Jenny M

Posts by Jenny M

Camino – Frómista (Day 17)

Date: Thu 23rd May
Distance: 65 km
Temperature: Morning Cold/Afternoon Warm
Mood: Excellent
Left: Burgos 9:15am
Arrived: Frómista 6:15 pm
Santiago de Compostela: 435 km
Highlight: View from Alto Mostelates

A late start to the day due to a totally different packing regime of bike panniers vs backpacks. Hopefully we will get more efficient at it. The day started off as a typical cold, dull overcast morning, but by late afternoon we recorded temperatures above 24 on our bike computers!

WHO SAID THE MESETA WAS FLAT! Unfortunately Jenny had been sold on the bike stage due to the Meseta being flat! Well it wasn’t! Throw in a 65km ride with very steep inclines and severely rutted earth tracks and it becomes a very long day. The longest so far. And we have another 60km planned for tomorrow! A quick bit of research on the next leg shows that there shouldn’t be anymore surprises, but who knows! Lucky for us we weren’t doing this ride 3 days ago as there is no way we would have made the distance due to the amount of mud there would have been with the rain earlier in the week.

Anyways, the scenery was magnificent, particularly at the top of Alto Mostelates, the highest peak we rode/walked. Due to the cold start to spring and plenty of rain, the Meseta so far is still very green. The ride down the other side was bone jarring on the uneven earth track with ruts and rocks. One of us was heard to say they thought their poo was being shaken out of them. Expect another load of washing tonight!

We probably bit off more than we could chew and this ride would have suited Deb and Mark on their fancy monster truck bikes! (We could definitely see them over here doing the Camino on bikes, probably do it 2 weeks!)

Scored another Motel with a bath and bumped into our Irish friends for dinner who have finished their walk for this year. They will tackle yet another stage next year. They broke out in song after dinner and sung us Waltz sing Matilda. Good note to finish off the day!

More Photo’s

Camino – Burgos (Day 16)

Date: Wed 22nd May
Distance: 0km
Temperature: Cold but Sunny
Mood: Great, itching to get back on the Camino
Santiago de Compostela: 501km
Highlight: Meeting an elderly Spanish gentleman/Monastery of Las Huelgas

Our official day off! We had an itinerary planned for the day but only had a 50% success rate due to the Spanish siesta! Everything is closed during the afternoon with the hours varying anywhere from 1:00pm until around 5:00pm. This plays complete havoc on trying to get around to see stuff and then when you do get there before closing, they have decided to close earlier! Very frustrating!

We were blessed with the sun shinning most of the day, but still cold! We took the bikes out on an excursion to test drive them. All working well, just need better engines! The riding over the next few days will definitely be a good thing for the feet and give the blisters a chance to heal ready for some more abuse for the final couple of hundred kilometres.

We also needed to attend to some logistics as we need to ship our backpacks along the way along with items not needed whilst we are riding. We have also taken a chance on not carrying our sleeping bags based on using Hotel type accommodation, but we still need to secure accommodation in a number of towns! We will need to cross our fingers in getting our kit at the other end in time as we will be there on the weekend, which means no deliveries on those days. Hoping it gets there before we head off on the final walking stage, as we an’t going anywhere without it!

We are still pigging out on all the delights that Burgos has to offer (and there are plenty!), so need to start burning some of this back off!

Our day included a visit of Cassa del Cordón (now a bank). A bit of shopping (needed more memory cards for camera, can you believe that!). Back to the Cathedral for some more photos with a blue sky! The Royal Monastery of Las Huelgas. Strictly no photos allowed and we had to join a tour group spoken entirely in Spanish! But a worth while visit. And finally, The Monastery of Miraflores. Unfortunately it had closed early, but a nice bike ride and were blessed by meeting a very educated senior local who spoke very good English and kept us entertained.

Now just need a decent dinner and good night sleep all in preparation for a 65km bike ride tomorrow following the Camino trail! Hope to catch up with some familiar faces along the way.

More Photo’s

Camino – Burgos (Day 15)

Date: Tue 21st May
Distance: 0km
Temperature: Cold
Mood: Great
Santiago de Compostela: 501km

Today was a complete chill out day. Sleep-in? Our now built-in alarm clocks had us awake soon after 6am. Still, we had a relaxing morning before heading off to the Burgos Cathedral. Wow, this makes the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral look small in comparison. Later in the day we caught up with our Aussie friends, Graham, Cheryl and Carly who we have constantly being bumping into since Bayonne Train Station on the way to St-Jean-Pier-De-Port. They had completed the last stretch into Burgos that afternoon (not like some people!). We made arrangements to catch up over dinner as this would possibly be the last we see of them before we fast forward the Meseta on bikes.

Tomorrow is our scheduled rest day and we are in no hurry to push off just yet. We are enjoying the small break and plan to test out the bikes with some more sightseeing.