Belorado

It has been a few days since my last post, I have covered a lot of ground in the last few days and am now in Belorado.  Since my last post from Viana I have met a number of interesting people, stayed in some nice places and one dump.  It continues to be much busier out here than most of the people I have spoken to anticipated and I fear that the Camino may fall victim to it's own success.  I have had a number of days where I have done either a little more than 30 km or just under and my body is generally holding up, I have some aches but that is to be expected, I am currently a full day ahead of the "schedule", not from any plan or design that is just e way the Camino has unfolded thus far.

Certainly one of the highlights are the people you meet, I have met people from many different countries, in Viana I had dinner with a Swiss and an Italian, the next night it was two Canadians, a Swiss, two from Ireland, one Finnish and one Swedish.  Last night it was dinner with the Germans and the Hungarians, tonight is anyone's guess.

Since my last post the walking has been spectacular for a couple of the days in particular. Several days ago I entered the wine country of Rioja, it was spectacular to walk, largely for two full days through the wine country, surrounded by grape vines and yea, sampling the odd one for quality control.

As I move through the country the landscape constantly changes, as we passed through the end of wine country yesterday the landscape has given way to beets, lots of rolling grasslands, a little more desolate with vast vistas.  I will Try to post some pictures to describe it but it is really hard to do justice with a camera to what you see and feel when walking.

The little towns continue to be fascinating, most with large churches as impressive and in most cases even more impressive than our own Christ Church Cathedral at home, and of course these ones are all much older.  The villages have so much character, it really is quite fascinating.  There is not a lot of time for sightseeing, the walking is pretty consuming, but there is time to stop for a coffee, to rest the legs and to appreciate the surroundings.

Until next time

Grape vines are everywhere in Rioja

And the path goes on, and on, and on

Wide open spaces

The church at the entrance to Belorado 

Downtown Belorado

I had a bottle of the 2007 reserva from here, it was fabulous, would be wonderful if one of my clever kids could see if we have it in Canada, would be nice for when I get home 

Just another pretty village on The Way