LIVE from the Camino Over the hills and far away

[AlanSykes]

I arrived in Burgos from the south on Sunday afternoon. Within 2 minutes of the centre I had met my first fellow pilgrims since swimming out of the Mediterranean 3 weeks earlier.

There were 65 pilgrims staying in the municipal albergue. This is more than I have stayed with than in all the previous 60 albergues I have slept in combined. Individually they were all lovely, but en masse it was a bit overwhelming, and pretty much confirmed my belief that I am probably better suited to the caminos less travelled.

So yesterday, after doing the cathedral tour etc, I took a bus to Cilleruelo de Bezana, on the Olvidado, and from there walked to Reinosa today, joining up with the GR99 Ebro route for the first time since I left it at Gallur exactly 2 weeks ago. I liked the impressive remains of the Roman town of Juliobriga, and a couple of decent Romanesque churches. Reinosa seems a lively place. The Ebro there is a swift flowing modest affair, not something you'd expect to give its name to a peninsular

Somehow tomorrow I have to find a way of getting through the Parque Natural de Saya-Besaya and on to the coast.

 

[Mike Savage]

Buen Camino Alan!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Wow! You go, guy! You're in some serious Romanesque country up there, enjoy!

 

[AlanSykes]

My first full day in Cantabria was one of my best walking days ever. Fontibre is a beautiful, mysterious tree-lined place with a little shrine trying to displace the local nymph, and the atmosphere you get at somewhere special and remote which has been special or sacred for 10s of centuries - my local Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria has it, Santa Lucía del Trampal has it, Muxía has it (a bit).

Then it was up past Argüeso, slightly forbidding castle of Cardinal Mendoza's ancestors, and up into the empty highlands, over high passes above lovely wooded valleys with occasional distant views of the sea - the first time I've seen salt water in nearly 4 weeks. After the bustle of Burgos, not seeing a human being for over 25km was rather bliss, but it was a bit of a relief when the village of Los Tojos appeared far below, and even more so when it turned out to have a comfy casa rural and a bar happy to feed me - travelling without a guide makes for occasionally nervous moments.

 

[peregrina2000]

My first full day in Cantabria was one of my best walking days ever. Fontibre is a beautiful, mysterious tree-lined place with a little shrine trying to displace the local nymph, and the atmosphere you get at somewhere special and remote which has been special or sacred for 10s of centuries - my local Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria has it, Santa Lucía del Trampal has it, Muxía has it (a bit).

Then it was up past Argüeso, slightly forbidding castle of Cardinal Mendoza's ancestors, and up into the empty highlands, over high passes above lovely wooded valleys with occasional distant views of the sea - the first time I've seen salt water in nearly 4 weeks. After the bustle of Burgos, not seeing a human being for over 25km was rather bliss, but it was a bit of a relief when the village of Los Tojos appeared far below, and even more so when it turned out to have a comfy casa rural and a bar happy to feed me - travelling without a guide makes for occasionally nervous moments.

You have now become a new category of pilgrim. From adventurous to intrepid in one fell swoop. Buen camino, Alan.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Alan, by looking at your wiki tracks I was able to locate you on the Olvidado and see that you walked through Arija (not a charmer) and then must have had all that road walking to Villafría. That was one of the less than exhilirating parts of the Olvidado, IMO. I think you split from the Olvidado in Juliobriga, ¿no? It must have killed you to be so close but not to visit the church at Cervatos, but maybe you already know it or maybe you just can't keep lollygagging around any more! You might be able to veer left to get on the Lebañiego to get into San Vicente, but I'm sure you have it all planned now -- looking forward to hearing how you connect with the Norte. Enjoying this so much, thanks for keeping in touch with the forum, Laurie

 

[AlanSykes]

Cervatos does sound very special and I was probably wrong not to detour to it, especially as I've wasted most of today pootling around the small pueblos of Cabuérniga, getting lost and taking the best part of 7 hours walking to cover not much over 20km. I should have carried on last night to Correpoco, which has signs boasting that its hostal/restaurant won the first prize in the "mountain food" category of some recent awards. But I liked Los Tojos, and generally think that a bed in the hand is worth an uncertain one in the bush 5km further on, especially when the light is fading.

Much of today and a good part of yesterday was on the Ruta de los Foramontanos, which the people of the plain took to escape the Arab invasion, and which later became an important route for the reconquista. So here I am in Ruente, a touristy place with another river source but still quite a long way from the sea, enjoying a tasty bit of rape al aciete.

 

[crackmrmac]

Camino Olvidado!!!! Make it easy for us, tell everyone what to do.
Buen Camino to you.

 

[peregrina2000]

Cervatos does sound very special and I was probably wrong not to detour to it, especially as I've wasted most of today pootling around the small pueblos of Cabuérniga, getting lost and taking the best part of 7 hours walking to cover not much over 20km. I should have carried on last night to Correpoco, which has signs boasting that its hostal/restaurant won the first prize in the "mountain food" category of some recent awards. But I liked Los Tojos, and generally think that a bed in the hand is worth an uncertain one in the bush 5km further on, especially when the light is fading.

Much of today and a good part of yesterday was on the Ruta de los Foramontanos, which the people of the plain took to escape the Arab invasion, and which later became an important route for the reconquista. So here I am in Ruente, a touristy place with another river source but still quite a long way from the sea, enjoying a tasty bit of rape al aciete.

Alan, how are you finding all these trails? It looks like you are not just walking along the highway, you must also be a master with the GPS. I'm betting you will be sleeping in Comillas tomorrow night, and from then on all you'll have to do is follow the arrow. That will be much less exciting than what you've been doing up till now!

 

[AlanSykes]

Alan, how are you finding all these trails? It looks like you are not just walking along the highway, you must also be a master with the GPS.

Haven't got GPS so relying on wikiloc's off-line maps, which seem very good to me, and the GR76 and Ruta de los Foramontanos are very well marked as well, so breaking through the hills was not as difficult as I expected. I've also been able to pick up the odd leaflet about walks in the natural park etc, which have helped. Tonight Comillas, and it will be a relief seeing the familiar yellow arrows again.

Here's an "aerial" pic of the lovely Cabuérniga valley yesterday

 

[Kanga]

Oh Alan, stop it, stop it. Too too lovely and so far away from a miserably wet Sydney!

 

[Ekelund]

Looks lovely! But I'm having a hard time figuring out where you are. Are you on the Primitivo?
Buen Camino to you

 

[AlanSykes]

Looks lovely! But I'm having a hard time figuring out where you are. Are you on the Primitivo?
Buen Camino to you

Thanks, I've been on a camino between caminos, as it were, getting from the Francés to the Norte, partly via the Olvidado. Just seen my first reassuring arrow, shortly after one of Comillas' Gaudís - the Catalan modernists clearly had a thing for this delightful fishing village, as there are several other interesting structures here.

Mundicamino said the albergue here shut at the end of November, and Gronze that it was the end of October, or perhaps the other way round, anyway, it's shut for the winter. Now for some fish, and tomorrow my first day on the Norte, and my first ever steps in Asturias.

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh, lucky you. I remember eating a really good homecooked meal there in a bar with Filipinas in its name, but it was more than ten years ago so my memory may be playing tricks. Buen camino, Alan, I wonder how the Norte will treat you and how you will like it.

 

[peregrina2000]

Haven't got GPS so relying on wikiloc's off-line maps,]

Ok, so how are you recording your tracks on wikiloc if you don't have a GPS? You must have even more magical powers than your blister protection! BTW, I was surprised to see that your walk into Comillas ended in the Plaza del Generalísimo and was very close to the Calle José Antonio. What's with this town?

 

[AlanSykes]

Ok, so how are you recording your tracks on wikiloc if you don't have a GPS? You must have even more magical powers than your blister protection! BTW, I was surprised to see that your walk into Comillas ended in the Plaza del Generalísimo and was very close to the Calle José Antonio. What's with this town?

Aaaaagh, if I'd noticed that I'd definitely have carried on to San Vicente (although some of the politics up here is best left untouched - I noticed that my newspaper on the zinc today is La Nueva España, 79 years old). The Filipina bar /restaurant in Comillas is closed and had a sign saying happy 2016, we reopen on Feb 16 (most of the rest of the town is closed or closing).

I assume my mobile, which I'm recording my wikiloc tracks on, must have GPS on it, but I've not been able to work out how to use it - it's one of those "smart" 'phones that's a bit smarter than its owner.

 

[KinkyOne]

@peregrina2000 & @alansykes
When you are recording your tracks with mobile apps (like WikiLoc, Endomondo, Strava etc.) your mobile phone acts like GPS. More acurratly like GPS recorder. But you can set it like GPS navigator although I don't now how or with which app because I don't use it that way. Usually I even put it in airplane mode to save battery when walking and recording my track.

Ultreia!

 

[peregrina2000]

@peregrina2000 & @alansykes
When you are recording your tracks with mobile apps (like WikiLoc, Endomondo, Strava etc.) your mobile phone acts like GPS. More acurratly like GPS recorder. But you can set it like GPS navigator although I don't now how or with which app because I don't use it that way. Usually I even put it in airplane mode to save battery when walking and recording my track.

Ultreia!

Kinky, thanks, I guess this means I would need to download an app to use my phone as a recorder of my trails, so that must be what Alan has done? And then how do you get them to wikilocs? (BTW, Alan, thanks so much for getting your walks over to wikiloc, it's great fun to see where you are walking!).

 

[AlanSykes]

Kinky, thanks, I guess this means I would need to download an app to use my phone as a recorder of my trails, so that must be what Alan has done? And then how do you get them to wikilocs?

Yup, I have the wikiloc app on my mobile (the teenager who sold it to me set it up) , and just tell it to record where I've walked, and the finished walk can be uploaded to wikiloc once the 'phone has access to Wifi - as I think you did on the Olvidado a year or so ago. The trouble is, I haven't worked out how to use its gps while it's recording. Perhaps I need to find that teenager again?

 

[KinkyOne]

Yup, I have the wikiloc app on my mobile (the teenager who sold it to me set it up) , and just tell it to record where I've walked, and the finished walk can be uploaded to wikiloc once the 'phone has access to Wifi - as I think you did on the Olvidado a year or so ago. The trouble is, I haven't worked out how to use its gps while it's recording. Perhaps I need to find that teenager again?

I didn't try the GPS navigator at all, I just checked the route when it became tricky or with several unmarked options on Walking Pilgrim or Vieiragrino (for Levante).
Laurie, I guess Alan answered to your question. Ehm, looks like three almost equally IT non-compatible persons trying to teach each other here