Day 16 - A long but “easy” day

“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” – Robert Schuller

Day 16 - Boadilla del Camino to Villalcázar de Sigra - 20.3km

Looking back on today, this was a great one!
I didn’t have the best sleep, but it was ok. I actually got up for the first time on this journey, knowing I was walking and not worried about it. It’s hard to describe, but every single day, I have dreaded the walk. I just haven’t wanted to do it as it’s been more of a chore than a pleasure. I’m not yet at the pleasure point, but I wasn’t dreading it - and it was an 18.8km walk. As it turns out, we took a variant so we could walk by a river as opposed to the road, and it added over a km to the walk. Made for a much nicer walk though.

When I went down to the bar for a tea, I was with a friend of a few days, James from Nee Jersey. We had our drinks and decided to walk together. He’s not an overly fast walker either and generally does shorter distances - which is why we have seen each other the last 3 days. Off we go at 8am. Me to Villalcázar de Sigra and James to Carrion de Los Condes -25km. He wasn’t looking forward to that, let me tell you!!

There were no hills today. The way was basically flat and the first 5.7 km was mostly along a canal, so quite pretty. We decided to push on a couple of km as it was still early and we figured we would get a drink at the next stop, which we did. At this point, we took the variant and added over 1.5km to our journey. This was only ok because rather than walk beside a busy road, we got to go on a path between farm fields and then along a river. Much nicer. Stopped again at noon for another drink and a snack before pushing on ti the last 5km.

In no time at all, we were at my destination. It really is so nice to walk and chat with someone. And raven better, we kept a good pace and did over 20km in about 4.5 hrs walking time. Pretty damned happy with that!

We grabbed a drink here and parted ways. Jenny and Carolyn (from AUS) were here too and ended up staying at the same Albergue as I’m at since the couldn’t find the Municipal Albergue. I love these women! Sisters from Australia who are both retired nurses and in their late 60s. They are a blast! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together - just like last night. Only difference is there was no pilgrims dinner tonight. In fact, dinner was a bottle of wine shared by Carolyn and I, a potato chip mix and bag of mixed nuts (that will haunt me tomorrow!). We did manage a late lunch of wine and tapas first, but it wasn’t much. The only bar here was closing at 5, the only restaurant (Michelin Star no less) was fully booked out and our only option was the small grocery store. So, we made the best of it LOL. I’ve had worse meals….and worse company.

Actually loved this day and I hope I have many more like them.

Tomorrow is a short 6km day and I will be 2 nights in a private room with a bathtub. I can’t wait!! Hopefully meeting up with Nancy, Dave and Louie tomorrow will be so good to see them again!Read more