up one of my cushion days. Instead of Trancoso - Sernancelhe (or Vila do Ponte) - Beira Valente, I might go Trancoso - Ponte do Abade - Vila do Ponte - Beira Valente.

Photos: 15thC bridge, view from the bridge, not my favourite road surface, among the granite, the track I chose not to follow, the road to nowhere, don't follow these arrows, in Pinhel.

Note: the images below are the new Forum "thumbnails", full size but fuzzy. If you want to see them clearly you need to click on them.

 

[setmeravelles]

Take care of your foot! Hope it's feeling much better soon.

 

[filly]

If you look at the elevation profile, if elevation is a consideration, there’s a steep uphill right at the end. But that steep uphill takes you past an anthropomorphic tomb if you’re into that sort of thing. (it’s not too far outside the walls so you could go see it even if you taxi in).

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pinhel-trancoso-113655706

Here’s my summary of the day:
Today was another completely off road walk through rural areas with lots of vineyards, apple orchards, pear orchards, some cattle grazing, and some big fields of grain. It was just a perfect camino day, through a few small villages, but mostly out in the countryside

So I don’t think there are any big attractions that you would miss. And it’s probably much easier to get a cab in Pinhel than 20 km from Pinhel.

One more unsolicited suggestion - try Uber. I was shocked last month when I was able to get Ubers from as far as 65 km away from Lisbon to get back to Lisbon. And MUCH cheaper than cab. People in the towns would always tell me there’s no Uber here, but they were always wrong! I would just play with it today, see what you see if you plug in Pinhel or some point where you would want to be brought into Trancoso. Since you have virtually unlimited data you can get it from out in the boonies, but I would test that from Pinhel by putting in some random village as the pickup point with destination Trancoso.

Oops, and I have yet one more unsolicited suggestion - Trancoso has a museum devoted to Isaac Cardoso, a Jewish doctor who was a physician in the Spanish court for some king. There is also a judería where you can see some of the carvings that the Jews put on their walls to convince the inquisitors that they had really converted to Christianity. I found some of those, but I had to look hard as many were hidden by bushes and vines. I thought it was very interesting.

Fingers crossed; I can tell you that your fan club very much agrees with this sentiment.

…. and talking of Uber, I was surprised to see emblazoned BOLT cars aplenty in Andalucia. So there are options!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have walked many Caminos, but without a good grasp on knowing Spanish, and apparently long stages being needed, I can see at my stage of life that this Camino will never be in my future. Apparently this route is not for the faint of heart!
Kudos to you for continuing to tackle it with your new foot injury. All the best in continuing onward!

 

[David Tallan]

Well, even if it’s not gout, I would still recommend a great meal at the restaurant across the square in Pinhel. I hunted to find its name and I’m virtually certain it’s Entre Portas. Trip Advisor gives it lots of great reviews if that means anything. And then if it’s nighttime when you leave, you will see the light show on the squirting water in the square!

I was just at Entre Portas. Unfortunately, the chef has given up, in was told, and it is no longer a restaurant. If i want to Picard, fine, but if I want a meal o have to go elsewhere. They agreed with you that it used to be great.

 

[peregrina2000]

Today was a long day, much longer, it seems than it was supposed to be. My plan says 22 km for today and my fitness app says over 30 km. The best laid plans....

I suppose there's no point in hashing it out now, but this is really too bad. Almeida to Pinhel is about 22-23 on the Camino, so what rotten luck. Do you think that the Torres people in Salamanca re-routed this stage to make it longer? I really hope you get some foot relief, David.

I was just at Entre Portas. Unfortunately, the chef has given up, in was told, and it is no longer a restaurant. If i want to Picard, fine, but if I want a meal o have to go elsewhere. They agreed with you that it used to be great.

OH NO! What more can go wrong today, David? I feel terrible for having recommended the restaurant to you. I am so sorry.

 

[RodlaRob]

Enjoying a great read thanks David. Goodluck with your injury returning to normal.
I have to recommend a restaurant in Trancoso to you... (Dom Gabriel) .
Was there in April 2024 - it was great. Same chef & experience I had there in 2016.
I'm normally a low key frugal eater when walking & this was recommended by locals & was excellent. Too good for a pilgrim

 

[David Tallan]

I suppose there's no point in hashing it out now, but this is really too bad. Almeida to Pinhel is about 22-23 on the Camino, so what rotten luck. Do you think that the Torres people in Salamanca re-routed this stage to make it longer? I really hope you get some foot relief, David.



OH NO! What more can go wrong today, David? I feel terrible for having recommended the restaurant to you. I am so sorry.

For sure, a bunch of that was me wandering off the Camino so far, my own fault really. Some of it was also going to and from my lodgings which are not exactly central.

You couldn't have known what they did with it. If Google doesn't know, I can hardly expect you to. On the other hand, the folks there recommended a nice place 5 minutes away from where I am staying which I would otherwise never have discovered.

 

[Dani7]

Is there any chance you can have a fisio or a clinic to look at your foot? Could you have a fracture maybe?

Despite your foot pain, your posts are as good as ever

 

[chinacat]

the track I chose not to follow,

There’s a track there???

Glad for your foot that you weren’t tempted!

Good luck with the hitching