San Juan de Ortega; 24.2 km/15 miles

Steep steady uphill climb for most of the first 20 km…resting our feet for the afternoon then Mass and dinner…

Belorado ; 20 km/12.4 miles

We arrived late morning surprised to already be at our destination! It’s a beautiful town so we’ll spend the afternoon exploring…we’ve left the vineyards and are in the Castilla y Léon area…lots of murals here…Buen Camino

Day 13; 24 km/15 miles

Another beautiful sunrise after a walk in the dark! Fortunately, our hostess at the casa had a spread ready the night before to include homemade Spanish style coffee cake! It was a good thing as we had several steep uphill climbs where we prayed our Rosary to make it up! We wandered through Santo Domingo’s Cathedral museum and then happened upon a chapel where a Brazilian Bishop was just beginning Mass…our day was now perfect!

Day 11; 19.2 km/ 12 miles

We started off before dawn and listened to thunder and watched lightening as the morning broke! No rain…praised be! Najera, the first town we came into is a beautiful old town and we toured a monastery…see captions…

We arrived in Azofra and when finding our way to Alesanco, everyone wanted us to stay in Azofra as we would be going 2km from The Way and there was a festival in Alesanco…it would be very crowded…this was all true but we had reservations and so we walked a little more! Listened to a marching band and saw parts of the parade…met our hostess as we were walking to her casa…no English but very welcoming and kissed us both on each cheek! Enjoyed a relaxing evening as it rained outside

Ventosa; Day 11; 22.8 km/13.6 miles

We strolled a nice uphill grade to Ventosa…saw beautiful swans with cygnets; talked with lots of pilgrims again from all over the world! Having paella for dinner!

Another predawn presented many surprises! Here they are!

We think that it’s very true that you drink a lot of wine as you work your way thru the El Camino…or beer if that’s your preference! Anyhoo, enjoy these photos! Buen Camino!

I didn’t mention Muruzábal distance; Day 6; 19.8 km/12.7 miles

Lorca; 21 km/13 miles

Los Arcos; 31.3 km/19.8 miles

Torres del Rio; 7.8 km/ 4.9 miles; recuperating!

We started in the dark for 2 days about 30-45 minutes before sunrise. Generally, we walk/hike for a few hours till we get to a village with a cafe where we stop for cafe con leche, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a tortilla (egg, potato, cheese). Today we started later as we had a short walk. Enjoy the photos! Buen Camino

Along the way, we ran into our Hong Kong friends again !

Soooo…we thought our stop was in a place called Cruce…confirmed rsvp in Pamplona…welll, after taking a lovely, wooded alternate path, when we rejoined, we never got to Cruce (no actual place)…only choice, 8.8 additional km…once we arrived to our actual destination after 12 hours, our room had been given away…eventually a different albergue hospitalera called and found a ‘quasi truck stop ‘ that had a room…taxi got us there…room was nice and shower was hot! Surely an adventure! And, guess what? Debbie’s daughter texted stating about 5 minutes after we left that they called her In Belgium wanting to know if we were still coming! What can we say?…but praises that we had a place!