D24: El Burgo Ranero-Mansilla delas Mula

Mileage: 12 miles
Altitude gain: 171 feet
Altitude loss: 502 feet
Weather: cool, partly cloudy, and breezy. Pretty much perfect
Total mileage: 287 miles

I slept well in the room I ended up having to myself at the albergue. I stopped at the restaurant where I had dinner last night (veggie burger!) and had apple tart and a coffee before heading out. Another meseta day - many miles of the same scenery, but lovely weather and a flat trail made it a relatively easy day.

I had a nice conversation with a Spanish man and when I told him I didn’t have a reservation tonight, he indicated worry for me. I *hadn’t* been worried about it before then, but then I started, and made a hotel reservation from the trail. (It probably would’ve been fine!) By the way, after our conversation, this man came back to ask me where I was from, and when I told him the US, he complimented my Spanish. !!

The hotel is across the street from a park where children have played futbol all afternoon. It’s nice to see kids! Not all of the villages seem to have this sort of vitality. A quiet but nice day.

1. The trail has had regularly spaced sycamore trees alongside it starting late yesterday and then throughout much of today. Counting them would’ve been quite the meditation exercise! The trees outside of El Burgo Ranero were dressed up.
2. and 3. Most of today looked like this.
4. There was sometimes an obviously planned forest between fields. I thought of them as “Dance Break!” Lovely to sit amongst the trees on my morning break.
5. This guy was going backwards with his pack. Don’t know his story but it made for some nice variety. That dog was all business.
6. and 7. The scenery got a bit more varied in the last few miles.
8. Since I couldn’t check in to my hotel when I arrived, this is what I did. No regrets.
9. I love this kind of detail in the villages. This is on a door of a rather dilapidated building that’s for sale.
10. In Mansilla de las MulasRead more