The Camino Journey

Portomarin to Lestedo – 19kms (plus an extra couple of kms for Riley) Sooooo…. I didn’t have the day I was expecting. I’d had a terrible sleep and the 6:45am alarm has never been more hated on the Camino, even at the beginning! I did get moving relatively quickly though, Continue Reading

Sarria to Portomarin – 23kms (plus an extra 2kms for missing a turn.) What a tough start to the day. It started raining heavily within moments of walking out the door, Riley made me feel like crap before storming off and within 10mins of walking, I was walking up an Continue Reading

Triacastela to Sarria – 18.7kms A big topic of discussion amongst the pilgrims the previous night was which route to take, (the longer one via Samos or the shorter one via San Xil) and the forecast of rain all day. We had decided to do the shorter route based on Continue Reading

O’Cebreiro to Triacastela – 20.7kms Waking up, Riley’s first words were, “so, we ready to die?” Getting up and walking has become so routine now, I forget what it was like in those first couple of days, the fear of the unknown, the nerves and anxiety. I didn’t give him Continue Reading

Las Herrerias to O’Cebreiro – 8.2kms (by horse!) We woke up at 7:30am and opened the windows in anticipation… to find it once again pouring with rain. My heart sunk a little, wondering whether my dream of riding the horses wouldn’t be a reality. All we could do was wait Continue Reading

Las Herrerias – Rest Day I wanted to try and get Riley into the early morning wake up call routine, but also not shock his system too much, so the alarm was set for 7:30am. (Trust me, on a non-work day, that is extremely early for him!) He went and Continue Reading

Villafranca del Bierza to Las Herrerias – 21kms I was dead asleep this morning after a Spanish party nearby last night meant a very late sleep and weird Camino dreams involving Jean and Bill and cats. There are a LOT of cats on the Camino. Still, I managed to get Continue Reading

Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo – 23.5kms You would think after four weeks of walking, on average 20kms a day, my body would be completely used to this and be good to go, but this morning I pulled myself out of bed and it felt ancient. I felt stiff as Continue Reading

Foncebadon to Ponferrada – 27kms This was a big day on so many levels. First, it was a lengthy distance over really difficult terrain and secondly, it was reaching the highest peak of the Camino at Cruz de Ferro. I had pushed to Foncebadon because I wanted to be closer Continue Reading

Astorga to Foncebadon – 26kms I had my alarm set for just after 6am as it was a big day and I wanted to be on the move by 6:30am but once again, it didn’t go off. (I have since discovered that in an update, the alarm sound and vibration Continue Reading