The wine and fish trail - Galicia ,Spain

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Well, this has been one of my toughest years, and I’ve had one or two in my life. Whilst getting ready to walk the Camino Norte, and only two weeks away from starting, I found out that although I had no pain, I found out that both my knees were shot and had to be replaced.

Stage one,,, find the surgeon with the best reputation (mistake one ), get surgery (mistake two)

To cut a long story short, I’ve had 5 knees by two surgeons in 12 months, have not played any sports activity for about 18 months and I’m losing my mind. Never the less, I feel like I’m ready to gamble a bit and see if I can do this walk of 103 miles in 7 days through northern Spain.

If you I’ve seen an X-ray of a new knee, its a small titanium cap on the end of each leg bone, after all the nonsense, these are mine

And you know what’s so sad, they don’t set off the metal detector at the airport, I was looking forward to that


So grateful that I’m walking with my girlfriend Kimberly, and Bill and Paddy who are best friends from Colorado and pilgrims I’ve walked with before

FINGERS CROSSED

Was thinking about buying a new backpack for this trip, but couldn’t do it. Leonard, my trusty old pack that’s walked with me every step of the way that I’ve back packed, may be getting a little used up but I’d feel like a real orphan if I left him behind, so its onwards and upwards with old technology.

Kim has purchased a new lightweight pack, looks like a nice mid weight pack and well constructed, so well will see how it goes.

 The Wine and Fish Trail is a 103 mile trail in the province of Galicia, Spain.

It starts just outside of Legronio, a town I’ve walked through twice already whilst doing the Camino Frances,  instead of walking West on the Camino, we start in the small town of Oyon and walk north towards the Spanish coast. We will be hiking through the Rioja Region of the Basque Country , over the Cantabrian Mountains, through the Okina Gorge, and finishing in the Baque port of Bremeo on the Bay of Biscay.

Oyon, the starting point of this 7 day hike

What’s so important about this region during a time of mass tourism in Spain, is it remains authentic and little known.

La Rioja is obviously well known for its wine. There are over 500 small wineries in this region, and dotted along the 103 miles of the trail, are 80 of them that can be visited,,,YAY.

Apparently, there are approximately 45 wineries on the first day of walking. The route was established centuries  ago, in order to facilitate commerce in the region, the traders would use slow ox drawn carts to ferry salted fish and other sea food from the coast to the interior, then return with wine from the valleys to the coast.

I’m looking forward to seeing the limestone formations of urkiola as we wind through the Forests of beech and also Alder forests and into the town of Durango.

The climate should become more Mediterranean as we work through the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, ending at the northern coastal port village of Bermeo.

This region has a significant amount of cultural and historical value, so I think it’s going to be super interesting

Having hiked so much of Spain in the Past, I know we are in for a treat when it comes to the food as well, can’t wait.,

On our way to catch “THE FRIENDLY SKIES”.





















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