Tag: Pilgrim Walk

Categories
Uncategorized

Day 18, Leon to Hospital de Orbigo, Spain Sept 26.

23 miles, pretty flat. On the trail at 7:10 am, wandering through Leon with Jan, in search of the trail out of town. I decided to take a detour along the river. It is pitch dark and I am so glad Jan is with me, but I do wish she would stop cursing when I lose the way!!

By the time it is light, about 8:30 am, and we are out of town, she is very slow from the huge blisters all over her feet. She tells me to go on ahead, which I do, whistling off to find some coffee in a cafe in the first village.

Meet my first Leon Mastiffs, looking down an embankment at them. Three of them are guarding a large corral of cows. They look like St. Banairds, but the coloring is like a yellow labrador. Is all their loud barking at me?

Pass fields of cut grain, corn or maze fields, beans, potatos, sugar beets and apple orchards. Bamboo grows along the irrigating ditches. A small pond near a village has two ducks floating in the middle. I stop for a closer look, then realize they are wooden and tethered. It is a funny joke on me.

My hostel tonight is in the home of a local priest, 4 euros.
The architecture has changed. All the homes are now quarried stone in old villages, which are not separate home at all. The village is lined with walls that have doors and windows. But it is impossible to tell where one home ends and the other begins. Entering the priest’s, the first place is an inner courtyard with the old water well, a nice flower garden. It is enclosed with a two-story window structure that overlooks the courtyard. The balcony overhangs, providing a sheltered area around the perimeter. The back of the courtyard opens into a small field, where they have built a dorimitory for pilgrims, a washing area, clothes lines, showers and toilets. There is a kitchen for us and a computer with DSL for free. This is very nice.

I do the usual, shower, wash my clothes, take a siesta. And who comes in but Wilson. We laugh and laugh that we keep running into each others. Dinner is communal in the garden area picnic tables with Italians, French, a Canadian, a Brazilian, and I am the only American.

Categories
Uncategorized

Day 12, Tardajos to Castrojeriz, Spain



18 miles, 750 feet of ascent. 7:15 am to 2:30 pm.

Spent the day walking and talking with Peter, who started walking from his home in Nuremburg, Germany on July 2. He has walked across part of Germany, all across Switzerland and France. He is a fast walker and we had lots of fun talking all day.  “Good companions make short miles.”  In his late 30’s he is a contract employee of a software firm and is between contracts, so he has this time. His wife, Amy, is at home working.
We part at 2 pm, over a beer. Peter is walking six more miles, but I have had enough for today.
Get checked in, wash my clothes, take a siesta and stroll up to the castle ruins on the hill overlooking the town. The restaurant has many old farm implements on display.
Categories
Uncategorized

Day 11, Atapuerca to Tardajos, Spain





15 miles, 450 ft. ascent. 7:30 am to 4:45 pm.

*Walk into Burgos with Canadian woman, Jan. Chatting with her made the trek through the industrial and ugly apartments on the outskirts just bearable. Looking back, this two and half hour stretch was the worst. Everyone else said it was hard for them too. Perhaps it was because we had come out of the glorious countryside, through a lovely forest on nice dirt roads. The hard, flat sidewalk, four lanes of truck traffic and industry was a mental test, as one pilgrim put it.
*El Cid’s tomb and the cathedral at Burgos are thrilling. It is a World Heritage site. Toured the cathedral, walked around the outside. Truly spectacular.
*Late afternoon I walked on, along the river bottom to a tiny town, Tardjos. The hostel was on a donation basis.
*John Deere tractors in the fields and main street of the small towns.
*Moorish influence in the arched doorways and “Hand of Fatima” door knockers.
*Iron rings in the stone walls, once used to tie up horses.
Dinner with Anne, a Danish woman and several Canadians.
Categories
Uncategorized

Walk With Me, Tyler Burgess’s Itinerary 2008


Here is my plan
Take train to Seattle August 19, 2008. Visit children and grandchildren.
Friday, August 22, Fly from Seattle (leave 10:55 pm) to London (arrive 5:30 pm), with Vicki, my companion and client for the England walk on Hadrian’s Wall Path.

Hike Hadrian’s Wall Path, 84 miles
August 24. Train from London to Newcastle Upon Tyne.
August 25. Day in Newcastle to visit the Museum of Antiquities to see artifacts and history of Roman Emperor’s Wall, built to keep out the barbarians to the north.
August 26. Walk Newcastle to Heddon, 15 urban miles through Newcastle
August 27. Walk Heddon to St. Oswald, 12 miles into the rolling countryside.

August 28. From St. Oswald to Once Brewed, 15 miles, plus an hour to walk into Haltwhistle.
August 29. Rest in Haltwhistle, a market town smack in the middle of Britian.
August 30. An hour walk back to Once Brewed, then 11 miles to Gilsland.
August 31. Walk 7 miles to Walton.
September 1. Walk to Carlisle, 11 miles.
September 2. Carlisle to Bowness On Solway, 15 flat miles to the Irish Sea.

September 3. Train to London.
September 4-7 Visit London. High Tea at the Ritz on 9/4.
September 8. Vicki flies back to Eugene. I fly to Barritz, France.

Solo 500-mile hike the Pilgrim’s Path Way of St. James on the French Way
500 miles from the French border to Santiago, Spain. I am taking ultra-light camping gear, and carrying all my stuff in a day pack.
September 8. I fly to Barritz, France. Train ride one hour to St. Jean Pied de Pont.
September 9. Start hiking to Santiago, about 15 mile per day for 35 days.
October 14, Fly from Santiago, Spain to London, England.
October 15. Fly from London to Seattle.
October 19. Train from Seattle to Eugene, arriving at 1:55 pm in Eugene.

I do hope to update you along the trail where there are cafes and libraries with Internet access.