The house began to twitch...

Weary Travelers...

Having left Logroño, we had three days to make the nearly two hundred miles to Leon in time to meet Allen´s girlfriend Deborah. Our first day out of Logroño took us through Santo Domingo de la Calzada which Nathan actually got to ride into this time (some will remember that the last entry into Santo Domingo was a two mile walk for Nathan after Allen had inadvertently taken his air pump and Nathan was unable to repair a busted tire), Nathan enjoyed the ride in this time. A quick lunch, a nod to our old haunts, and once again we were on our way on quiet if bug filled country roads to Villafranca Montes de Oca where we spent the night, choosing not to climb the Montes de Oca until the next morning.

The Montes de Oca begin with a brief climb of a 6% grade until you reach a set of rolling hills which you rapidly descend, cruse up as far as you can, pedal the rest of the way and then repeat, until you reach a long downhill into Burgos. Our mileage into Burgos was miraculously finished before breakfast as we were able to wake literally at the crack of dawn, with the help of the other anxious pilgrims in the hostel of course, and in Burgos we looked forward to doing some laundry and enjoying the beauty of a city that meant so much to us on the last trip. We quickly discovered that in the entire city of Burgos there was no laundry to be had, so we resolved to smell a little bit more, contemplated moving to Burgos to open a laundry of our own, and ate a quick breakfast to the tune of striking factory workers demonstrating in the background.

The further we got from Burgos, the worse the weather began to get, and By the time we were just 10 miles from our destination the sun had completely disappeared. Suddenly the wind began to blow with tremendous force and the heavens opened up and dumped rain for about five minutes while we hid underneath a tree trying to break out our rain gear, which had migrated its way to the bottom of our bags as we had become complacent in the sunshine that had guided us across throughout the trip. By the time we were dressed appropriately the rain had stopped, the wind died down, and then...a crack of tunder and a bolt of lightening in the distance as the next storm, this one bigger than the last warned us of its impending arrival. We took the hint, hopped on our bikes and burned up the remianing miles to Fromista as quickly as possible. We did manage to outrun that storm, and 72 miles after our day began we were able to get back to enjoying the very cheap and very tasty Vino Tinto!

When we awoke the next morning, it was evident that we would be running from the storms all day as we made the final push into Leon. Allen, however, promised that we would not get caught in a rainstorm today, and he was right! As we rode across the meseta we were able to look around as far as the eye could see across the flatlands and view Mother Nature in all her fury. While we were bucking a very strong wind that came from every direction seemingly, the storms, a dozen or so in all and of varying sizes surrounded us but did not release their fury upon us. It was, however, extremely cold, and by the time we were fifteen kilometers out of Leon we needed to stop for some warmth, in the form of a nice size glass of some homemade Aguadiente. Now, we asked for just a shot of the gasoline like Aguadiente, but the nice woman, undoubtedly sensing the chill inside us poured two large glasses nearly half full of the stuff, needless to say not only did it warm us up, it made the last of our 78 mile day into Leon painless! When we were last in Leon we sat in the central square near the cathedral watching reunion after reunion of pilgrims, old friends, and children, this time we had a reunion of our own, especially meaningful for Allen, suddenly around the corner came Allen´s girlfriend Deborah!

Though our number had changed, the weather did not, and we awoke to a drizzle in Leon which turned into a torrential downpour, conveniently, however, just after we had ducked inside a cafe for lunch and to escape this very storm which we had watched growing on the horizon. Shelter not a minute too soon! When we resumed, we made our way to Hospital de Obrigo and immediately upon entering the village we were transported back in time to Medieval Times! The city is famous for a long bridge joining the villages of Puente de Obrigo and Hospital de Obrigo at whcih a medieval Knight had sworn to break 300 lances of the finest knights of Spain in order to win the heart of his love, who had up to that point scorned him! Every year, the villages conduct a recreation of this event in the form of a jousting competition, medieval faire and medieval dress. It seemed that every occupant of the city dressed up as dame, knights, appothacaries, crusaders etc., and people came from miles around to participate in the spectacle. The three travelers spent one night together in Hospital sampling the food and exploring the street fair, and we ran into the man who is the face of the Camino, dressed in the traditional pilgrim´s robe, a broad brimmed hat, the Camino shell, and carrying the staff and goard whcih are the symbols of the pilgrim, he joyfully explained to us that he had been walking the camino since 1971 and perhaps he had gone a bit crazy, but he explained to us that he likes the Camino because no matter where you are from, everyone´s heart is the same color and nowhere has that been more evident to him than in his thirty-eight years of contact with other pilgrims! Everyone he said has their own camino to walk in life, but here everyone shares a part of that with everyone else rather than hurrying through and forgetting to take the time to be open to life´s experiences! A good lesson! Nathan stayed on here for two days before catching up with Allen and Deborah who had ridden ahead one day prior in anticipation of having to climb the highest peak on the Camino, Cruz de Fero. Nathan spent his night alone in Hospital talking with 3 Germans, 1 Swiss, and the 2 Hospitaleros over 40´s of San Miguel about everyone´s purpose for doing the camino, which ranged from I like to walk to more spiritual goals!

Cruz de Fero is simply a pile of rocks that has accumulated over time, with a cross at the top, but the meaning there is so much more. Climbing to Cruz de Fero, the highest point on the Camino at 1550 meters is the beginning of the preparation for one´s arrival into Santiago. Traditionally one brings a rock from home, carries it with them on the journey and deposits it, along with all of their mental, and spritual baggage at the top of this mountain and then starts the last 220 kilometers to Santiago anew! One dare not stay too long at the top, however, for fear of freezing to death, yes, there is still snow up there in June, and the wind was biting cold. On the way down we stopped at the village (if it can be called such) of Manjarin, population 9 people who run a simple Refugio for weary pilgrims, offer hot tea as a respite to the frozen traveler, and our speculation...guard the actual location of THE Holy Grail, it seems that there was some unspoken order of Templars or Crusaders who populates this little town...curious!

Today we leave Ponferrada for O Cebriero after a night with the Hostellero from Hell, a man who informed us strictly that doors were locked at 10:30 and lights out at 10:45, never mind that we had yet to eat, that wasn´t his problem! A very nice woman from Texas who gave us Chorizo, bread, and beer nuts to calm our rumbling stomachs!

Off to the last climb now!