Valdefresno

Days 25 to 27 (Terradillos de Los Templarios, El Burgo Ranero, Arcahueja) - well folks you will be happy to know that I’m at the end of the Meseta. I have 10 kms to Leon tomorrow morning - it’s the weekend and shops close early afternoon on a Saturday and then don’t reopen till Monday and I need to shop. I need to get some gloves, a warmer jacket and a headlamp for early morning. It’s gotten quite cold and sunrise is later and later - and will be more so after Leon.
Yesterday I passed the halfway point to Santiago in Sahagun and received my halfway certificate. Today I completed 283 miles - it’s a total of 480 miles to Santiago - all on my two little feet! I do plan to continue on to Finisterre and Muxia which will add another 100 kms or so.
You’ll also be happy to know that my knees are just fine now and I’ve been doing 18 - 20 miles per day for the last 6 days or so - hence the progress. I have never been happier! I think it’s the endorphins- they’ve really kicked in. I will slow down a bit after Leon so I can enjoy the scenery etc. I think 12 - 15 miles should be my limit.
But what the recent speed has done is to catch up with several friends and I’m really happy about that. I’m supposed to be dining with 3 groups in Leon on Saturday. These include my Indian friend from Boston, the family from CA that gave me a sleeping bag, the Aussie guys that I walked with a couple of days ago, my young Korean friend that invited me to a chicken dinner at her Airbnb in Burgos and Tony from Tasmania who plans to have a Camino reunion at his home. Not sure how I’m going to handle this group in Leon. Although some of them know each other I may have to have dinner twice. Today I walked again with Peter, the Korean guy who I met in Villacalzar de Sirga a few days ago. He lives in Vegas. He’s doing the Camino for his daughter who died of COVID in the first wave, at the age of 33. I’m going to invite him to dinner with the some of the others.
I never realized I’m so social, I really get along with all these people. But there have been times when I’ve distanced myself from people. Like the American couple that kept on with “honey this” and “honey that”. I had tacked on to them yesterday in the early morning because they had a headlamp. But he was so overly solicitous and worried that she would fall into a ditch when she was chatting with me that after a while when they bumped into a friend, I took off.
I’ve been a bit lax about writing and posting daily because when I walk these long distances I average about 3 miles an hour plus stops for food, sights, photos, and just to rest my legs. Then when I get to an Albergue, I check in, shower, wash my clothes, plan and make reservations for the next day, chat with Sunil and anyone else from home that wants to chat and then hang out with other pilgrims and have a drink and then dinner. Sometimes I am in a dorm and share a room with folks that fall asleep at 8:30pm. At other times I don’t have a wifi connection. So it does get tough to upload photos and write something. However I have realized that I forget things very quickly and all these Spanish town and Albergue names merge into one another. It helps to have this blog to keep it straight. You may notice that I added the names of the towns I stayed in at the top of this blog and also the last one.
Today I’m staying in a hotel in a Leon suburb. Since they cater to the general public and not just pilgrims their restaurant doesn’t open till 8:30 pm - and I’m starving! Anyway this has given me time to update you all. Next post from Leon!Read more