Day 21 - Bercianos del Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

Day 21 - Bercianos del Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas

Sunny

We chose to walk the Camino in May and June to avoid the cold weather at the front end and the crowd possibly in July. I was checking the weather in Spain during April before we came and saw some low overnight temperatures with daytime temperatures in the teens. I was happy that we were going to walk later. It turns out that for some of the days, we are getting exactly that. So far, there has been a mix bag of temperatures and weather conditions. We are lucky that we actually have not seen the extremes such as cold and wet, or scorching temperatures. Coming into June, I hope the cooler weather persists.

We were not to wake before six this morning so we ended up starting at 645 am after their 'delicious' breakfast, one of our later starts. We did really well covering 26.8 km in 7 hours. This would make tomorrow's walk to Leon a lot shorter and will leave us more time to see the city. The walk was not too exciting mostly along the road and flat, making the distance possible for us. In fact, when we arrived at the albergue, we were the early ones in.

The hospitalera was really nice. She let me use the computer to print our train tickets. She also tried to help another pilgrim with foot problem and to fix her trekking poles as well. What service!

WiFi coverage in the bedroom, yes. Kitchen, yes. Small room (6 beds), yes. Shower downstairs beside the courtyard, not so nice but we only need to do it once.

With the kitchen facilities, we are cooking again. Something simple: pasta with some frozen shrimps and octopi. The Koreans, however, are cooking multi-course meal.

                        Look at the nests near the top

Day 20 - Terradillos de los Templarios to Bercianos del Real Camino

Day 20 - Terradillos de los Templarios to Bercianos del Real Camino

Clear, overcast

Technology. Yes. It may be a different Camino without the smart phones and the tablets. But it is clear that it is in demand when all the albergues and all the bars and restaurants along the way prominently display the availability of WiFi. I got a local data plan so I can check my location and the Camino route without WiFi and I use my phone to work on my blog. I took my pictures using a small point-and-shoot  camera (much, much better than the pictures using my phone) and send them to the phone through a local network between the two machines. It all works. Today, I used my phone to purchase train tickets to Madrid after the Camino.  Technology is a wonderful thing. The phone in particular is the centre piece. (I wrote that yesterday and sure enough, we seem to have gotten into a dead zone with no WiFi and spoty data coverage. Technology is great but sometimes you have to be patient. And super patient when I lost 1182 levels of Candy Crush Saga when my phone died.)

Today was another chilly morning walk but with the sun early on. That didn't last. Soon we walked into the mist where we could see maybe 50 m ahead of us. We had  our jackets on the whole day!

After stopping at Sahagun to deal with the train tickets, we walked straight to Bercianos del Real Camino without stopping. But it is a case of hurry up and wait as we arrived 45 min before the albergue opens. Still better than not having a bed. Saw a sign with 315 km to go, we know that is optimistic. The albergue provides bed, dinner and breakfast and is donativo. Yes. Unlike the other donativo parroquial albergue, it actually has beds, not mats.

The community dinner was a hit. The food is simple with paella only, no first course and no dessert. The entertainment was talent show performed by groups from different countries. The hospitalero gave the first performance. There are a couple of good acts but everyone gave it their all. It was a fun evening.

The only thing we don't like is the rule (repeated throughout the evening) that there is no waking up before six. That is not good when we wanted to have a long day next day.

                 Upstairs window, no escape

Day 19 - Carrion de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios

Day 19 - Carrion de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios

Overcast

My brother asked how we are feeling now that we are at the half way point. I said it has been fascinating and fun. Gigi said it has been difficult. Winnie is a trouper and just deals with the task at hand. She has been leading the way most days without knowing where we are going. She just leaves the planning to us. Together we are a great team. To be fair, I should have said difficult and fun. Why can't it be both?

Fun, but not always. Today has to be one of those boring days. Leaving Carrion de los Condes, we first walked 17 km on a straight path through the pasture in the chilly morning air. There were a bar shack and a Cafe Movil (mobile cafe) but no other facilities. Then we walked the rest of the way on a trail beside the highway. There was nothing exciting.

There was a threat of rain at our first stop which happens to be the exact half way point from St Jean to Santiago. The chance of a photo was quickly forgotten when people hurried to leave at the sight of the approaching dark clouds. We were lucky all day to escape several lines of rain. The dampness on the ground told us the faster walkers may not have been so lucky. After arriving at the albergue, the sky looked even more ominous but it was not to be.

The albergue is right on the side of the highway just before we get to Terradillos de los Templarios. Obviously there is not much around so we are back to pilgrim's menu.

                  Stream of pilgrims

                  Our half way point

Day 18 - Fromista to Carrion de los Condes

Day 18 - Fromista to Carrion de los Condes

Cloudy with sunny breaks, showers

Little things. A tiny piece of rock getting into your shoes, a small crease in the insole. Other small things, like people talking in the dormitorio while others are sleeping, sure it is daytime but still, or people singing on the road loudly while others are trying to find some peace on the Camino. Yet other small things, like people turning off the lights even it is not lights-out time because people are sleeping anyway, or a local waving you to the right direction when you look undecided. Happening all the time, how do you deal with small things?

Today we chose the scenic route rather than the main route that runs entirely along the direct highway between Fromista and Carrion de los Condes. The scenic route is 1.7 km longer but mostly run along tree-lined riverside and provided plenty of shades. It is all trail and it feels more like the Camino must have been in earlier days.

We ran into a 419 km to go sign. Even if we believe it, we are not quite half point yet. We will be there tomorrow. 

Not many albergues to choose from today, at least not according to the various guides. We did not go to Albergue Parroquial de Santa Maria because of the many rituals before a community dinner at 9 pm. We eat at 6 or 7 nowadays. We chose Albergue Espiritu Santo that is run by nuns. They also have pilgrim's prayers at 530 pm but not as many scheduled events. It has a nice kitchen and we decided to take advantage to prepare our own food for lunch, dinner, tomorrow's breakfast and tomorrow's lunch. And we are going to do it with 14€ worth of grocery.  

The albergue is the first one that has all single beds. No more climbing to the top bunk today. It was so funny that our usher, an older Spanish woman, tried to explain to us about which night table belongs to which bed and all we can do is shrug and say 'no entiendo'. She got more frustrated after each time that she had to repeat. Everybody already in the room all smiled knowingly.

The kitchen was like a mad house come six o'clock with four or five groups of people trying to cook using one stove. We decided to contribute a bottle of oil because almost none of the kitchen has oil. They all have wine vinegar. By the time we cook at seven, half of the bottle is gone. It really is an essential item.

                  Grocery

                  Dinner