Mansilla de las Mulas

Ya know you’d think it’d be easy walking the meseta today, which is flat terrain, but dang it was taxing. We did about 27km total and 12.5Km of it was without any towns or services. I bought a €5 sandwich at about 8km and we stopped halfway through that 12.5Km for a break at a picnic table. We took the shoes off, ate, talked, and got ready for the last bit. We entered Religos and had another 6 to go, but the way I break it down, and the lies I feed myself during the day is “this is shorter than our morning walk back home” I can totally do this. Problem is the last 5Km is the hardest. Always. Our bodies are aching, our feet are pissed, and we totally have our resting bitch faces on. There is nothing pretty about the last 5Km 😂. My photos of the walk today were few. Nothing you haven’t already seen so I walked around and got some of the town we are in tonight. The terrain today is totally the same as the last 4 days. But, we are leaving the meseta after tomorrow!! Woohoo we made it through this section, didn’t go crazy, and didn’t skip a bit of it. It was beautiful, it was a drag, it was enlightening, and I’m sooo glad it’s over. We will walk only 17km into León tomorrow and I can’t wait to see life again. We will likely get in by 1 and be able to visit the cathedral and go to the pilgrims mass. I’m really looking forward to getting a pilgrim blessing by the priest. They do this mass also for those who are too injured to continue and to bless them since they won’t make it to Santiago (I’ve been one of those people in 2013 and 2016). But this year, so far, I feel great and I’ll take the blessing for the final 2 weeks! We are going to enter Galicia soon. Love the terrain there. While it’ll be more challenging than the flat ground we’ve walked, it gives variation and it’s much more beautiful. Lots of green forested areas and more mountainous, of course. Guess what makes it so green and beautiful though? Rain!!! The forecast looks good from what I can see, but last night the forecast said no rain and we woke up to it and needed to wear rain gear this morning. Nothing crazy and it didn’t last long, but the weather app was definitely wrong! I just mentally prepare myself for rain anytime I’m in this province. It can dump buckets at a moments notice. Having said that, after last year, I’ve had a talking with myself and said I wasn’t going to melt, die, or wilt. It’s only water. As long as it’s not hot, I can handle wearing rain gear without the sauna effect and I can do this. Shoes will get wet, but the shoes I chose will dry quicker than most anyone else’s (Brooks Cascadia my friends are the bomb-not the waterproof version-that’s like hiking with plastic bags around your feet everyday). So there it is, I said it out loud, this last 2 week stage is for embracing my absolute hate for hiking in the rain, should I be presented with it. I’m late to get this blog done tonight. We had to go to a laundromat to do our laundry because we have a private room with no laundry service. So that took time and then of course find dinner at 7 before we died from starvation. We were given this recommendation by the innkeeper when we checked in so we found it and walked in at 6:30. Of course they don’t serve until 7, so we ordered a glass of wine while we waited. It was small, loud, and dark, with Spanish locals talking a mile a minute. We looked at each other like we don’t want any food cooked from here, the bartender was drinking wine, there was one little table left and it was totally cramped! We took our wine out to a different table and decided we’d finish it and hunt down something else. Pretty soon lots of pilgrims started coming into the establishment and we were like what the heck, where are all these people going to sit? Do they know how tiny it is? Then the wine drinking bartender opened up the dining room and voila there was a dining room with white table cloths and a charming area to eat. We then immediately got in line 😂. It was filling, simple, and cheap. So glad we stayed!! Back to our room, packed up for tomorrow, and ready for some city tomorrow. It may be a little jolting after all these small villages and peace and quiet. I think I want visual stimulation, but we will see..Leggi altro