This is where we stayed last night 😊

Mum found this on TripAdvisor. We turned out to be the only guests but the room was delightful, dinner was lovely and we had a great chat with the lady who ran it. Her parents had bought an old derelict priest house and had converted it with some degree of taste to a very pleasant three star hotel. It had only seven rooms in total so income was always going to be limited. She very much depended on the pilgrims passing through as did the rest of the village which boasted a total permanent population of less than 80 souls, a church and a very small shop.

We needed some tomatoes and fruit to go with the serrano ham and bread purchased yesterday for lunch on the 25km route to tonight’s albergue. The first possible village was 19km into the walk. We always carry chocolate, nuts and figs but a decent sandwich is always welcome.

The little shop was packed with peregrinos, four Germans, a chap from Malta, another from Australia, three kids, two local elderly ladies and two local elderly gentleman. Plus mum. The little chap serving was quite overwhelmed and it was 30 minutes or so before mum emerged clutching two huge tomatoes, an enormous pear and two very large oranges. See below ☺️.

We didn’t set out until after breakfast and only finally left the village at 9 o’clock, roughly three hours later than our normal time. For the first 19km we saw nobody, the first time on the Camino that’s happened. Normally there are pilgrims in the distance ahead of us, others behind us but today, no-one. Utterly peaceful, warm walking under a pale blue sky with snow capped mountains framing the horizon on our right hand side.

There are usually spots beside most paths where it’s possible to sit and eat but today was different. Eventually we decided to simply lay out our lunch in the middle of a concrete bridge running over a small stream.

I chose what I thought was a very recyclable option and tossed the peel off the oranges into the stream only to find that the relatively small force of the little weir was sufficient to keep them bobbing up under the bridge

They’ll disappear eventually, hopefully by the time the next pilgrim passes over the bridge 😉.

The albergue that we’re staying in is pleasant. Mum and I have been given top bunks in a small room with 5 bunk beds and 10 pilgrims in it. Nine are middle aged women and then there’s me 🤔. Mum snores but apparently I no longer raise the rooftops these days. We’ll see if there are any comments in the morning.

We’ve showered, given our smelly clothes to the nice man who does laundry and we’ve popped out looking for food. Sadly there’s nothing open until 7:30 so mum is reading and I’m writing in a small plaza in the town.

It’s nearly 6 o’clock here so not much longer to wait. Once we’ve eaten we’ll return to the albergue to read quietly on our bunks. I’ve no doubt that we’ll be asleep around 10 o’clock and ready for the relatively short walk into Leon in the morning where we’ll meet up with Tom and Juanita.

Buen Camino