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Camino Via de la Plata 2022Camino Via de la Plata 2022
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Camino Via de la Plata 2022

April - June 2022
Walking from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela Read more
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  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 21

    Fuenterroble - Morille 33km

    May 20, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    I had a shower in the morning, for the second day running, what a treat. However, I woke up with a sore throat probably as a result of coughing most of the night, my first thought was covid but it felt very familiar, like an allergic reaction. I found out later that the hospitalera had cats, which I am very allergic to, so in some ways that was a relief. The two French ladies, Rita and myself got a lift part of the way from the hospitalera, which I was glad of as I felt a bit ropey and the distance was more than any of us felt able to walk at this point in our camino, and the temperature had risen sharply. Rita was staying at an albergue in San Pedro de Rozados and I walked on another 5km to the albergue in Morille.

    The walk to Morille was uneventful, but pleasant, a few cyclists passed me with cries of buen camino! Morille is another very small village, with a church, an albergue and a café. I had to sign in and pay at the bar, the barman never checked my passport or did anything other than give me the form to fill in myself. It may have been because he did not know any English, but his demeanour was quite surly and unfriendly. I walked back to the albergue and sorted out my stuff, and get my washing done. I decided to forego another shower as the shower/toilet block was communal and there was no privacy screen in the showers, I'm no prude but I do think people deserve basic privacy, and it wasn't just me, I know that some of the young women were not happy about the shower arrangements.

    The albergue was not the worst I had been in but that's not saying much, it was basic and lacking in both facilities and charm. It was also packed, one French guy turned up quite late and was not happy that all the bottom bunks were already taken, he got into an argument about it with another Spanish peregrino. I didn't need to speak Spanish or French to know how that conversation was going. However, the Spanish guy looked like he could eat the French guy for breakfast so it ended pretty quickly. It was the one and only time I saw an altercation between peregrinos on the camino.

    I went to bed excited for tomorrow, when I would walk into the great city of Salamanca where, with Rita's help, I had booked a nice (I hoped) hotel for two nights just a couple of minutes walk from the Plaza Mayor. I then walked back to the bar to get some dinner, there was already a good number of peregrinos eating there, so I checked out what was on their plates and ordered. Basically, chips, bacon and egg but it was filling and tasty - the downside was the slowness of service. However, the food was good and I went back to the albergue satisfied. I read for a while and then it was time for bed.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 22

    Morille - Salamanca 21 km

    May 21, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I slept surprisingly well considering the quality of the albergue. At 0510 someone's alarm went off and it was like flicking a switch in everyone's brain, we all just got up and got ready, some stayed to make their own breakfast, others just left. I was on the road by 0540.

    I made good time in the cool of the morning, the path was mostly flat, it was one of those days where you didn't have to worry about finding way markers as there was only one path, all you had to do was stay on it. By the time it was daylight the landscape had changed from woodland to rolling hills and fields that surrounded Salamanca. You could see the path winding its way across the countryside for several km, and every so often you would get a glimpse of the city and the towers of the two cathedrals, getting ever closer. Eventually, after a steepish hill with a cross at the top the city lay before us, but there was still over an hour's walking from that point to the city, and further still to the Plaza Mayor. I went there first as it was too early for me to check into the hotel, and I got some coffee and tostada and watched the world go by. The Plaza Mayor in Salamanca is thought by many people to be the finest Plaza in Spain and it's easy to see why.

    I found the hotel (Hotel Emperatriz I) checked in, it was very nice and great value, the guy at the desk was friendly and super helpful. The bed was really comfortable and the shower was amazing, and it was right in the heart of the city. After showering and changing, I got a taxi to the Decathlon store, about 4km away, bought the stuff I needed and then walked back. I bought a long sleeved top for the colder mornings and a pair of trainers because a lot of the camino ahead was on tarmac which my boots were not suited for.

    In the evening I went to McDonalds for dinner, it's one of my least favourite places for food but I really wanted something that was very different from the menu del dia which was virtually the same in every village and town.

    I decided to have an early night and enjoy the luxurious comfort of my hotel room.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    1
    Day 23

    Salamanca 12 km

    May 22, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I had planned to spend two nights in Salamanca as a mini-break, it is roughly halfway on the camino and is a good place to do that. So, today I planned to be nothing more than a tourist, and ended up walking 12 km around the city. I had an excellent cooked breakfast in the hotel then went back up to my room to repack my mochilla, I planned to post some things home in order to lighten my pack, so I had to think carefully about what I could do without. One of my tasks today would be to find the post office and find out what time it opened in the morning.

    Although it was Sunday, all the cafés, bars and restaurants were open and all the shops selling stuff tourists might like. I noted that most of it was the same kind of tourist tat that is sold in touristic shops all over Scotland, just without the tartan.

    One of the touristic things I did was to do the tour of Salamanca Cathedral, (special peregrino discount on the entry price). It was an interesting tour and the building is certainly beautiful and awe inspiring in the way that cathedrals are. However, I was left with the feeling that it was very much like the Roman arch at Cáparra, both are monuments to empires that are dead or dying, empires whose time has come and gone. The monuments and mighty works of Rome are reduced to rubble and point to the past glories of that empire, glories that, for the most part, have to be imagined. In the same way, cathedrals are the monuments and mighty works of Christendom, now reduced to the status of tourist attractions that point to past glories when the Church, in partnership with the State, shaped and ruled society, and one day they too will turn to rubble. The influence of the religious ideology that built them has already passed away, though it may be argued that there is something new emerging out of the rubble of Christendom.

    We spend so much of our lives chasing things that will turn to dust and be forgotten, it's not earthly treasures that last. I wandered around the city for a while, looking at the grand buildings and reflecting on the way that all things pass and how we measure greatness. Somehow the city's majestic buildings had lost their grandeur and so I went back to the hotel for a while, then went out for a coffee in the Plaza Mayor, I saw a group of classical music students busking, they were playing Gabriel's Oboe, from Morricone's score for The Mission, it seemed to fit the moment.

    I went back to the hotel and went to bed, completely unaware that the next day was the day when everything would change.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 24

    Salamanca - Calzada de Valdunciel 17 km

    May 23, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    The day started in the most ordinary of ways as life-changing days often do.

    I got up later than usual because I couldn't start walking on the camino until I had been to the post office and the bank, neither of which opened until 0830. So I went down to the dining room and had another great cooked breakfast, then set off to the post office about 15 minutes walk away. Tasks done, I settled my bill at the hotel and checked out.

    The stage from Salamanca to Zamora is quite long and is normally broken into two or three sections, I didn't want to be walking over 30 km so I chose to walk it in three sections which meant the first section was only about 17 km. It would turn out to be a very good decision, I just didn't know it yet.

    The first 7 km is all road as you walk out of the city and follow alongside the motorway to Aldeaseca de la Almuña where you leave the road and walk on country paths. Even with the late start I arrived in Calzada de Valdunciel quite early, in fact the only person in the Albergue La Casa del Molinero was the cleaner. She phoned the owner and I was told to pick a bed and he would come along later. The town is small and is really just a stopping point for the camino so it doesn't have much more than a shop and a couple of albergues and cafe's. There's nothing to see, and nothing to do, so I had thought it was going to be another dull, boring stopover, how wrong I was.

    After a couple of hours the owner had still not arrived but it's Spain so I figured he would get here when he got here. Just then there was a banging at the main door, and it turned out to be an Sicilian cyclist called Rosario, and I opened up the gate so he could get his bike in, gave him the spiel re the owner, and he went and picked his bed. Just then there was another knock at the door it was a peregrina wondering if a tall Italian peregrino had stopped here. He hadn't and so after chatting for a few moments, she continued on the camino. A short while later there was another knock at the door - it was turning into the scene from The Hobbit where Bilbo has to keep answering the door at Bag End as more and more dwarves arrive. However, it wasn't a dwarf at the door, quite the opposite, it was a tall Australian lady called Anita, and a young woman from Hungary called Mirjam.

    I welcomed them in and gave them the same spiel I had given Rosario. Not long after this the owner arrived and all the financial essentials were dealt with, he told us that there was nowhere to get dinner that night so Rosario insisted that he would cook our dinner. We all went to the shop and bought some pasta etc. and a bottle of wine.

    While dinner was cooking Rosario went to open up the wine only to discover that there was no corkscrew in the albergue, and watching him trying to remove the cork with long thin sharp knives and tools from his bike was as hilarious as it was nerve wracking. I was sure we were going to have to call for an ambulance as he stabbed himself or cut off a finger or three. However, he got the cork out without any medical emergency ensuing, and the pasta was delicious, with plenty of leftovers to bag up for tomorrow. (It turned out to be a good idea to bring a selection of IKEA ziplock bags)

    Throughout the evening I got to know Anita and Mirjam a little. Anita had that frank, forward, no-nonsense friendliness common to Australians, she was semi-retired after a successful career as a medical scientist. In the mid 1980's she had hitch-hiked through Africa and volunteered in medical clinics as she went along, and was now a self-employed consultant. She was smart, funny, and very easy to get on with and within a short time it felt like we had known each other since forever.

    Mirjam was quieter, I wrote in my journal that night that she was quiet but lovely and that I felt it would be good to get to know her better. As RickyTarr said in Tinker Tailor, "there was gold in her Mr Smiley...", she was like a secret waiting to be discovered. She had a warmth and a quiet joy about her, and when she smiled, the sun and the moon and the stars were put to shame. Over the next few weeks I would discover that she was also smart, funny, resilient, brave, kind, caring, generous and one of the loveliest humans on the planet. Gold indeed.

    The next day Anita, Mirjam and I were all heading to El Cubo de Tierra del Vino, of course that was no guarantee that I would see them again, but I knew that I definitely wanted to. The camino brings many unexpected gifts, and meeting Anita and Mirjam was one of them.

    So, dear reader, you might be wondering how today changed everything, well, long story short, meeting Anita and Mirjam set off a chain of events that became the unfolding story of my camino and beyond.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 25

    Calzada de Valdunciel - El Cubo 23 km

    May 24, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I was up and away whilst everyone else was sleeping, it was a cold morning and I wore my fleece for the first three hours of walking. The walk was ok but quite uninspiring as most of it was on a dirt track some 20 metres from the motorway on one side and endless fields of wheat on the other. It was very exposed and I was walking almost all the way against a strong headwind. I eventually took off my fleece and for the first time unpacked my Rohan waterproof jacket, which proved to be an extremely effective windbreaker.

    Although it was only 23 km it felt longer against that wind and I was very happy to see the town only a few hundred metres ahead. I went to the albergue but there was no one there and so went in search of coffee. Whilst I was there two women came in and we recognised each other, from having said hello to one another on the street in Cáceres. We chatted and I asked if they knew when the albergue opened, and so one of them immediately phoned the owner, she was Spanish and had stayed in the albergue the previous night and got on well with the owner, and got the info I needed. She asked where I was from and when I said Scotland she commented that she had not met anyone else from Scotland on the Camino. I also said I had not met any other Scots on the camino, at that exact moment a voice behind me said, well there's three of us right here! I turned round and there were three cyclists who had just come in for a coffee break. They were all from Edinburgh, and not cycling the camino but were doing some other cycle route, it was great to hear a familiar accent and we chatted for ages, before they got back on the road.

    I went back to the albergue to wait until it opened and found another cyclist waiting to get in, Guillermo from Spain, he lived and worked in the UK and recognised my Scottish accent immediately. He was very friendly and I liked him right away, which turned out to be a good thing as he would have a part to play in my camino adventure in the weeks ahead.

    The albergue was split over three buildings and I ended up having an entire house to myself. I was really pleased to see Anita and Mirjam, they were staying in the same albergue but in a different part. Chatting with Anita we both came to the conclusion that we would love to have a day in Zamora, apparently it is a beautiful city but our walking schedule would not allow it. So, with a bit of online research, and some local knowledge, and some language assistance from Guillermo, Anita and I decided that in the morning we would get a bus into Zamora and spend the day there being tourists. Mirjam was going to walk it, she is a late starter in the mornings and very fit, so the long distances don't seem to bother her.

    Most of the peregrinos met together at the albergue where the owner's wife had cooked us a fabulous dinner, the conversation was great, there was a lot of laughter and a sense of belonging. Around the table we were from Scotland, Hungary, Poland, France, Holland, Spain, Norway, Australia and Canada, but we were also all from the camino, and that was the bond that held us in the moment. Some of us were meeting for the first time, but were a band of brothers/sisters even for just that moment and it felt good to be part of that.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 26

    El Cubo - Zamora 32 km

    May 25, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    I was up early for breakfast at the main albergue building and then Anita and I went along to the square to get the bus which was on time and ridiculously cheap. We were in Zamora within 30 mins, and the first thing we did was walk 40 mins to the Decathlon store as Anita was needing some supplies, whilst there I bought another long sleeved top and a warmer fleece. It turned out that the long walk uphill was the camino route we would be following the next day, so that was helpful, at least I now knew where I was going in the morning.

    It was way too early for the albergue to be open so Anita and I toured the old part of town, and visited a museum. We had a great time, and great chat, once again I was struck by how easy she was to be with, with her nothing felt forced or strained, whilst there were silences, none of them were awkward, we were just enjoying one another's company. After our tour round the old part of the city we went to the albergue and sat and had refreshments at a very beautiful spot with amazing views just next to the albergue. I was so glad we had decided to do this, I don't know if I will ever be in Zamora again but I am glad we had this opportunity, and very happy to have spent the day with Anita.

    The albergue was donativo and very nice, the hospitaleros were super friendly and helpful, and funny. The guy booking us in made a big show of being sorry for not realising I was Scottish, the wording on the cover of new UK passport ends with the word Ireland, and almost every hospitalero thought I was Irish. It got to the point when booking in I would start off by saying - "no Irlanda del Norte, no Inglaterra, soy Escocés!" The albergue is very clean and tidy with good facilities, including excellent toilets and showers and a centrifuge for the washing.

    We had heard bad reports about the municipal albergue in our next destination so Anita was going to try and book us into a private albergue, unfortunately they were all full. Mirjam arrived safely, I was still trying to find a way of getting to know her better, so far it's not been easy, she is quite shy, but every minute I spend with her convinces me i should try. I already know that she loves coffee because she was carrying her own coffee maker, a woman after my own heart!

    The 10pm lights out rule is enforced here so we all went to bed at a reasonable time, I plan to be up early and away as the temperatures for tomorrow are high from early morning.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 27

    Zamora - Montamarta 21 km

    May 26, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    I set off at 0545 and headed up the 2 km long hill out of the city, the path soon turned off the tarmac and onto the standard camino gravel. Again it was one of those days in which it was difficult to get lost as there was only one path with few opportunities to turn off but all of which were clearly marked. The path was fairly flat with few inclines that were long rather steep, and a featureless landscape of crop fields.

    As we were unable to get into a private albergue, I had no option to but to go to the municipal and when I arrived I saw Luis and Delphine, two lovely Spanish guys from Bilbao who were very fast walkers but spoke virtually no English. Julia, a lovely Canadian girl of Korean descent was also there, she was super fit and also a fast walker, she was friends with Anita and Mirjam.

    I was also very surprised to see Anita sitting on a bench outside as she had been in her bed when I left Zamora. It turned out that after walking 5-6 km she suddenly had an incredible pain in her good knee, so painful in fact that she was unable to put any weight on it. She had to sit down on the side of the camino path and about 30 minutes later Mirjam found her and phoned for a taxi to bring her to Montamarta. I sat and chatted with her for a while but I didn't know what to say to her, I was devastated for her because at that point it was looking very much like her camino was over. I could only imagine how I would have felt in her situation, and I was very sad at the thought of her leaving.

    Mirjam arrived and after a bit of discussion with Anita and the guys it was decided to call 112, the emergency services. Luis handled the call, and it was agreed that an ambulance would be sent to take Anita back for medical treatment in Zamora, and so we waited for the ambulance, worried about Anita. The ambulance arrived and we waved her goodbye, there was a lot of joking and laughing but in truth I was broken-hearted. Over the last few days I have become incredibly fond of her, and as i thought about her going back to Zamora I didn't know if I would ever see her again. On the camino, people come and go, but I already knew that I wanted to be friends with her beyond the camino.

    With Anita very much in our minds and on our hearts, we got on with the tasks before us. The report we had about the albergue was that it was not clean, but when we arrived the hospitalero was taking in the washing and then we saw him mopping the floors, once he was gone we ventured in for a look. Having had a look we all split up to properly clean the place, I drew the short straw and had to clean the gents toilets which were filthy, and before long the albergue was more habitable. The showers were ok, and there was a good kitchen, and the toilets were now very clean.

    We got word back from Anita, the X-ray didn't show anything conclusive so they were basically just recommending painkillers and rest for a few days, I prayed for her recovery.

    Luis, Delphine, Mirjam, Julia and myself walked into the town to a restaurant that I think had been recommended, and had an excellent meal, 3 courses and a drink for 11€, I'd like to see that in Scotland. Later in the albergue, I was able to have a friendship-building conversation with Mirjam, which I was thankful for.

    I got my stuff ready for the next day, read through the guidebook, and got ready for bed, it is a slightly longer walk tomorrow and it will be hot, but I have decided to stop worrying about what might or might not happen tomorrow, it just robs you of your joy today. Also, looking back, none of the things I worried about over the past four weeks have happened, and unexpected problems that arose were dealt with as they happened. I am slowly learning how to live in the moment. Right at that moment, it was time for bed.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    Day 28

    Montamarta - Granja de Moreruela 24 km

    May 27, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Luis' alarm went off early but I was already awake, and was up and out the door just 10 minutes in front of them, Mirjam was of course, still sound asleep. I found the walk quite difficult today, my right hip was very sore but the only way is forward so I kept going. Having said that, I was really enjoying the walk, and when I was having a break I saw Julia on the road and shouted to her and we met up and walked together for a while. It was the first time I had walked with her and I enjoyed her chat, I found her to be really engaging and interesting, clearly very smart and independent. I was so glad we were able to share that time together, and I hoped we would have many more moments like that. We arrived at one of the towns on the route but there was no café so we stopped at a bench for a rest but rather than resting, Julia wanted us to do some stretching exercises, and I couldn't say no. Reader, it was the only stretch exercises I had done since PE at school more than 40 years earlier, but I managed, and to be honest, it made me love her just a little bit more.

    When I got to Granja I found Luis and Delphine sitting eating ice cream outside the albergue, they had somehow passed me, I think they followed the main road rather than the camino trail. They told me to go to the bar down the street and leave my mochilla until we could get into the albergue. so, off I went and had coffee and tortilla then more coffee whilst I was there. When the time came we got our credentials stamped and made our way over to the albergue which despite the 6€ price, the albergue was quite decent with excellent toilets and showers.

    Mirjam and Anne (Anne- with an uh) a very lovely German girl who was friends with Anita and Mirjam, arrived and we went for lunch together, and we met Julia in the restaurant and had the most wonderful time, even though the food was not brilliant. We had a terrific discussion about Van Gogh and art, Julia was wearing a Van Gogh t-shirt that she had designed herself. It was a great design and she is obviously a very talented graphic designer. I really enjoyed my time sitting chatting and getting to know the three of them better, I have never been as impressed by anyone as I am by these three young women, and meeting them has been one of the great highlights of my camino.

    I was encouraged to get a message from Anita to say that she had walked a little bit in Zamora today and she was hopeful of joining us on the camino soon. I was continuing to pray for a full recovery for her. I hope she is able to return to the camino and meet up with us, I look forward to seeing her again.    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    2
    Day 29

    Granja de Moreruela - Tabara 25 km

    May 28, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Luis and Delphine were lovely guys but they snored all night, so I was awake at 0500, and I just got up and got ready and set off at 0520. I made really good time for the first couple of hours and enjoyed the walk. I stopped at the bridge over the Esla River to take some photographs, and then had to decide on which route to take, I could stay on the road or follow the camino path alongside the river. I decided on the camino path, it was a lot slower and a lot more uneven and dangerous but it was fun. I messaged Mirjam to give her a heads up about the path and then carried on. I stopped in Faramontanos for coffee and tostada and messaged Mirjam to let her know the café was open. Luis, Delphine and I passed each other a couple of times as we took different stops for refreshments, but for the most part we walked together, and in fact we arrived in Tabara together. I was so grateful for their company, they were supportive and encouraging and really helped me to do the walk.

    The guys were going on to the municipal which was on the far side of town and required walking back the way we had come to rejoin the camino so I decided to get a single room in the private albergue 2 mins from the camino. It was only 19€ which I felt was worth it to have your own space and your own toilet/shower for one night. I messaged Mirjam to say I had arrived and let her know about the albergues and we agreed to meet for a drink once she arrived. When we met up she wanted to go visit the historic church which also housed a museum on the history of the church. In the Middle ages it had been a centre of education and learning and they had many books and parchments from the period on display.

    As we went for our drinks she was greeted by two American ladies Meg and her cousin Kathleen, and we stood and chatted with them for a while. My experience with Americans on the camino had not been great but they were friends of Mirjam's and Anita's (Anita had mentioned them a few times) so that was good enough for me. They invited us to come to the albergue later and they would fix us dinner. I went along as instructed and had an absolutely fabulous time, Meg and Kathleen were instantly likeable, and great fun, Mirjam, Anne, Julia, and Guillermo were all there and the food and conversation were great, it was a fab evening and I think it was that night that really cemented what had been the beginning of a significant friendship for me, for that was the night that I think we really became a group. It was either Meg or Kathleen who said they were looking for a token man to be in their group and I was that token man. I could not have been happier to be typecast so. From that moment on we would journey together. (Guillermo was cycling the camino whilst working and so dropped in and out of the group at various points depending on those factors)    Read more

  • Norman GrahamCamino Via de la Plata 2022
    1
    Day 30

    Tabara - Santa Marta de Tera 23 km

    May 29, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    My single room in the albergue was great, except it was at the top of the building and as hot as a furnace but I did manage to get to sleep eventually but woke at 0500. I just got up and left, there was no reason to stay.

    After about 10 km there was a choice of route to Santa Marta, the route to the right was 0.5 km shorter but no coffee, so needless to say, I went straight ahead, I figured the extra half km was worth it, and reader, it was.

    I arrived in Villanueva de las Peras hoping that I would indeed find a café open, I passed one that was closed and so wasn't hopeful, but as I walked further into the town, I saw Julia's water bottle on a table, then her mochila and I guessed she must be inside the café. So, I ended up having the most wonderful breakfast with Julia. I had asked for tostada and marmalada which the lady brought out to me, but she also brought a small pot of honey and said that it was their own honey, made by their own bees. I'm not hugely fond of honey but it was such a nice gesture I had to try some. I left the marmalada untouched. The honey was the best I have ever tasted, it was amazing. She then came out and gave Julia and I a small sweet cake, no charge. Julia told me that when she arrived the café was closed but an old lady told her to wait and then she went and woke up the owners (it was a Sunday) who very happily got up and served us our breakfast, they could not have been nicer. I made sure to message back to Mirjam and Anne to stop there for coffee and honey toast. The best part of the breakfast however, was my conversation with Julia., I will never forget it She was going on beyond Santa Marta and it would be a while before I would see her again, but she was never far from my thoughts over the next few days.

    When I got to Santa Croya de Tera I heard someone whistle, but I couldn't see anyone then I heard a voice shouting 'Normando!' it was Luis and Delphine, they were in the park, when I went over to them Luis insisted that I take some cherries as all the shops were closed, the cherries were huge and tasty, I was still eating them 3 days later. The guys were concerned that all the shops in Santa Marta and possibly the cafés might be closed, I said it was no problem then patted my stomach and said muchas reservas, Luis thought that was hilarious.

    We arrived in Santa Marta about 1130, and met the hospitalera who was just coming out of the church next door. Luis told her I was a Baptist Minister so she made a point of inviting me to the 12 o'clock service, which I then felt obliged to go to, the guys thought it was funny.

    The albergue was very nice and a real bargain at 5€ very clean, and really good toilets and showers, one of the best so far. It only slept 13 and it was beginning to fill up - one of the first to arrive was the guy we all referred to as bearded Spaniard man, he was an epic snorer. I messaged Mirjam to tell her and Anne to pick up the pace as they might end up not getting a bed, which they did and they arrived in time managing to get the last two beds. Within the next hour three other peregrinos were turned away, their only option was to walk another 6km to a more expensive hostal. I know Mirjam and Anne would have been able and willing to walk to the next town, the truth is that I was not being thoughtful or altruistic, it was completely selfish, I just really wanted to see them again.

    It turned out there was a restaurant open but it closed at 1800, so Luis and Delphine and I went and had a very nice dinner, then back to the albergue for a chat with the girls then bed. It rained just as we were getting into bed and I wondered if the path would eb muddy or flooded in the morning, but that was tomorrow's problem.    Read more

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