We are Passed the Half Way Point!!!

It is absolutely incredible. We have reached the halfway point of our journey. Paul and I are enjoying two much needed days of rest in the city of Leon. We are staying within the old quarters, which is filled with tiny streets, lots of outdoor cafes and bars. The large Gothic Cathedral sits on top of the hill of this section of town and just fills the sky. It is huge.

The above graph was written while we were enjoying a two day rest in Leon. I then spent another hour writing down a lot of descriptions of our trip. As I went to post, it vanished into the ether. Since the locutorio was closing and it was time for dinner, the post was lost until today. I shall try to recreate our impressions, but it is so difficult to remember the many images and impressions of this glorious trip. Suffice to say that it has been one of the most amazing experience we have both shared.

I just re-read what I had posted previously, so to update...last time I posted, we were in Santo Domingo de la Calzado splurging at the Parador. It was a beautiful state run 4-star hotel that used to be a pilgrim hospital and way station that was just spectacular. It is reported that St. Francis of Assisi passed and stayed there on one of his many journeys. My strongest image is of sitting on the bidet in the beautiful marble bathroom handwashing clothes in the tub.
In all these small villages, Paul and I enjoy arriving, washing off all the dust from the day´s journey and heading to the plaza for a cool drink. I think it is our favorite time of day. Paul says any future vacation, doing the same thing will pale in comparison after this trip because we won´t feel like we earned that drink! We definitely find it to be so enjoyable and relaxing after a hard day´s ride.
At this point in our journey, we started traveling on the camino itself, often a dusty backroad filled with stones and rocks. It makes the traveling more challenging, but we have also started seeing more and more peregrinos (pilgrims). Most of them are walking, but we have also started meeting others who are biking like we were. As Paul is in better shape, he tends to ride on up ahead and it´s nice to travel where there are others. This is helpful especially when I´ve had trouble with my bike. Leaving Santo Domingo, I stopped because I had dropped my ring. Of course, my bike fell over. After I picked it up, something was wrong and I couldn´t get it moving. As I was fiddling with it, two young men stopped and asked to help. They determined that the brake lines were all messed up and had frozen the brake on the wheel. The problem was quickly fixed. It turns out they were Brazilian and also biking the Camino. They rode up ahead and told Paul and I soon caught up.
There are many nationalities along the camino. We have met people from Holland, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Japan as well as many French and Spaniards. It is fun to stop and try to chat with people, most of whom speak very little English or Spanish. Most of the time, it becomes a wave of the hand and a "Buen Camino".
During this part of the journey, Paul and I had a miscommunication that caused us to get separated....he kept on going up the hill, I thought he was waiting for me in the next village. As I waited down below, he was waiting at the top. I finally started pushing my bike up the hill...it was a steep grade with very little shoulder and lots of fast moving trucks. At the start of the climb, there had been an accident earlier in the day...a truck lost control and plowed over the guardrail, spilling its entire load of fruit into a ravine. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about walking 3 kilometers up hill, but the camino path was even more arduous, so up I pushed and I figured Paul and I would connect somewhere. At the top of the hill, the camino path was just off the road so I quickly rode to join the path where I knew I would see people. As I was taking a small break, two Spaniards rode by and stopped to ask if I was okay. I explained I had lost my husband somewhere. One of them looked at me and shrugged and said, ¨that might be a bad thing or it might be a good thing!" That gave me a good chuckle. We started riding down the trail, which was just spectacular. They soon outdistanced me and I traveled down the path alone. As I was passing a walker, he turned and asked in halting English if I was Cristina. He then explained that Paul was up ahead on the trail and would meet me at the next stop. As I rode along several people did the same thing. Paul and I met up at a tiny little way station with a bar. He determined that while I was waiting for an hour at the bottom of the hill, he was waiting at the top. In any case, all ended well with a quick beer.
Our journey´s end for the day was in Burgos, a wonderful city that we had visited before. On our way into the city, we met up with the Brazilians again and traveled together. They liked to chat with us, which Paul and I found funny because we told them we didn´t understand Portuguese. That didn´t faze them in the least. They kept right on talking...in Portuquese. Somehow, we found our way to the center of town. Paul wanted to by them a beer but they were going further on. Perhaps we´ll see them in route to Santiago.
After our miserable second day, traveling could not have been any better. The winds were at our backs, it was terrific cycling weather...cool enough but not too cold. As we left Burgos, the scenery started changing. The verdant wheat fields waving as the wind whispered on them started turning amber and honey-colored, the ground ochre and rust-colored. The hills started to vanish and everything flattened out. Because the riding was so good, we changed our plans. Instead of taking three days to reach Leon, we did it in two. We spent two days covering more than 200 kilometers.
Our midpoint to Leon was a tiny little town called Carrion de los Condes. There were ran into another couple we had been passing on the road, Juana and Antonio. They were a lovely spanish couple who was doing the camino for the second time. The first time, they did the route called the Via de Plata (or the Silver Route) which comes up from the south. They started their journey some 500 kilometers before Paul and I did and were mountain biking the entire camino. That night in Carrion, we shared a wonderful dinner of local specialties and great bottle of wine. After dinner there was a small argument because they insisted on paying for dinner. Paul and I argued to no avail. We asked them to join us in Leon for dinner, our treat. Juana said we should not feel obligated to return the favor. I explained it was their obligation to allow us to entertain them. Unfortunately, we did not see them once we got to Leon, but we hope to somewhere along the road to Santiago.

In Leon, we spent a much needed day of rest. It was nice to be able to sleep in and not have to jump on a bike. On our first night, we shared dinner with two American couples we also spent time with in Burgos. Paul had been sharing emails with Charles regarding our journey and we found we would be along the path at the same time. Charles was traveling with his companion, Anna, and friends Dwayne and Mina, who were on their honeymoon! The next night, Paul and I had the most wonderful dinner in a little plaza in the old gothic quarter of Leon. As hard as we try, we never seem to be able to start our dinner before 9:00 at night. Rested up, we left Leon with the realization that we were starting our most challenging part of the journey.
As we left Leon, the amber fields started to change to back to rolling hills that were untilled. The wind was not so favorable and the heat was starting to rise. The day´s journey was shorter than previous days but definitely starting to get more challenging as the road started to climb. Many of the people we started our day with finished in Astorga, but Paul and I pushed on to Rabanal del Camino, a very tiny village at the base of our first long climb into Galicia.
We continue to be amazed that people actually live in some of these villages. Many of the houses look abandoned or on the verge of collapse and right next to them, you will find a home that looks lovingly cared for with a new door and flowing flower pots on the balcony.
Rabanal del Camino is a very tiny village with not much more than two hotels and a hostel for Pilgrims. It is very easy to see how it is a way station along the way for pilgrims. The first set of mountains looms over the village. Our hotel was quite striking, but it seemed almost cruel that after a long day of climbing, our room was on the third floor, with no elevator. Once we got to our room, we discovered that it right under the roof and we had to watch our heads or we would bump them into the sloping ceiling.
This morning, we started our first challenging climb up the mountain. The tilled fields are no more and instead, there is lots of scrub brush and wizened trees covered with lichen. I gave Paul permission to head to the top, I would get there when I could. Off he went with a group of other cyclists to the top of the mountain. I, in turn, took my time up the road. There were many pilgrims who left from Rabanal that morning and I passed them on the road. I stopped to walk with an older German woman we met the day before. This was her second time walking the camino. She said the experience was much different this time because her chakras were in orange and red and that meant she was much more grounded. I just found it amazing that she would walk it twice!
The ascent was gradual so I was able to ride up almost the entire way, which surprised me. Paul discovered once again that he had bike trouble. For the second time, he had broken a spoke and his brake had been rubbing the wheel the entire time up. Because we were headed down, he didn´t want to fiddle with the brake, but definitely needed to have it fixed before our really big climb tomorrow.
At the top, we spent time enjoying the view and a rather post with an iron cross at the top. Tradition has it that you leave rocks at the base of the cross with your names or wishes for good luck. Paul and I left four sandstones with Jack, Leigh, Tom and Peter´s names etched into them. After a few pictures, we heade down the mountain. Many people urged caution as the descent was steep and winding.
After the hard climb, it was exhilirating to fly down the mountain. We stopped along the way to take lots of pictures, the scenery was just breath-taking. We passed through some more beautiful villages, stopped for a beer and a snack and finally ended our trip in Villafrance del Bierzo. It´s a beautiful village at the base of our next climb. It reminds me almost of a swiss village. Many of the houses look like chalets. Right on schedule we arrived in time to shower and head down to the plaza for some cool refreshments. Tomorrow could be a challenge, it´s an 11 kilometer climb. Hopefully, at the end of the day´s journey, I´ll find a ciber-cafe so I can post again. Until then,

Cristina and Paul