Hola First name / pilgrim 👋

👣💙💛💙👣

 

Apologies for the radio silence the last couple of weeks. It turns out I can't produce these emails on my phone 🤦‍♀️

 

But today finds me back at my desk after my latest Caminos and what an adventure they were!

The Camino Lebaniego was first and was a beautiful route heading from San Vicente de la Barquera on the North coast inland to Santo Toribio Monastery (near Potes) with the backdrop of the Picos de Europa.

 

I met a lovely bunch of, surprisingly,  all Spanish pilgrims and we had a fun time together, sharing the joys and difficulties of this challenging Camino. It was a tough one for me. The heat and ups and downs weren't easy!

 

I did just under 75km with 2,220m ascent and 2,000m descent over 4 days. You can do it faster, but I would recommend getting to Potes in 3 days and then taking a day to enjoy Potes and visit the Monastery - the mass is at noon every day.

 

We were blessed at the mass to meet the Pope and got to kiss the Lignum Cross in Santo Toribio, which kind of blew me away.

 

I'm not religious, as such, but seeing a cross made from the wood of the cross Jesus was crucified on was pretty amazing, and emotional.

Then I headed out solo on the Camino Vadiniense, which was very different.

 

It heads further into the mountains up to 1,800m, which is a physical challenge, but for me the most difficult parts were;

 

➡️ the lack of infrastructure for pilgrims…

I love an albergue where I can chat with other pilgrims - places to stay with tourists just aren't the same and are a lot more expensive. The last 2 nights had albergues and one was also on the Olvidado route so I met 6 other Pilgrims and that was fabulous 😀

 

➡️ the fact the route is in the mountains and isn't very well known…

There are many working farms (I had 3 pretty scary encounters with large loose dogs - understandably as they are protecting livestock from bears and wolves) and it also isn't well marked (you really need an offline map 🗺️ for this one!).

 

I chatted to Goyo from the local Association in the albergue in Cistierna and he told me the local council have just approved 2 new municipal albergues in Portilla de la Reina and Riaño which will make a massive difference in the future - Great news and I would highly recommend waiting for these before heading out on this Camino.

There were many aspects of it I loved too;

 

➡️ A lovely solitary route - great for some reflection and inner work

➡️ The scenery is stunning, from mountains to big reservoirs and old Roman roads

➡️ There are places to stay and stop and eat - I highly recommend booking in advance for this one as they can get booked up with tourists. 

➡️ I bumped into Klaus, who I met on the Camino del Norte in 2021. So lovely that the Camino brought us together again (in a random tiny albergue in the middle of nowhere) as well as another pilgrim from Alaska - I feel we will meet again one day!

 

Has this whet your appetite for these Caminos?

There is much more about my thoughts for what to consider in terms of preparation in my book, which you can find out more about below