Day 7 - Wednesday, September 4, 2019 - Sahagun to El Burgo Ranero - Separated, But not alone - 11.29 miles - Total Miles to Date - 88.23 miles

We set our sites on 10-15 miles a day, especially for the first week of walking as we break ourselves in to the rigors of walking on pavement and gravel roads day after day. It has worked well for us. Other than a few small blisters on Sally’s feet, so far (cross your fingers and knock on wood) we are okay.  We guessed correctly that starting at Burgos is a good thing.  The ground is nearly flat for the first 150 miles, never rising or falling more than a couple hundred feet at a time . A good way to break in to distance walking. We are just two days away from Leon and two days after that we leave the plains of Spain (it has never rained) and enter Galicia, a more hilly, then mountainous region.

Our 10-15 miles is good for our bodies, but not for maintaining contact with our new friends.  They are closer to 14-18 miles a day and are slowly leaving us behind. Last night they were 6 miles ahead of us. Today they are 12 miles ahead. As much as we would like to stay up with them, we cannot. The extra miles puts at risk our whole adventure. But, although Pat, Mary, Sandy, Regina, Karen, Tanya and Brian are ahead, there are lots of people around that we are getting acquainted with. There is no lack of people. We will not be alone, nor could we be even if we wanted to.

Both Sally and I found the convent to be a depressing atmosphere. We found little laughter and stern countenances. The rooms and building were spartan. And this morning we were to observe silence until 7:00am.  I can respect others religions and beliefs. I am just glad I don’t have to live by them in my everyday life.

In silence, we got up at 5:30 this morning and packed our bags, one to be transported, one to carry. We filled out the tag and attached it to my pack. We went back to the dining room for breakfast; dried bread with jam, crackers, and tea. The tea taste great!

We slipped out the door about 6:25 and headed west. The first town was 5 miles away. We enjoyed the cool, still, early morning air. A stop for a Coke in the first town, then up and at it again. This time, no town for 5.5 miles, El Burgo Ranero, our destination for the day.  The air began to heat up about 10:30am. Someone has planted trees along the way, and some have grown enough to provide shade. In about a decade this section of the way will be in glorious shade.

We pulled into El BUrgo Ranero about 11:45 and had an hour and 15 minutes to kill before our albergue opened. Sally headed for a bar to get a coke. I went looking for a grocery store. Not finding one further down the street I started to return to the bar where Sally was. A traveling bread salesman (similar to our ice cream men-he drives down the street 100’, honks his horn and the women come out to buy bread) was in my path. I stopped to check out his wares and bought a big round loaf. Sooooo good!

I found Sally in the bar (Spaniards interchange the name bar and cafe so it is not as bad as you think) sipping a coke and enjoying life. I joined her and we slayed about 15 minutes. Back out in the street, we walked over a couple blocks to our albergue. Along the way we passed a grocery store. Hot and dehydrated as we were, we stopped for another Coke and killed another 40 minutes on the chairs outside the store.

The albergue opened and we stepped inside to sign in. Once we had our bunks located and my pack retrieved from the drop off point across the street I settled into a bench at a downstairs table and spent most the afternoon writing my blog, getting caught up (I am still writing).

Sally and I walked through this small Spanish town to the church but found it shuttered. We visited another one of the albergues and found Ed and John holed up there. A brief visit, back to the albergue and a home cooked dinner of noodle, chicken, mushroom soup and the day was done.

We met half a dozen new people today, connected with some old friends (if 6 days makes them old friends) and had a relaxing afternoon.  Ready for a repeat tomorrow.

PS: Tanya update. Sandy sent me a text. Her and Regina are with Karen in Mansilla de las Mika’s, a day out of Leon and Tanya is in Leon. The swelling in her foot has decreased. No word on her ability to walk. Might know more tomorrow. 

The way goes on and on. Easy to follow and well signed. 

We found Gotfried on the trail. 

Sally enjoys her early morning caffeine hit. 

An example of a rural mud and straw house with a few brick thrown in. 

Taking a rest along the trail. Benches are nice. 

Entering El Burgos Renero. 

Traditional gourd and seashell carries to Santiago de Compostela. 

The local neighborhood bread truck. 

Signing in at the albergue and getting our credentials stamped. 

Chuck cooks dinner in the albergue. 

Our albergue is made of mud and straw. No paint necessary. That is the natural color

Camino de Santiago Albergue De Peregrinos

Day 6 - Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - Ledigos to Sahagun - Pig Ear Stew - 9.44 miles - Total Miles to Date - 77.04

Each evening, Sally reads through our guide book and devines which albergue appears to be the best in the town we are headed to. Our source doesn’t do much of a “review” per say, but little hints in the writing give us some info to guess around. While usually devoid of adjectives, sometimes the author throws in a “lovely” or “spotlessly clean” or “rumored to be good”. With those hints, and the price stated, we pick our night’s lodging. Tonight’s place carried a bit more significance in that we are “slack packing”. Some enterprising entrepreneurs realized that of the 400,000 people now doing this annually, there might be a significant number that would pay a modest fee to have someone drive their backpack to the next town rather than carrying it. It turns out, Sally and I are in that number.  For 5 euro, a driver will pick up your pack at your albergue and drop it at the next one you will stay at. You simply leave it in the lobby or reception room with a fee envelope attached stating your destination, phone number, name and email and like magic, it is at your destination. Sally learned of this  service and saw it as a cure for the pain I had been trying to massage out of her neck. The costs is 5 euro. Before we could pack this morning, we needed to find out if this service was available here. I checked downstairs and was told we could participate. I grabbed an envelope. This meant all Sally’s stuff could be stuffed into my pack. Her pack I would wear during our walk, carrying our lunch, water, first aid kit, passports and such. Packing finished, we lugged my pack to the lobby and set it down, bought a muffin for breakfast and headed out into the blustery dark.

The wind was blowing strongly (maybe 20mph), as it was yesterday and the temperature was about 48º. For the second time since landing in Spain, I had my fleece on. Sally had been bemoaning the size and weight of her fleece coat, wondering why we had brought it and considered leaving it in one of our rooms.  I had actively dissuaded her. She also was deriding me for carrying my 6oz down coat, telling me I would never need it. With the cold weather I didn’t say I told you so too much, but I did remind her of her ribbing me.

The morning was breathtakingly beautiful as we walked through farmland, past cow barns and harvested fields. The sun turned the eastern horizon a brilliant orange half an hour before it spoiled it by bursting into view.

Today, we passed through three little towns on our way to Sahagun. At the first we stopped for a Coke. On our way there, we met JoAnn from Poland and her boyfriend from the Chezk Republic, both sweet as can be. They were interested in the PCT, so they got a firehose worth of information from me, yet they absorbed it all and asked for more.

While sipping our Cokes (no Pepsi to be found) we saw Jim and Sara of Wisconsin pass by. We caught up with them in the next town, sipping brown, caffinated liquid as well, although theirs was hot. We chatted a bit, then headed out again.

The trail took us up a rolling hill through more fields. Sally and I were talking and researching on the web as we walked, confident we were on the right road headed in the right direction. I had just had Sally take my picture in front of a Camino sign, walked 250 yards and then checked my GPS. Yikes!! It showed us about 1/2 mile off the trail. Not to panic. From our position on the hillside, barren of all vegetation, I could see the location of the GPS determined trail below us and on my map I could see an easy route to it without backtracking. I think my GPS route must be out of date, because signs marking the “way” lead us down to the GPS route.

Jim and Sara caught up with us about this time, they too on the “alternate” route and we walked together to the designated halfway point of the Camino, just east of Sahagun.

From there it was about a mile into town and to the other side where we were staying, a Benedictine Convent called Albergue de la Santa Cruz. We picked it because we were hoping for a private room on the cheap and it was described in the guide book as having “Good Reports”.  I think Sally was hoping for something akin to Nannatus House on “Call the Midwife”, a series on Netflix. I am always up for saving a few bucks on lodging and a new experience. I got what I was looking for. I think Sally’s vision fell short. 

We arrived a few minutes early and sat outside across the street in the shade waiting for it to open. When it did, Sally and I entered. We were treated to the same experience we got at Saint Marie two nights ago. We were offered chocolates, then were seated and interviewed as our passports were registered in the guest book and instructions were given. We were shown to a room just off the glassed in cloister (frosted glass so we could not see inside). The room had two cots and a private toilet.  Perfect for our needs. Left to ourselves, we closed the door and flopped out on the beds. My pack had not arrived yet, but was expected shortly. It was after 1:00pm and time for lunch. When my pack arrived it was delivered to our room. 

We headed back through town to lunch at a restaurant recommended by our guide book. We were looking for some authentic Spanish food. We found it.

The restaurant was very busy with the late lunch crowd, yet we were seated quickly. Most prices on the menu were more than I wanted to spend, but their lunch menu was only 12 euro and had a good selection, or what looked like a good selection; we couldn’t read it.

In Spain, as in other European countries, meals are served with a first plate, a second plate and a desert. There were 3 choices for the first plate. We both quickly selected the “Ensalada” entre, knowing it was a salad. For the second plate there were about 10 choices, but the waiter was in a hurry to get to other diners and was rushing us. He quickly pointed to the items saying “pork, chicken, beef, pork, chicken, beef . . .” as he moved down the menu.  We had had chicken and beef already, so we picked the first pork item on the menu.

The salad was great!  We were hoping for a green salad (verde), but it was potato, olives, peppers, corn and such. With plate one complete, we were onto plate two. Set in front of us was a bowl (bowl? for pork?) of greasy looking thick clearish, greasy, gravy with chunks of greasy, fat laden meat clinging to what looked like white, perfectly flat 1.5”x1.5” pieces of pasta. How do they get the meat to cling to the pasta? Yet, it doesn’t look like pasta.  Oh well, dig in.

Sally took one bite and said no way. Too fatty, and tasted terrible. I was not thrilled with the grease or the taste, but hey, when in Spain . . . so I ate. Well, I picked and ate. After chewing a few of the unidentifiable white things which tasted no diffferent from the rest of the slop, I started cutting the greasy meat off the white stuff and eating it. After eating a 1/3 of the bowl I had had enough. This was greasy pork with a capital G. I sopped up some of the gravy with my bread and ate a little more, then piled the dishes and bowl in the middle of the table. The waiter came by, stooped to pick up the dishes, noticed how little of the stew had been consumed and said, “You didn’t like?” “Not for me,” I said. He took away the plates on his way to get our desert, a piece of cake. Now I had the time to break out Google Translate and see what it was I had been eating. “Oreja Guisada”.  I typed it in. “Pig Ear Stew”.  The white sheets weren’t pasta, they were cartilage. And those pointy pieces of flesh. Tips of ears. Just as when Sally got doused by the sprinklers yesterday she laughed and laughed.  So did I.

Lunch finished, we returned to do a load of laundry. I slept while Sally loaded the machine, then she slept until the load was done and we both hung it outside in the old cloister. Jobs done, we toured town, first to the museum for the Camino, then to the Plaza Mayor, the main town square of the city. Here we joined a German man eating his dinner at an outside cafe. Gotfried was quick to laugh and fun to share a few minutes with while he ate and Sally drank a coke.

It was now time for the event we had been anticipating all day, the communal dinner in the convent. Two nights ago it had been a hoot. 40-50 people outdoors laughing and eating. We did not expect the same this time. Would it be like dinner at Nannatus house? From the characters we had seen in the convent (all men and one woman) I expected more of a “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” experience.

Dinner was in the convent dining room. Only 5 pilgrims were in attendance, accompanied by 6 clergy persons, including the priest and priests in training. We started with the expected prayer and then had a good meal of cold potato stew(?), assorted meats, breads and cheese, finished with our donated watermelon and ice cream. It was subdued, a little awkward and more Cockoo’s Nest than Nannatus House. It finished with the priest giving a speech in Spanish in 8 segments, translated by the guy who registered us in the morning. The only thing I can figure out is the priest felt he had to establish he was in charge because he gave us the same instructions we had received in the morning.

Anyway, the meal broke up about 9:00pm and we were off to sleep.  My bed was so saggy that I took the mattress off the bedframe and put it on the floor.  This was much better. The sag was gone.  We had walked all through town today instead of resting properly, so we were both beat. Tomorrow is only 10.4 miles.  Not a big day, but the temp is supposed to reach 84º, so we will want an early start so we can be done walking before noon. We were both asleep by 9:30pm.

Sahagún in the background 

Drought stricken sunflowers

Halfway point

Checking in at the convent

“What kind of soup is this?”

Convent

Communal Dinner

Day 5 - Monday, September 2, 2019 - -Carrion de las Condos to Ledigos - Cooling Down - 14.42 miles - Total Miles to Date - 67.6 miles

The weather has finally changed.  Since we stepped off the plane in Madrid on Tuesday, a week ago, it has been near or above 90º everyday. The lows at night have been about 60º.  In a word, it has been hot! Everyone walking the Camino has been getting up at or before 6 am so they can walk in the relative coolness of the early morning, before the punishing sun begins beating down. The goal has been to be to the town to be stayed at by 11 to 11:30. There is not air conditioning in any of the albergues we stay at, but most are constructed is such a way to minimize heat gain during the day, mostly with thick brick or adobe walls.

Yesterday afternoon the wind picked up about 3 and really started blowing around 5 or 6. It was still fairly warm, in the mid 80s, but the wind was bringing a change. All of us were checking the weather app on our phones with glee, noting that the nighttime low would dip into the 40s. Last night as I lay in my bunk I could hear the wind howling outside, but with 32 bodies in the room, the temperature did not drop much inside during the night.

Sally and I performed our sneak out of the room method at 5:15am and were the first downstairs. In a few minutes more trickled down the stairs as we taped her feet and packed our bags.  One of the young men running the albergue unlocked the door about 5:45 and threw it open. We could hear the wind and feel the coolness. We headed out the door a little after 6:00am into the blustery and dark morning. We walked through the darkened town, across the bridge and out into the countryside, relishing the cold wind. 

Today, the trail was nearly perfectly straight for 10 miles without a town or village along the way. And it was nearly flat.  Because the afternoon temperatures were not going to rise much, we did not feel the need to push quickly. We stopped more often, rested and talked with people. 

To our surprise, at the five mile marker, some enterprising couple had set up a trailer, built a fire in a bar-b-que and was selling sausage, hot coffee and sodas.  Nearly everyone stopped to get something to drink, mostly coffee to ward off the cold wind. Luckily, the wind was at our backs the whole day, and helped move us along the road.  The road passed through fields of wheat stubble and drought shriveled sunflower plants, stark, yet beautiful in its own way. We could see for miles in all directions, rolling fields to the horizon.

At the end of the 10 mile stretch another enterprising person has built a new albergue and cafe. After the long dry spell, everyone stopped to have something to eat and drink. Most sat outside, but we moved inside to avoid the wind and take a look at Sally’s feet. They were serving a few dishes. We selected what appeared to be a spinach/potato quiche. We ordered one to split, with a bottle of water. That is exactly what it was and was it delicious! When we gobbled that down, we ordered another, all the while working on Sally’s feet, trying to ward off a blister forming on the ball of her foot.

Everyone on the way is hooked on the latest fad in blister repair, a product called Complee.  It is a supple plastic bandaid affair that you stick to the skin. I am not a believer. I never stick anything to the skin over a blister. There is no way to remove it without removing the underlying skin of the blister. I saw this first hand last night when Karen, a nurse from New Zealand was working on Annamarie’s blisters during the “slumber party”. Even though she was exceedingly careful, she still tore a lot of skin while removing an old Complee patch. I always put a non adhesive patch over the blister so the skin does not tear away.

I was working on Sally’s foot, trying to cut some moleskin to make my repairs when a German man looked over my shoulder and offered his advise, in German, and then scurried over to his pack and rummaged through it until he found . . . you guessed it, Complee.  I thanked him and tried to avoid using it, but he stood guard over me. I ended up using it, but not before I tore a piece of the backing off and stuck it to the adhesive where it would contact Sally’s fledging blister. 

Everyone is an amateur expert on feet and blister repair. Each person entering the cafe stopped to give their advise on what to do. I have been fixing blisters since a Boy Scout hike/climb leader at age 15. I feel I know what does and doesn’t work. For the most part I ignored them and did my thing.

Once we downed our second piece of quiche, it was back to the road with 4.6 miles to go. Our original plan was to stop here for the night, but Sally felt strong, so we extended our 10 miles to 14.6. The day was still cool, the wind at our backs pushing us along and sun was warm and cheery.

We knew we were losing most people today, as they were traveling to the next town about 4 miles up the way. This saddened us. We had lost the Castillos the day before, now we were losing Regina, Sandy and the rest of the people we had been walking with. But, we knew we would meet new people along the way.

Once in our town of Ledigos, we found our hostel, The Morena, paid our 12 euro, and found a secluded set of bunk beds. There was room for about 20 in the room, yet only 5 of us occupied beds. The bathrooms were new and spotless.  Sally laid down to take a nap and I found a quiet place to write.  Those of you that suffered through yesterday’s blog can see I had plenty of time and a keyboard.  Verbos.

Earlier in the day, along the 10 mile stretch, I had been massaging a muscle in Sally’s shoulder as people passed by. Every English speaking person asked how much for the same treatment.  “50 euro a minute” was my reply. No takers. Darn.  Anyway, one of those people was an Irishman of 78, Pat, and his wife Mary. We saw them again at the albergue and now they were just starting their “pilgrim dinner” in the albergue dining room as we entered. We asked if we could join them and they consented. We had a wonderful meal, lasting about 2 hours while getting to know them. Tomorrow is their last day. They come each year for a week, do a section, and then head home.

It was now after 9:00pm and time for bed. We stepped outside to return to our room and were struck with how cold and windy it was, although the stars shone bright and clear. We snuck up the stairs, trying to avoid disturbing our roommates. Teeth brushed and onto our bed.  I say onto rather than into because it was warm in the room and there was no way I was getting in my sleeping bag.

In the reception room getting ready to head out. 

Shoe storage area. Pilgrims remove there shoes upon entering and don’t put them on again unless going outside. 

The streets of Carrion de la Condos before morning light. The tile groove down the middle marks the Camino de Santiago 

Crossing the bridge as we leave town 

A little park next to the trail. Sandy and Regina caught up with us here. 

Regina and Sandy 

Way side cafe 

More substantial wayside cafe. Best spinach/potato quiche ever. 

Fixing Sally’s foot. The helpful German in the background. 

Best quiche ever. 

Day 4 - Sunday, September 1, 2019 - Fromista to Carrion de la Condo - Dancing/Limping in the Street -12.4 miles - Total Miles to Date - 53.18

There are 10 other people sleeping in the same room as you, all of them within 20 feet of you.  How do you get up, pack your gear and sneak out the door without waking any of them up. Tanya and Kar-en from New Zealand choose to quietly stuff their gear and zip their zippers in the room. I can tell from experience, even if you don’t talk to your sister, you still are making a lot of noise in a once silent room.  However, they didn’t seem to wake anyone in the 25 minutes they spent getting ready. 

Sally and I decided the best way to sneak out was to pack everything the night before except the essentials for sleeping.  When we got up at 5:45am (the sisters were gone by then) we quietly put our sleeping bags loosely in our packs, stripped the paper sheets off, grabbed our bags and exited the room. Once downstairs and out of earshot, we stuffed our sleeping bags, taped Sally’s feet and packed our packs.  It appears we are not geniuses nor unique with this technique.  Before we had everything ready to go, most of the room was downstairs with us doing the same thing. I went back up to check the room to make sure we had not left anything. Nope, and only one person was still in bed when I snuck in the room. Of course, most of these people have been living in hostels for two weeks, the time it takes to hike from the beginning to Fromista, so they have hostel life down pat.

It was still dark as we exited the building with Sandy and Regina. I used Guthook to guide us back to the “way”, although I had a difficult time for a minute determining which road was which, matching GPS map to real streets. A cafe owner who had stepped out pointed us in the right direction.

Sally and I stopped momentarily on a bus stop bench so she could eat her two hard boiled eggs for breakfast, then we were off again, trying to make some distance before the dark gave way to light.

We had left about an hour before the Castillo’s, hoping we could make half the distance to Carrion de las Condo, a place called Villamentero de Campos, by the time they did. The Castillo’s carry no packs and are a very fit family.  They walk FAST.  

We followed the route along the paved roads and soon passed through the village of Roblacion de Campos in the early morning light. As always, we were surrounded by and being passed by fellow walkers. 

Once out of the village we came to a split in the route. One can either walk on the trail along side the highway, or the trail veers off the highway and follows a lesser road, paralleling the highway. I was for getting off the highway and was consulting my Guthook map. Sally found a large (3’x6’) metal sign on the ground that showed the highway route and the backroad route. She pointed out that if we took the backroad route we would likely miss the Castillo’s, as Villamentero de Campos was not on that route. I saw a crossroad from the backroad to the highway at Villamentero de Campos that could get us to our appointed meeting place. Sally countered that they would likely follow the highway and we might miss them. As you can imagine, we stood there for quite a few minutes deciding our fate. Sally’s route won, and off we went. I forgot that it didn’t really matter what route we took because with the communication app What’sApp I could send them my position and they theirs so we could easily find each other no matter where we ended up, not to mention they had a car and could drive to any location we might be at in literally less than a minute.  But, it worked out well, because about 15 minutes later, as Sally and I sat on a bench eating a nectarine up ran Alba and Gonzola with Maxi.

Nerea drove up as we were leaving and I threw mine and Sally’s packs in her car so we didn’t have to carry them for this leg of the journey.

Maxi and I set a quick pace while Sally walked with Alba and Gonzalo behind and within half an hour we had reached Villamentero de Campos where Nerea and Raul were inside a cafe eating breakfast.

Sally got a Coke and we sat in the big grassy yard outside, watching the chickens and geese, played on the slack line and talked with the other walkers. It was time to get going as the Castillos had to get home that afternoon. Raul had a handball match and Alba a friend’s birthday party to get to.

Sally, Raul and Maxi loaded in the car. Nerea, Alba, Gonzalo and I headed out of town. Alba and her mom danced about the first kilometer. Not figuratively, literally danced up the path, singing. So cute.  Gonzalo and I enjoyed their display of athleticism and extra energy. Nerea is a high school PE teacher and she is fit with a capital F.  Later as I walked Alba said she would not have her mother as a teacher. She did not want to. What would she call her? Mom? Mrs. Castillo? Plus she had heard other students talking about her mom and she is a tough task master, although the kids that like to work and do sports really like her as a teacher.  Those that don’t exercise thinks she pushes them too hard. I told Alba about my experience with having Andy and Jeff in class all four years. She would have non of it.

The three of them jabbered the whole way to Carrion del la Condo, every once in a while getting me in the conversation, but my Spanish is nearly nonexistent. Nerea has very limited English, while Alba and Gonzalo are conversational in English.

Maxi sent a text giving their location in town. We entered, but Maxi couldn’t sit still and was on the street walking to greet us. We stopped at the TI booth to get our Credentials stamped, then walked a bit into town, prolonging the inevitable parting that was moments away. Finally, the time came. We had a big, group family hug, all seven at once, then individual hugs and two kisses on the cheeks goodbye.  We had hiked all four days and all but about 3 miles with this wonderful family.

With our goodbyes past, we moved to the plaza de Santa Maria where our albergue is located and sat on a park bench waiting for the noon opening.  I was starving. We ate bread, meat and cheese and a nectarine. While doing this Sally noticed lots of people coming in and out of a door across the plaza. It was a bakery! Sally ventured forth and returned with two cream puffs and a delightfully large pastry. Wow!

The door to the albergue opened about 11:45am. We shouldered our packs and entered the door, along with about 10-15 other “pilgrims”, crammed into a small reception room. We picked this albergue because the description says singing nuns run it, it is clean and a very entertaining place to stay. We were disappointed to see three men in their late 20’s or early 30’s registering folks. That disappointment quickly evaporated when they began offering tea and cookies to the “pilgrims”. We were second in line. When we reached the table, they beckoned us to sit down, which we did, asked us where we were from, how our hike was going and showed genuine interest in us as persons, not just another body in a bunk. Once we paid our 5 euro each for our beds for the night and found out dinner tonight was free, just bring something to share and they would provide the main course, one of the guys took both our packs, bellboy style and led us to our bunk room and let us pick our bunk.  Amazing!

When we were in the reception room Tanya and her sister Karen came in, Tanya limping horribly. We questioned her and found, although we had seen how monterously large her blisters were (astoundingly large and on every corner of her feet), she had developed a stabbing pain in the meat of her foot, very reminiscent of the pain Sally experience on the PCT in 2014. They took a bunk just 15 feet from ours and I went over to see if I could help. Through tears of pain and disappointment, Tanya explained the origin and location of the pain and her fear that she would not be able to finish the walk, a dream she had been working towards for years, and a large outlay of money to make it happen. To me, ice was the answer, so Sally and I walked to the nearest grocery store, a little shop about 2-3 minutes away and bought a bag of ice. The guys at the albergue got a bucket for us. We put Tanya’s foot in a ziplock bag so her blister patches would not get wet and she began a 20 minute on, 20 minute off icing regimen that lasted the rest of the day. Sally and I returned to the grocery store for a few items, including a watermelon to donate to tonight’s dinner, the toured this medium sized town on foot, finding the river, the large city park and a monstrously large swimming pool. Sally was considering swimming, but wanted to feel the water’s warmth. There was only one person swimming in the pool, doing laps. The rest was empty. To get to the pool you have to walk under 4 shower heads.  No biggie. But, as she did, the sensors we did not know about detected her movement and she was showered in water, soaking her clothing and her hair before she could react and jump back.  You know Sally. She laughed and laughed at her plight. She sprinted through the shower, reached the pool and tested the water, finding it comfortable. Now the lifeguards of the pool started telling her she could not be in that area with her clothes on, only bathing suits. We are talking about a pool about 50 yards long and 40 yards wide. No one is there, except our lap swimmer, yet these guys are worried about dripping wet Sally as if she were trying to sneak in or was about to jump in the pool with her clothes on. She joked with them and left the pool area as they saw they were overreacting, still in crowd control mode from a busy summer season. The showers do not come on as you leave the pool, only as you enter, so Sally did not get another dousing.

We finished our walk through the town and returned to the albergue. I moved to the outside courtyard of the albergue to do some writing on the tables there. Sally headed back out to the park to enjoy the sun and wind that had become quite fierce. Just a few minutes later the “pilgrims” started to gather in the courtyard for a singing activity, led by the young men running the place. I exited to the park looking for Sally.  Wren, a woman from the Philippines pointed to the open door of the church. I entered and traversed the transcript and nave, but did not find her.  Outside once again, I found Sally sipping a soda at an outside pub table nearby.

Upon returning to the albergue we found Tanya and Karen had found an emergency medical facility just a 3 minute walk away and were about to head that way. We decided to help, as Tanya could barely walk at this point. Once we staggered to the facility we found the nurse knew no English and my feeble Spanish couldn’t help. I ran back to the albergue and found one of the young men that was bilingual and he agreed to come with me to interpret.

The doctor diagnosed only inflammation and no broken or stress fractured bones. 4 days of rest were prescribed, with a return visit to see him in the morning. Tanya was somewhat relieved, but still worried about her ability to complete the walk. You see, there is another aspect to this story. Tanya has a genetic condition that is causing her to slowly go blind, and if she doesn’t finish this year, she won’t be able to see well enough to come again. Her sister helps her along the way by helping to point out curbs and other impediments Tanya might not see. Karen has decided to keep walking. Tanya will stay at the albergue another night to let her foot heal, then take a bus up the route to stay near her sister, hoping in 4 days the foot will heal enough for her to keep walking, from Leon, Spain.  I looked and found 3 podiatrist offices in this large city. A anti-inflammatory shot might be necessary.

Once we had Tanya back, we got her foot in ice water again and I helped with making dinner, slicing watermelon and putting items on the long table.

The community dinner was very fun. Tanya sat on my right, Sally on my left, Sandy and Regina across the table with a man from Indiana named Brian. We had a great time. The woman next to Regina was the spitting image of Pat Caldwell’s sister Betsy. We took a picture of her and texted it to Pat for confirmation.

Dinner done ( it had started at 8:30pm-typical of Spanish custom of late meals) we packed for our quiet early morning get away and slipped into bed, setting the alarm for 5:15. 

It is amazing how in just a few hours or days you can make such strong connections to people you previously have not known. There is nothing like common purpose and hardship to unite strangers. We promised the Castillos we would come visit them at their home someday, and we will. Tanya and I exchanged phone numbers so we can help if there is anyway we can. What will tomorrow bring?

Trains markers along the route. Lots of them.

Nerea, Alba and Gonzalo nearing our destination for the day, Carrion de la Condo

Castillos with Sandy and Regina at the halfway point for the day.

Full of energy after 12 miles, Nerea, Alba and Gonzalo show their enthusiasm for walking and the Camino de Santiago.

Last picture with our adopted family.

Community Dinner at Saint Maria albergue.

Day 3 - Saturday, August 31, 2019 - Castrojeriz to Fromista - Our Personal Saviors - 15.71 miles - Total Miles to Date - 40.78

The heat is ending tonight!! Yahoo!! The afternoon high has been 90° everyday since we arrived. We have been rising early and hiking quickly to avoid the heat. We purposely keep rest stops to a minimum and very short because we know each minute not moving when the air is relatively cool is a minute in the heat of the day. But, it is ending. Tomorrow’s high is predicted to be 74°. Tomorrow night’s low, 51°. Everyone on the walk is talking about the end of the scorching weather. Santa is coming to the Camino disguised as a cold front and delivering what everyone wants, cold air. 

Albergue life is turning out to be a “class reunion” every night. Either through planning or accident we have been with the same people that we know each night. Of course, there are new-to-us people every night, so the cadre of people we surround ourselves magnifies with each night.  Last night we were on crisp, white linen sheets. Tonight, we are on vinyl or rubber covered mattresses (to discourage bed bugs which we have grown to understand are quite a problem along the pilgrim trail) with paper “sheet” and “pillow case”. We are on bunk beds. Sally takes the bottom bunk to avoid having to perform 5.8 moves to get into bed. I have the top bunk. We have 12 in our room tonight, 10 women and two men. 

Having a shower everyday is wonderful, especially with the hot temperatures. There is usually a ratio of about 10-1 for the shower, the same for toilets. Considering people arrive at different times during the day as they straggle in off the trail, there is never a rush to the shower. I have not seen a line up yet.

Tonight I felt like I was in the middle of a girl’s dorm party. Annamarie from Denmark has a massive blister on the ball of her left foot. Five women assisted in an “operation” to redress her foot, as only five women can-giggling, talking, sharing stories from the heart, the normal girl stuff. If one is hoping for a long, quiet night’s sleep, communal hostel room may not be the best environment.

This morning we rose at 5:30am and rearranged our gear for today’s novel walking protocol. All our gear would ride in the Castello’s car except for a small pack with water and food. We were being as quiet as possible to avoid waking our 4 roommates. Breakfast is served at 6:00 am and we paid the 3€ to participate. It consisted of corn flakes, milk, white bread, jam, muffins and coffee. The Castillo’s ate with us. It took about another 15 minutes after breakfast to get out the door. Maximo, Gonzalo, Alba and I headed out about 6:25 while Sally and Nerea and Raul stayed, waiting until 8 or so to begin driving to our location, 6 miles up the trail at Intero de la Vega. 

The morning was cool, clear and quiet. Maximo set a brisk pace as we headed gently downhill to cross the  Rio Odra. Gonzalo and Adra began to fall behind a bit and Maximo would call out for them to catch up. 

After the river came a 500’ climb over a ridge. The road was steep and we quickly reached the top. Maxi and I waited about 5 minutes for the kids to catch up. We were on the top of the ridge only a few minutes before the route plummeted down the other side. There was a lovely view from the top. 

I talked with Jim a bit for a while at the bottom and soon we had traversed the distance to near our meeting point. Maxi called Nerea to see where her, Raul and Sally were and found they were very close by, just across the bridge 1/2 a mile away. We started to walk to the bridge down the narrow one lane road. Looking up, we saw the car driving to us. They stopped and chatted for a bit, then turned around, crossed the bridge again and we met them on the other side. When we crossed we met again. Now Maxi took the wheel with Raul and drove to Fromista while Nerea, Gonzalo, Alba, Sally and I walked the next five miles to Boadilla de Camino where Maxi was waiting for us at a small cafe/albergue. Sally had a Pepsi and decided to ride the next 3 miles to Fromista due to the rising heat. Raul joined us for the walk. The trail headed out of town and soon ran parallel to a canal. We walked on the dike that held the canal in place. It was torturous to walk next to all that water in the heat of the late morning without stopping to swim. Soon we reached a dam on the canal, crossed it, and we were in Fromista. Maxi greeted us on the street and led us back to the shady side of a cafe (Pan and Mas) where we surprised Sally by jumping our from around the corner. 

The municipal albergue where we planned to stay didn’t open until 1:00. We had a few minutes to kill. We sat and talked in the shade, then moved to the park just outside the door. 

We registered at the desk right behind the Castillos, then went up to our room to find a bunk. We picked a bunk adjacent to the window, hoping some airflow might alleviate the punishing heat in this non-airconditioned building. The ritual is putting paper pillow case and mattress cover on, emptying out the important items onto the bed and head for shower. On these hot days, sweating is constant and a shower to wash off the salt and sweat is a little slice of heaven. After the shower comes the washing of the clothes. Shirt, underwear and socks are primary, preparing them for the next day, but occasionally a towel or other stinky item sees the soap.

We had arranged to eat lunch with the Castillos, so we moved enmass next door to the restaurant and enjoyed a lunch together. Sally and I shared a green salad and a chicken thigh and leg with some fries.

After lunch, a nap seemed in order. We returned to our bunks. In truth, I worked on the blog while she lay on her bunk and sweated. After about 15 minutes of that we gave up and headed back to the restaurant to use their air conditioning. We talked a little, but in truth Sally was a little ill and soon laid her head on the table and fell asleep.  I typed for another 20-30 minutes, until Maxi came in. For the next two hours we finally got to know each other a bit.  Using my phone, the Bluetooth keyboard and Google Translate we finally got past “Quantos ninos?” and “Donde esta tu casa?” Switching the translation for English->Spanish and Spanish->English and employing the keyboard to facilitate quick typing, we were able to take our conversations to a deeper level.  We talked about our kids and their successes. He talked about Raul and Alba with such pride and affection. I had seen it in his actions and facial expressions over the past three days, but now he was able to say in words what he felt and thought. I learned about his business enterprises and the time and effort he puts forth to support his family. He and Nerea (pronounced Nah-dah-ya) grew up together in the same building since age 4 and attended school together. All their family still lives within a few kilometers of each other. His father runs the family vineyard and has since the Spanish Civil War. And more. 

He finally had to leave to attend to his family and Sally and I headed back to the albergue to have a dinner of day old dry bread, meat and cheese in the common rooms downstairs. It was delicious. 

We headed up to our beds, hoping to turn in early, but our girls slumber party ensued and it wasn’t until nearly 10:00pm before the lights were turned out and the room got quiet. 

It is a nice thing that everyone walks 10-15 miles a day. They fizzle our quickly in the evenings and fall asleep quickly. The room turned quiet, as if someone had thrown a switch. 

Communal breakfast at the albergue 


Sunrise over Castrojeriz 

Gonzalo, Maxi and Alba on the trail

Crossing the bridge to meet the car. 

Walking along the canal

Maxi points out where we are and what weather we will get  in the restaurant

Alba and her mom Nerea



Church in Fromista built in 1040 AD