We awoke with the alarm at 6:30 a.m. having booked breakfast for 7 o’clock. Still sleepy we made our way down to what turned out to be a decent buffet breakfast before setting out at 8:15. (Tom isn’t the fastest starter 😟).

As you can see it wasn’t the most auspicious start. It had rained heavily all night and there was a 50% chance of rain for every hour throughout daylight hours 😓. One would have thought that the odds would have favoured at least a couple of hours without rain but that wasn’t to be and anoraks and waterproof covers, ponchos for Tom and Juanita were de rigeur.

As on most days we stopped regularly for coffee and bocadillos.

It seems that every village has it’s resident family of storks and this one was no different.

It’s a shame that we don’t have these in the UK – it’s a lovely sight especially when the young are being given flying lessons. The nests seem to be fantastically over engineered and large enough for the occasional sheep carcass.

In this particular village was a famous bar.

Which was even more impressive inside 😯

We’ve stopped for the night in Rabanal del Camino, a lovely little village, almost exclusively devoted to providing accommodation and sustenance to passing peregrinos. We’ve managed to get a private room, thankfully this time with an actual double bed as opposed to the ubiquitous two small singles.

Tom and Juanita departed by taxi for Leon an hour or so ago after an enjoyable three days on the Camino. Tom is apparently serious about coming back some time soon and completing the journey to Santiago. Hopefully all being well, mum and I will get there before him. The journey tomorrow to Ponferrada is up and over the highest point on the Camino at 1500m. It’s a little over 33km but should be fine. Today has been a much shorter 22km and we should be well rested though snow is forecast.

The sun is shining as I write. Mum is resting her weary feet in the bath and we’re both looking forward to tonight’s menu peregrino. Hope everyone is well.

Buen Camino

Addendum

The Camino is a veritable smorgasbord of nationalities and interesting characters. A chap walked into the cowboy bar earlier today. He’d cycled from St. Jean. His left leg was a marvel of prosthetic engineering but it didn’t stop him cycling up to 100km a day over the varying terrain one finds on the Camino. A Belgian chap sat next to us at dinner tonight. Also a cyclist, he’d left his car in St. Jean and was quietly making his way to Santiago also covering up to 100km per day at an age similar to us.

There are dozens of Koreans here of all ages, Americans, Danes, French, Italians and Chinese. There are teenagers walking alone, men and women in their 70s, couples, small groups chattering, talking and laughing in so many languages.

I’ve not mentioned the acts of kindness one sees right throughout the Camino. A simple example from today’s walk: a Scottish chap lost his beret somewhere between when he bought bread and when he realised it’s loss 3km later when he was forced to put on his rain gear. Retracing his steps back to the village he found a door opening up reveal a little old lady with his beret in her hand. She’d clearly been watching out for him.