Oncina de la Valdoncina to Villavente

Slept well last night, had a ‘help yourself’ style breakfast at the albergue with most of our roommates.

I set off at just before 7.45, heading out into the chilly páramo (heath land) in the half light before the sun came up.

After 20 or so minutes, the sun rose above the horizon and into a beautiful sky. The landscape was a mix of thick vegetation and individual trees and yellowish bare earth.

An elderly but incredibly friendly Spanish gentleman was walking in the opposite direction. He stopped to shake my hand and chattered away in rapid Spanish. I wasn’t very sure what he said after “Hola” and “Buenas días”, but we shook hands about 4 times before he wished me “Buen Camino!” and we parted. (I learnt later from my multi-lingual German friend, who speaks 6 languages including fluent Spanish, and who met the same man 5 mins after me, that he was 87 and on his morning 10km constitutional up and down this part of the Camino!)

At the first village, Chozas de Abajo, (about 6km from Oncina) a recently painted set of arrows on the tarmac led confidently off into the village, occasionally accompanied by the word “bar”. You might think I am easily led astray (even before 9.30) but I am pleased to report that, at the end of the arrows, there was indeed a bar! Better still it was serving coffee and the like.

In this part of Spain (and, I am told, in Galicia), it is the custom to serve a snack whenever you buy a drink on its own. This can range from a little bowl of nuts or crisps, or a tapas, or even a little sandwich. Often there’s a selection of snack options to choose between. I bought a coffee this morning, which came with a small slice of the Spanish version of French toast.

As I was drinking my coffee, I struck up a conversation with a South African mother and daughter, and then several friends from last night’s albergue arrived. When it was time to leave, my German and Dutch friends were also about to re-start walking and so we decided to walk together.

At the second village, Villar de Mazerife, a further 4.5km down the road, there was supposed to be another bar, this time in an albergue, but it was closed, as was the pretty looking church. We found a small supermarket to buy some fruit and 4 pots of yoghurt. We shared the latter on a bench in the shade just outside the shop.

We struck out once more, with some 10km or so to go to the next village, Villavente. By late morning, the sun was getting hotter and hotter, although there was a bit of a breeze, so it felt a little cooler than yesterday. On this section, we were walking between fields of tall maize, with sprinkler systems, supplied from irrigation canals and channels between (and alongside) the fields.

Finally we arrived at Villavente and the first albergue had 3 beds for the three of us to stay together once more. Over lunch, we met a British couple and about 4 or 5 French people.Baca lagi