Once again, a pretty straight trail, mostly flat and it had a few good places to get a first, second or third breakfast.  The difference today was that we had a short day as we were trying to set up a stay in a nice albergue tomorrow with a 24km walk and then another 26km into the city of Burgos the next day.  That plan didn’t work out but more on that later.

We enjoyed another lovely sunrise behind us today.  Those westward trails keep the sun out of our eyes and off our faces but they also make us do frequent pirouettes at dawn to catch the perfect sunrise.  We started walking about 30 minutes before sunrise since we knew we could get a breakfast within the first hour of walking.  That stop, in an albergue in Redecilla del Camino, had a basic, mass produced croissants and Napolitanas but they were fine with a coffee (fuel for Melanie) or lemon Fanta (Michael’s favorite sugary drink). We met Fernando there and twisted his arm to join us.  He said that he planned to smoke.  We insisted so he came over and we held our breath.  He was polite though and also helpful.  The Camino passes his front door in Lo groño so he felt compelled to walk the route again.  We met him four more times today too.  He walks a little faster than us but stops more frequently.  One of the times we met him, it looked like trouble.  Two policemen seemed to be questioning him.  We walked closer and Fernando made a run for it.  Actually, he said “Adiós” and walked away, then the policemen asked us if we wanted a stamp for our credentials.  Ah ha, that is what was happening.  Sure, we got a stamp and we were off and running too.

We met Roger & Carol several times today including while they were FaceTiming with their youngest son, another while they were FaceTiming with their oldest daughter, once while they snacked at Castildelgado ,and once at our breakfast #2 at Villamayor del Rio.

The last few kilometers of the walk today was along side of the busy N-120 two lane road.  There is a gravel track for pilgrims just on the other side of the crash barriers so it is safe but we still get the noise and dust. Normally that would bother me but not next to the N-120.  That road is the original trail taken by pilgrims for hundreds of years.  In the last century, after cars were starting to become prevalent, some genius said “Let’s pave over the trail and make it easy for pilgrims to drive to Santiago”.  I wish they hadn’t but, at least we know we are walking close to where millions of pilgrims walked centuries ago. Also, these sections have been there for many decades. They still have the very old Camino trail marking stones along the road.  That’s cool.

Arriving in Belorado at noon kept us out of the heat of the day which was nice.  Even better was that the hotel where we are staying allows check-ins starting at noon.  They have great wi-fi, a very good shower and a comfortable double bed so we are happy as pigs in poop.  Even better than that though is that they recently opened a small laundromat right next to a bar only 150m away from the hotel so two birds got killed with one stone and I got out of washing once again.

While waiting for the laundry to be done, we had a salad at the bar and sat with Peppi from Chile. We got to practice Spanish and she got to practice English.  We all did okay and had a good time.  She didn’t invite us to Chile though.

On the way back to the hotel, we bumped into a 50-something year old hippie who we had seen many times.  We chatted with him a bit and found out that he spent six weeks in and around Manali, India.  Manali is an awesome hippie place where marijuana grows wild throughout the town and every store sells everything you need to enjoy it… of course not that we would partake, but it sure made the place more laid back than a Jimmy Buffet concert in Heaven.

That’s all I got today folks.  Peace y’all!  Goodnight George, Leo and Stella