Burgos to Santiago / Camino Frances

  Across the Eiffel (yup, that Eiffel)  Bridge aka "the friendship bridge" from Portugal back to Spain  Leaving Portugal Arriving in Spain Update: Eiffel Bridge  The actual Eiffel Bridge, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is in Porto, where I started the Camino Portuguese. I was misinformed that the bridge at the beginning of this post was designed by Eiffel. It was not. It is, however, known as "the friendship bridge." That part was accurate.

  Breakfast at the Casa with friends met the evening before Dries, from Belgium, is half-owner of Casa Alternativo  Otto, the other half-owner, was born at Casa Alternativo 7 years ago, just after it opened  Dries has such a unique story. His father told him to walk his first Camino. It was a disaster; walking over the Pyrenees Mountains in pouring rain with no rain gear, someone snoring so loud at his first Alburgue that he slept in the bathroom. And then, someone gave him a bowl of delicious soup that warmed him, and with that gesture of kindness he never stopped walking. Many Caminos later he was working 1/2 year at an albergue. Walking until he was penniless the other half of the year. At one point he began to feel driven to begin to look for a place of his own to open for pilgrims to stay. He would walk the neighborhood of Os Eidos, Spain, because there were no Alburgues near. One day, a ninety year old neighbor pointed to property where a house was being built to be...

                                         For Declan This tractor made me think of you on your tractor, Decky 

 Yesterday my start was in Agualonga in a warm and comfortable albergue  Bota Rota That had a little black cat named Kali I was using Camino Ninja for the list of cities along the way and Wise Pilgrim for the GPS signal so I would know my location on the walk. The towns I would walk through to get to my ultimate destination of Valença (listed by Camino Ninja): O km Agualonga  0.8 km      Sào Roque 1.7 km      Rubiàes  6.5 km      Cossourado 9.7 km      Fontura 11.8 km    Paços 13.5 km   Pedreira 17.0 km   Cristélo Cóvo 18.4 km   Valença The day in pictures began like this: Agualonga  The river Coura in frame  Rubiàes   Me in frame Cossourado Tree in frame Fontura Jesus in frame I usually never take pictures of Jesus, but this struck me because it was "framed" and I wanted "frames" to be the theme of my blog when I finished my walk today. When I got ...

None of these folks were the devil Walking out of Pointe de Lima this morning there was this man (center) known all along the Camino Portuguese. He stamps your credential then has you write in chalk what number pilgrim you are (I was pilgrim 45,087) and he ceremoniously rings a bell to mark the event.  This is the number of pilgrims he has greeted since  2021, when he began counting. He remembers the day he began, that it was a Saturday in August and there was a wedding and the whole wedding party walked past him that day Shortly after our encounter a walk through the park  across the (partially Roman) Ponte do Arco de Geia bridge over the river Labruja  and into the countryside  Today is considered one of the most difficult climbs on the Portuguese. You know it's gonna be steep and then you find out it's gonna be rocky and when the arrow points up, which it almost never does, you know something strenuous is coming That's when you meet the devil But, nah, you sa...

In a very nice municipal albergue tonight just 5 euros a night to stay 12 people in a room. The good news, in a hot room, my bed is right next to the one window that opens  Not as good news is right outside that window is a bell tower that chimes on the half-hour and on the hour A fellow traveler gave me these earplugs to help make all things better I thought the small surprise was the bell tower next to the albergue ringing all night. The actual surprise is that the bells turned off for the entire night right after I took the video of them ringing! Peaceful night, nice surprise!

 Today stopping in Portela de Tamel, tomorrow Pointe de Lima. When walking earlier today, just as I decided that I wanted the title of this blog today to be "kindness," I turned the corner to see this painting on the side of a building The gathering question today was: "What has walking changed in you in your life?" My answer this morning was that it has increased my faith in humanity. I've always known that people help others in dire situations (hurricanes, etc) but something about walking has confirmed what I suspected all along that people are wonderful. The people that I have met that have walked many Camino's seem to exude this humanity.  One woman from Sweden in the last Donativo told me that she thought if only more people walked we would care more for one another. So, I thought that I would share a couple of stories but there are so many more. Jaball, a personable man who grabbed Mando and quickly let him go and said "maybe I shouldn't do th...