Villafranca Montes de Oca

Day 18 in Belorado and Day 19 in Villafranca - in Granon I had stayed at a ‘Casa Rural’. These are private homes
where the host rents out rooms with or without attached bathrooms. In this case I had a private room with an attached bathroom. The price was €50 which is expensive (😀) but it came with the free use of a washer, as well as morning coffee. While I prefer to stay in a private room I have found that it is fun to stay now and then in a shared room or even a dorm. This way you meet some interesting people and share a communal supper. A bed in a dorm can cost as little as €6 - and that is primarily in a municipal albergue where they don’t take reservations - and the early bird gets the worm - which is why some people leave the albergue at 6am or earlier. Last night in Belorado I got a bed in a private albergue. It cost €12. Initially I didn’t like it because there was no place to hang out washed clothes and no place to stretch and do my morning (minimal) warm up exercises. But I met a woman who had just moved from CT to VT, a young Korean woman and another American woman who had gone to a boarding school in Jaipur because her father had been a polo player. She wants to work for Babli at her ‘glamping’ farm - so I’ve introduced them via WhatsApp.
The trek from Granon to Belorado was quite unremarkable. I’m now in the Burgos region and passed through a number of villages and they all had churches and center squares, but none of their cafeterias were open and I hardly saw anyone but pilgrims. Except in the town of Redecilla del Camino where a man was roasting peppers “pimiento morrón” and a group of people were removing the outer skin. These are canned and sold. When I say roasted I mean charred.
Yesterday my knees were really hurting so I booked a room in Villafranca - just 12 kms away . This morning the people in my dorm left really early so I was able to stretch and warm up properly. Lo and behold my knees were fine today. I forgot to mention that I had met this guy, Steve, a couple of days ago from Austin, Texas. Turns out he is an ER doctor who grows his own turmeric and ginger. He gave me a few of his home made gelcaps of turmeric + pepper and told me to buy more in Burgos - an anti-inflammatory prescription for my knees! I’ve been having those tablets since yesterday - so perhaps that helped too.
Villafranca is a very tiny village but has a few albergues, a casa rural and one fairly fancy hotel. I’m sitting at a bar that is frequented by truck drivers - there’s a bunch of trucks parked outside, I’m not sure how they maneuvered through the tiny streets. I wish I spoke Spanish and could talk to them. Next time!Read more