Bercianos Del Real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas – 27.3km, 5.5 hours, Pensión de Blanca, 45€

Folks, I don’t make up the names of these towns. Some Spanish guy did that many, many hundreds of years ago. He may have been drunk at the time.

Today’s walk was straighter than arrow straight but I’m at a loss for other ways to describe it. Santo Domingo organized the Camino Frances trail almost a thousand years ago. Santo Domingo had the bright idea to use a very long ruler to draw a line from Bercianos and Mansilla. He then built as many bridges needed to cross rivers and cleared any walls or buildings in the way. Now, he said, this is a beautiful trail to walk and I’ve saved you from trying to remember to turn left or right anywhere. The trail, once again, was a gravel path next to the road that likely is the actual original trail. Thankfully there were small changes in altitude.

Once again on today’s walk, the 5.5 hours was only our moving time. The total time from door to door was actually one hour more and that hour included breakfasts #1, #2 and #3. You can’t walk on an empty stomach and you can’t take double dosage ibuprofen on an empty stomach either. Despite sounding like a pig, for those three meals, I had a total consumption of a croissant, half a banana, half an empanada, a peach juice, and most of two cans of isotonic drinks. We are also snacking on some nuts before dinner. While we walk, we just don’t feel like eating. We do, to an extent, make up for it at dinner. Last night I had an ice cold beer, a good-sized plate of spaghetti, a couple of delicious chicken drumsticks, more French fries than I could eat and some ice cream for dessert. I’m still a pig, just only at dinner.

Because we walked this route before, I knew to look out for something that pilgrims would appreciate. As we came down a small hill just before the first albergue in the village of Reliegos, I used Google maps to confirm the direction for me. From that hill, I could see the iconic mountain that we will climb in four days. If all goes to plan, we will walk to Leon, San Martín del Camino and Astorga, about where the Meseta really ends. The following day we hope to walk most of the way up the mountain to Foncebadón and the the next day to the top and the Cruz de Ferro. It’s the highest point on the Camino but we are already on a high plain (and physically stronger) so it shouldn’t be too strenuous, even though it’s steep. It’s just cool to see that mountain range again. It’s the gateway to Galicia and Santiago de Compostela.

We were treated to a lovely thunderstorm last night, just after we went to bed. We worried a bit that it may rain all day today. Fortunately, the local report in the morning said we would have perfect walking weather all day, ie., cloudy, cool and dry. That, at least was the forecast. It certainly was cloudy when we started. In fact, it looked like it could rain at any minute. But it didn’t. It stayed cool but half the walk was under bright sunshine. Only strong, cool winds kept the heat away.

Speaking of small bathrooms…. Melanie suggested that we (that means “I”) just wash the inner clothes in the room and see if we can dry them someplace outside since it was sunny. After thinking about that for three seconds, I suggested that we (“I” again) wash all our walking clothes and anything else that needs washing in the laundromat that we saw advertised nearby. I suggested it to save time tomorrow in León when we would certainly need to wash things. That leaves us more time for sightseeing. My idea won the day because of two things. First, by the time we finished showering and settling in, it started to rain so once again, our room would be decorated with dripping clothes. Secondly, I walked into the bathroom to see the sink I could use to wash the clothes. It was just large enough to wash one sock at a time. The undershirts would need two sessions, left side and right side. Even when I wash my teeth, I’m going to have to be careful spitting out the toothpaste in case I flood the room.

That’s it for tonight folks. We are still doing okay physically with occasional pains and soreness. What else should we expect for two people in their late thirties, walking 20-28km everyday.

Peace y’all. Goodnight George and Leo. Don’t let the bedbugs bite but if they are hungry, there is a leftover pizza in the fridge.