Today’s pictures can be viewed here. Today’s prayer intentions: Mark Revord personal intentions.

Today (October 7th) we have a 14 mile walk ahead of us to Belorado. We had some difficulty finding coffee this morning which explains why our morning selfie was a little grumpy….

It’s amazing to be walking over roads and bridges with such historic significance. As we leave this city we see a statue dedicated to Saint Domingo de la Calzada and a plaque noting the bridge being built in the 11th century along with the successive updates since then. The bridge is a symbol of the city connecting the roads of the camino.. serving the pilgrims on their way to Santiago.

Today was a bit of a challenge. Even though we had many flat areas of walking, we also had over 1200 ft of incline. This was not so much many direct vertical climbs… but rather the entire walk is uphill and you can certainly feel it.

Today the church celebrates Our Lady of the Rosary and we prayed multiple rosaries on this walk which was a great assistance to put us mentally and spiritually where we needed to be.

Our first stop of the day is the town of Grañón which is about 5 miles from our start. We climbed the stairs into the little town center to find a mobile food truck and had some more Cafe Con leche, juices, and a little snack. The day was already taking its toll on us as you can see from the amount of sweat!

After being refreshed for a little while we continued down and found the local parish Church which was open. We stopped in to spend a moment with Jesus truly present in the Tabernacle and took in the beautiful architecture and the stained glass window in the choir loft denoting the pilgrim.

The architecture even in these local parishes is so beautiful with such simple beauty, contrasted against the magnificent altar with statues and images that tell the history of the gospel and local saints. This is the church of Saint John the Baptist built between the 14th and 18th century.

As we walked into Viloria de Rioja, we filled up our water bottles at a local fountain which surprisingly had goldfish swimming in the pond area. We then found a local hostel which is privately owned and run by a couple, Mariaje and Toni. We were able to take a break, get a drink and a small snack and found that they run this hostel completely on donations. Toni was preparing a large pan to cook some paella for the night’s dinner with the pilgrims. The thought of it made me wish we didn’t have to walk on…

Our evening in Belorado we spent walking around trying to find somewhere that was offering more than bar food with anchovies. Thankfully our go-to meal is always to find a local grocery store, and with a loaf of baguette bread, tomatoes and red peppers and some cheese…. we make our own restaurant wherever we are.

Until tomorrow….. Buen Camino 🙏❤️