I'm home now making the transition back to the usual life - feet have to heal, beard got trimmed today (I shed the Confederate General look), sleep cycle needs to get back into sync with U.S. Central time, etc.. I do have a couple of weeks left of my sabbatical leave so I am trying to get my thoughts together about the amazing experience I have just enjoyed.

I am also going to go back through the blog and redo the photos and add some more commentary too. The new stuff will be in blue. So please feel free to look back through it all - it may have changed some since last you looked. Hasta luego.
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Well, I made it into the city on Sunday morning in time to make the mass at the cathedral. And the botafumeiro flew AND I have front row video!! (See below) AND I have visited the tomb of one of the Sons of Thunder! A new dear friend, Santiago. We have been through much together.

Saturday was a brutal day's walk of 35.5 or so km.  I stayed the night on the Monte de Gozo.
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Yesterday was another very long day. I put in 30 km to reach a country albergue at Maito Casanova. The four of us who were walking together just managed to get beds. The first place we had planned on was closed for a week, the second was full, and this was our last resort. My friend Peter´s guidebook said that there was no food available in the area.
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Well, I logged another 28 km today and am now inside the 100 km limit and closing in on Santiago. A few little nagging foot problems, but nothing unbearable. I walked through Sarria this morning and have now experienced the influx of fresh clean pilgrims of several sorts - those carrying packs like mine, those carrying daypacks, and those just bouncing along with nothing (because the bus is meeting them at the next bar in the next village).
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I am just outside Sarria with just over 100 km to go. Alto de Poio through Triacastela to San Mamed del Camino. I walked 28 km today ~ so it looks good to make it on time. Very limited internet here. More soon as possible. Hasta luego.

Saturday, October 1st ~ Molinaseca through Ponferrada to Cacabelos. 25.4 km.

I stopped in Ponferrada across the street from the Templar Castle for morning coffee. It was another hour until it opened, so I contented myself with a view of the exterior.

Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca 26.5 km (29.5 km adjusted for the descent)

What a great day to walk. I started this morning with the monks and the Office of Lauds and that set up the rest of a fine day of travelling. I walked up from Rabanal through Foncebadon to the high point of the Camino. I walked with Johanna, a clarinet maker from Germany that I had met out in the Meseta outside of Leon. The Cruz de Ferro was kind of a circus. There were two busloads of tourists there when I arrived.
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I had a very good walk today. I think it helped that there was a convenient village every 4 - 6 km. I was better hydrated for sure - Coca-Cola makes a product called Aquarius which is nice for replacing what I am sweating out. The weather was overcast and cool, but not anywhere near cold. Just a fine day to be climbing hills. It is a gradual steady climb out of Astorga up to Rabanal. Tomorrow, the Cruz de Ferro - the high point on the Camino.
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I got up this morning in Leon with no shin pain - a little discomfort in my left ankle - but not devastating. So I got to the bus station and caught the 8:00 bus to Hospital de Orbigo, making up for the convalescant day in Leon. The big claim to fame of Hospital is the bridge - a very long medieval bridge built over a Roman bridge. There was once a knight who took the bridge and challenged all comers to joust.
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I am in Leon in a hotel having another rest day. Yesterday I limped in to Mansilla de las Mulas with a sore ankle on one leg and shin splints on the other. I think the result of too much roman road! Cobblestones for miles are not kind to the ankles!

The cathedral here is extraordinary. Its museum magnificent. Marvelous stained glass in abundance! Aside from touring that, I have just hung out in the plaza today resting my legs, praying for healing.
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My apologies for the dearth of posts this week. I stayed two nights in Burgos getting myself back in walking form - hydration, food, rest. It all makes a huge difference. Because of my overall timetable, from Burgos I took the bus 60 km up the road to Fromista and resumed walking. I stayed in the municipal albergue there - there were 6 sets of bunkbeds in the room I was in. The church there San Martin is one of the pure gems of the Camino - a 13th century romanesque marvel.
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