Camino Day 18, 19 and 20

Day 18: Carrión de los Condes to Ledigos:  how it 49 degrees in July?

Today was the longest stretch (10 miles) with no towns or restrooms😬😬. Luckily there was a food truck about 6-7 miles in and I had some barbecued chorizo with tomato. 

It was pretty flat, lots of hay fields, few trees. I was glad when I got to Ledigos.  

It was one stop before the traditional stopping point, but I had a private room and it had laundry!!! 

I hit the halfway point sometime today! 250 miles down and 250 to go!

Day 19:  Ledigos to Bercianos:

  

today just outside of Sahagún was the geographical halfway point (like if you drew a straight line from start to finish).  There’s church there where you can get a certificate commemorating the halfway point.  

Today was 17 miles and it started off cold again.  Thepath was very rocky at times and my feet were not liking it at all. 

Also off in the distance are the Picos de Europa that I hiked in the very beginning of my trip! 

The Korean woman (elementary teacher from a few days ago) and I keep running into each otherand so finally we exchanged names. Her American name is Katie and it was given to her in school by her English teacher.

Today was the first day of getting to see some bodegas up close. They look like tiny hobbit houses, but it’s where people have stored their harvest for the year, including wine and wine making items.  Some of them are still in use and have been passed down through many generations.

Finally got to my home for the night. The bunk beds had little cubbies with lights and outlets andthey had curtains which were nice! I met two women, one a high school teacher from Sardinia, another from South Africa in finance. We had dinner and talked about why we were doing the camino. 

Day 20: Bercianos to Mansilla de las Mulas.  it was freezing this morning! With the windchill is was 46 degrees and so I started walked fast because I don’t exactly have the heat for it. 

Today was another 17 miles, but mostly along a lovely tree lined path with shade so I was very grateful for that. 

 The first town had a place that served churros for breakfast!! 

I did pretty good time wise and even though the the distance was about the same as yesterday I think walking faster is key to alleviating my feet from getting tired (that plus a less rocky walking surface!

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Ruins of Walls of Mansilla

I had potato chips and chorizo from the grocery store for dinner😂.  Early bed tonight, the walk into León is just twelve miles, but I’m so tired from today!!!

Camino Day 16 and 17

Day 16:

So, did my laundry late the night before and it took forever to dry, so I slept in and left at 7:30 (especially when I saw the rain wasn’t suppose to start until later).

First step after walking out of Castrojeriz was to hike up a huge hill onto the Meseta . It starts to drizzle, so I put on my rain coat which also served a a windbreaker.  

This worked out well because it was cold and windy up top!  On the top there were lots of field mice and rabbits roaming around, and that’s about it. Super flat.  The sky was ominous, but... whatever.   

Hiked down and walked for awhile until I hit the next town. 

Only 3.5 milesuntil my destination.  In towns in Castille y Leon storks have taken to making HUGE nests on church bell towers. 

 The storks were in full force on this bell tower and the sheep had been herded into their pens and were going wild (all basic signsa storm is a comin’). 

I leave the town and it starts to drizzle, then, it starts to pour. I pull out what has turned out to be one of the best purchases made: my poncho. It covers me and my backpack. I get it on and all is good.  Now, I debated zipping off the legs of my pants since they were getting soggy, but it was60 degrees and windy, so I kept them on. IT RAINED THE WHOLE 3.5 MILES.   Most of which was along a lovely canal.

  I walked as fast as I could.  

I got to my lodging (single room!) and took and hour nap.  Then I got dinner and was in bed by 8:30. I have never been this tired in my life, I slept 10 hours!  That’s 3-4 hours longer than I cannormal sleep....

Frómista 

Day 17:

49 degrees, that was the temperature that let mesleep in, but it was still that cold when I left at 8:20. Luckily my long pants are quick drying so I washed them the previous night and they were dry by morning! 

The sun was out all day and no rain clouds in sight! At my first stop I met two women from Poland who I’d run into the day before when the sky opened.  They didn’t even make it to Frómista because their rain gear wasn’t adequate, so they turned around and went back to the town we just left 😬😬. The sky was a beautiful blue and thanks to pre-reading I knew of a path that was in the shadeand along the river! 

The more typical path was on a gravel path next to the highway in the sun (which even in the 60’s feels hot). It was lovely and peaceful without the noise of traffic.

 At one stop I sat with a woman named Jessie from S. Korea. This was her second time doing the camino. Her mother passed away from cancer last year and she remembered the camino had been a good experience for her and so she decided tocome back.   Jessie is her American name, she worked for a firm where she interacted with many people who spoke English so she did a googlesearch and thought the name fit her😊 it’s really interesting to hear people’s stories of their journies and where they came from. 

I finally landed in my stop for the day, Carrión delos Condes.  I have a room over the Plaza Mayor.  They have a lovely little river that I went and read by (and they had kayaking and I wish I’d packed my swim suit.... but that would just be more to carry.

Pharmacy for an ice pack....

Sheep crossing 

Early night again as tomorrow is 15 miles and there are zero stops for the first ten😳😳😳

Camino Day 14 and 15

Day 14:  Left Burgos around 7:00, decent weather to start. The walk out of Burgos wasn’t as badas the walk on, but it still wasn’t as good as the wall out of Logroño. Lots of cornfields, then I stopped for breakfast (cafe con leche and chocolate croissant).  Then we enter the Meseta. “The rain in Spain falls mainily on the plain.” Yup, this is it, a high, relatively flat area with no shade.  

However, this oasis did appear and I met some people from France (who wanted to know my thought on.... el presidente). I applied sunscreen and kept going. It wasn’t that hot, but 85 degrees and no shade isn’t awesome.  

I finally arrived at my hostel in Hornillos del Camino and grabbed a bottom bunk near the window. 

At the communal dinner I ran into the two guys from Korea again. Also at the table was a university student from S. Korea (studying fashion), an elementary teacher from S. Korea, a teachers aidefrom France, an elementary teacher from the Netherlands, a guy in IT from the Netherlands and a French couple who have been doing the camino in stages for the past few years (wife was a teacher, husband a middle school principal.). We hadpaella and it was delicious! 

Oh, I also meet two university students from Philly.

Unfortunately the window was not super awesome because it was soooooo hot. Plus having ten people in a room made it hotter. Very little sleep and earplugs needed.  

I’d planned on sleeping in the next day because the weather was suppose to be cloudy and chilly, but when people started getting up at 5am...🙄

However.....

Day 15: 

It was suppose to rain and thunder until noon. Luckily, neither happened.  Most of the Day was on the Meseta with nothing in sight. Megan (girlnfrom Philly) and her friend group (who’d met on the camino) passed by and said hi . The land is really, really flat and ZERO shade, so I was glad for cloud cover.  

After 11km First stop was in Hontanas , a cute little town. Stopped for breakfastand then head on.  

About 30 minutes before my final destination were the ruins of a convent that had served as a pilgrim hospital. There’s a small pilgrims albergue in the ruins.....

Finally, made it to Castrojeriz. 

Side note.... weird skull and bones on the side of a church...

I took four million naps and then had dinner with a French family.  They’re traveling the camino (started from home)as a family which I thought was pretty cool. Their high school aged son and mom had to go backto Burgos for some foot care, so it was just dad and two college aged kids.  Every time I travel it amazes me how far behind much of America can be language (ie: speaking more tha one) and current issue wise.  It was great talking history and economics with the familyand hearing about their travels (they’d lived in Chicago for a bit).

The hostel has a huge 19 bed dorm and then smaller rooms with 4-6 beds. 

I’m in the 19 bed dorm by myself and it’s aircodotioned!!! Buenas noches!