Leon Lives Up to Burgos!

September 5, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / 2 Comments

Well Leon had what it takes to compete with the beautifulness (is that a word?) of Burgos! While not quite as movie set / Disneyland Main Street in its perfection, the sights of central Leon are definitely something to see.

We started our day of Leon with another one of those amazing 7euros breakfast deals and then a quick taxi down to the centre.

Right from the taxi ride it was fun. Our driver was going down little side streets and alleys that we were sure no car was meant to be on or anyone but the locals knew about. Then ‘bam’ there we were right in from of the cathedral. I felt like we were on a special making of the next Italian Job movie.

The cathedral of Leon is awe inspiring. It has the most stain glass of any cathedral in Spain and I feel like I read maybe even in Europe. There is in fact more glass ‘wall’ than stone wall in the place – might explain a few collapses 100s of years ago. Just saying. But I am no architect.

Here is the outside of this amazing cathedral:

Amazing right!? And that’s only some of my way too many photos which I will clearly need to pare down before scrap booking when I get home. Well now check out the inside:

For 5euros you have almost the run of the place. You can sit in the pews, take photos, get the audio little things and listen to the cathedral’s history, and really take your time absorbing the place. And wow are your first steps inside impressive – the initial first view may or may not have resulted in one of us uttering holy ‘poop’ in a church! Oops and yikes!

After our tour of the cathedral, we set out to walk about and take in the rest of the old central part of Leon – the palace, other churches, Gaudi’s works and more. Here are just some of the highlights:

Shortly after asking this rather unhelpful guy for directions …

We decided to check out the eat and drink highlights of Leon. A pint at El Topo first, a quaint restaurant outside the cathedral that we just loved the look and feel of. We later returned to this very place for a coffee. They had wifi and every time you ordered a drink (alcoholic or coffee or whatever) you got some tapas. That was our lunch! Deal!

Around 6pm, we finally toasted to a great time in Leon with a final Amstel Radler pint (cervaza con limon) at a place called Ginger. Because well we also loved the look of this pub and the tables and chairs were siting right in the sun which we love too.

By 7pm we were back at the hotel packing up and getting ready for our 5am train this morning which will take us over to Sarria in 4hours where we begin to walk again, a 22km jaunt today.

But first we had dinner … a red from the Rioja region (thanks Lana for the intro to this amazing Spanish wine region) opened with a cheap plastic hotel corkscrew, salad out of a bag, meat we opened with our first-aid kit scissors, all served on a city map of Leon as our placemat / cutting board / plate.

All in all, Leon was a total hit!

Brande

Bye Bye Burgos, Hello Leon

September 4, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / Leave a comment

Well sadly all good things must come to an end … and our time in beautiful Burgos did just that yesterday afternoon.

We had a 15:25 train from Burgos to our next sight seeing / break from walking day in Leon this time. We were primed to make the best of our amazing treat hotel and city though for the morning before departing.

To kick things off, we enjoyed quite thoroughly a breakfast for kings! The breaky buffet at the hotel was 7euros and check out our feast below. Crazy to think this is what we can get for 7euros in one place, but only get a piece of toast with jam and coffee or juice in another place for 5euros. We will be keeping our eyes open for deals like this from here on! Big breaky means skip lunch means save money!

After we stuffed ourselves quite completely. We put our packs in the left luggage room and ventured the old city again.

We headed in the direction of the massive chapel and came upon some stone stairs heading up to a hill above the city with a sign marked Castillo (castle) – ok! Slowly, being mindful this was a tourist day not a hump it up hills day, we made it up and up to a birds eye view of the city streets we had walked the night before. Here are a few of the pics up to and from the castle heights:

From up here for the first time we heard the Sunday bells from the massive chapel – wow is about all I can say to describe them. They are rung for 15mins every hour on Sundays and are just amazing. Like give you goose bumps amazing. From up high they sounded so smooth and combined but then from close to the cathedral you could pick out each individual bell. Depending where you stood in the plaza they sounded different again. The echo of the bells off the high buildings and stone was making a few dogs in town a little crazy. One poor pouch was going in circles barking trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Hilarious. I posted a video recording of the bells on my Instagram @brandedavison if you want to hear them.

We could not resist a few more pics of the cathedral and plaza in the morning light as we walked around the area enjoying the bells:

Finally we enjoyed our last Burgos cafe con leche (coffee with milk) outside of our amazing hotel:

We made our way by bus #25 from Plaza de Espana over to the train station and then by train for 2 hours over to Leon. We had a bit of a wait so got some sunshine naps in first!

Before departing we had our final Burgos entertainment … a guy who was a bit sketch and carrying 2 backpacks was told by security to exit the train station as he did not have a ticket. Well wouldn’t you know it as soon as our train pulled in, the sketch guy dropped one bag and went barreling for the nearest open train door – knocking the poor ole security guard down and almost between the train and the platform in the process. Sketch guy hid somewhere in the train and they could not find him. So he did end up getting the free ride to Leon he was looking for in the first place. Gong show!

Any who, the train trip itself was a really nice way to see the landscape change from green Burgos to dry Leon. We left the chilly wind, humidity, high of 21C in Burgos and stepped of the train into the dry heat of 34C of Leon. We were happy to leave that oppressive, soggy humidity behind.

We are super excited to explore Leon today. Will it stand up to Burgos? The bar is set pretty high!! Stay tuned to find out …

Brande

101, 22, 21, 13, 7 and 15

September 2, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / Leave a comment

Another beautiful day on the Camino complete here in Spain yesterday!

And nope the title of this blog post is not lottery numbers (well I guess they could be if you were so inclined). Rather they are the # of pilgrims passed on the route yesterday, the # of kilometres walked and the temp yesterday, the # of locals passed on the route and the # of snails who crossed my path yesterday, and the # of big bites I have that we are still trying to find the source of.

All in all, I am just glad none of those snails passed ME! Oh goodness that reminds me of Lana joking on the first day (the brutal uphill trial by Camino fire) that she was slow up the hills and some slug was like ‘hey passing on the left’ as it “sped” past her. Ha ha! A laugh we needed so bad at that exact moment.

Any who, the route yesterday was from Puenta La Reina to Estella, 22kms or 42,137 Fitbit steps and it was meant to be an easy no incline / no decline stroll from the elevation map. That was not exactly true. There were some serious hump it up and up and up spots in my mind. Granted my legs are feeling these 20+km days so I may just be fatigued and those hills were but mere speed bumps to the average pilgrim.

The day started with this amazing view of Puenta La Reina (Lana took this amazing pic):

And continued with the amazing beauty this path offers! Some highlights of the route were:

Making it to Estella for 1pm made for an awesome afternoon and evening. Lana and I hit up a pub in a busy plaza (the classic European square) for a Spanish spin on Radler Beer and some raciones (like tapas but not called tapas here in this region). Cheese ball things, baked bacon of sorts and some kind of cheeseburger slider thingy. Mmmm

Then headed up (another darn hill!) to our albergue to chill and do some laundry. With only one maybe two of everything like shirts and such you do as much laundry as walking it seems! Once the laundry was done, we did a freshen up and headed back down to town for some groceries.

After a grocery shop, a pharmacy stop for some cream for my bug bites (?), we accidentally also got a pizza for dinner … we ordered a delicious soft goat cheese with tomatoes and arugula pizza and a ceasar salad but ended up with a ceasar pizza of sorts. Looks like I should have practiced my Spanish a bit more. It worked out though. While scary in concept the pizza was actually amazing in taste!

Full and happy, I loaded up on allergy pills and allergy cream to try and get these bug bites or hives or something at bay so I could get some sleep. So itchy and sore! What a sleep it was, we had our own little twin bed room again and it was awesome! Snore galore!

Today we are up and at em heading for a tourist day in Burgos. But first a bus to Pamplona then a train to get there. Yahoo a no walking day – our feet are thankful!

Brande

One Bridge Too Far

September 1, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / Leave a comment

Yesterday was another great day on the Camino for this duo. We walked from Pamplona to Puenta La Reina which is just over 23km or 39,289 Fitbit steps.

Our day started as usual it seems with poor sleep, too many pilgrim body sounds recalled from the night prior, some white toast and jam and very strong coffee. The life of these pilgrims so far but we are still loving it!

We left our humble abode at 8:15am and commenced the day with a 5km walk though Pamplona. Along the way we had our cameras ready to capture a few sights:

When we hit the next town Cizur Menor we had already added another stamp to our Pilgrim Passport (thank you Universidad de Navarre), discovered how amazing and light you feel switching from boots to runners, and had a few laughs. Not bad for 5km!

When we hit a section of path that required boots, we would take a welcome break and switch them up. We were light as feathers with our sneakers – ok not really light with our packs still on but that’s what we kept telling ourselves. Especially after we ate our bananas about mid morning and further lightened our load.

Around 930 or so the proof of the ‘there is a big climb after Puenta La Reina’ came into view. This was all the talk at the albergue (hostel) and we were a bit confused. Sure the elevation map looked like we had a high blip but so much talk was a bit much especially when you compare anything to the climb of day one. As came around a bend in Cizor Menor we saw the windmill hill we were going up and over. It was a good one for sure and worth some pilgrim chatter but nothing these two pilgrims couldn’t handle.

Up and up we went over some amazing trail, largely across or beside farmer’s fields. Many that were wheat already harvested but some were all sunflowers. Had we walked maybe a few weeks ago I think it would have been a sea of yellow but by end of August, the sunflowers were scorched from the sun and not quite as picturesque. I felt for them – I was feeling the same way in the hot Spanish sun!

The highlight was coming over the ridge to find one of the most photographed pilgrim monuments on the Camino. We were pretty high up at this point (about 900m) as high as we had to climb that day. The wind was harsh and the wind turbines were all around us loud and looming. Once in a while you had to brace agains a gust of wind. But this did not prevent a photo opportunity for us gals! Including a reenactment of my favourite part of the movie, The Way. If you have see it, you will know instantly this scene. If you haven’t seen it, it’s amazing and you should!

The afternoon was down hill literally for the most part with some small ups – but generally easy walking and the weather continued to hold off any rain and give us long pockets of sunshine!

Mid afternoon when the tummies where grumbling for chow we stopped in for a couple of coffees in a town called Uterga. Well it turned into a massive lunch (I finally got some eggs and served with fries, come on! yahoo!) and a small ice cold cervaza. Mmmm

We walked the last 6km into Puenta La Reina maybe a little slower after that amazing meal but it was fun all the same! As we came through towns we took some pics and as we came by churches I took a peek inside. They are a welcome break from the heat and give you a peace boost!

Following a short back track (couple blocks) as I read the map wrong we were at our albergue. This is my second time in a week messing the map – not bad for being tired in mind and body and distracted and excited by all the new stuff around me. Not sure our feet agree lol

An evening of showers, journaling on the amazing terrace in the evening sun, a cold pint and some pilgrim’s food wrapped up the day for us.

We have a twin room tonight – so just me and Lana in our little individual twin beds with an amazing little balcony. So we will get much needed sleep (that’s so exciting I may not sleep) and a chance to air our ‘smelling like backpack’ clothes in the evening breeze.

Another amazing day on the Camino.

Buen Camino!
Brande

Running of the Pilgrims

August 31, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / 2 Comments

Yesterday we walked from Zubiri to Pamplona. A wonderful walk with some tough inclines, some veritable death trap declines and some easy strolls over 21km (37,865 steps). Just enough trail variation to keep you guessing what would be around the corner.

We began our day at 545am which you would think is early but so far is about the time we have been laying in bed waiting from the rest of the dorm to wake up so we could make an exit without waking everyone. I don’t think we are on the right time zone yet OR maybe going to bed by 9pm dog tired has something to do with it OR maybe listening to everyone snore all night makes you wanna just get the hell outta there!

By 615am I was down in the hostel living room working on a blog post and by 645 Lana and I were enjoying our breakfast. Breaky was included with the bed cost and it was, to be blunt, a disappointment but not at all surprising … basically a piece of very hard toast, jam (a choice of strawberry or peach), margarine, coffee or tea, and juice. Our albergue, Hazel Sticks, also included cafeteria fruit cocktail and some cornflakes. Oh and everyone got a piece of cake. Again I ask, where is this famous Spanish egg and potato omelet I keep hearing about!? Oh or maybe the churro with chocolate treat others fav for breaky?

Once breakfast wrapped up, we finished getting ready, published a blog post for you all, I filled water bladder and we were on our way. See yah Hazel Sticks of Zubiri and bring on Pamplona!

Our day started nice and easy. Lots of adjustments to make to boots and socks but we made great time. Passing town by town hoping to make it to Pamplona before the rain which was looming in the forecast and the sky began.

A quick highlight reel via photo for you:

Today we didn’t stop into any cafes for coffee and instead enjoyed our lunch in Irotz about half way and sat on a half stone wall in the amazing sunshine while we gave our bodies a break from our packs and our feet a break from the trail.

Once rested up a bit and bellies full, we were on our way again. The afternoon included a tough slog up and that don’t get any easier as the sun gets hotter. We were at 28C in the afternoon. Hot for sure but I was happy to be putting on sunscreen not my rain jacket.

Afternoon highlight reel:

Well the last 5+km were tough for sure – as great as Pamplona is there is just something exhausting about walking through a city compared to the country trail. There are benefits though I will admit! Like switching from boots to sneakers and being distracted by the sights and all you wanna capture on camera!

Just a few of the pics from Pamplona for you:

Yes that last one is from an awesome candy store and yes I may have added just a wee bit of weight to my pack in sour gum balls – hey burning that many calories in a day deserves a little pick me up, guilt free!

We enjoyed a yummy dinner that was altogether way to white so had to be followed by some red at the hostel as we wrapped up the day with showers, some social media time and journaling. This is usually when Lana and I sit and laugh our faces off by recalling the antics of the day as we scroll though pics!

By 9pm we were in our space pods and ready for a good night sleep! And I literally mean space pod, look at our beds:

Well that good night sleep was actually worst night sleep. Who knew space pods were also snore and fart amplifiers! A personal body sound speaker! Not ok!

Get me outta here and on the trail to Puenta La Reina!

Brande

The Zubiri Hustle

August 30, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / Leave a comment

Yesterday on the Camino de Santiago we walked from Roncesvalles to Zubiri. A 21.9km (37,779 steps) easy jaunt really when compared to the day prior!

Our day started at about 530am when a number of the pilgrims in our 200 person dorm had their phone alarms go off. Most heard it and turned them off, some perhaps could not hear their alarm over the cacophony of snoring and other sleep noises being made. No matter how early we were up though, Lana and I didn’t have breaky booked till 730 so I laid in bed and listened to my audio book and journaled some. Hard life, right!

At 7am when our bunk mates (a couple from Spain) in the other bunk bed of our 2 bunk bed pod departed, I rolled outta bed. Took my time repacking my pack, getting ready, basically being lazy but was ready to roll for 725. Lana was not too far behind and we made our way down to the first floor (stairs first thing in the morning is always a good pilgrim’s body check) and over to the cafe serving breakfast.

On our way I took a couple early morning pics of our hostel that is part of the massive monastery that is basically the whole of Roncesvalles. A tourist info office and a couple cafes were added to the place or make it a village and to support us pilgrims.

Breakfast is not really an apt description actually – it was one piece of dry toast, butter, peach jam, fake orange juice and a partial coffee with milk. I might need to start carrying around eggs for some protein! I was hoping for those yummy cheese and egg omelette the Spanish traditional breaky calls for! Maybe the next albergue (hostel)?

Following breakfast we hit the path and had an awesome first couple of hours weather wise. Stopped in the next town and got some snacks and apples for our packs and continue on our sunshine way!

We loved the little villages we walked through in the morning and were snapping photos like crazy tourists not pilgrims! Soon though at least for me my camera (aka my iPhone) had to be put away as a massive thunder and lightning storm was rolling in fast!

Not too long after this photo the wind picked up, it got super dark and the rain came down hard. We were tucked into our shell jackets and had our rain covers on our packs and kept strolling. Both of us have green covers for our packs so I feel we look liked a couple Ninja Turtles really both for our agility (haha) and our speed (no jokes). It was pretty awesome to walk head down against the rain and see the sky light up from your peripheral vision and then a huge crack of lighting right after. We stayed close to a lady walking with an umbrella – insurance really that the lighting would hit her not us. Very pilgrim of us!

About an hour later we hit another village and decided a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) was in order in this weather. No kidding by the time I came out of the cafe with the coffees Lana was siting outside in pure sunshine drying out her stuff. The change in weather again was awesome. We both draped our shells and rain covers on chairs, took off a couple layers and relaxed. Best sunshine coffee ever! Now up and on our way again!

A bunch of sunshine walking complete with up hill slogging and treacherous down hill treading and finally some wrangling on perfect paths with awesome conversation we arrived in Zubiri. Our final destination of the day and Hazel Sticks albergue.

After some much needed foot care for Lana and a freshen up, we made our way to the cafe next door and enjoyed a couple of Estella Galicia local delicious beer and some fritas patatas (French fries) served well what must be a local style with ketchup and mayo! Mmm

Today we are just about to head out for a walk into Pamplona – the city made famous by Ernest Hemmingway and the Runnning of the Bulls. So excited!

Brande

The Santiago Slog

August 28, 2017March 12, 2018 / runningforthegate / 2 Comments

Today we walked from Saint Jean Pied de Port France to Ronscevalles Spain covering 23km (or 42,208 steps as per Fitbit).A day of slogging it up and across the Pyrenees Mountains.

We felt every step of this day, let me tell you! But before I get into my aching feet and bones and muscles and well, aching everything – let me tell you about our awesome pilgrim hostel in Saint Jean and a bit more about our actual route and the sights!

We started with a wee breakfast at our hostel La Coquille Napoleon in Saint Jean. We were served orange juice, coffee with milk, baguette, yogurt, butter and jam. I have been off all sugar and any carbs for a while so this was like breakfast of candy for me! Yum! Buzzing! Beyond the yummy breakfast the place was great – interesting but great. When we checked in the night prior we were greeted by 3 chihuahuas, a bunch of chickens, a rooster, 2 cats, a 3 year old boy and the proprietor; a very French man who was incredibly disappointed we were not French Canadians.

Regardless of our unfortunate Canadian-ness he showed us our bunks in the coolest little build-on from their home (12 bunks in a room and only 4 of us staying) then he told us how things should be over a welcome glass of wine .. well rather how he says things will go for us as per him! He was hilariously bossy really – had an answer for everything and spoke only sparing English. He told us we were not to set an alarm he would knock at 7am, we had to walk to Roncesvalles or he would ridicule us (which he literally did to the 2 people staying that were stopping in Orisson before Roncesvalles), that it was daft to book ahead at places to stay, to never eat where you sleep it will ruin your sleep, and no more wifi after last night, etc. We found him quite funny and the place was amazing – if you could get past the cat that was eating on the table next to the chain saw also on the table or his kid trying to hit me with his toys while yelling at me like maybe a dinosaur?! Great place, comfy bed and an awesome story! Recommend!

At 8am we literally walked out his front door and we were on the Route de Napoleon – the road / trail we would be slogging on for the day. We were fresh and excited to get our Camino on!

The route quickly put us in our place! We went from less than 200m altitude to 1,550m and then back down to 950m in a long 8.5 hours. While honestly quite tough we were still so amazed at the view as we climbed higher! Check out my Instagram @brandedavison for some videos!

I was so grateful for two things – beyond the views and the amazing opportunity to be here. 1) the guide book was so bang on with the information on if the route was a road or a trail. I wore my sneakers for the first 5 hours and felt so light and nimble. Then the trail switched to off road and I switched for my boots. My feet were super comfy with the switch and moving my boots to my feet made my pack 3.6lbs lighter at the same time. Just when I needed it!

The day finished with a wretched downhill of 3.6km that was not fun at all – my feet had a pulse, my legs kept giving out but we hung in there and with maybe not smiles but at least pride waltzed into Roncesvalles dusty, sweaty and keen for showers.

We are now out for a congrats pint and then to dinner provided by our Albergue (pilgrim hostel)! It’s a super old monestary that has been refurbished as a hostel. Wow!

Cheers!

Brande

Forgot My Boots

September 8, 2015September 9, 2015 / runningforthegate / Leave a comment

Let me paint a picture of total forgetfulness with moments of awesome – generally centered all around my hiking boots (as so much is these days).

My lovely, amazing, best ever Asolo boots of awesome – finally on my feet on the trail!

An early long-weekend Monday morning (yesterday), the hubby and I are heading out on a hike to enjoy the wonderful mountains Vancouver area has to offer and to get some training in for Mount Kilimanjaro with our friends Doug (and Hudson the Dog) and Scott (a fellow Kili climber).

We have our backpacks packed with water, snacks, med kit, rain gear, about 10-15lbs in books to give us an extra workout (we are training after all), poles, Buff, etc. We are all dressed in our technical hiking gear, and we are on our way to St. Mark’s Summit on Cypress Mountain; about an hour drive from our place. Sipping coffee on the way, chatting about our prep and packing for the big Africa trip and I get this awful sick to my stomach, tummy sinking feeling “Oh crap I forgot my boots”. We are minutes from our destination and I have flip flops or golf shoes in my car and that is it. My amazing, wonderful, so delightful Asolo boots are at home in our front entry whimpering at the insult of being left behind. Noooooo! Doh! Doh! Doh!

I could not be more frustrated. Seldom do I get company on my hikes, and today of all days I have the hubby and a couple friends and the bouncy, loving Hudson Dog coming out on a hike and I mess it all up by forgetting my darn boots. I am livid at myself. I am also oddly mad at my husband for not remembering MY boots. Insert all kinds of grumpy expletives; some horrible self-talk about my own stupidity; some superstitious bull-dooey about it must be a sign that I forgot them for some cosmic purpose; and finally some apologies to the hubby for blaming him for forgetting MY boots. We flip a totally ‘legal’ U-turn and we are on our way home to pick them up. A few text messages later, and our friends are going to head up the trail without us (rightfully so, we would be an hour and a half before being back to the mountain).

Once over my self-loathing crap, swallowing my pride and getting over my embarrassment it ended up being a totally awesome date day! Hubby and I got back to the trail by 10am, set our FitBits, and started our way up St Mark’s Summit at a great pace with some really great conversation. Perhaps this was the cosmic purpose crap I was cycling through on my grumpy go home and get my boots drive.

We liked the terrain right away – lots of areas with roots and rocks to step up and over to keep you entertained. Enough folks on the trail to keep the bears at bay (we hope) and little chance of rain (we also hope) – it was a great hike.

Terrain on St. Mark’s Summit Trail a little muddy but that makes it even more fun.

More of the St. Mark’s Summit trail terrain.

About hour into it or so, I spot these fuzzy ears and a fuzzy tail up ahead – ha ha you thought I was going to say a bear! It was Hudson the bouncy, loving Dog of Doug. We chatted with Doug and Scott for a while on the trail and committed to getting ourselves up and down quickly so we could have a cold one with them at the bottom. Glad we got to see them, and the heckling at my forgetfulness was mostly bearable (they were clearly taking it easy on me but I know this will definitely be brought up in future – what are friends for right?!)

Lance and I continued up the trail for another hour to the summit which sadly had clouded over by the time we got up there but you can imagine how great the view over Howe sound would have been!

The view from the top of St. Mark’s Summit – too cloudy for a great pic but you can imagine how great it would be!

Saint Mark’s Summit sign – found at the top 10,000 steps or 5.5km up to a 1370m elevation.

All in all, we made great time – the trail description advises 11km and 5hrs and we did it 3.5hours without being too rushed on the way up, but definitely picking up our pace on the way down in hopes of meeting up with our friends after. The packs felt good, the technical gear worked perfect and the boots (both Lance’s and mine) were amazing as usual. A good trial for our bodies and our hiking stuff for Kilimanjaro for sure.

Lessons learned … wear my boots on the drive to a hike then I can’t forget them, wear my boots on the plane to Tanzania so I have them for Mount Kilimanjaro, don’t take life too seriously it’s just boots and ‘not the end of the world’ as lovingly noted by my husband during our U-turn, be nicer to myself in my own head, and I absolutely love hiking with my husband and secretly enjoyed having him all to myself for the hike. Tee hee!