Photowise, this was a quiet day. More will come along, but I need to get them off my laptop. Check back later.
We got off later than intended, stopped for coffee and croissant and finally took off at 8.00. Fifteen minutes out of town, it started to rain so we had to stop and put on all our rain gear, costing us yet more time.
We walked through rolling hillsides all of wheat, almost 'big' and dramatic skies. It was relatively good walking, though because it was overcast and not hot.
We stopped for water in Grañon, a small town and the café bar didn't have a WC (it was a long day in that regard). It was still drizzling on our way out of town. We went through a huge mud wallow and then up a long, rolling hill at the top of which we found the sign at the border of the department of La Rioja and Castille y León (where one stays until Galicia). Compa is standing by the sign which has a map of the Camino. (Within the department are provinces and we went through several.)
We went down a long hill into Redecilla del Camino where we had been looking forward to lunch in a restaurant but it was closed so we bought yet another chocolate croissant, some bread and sat outside and talked with a woman from Germany.
We then trudged up a long hill on pavement. We're now out of vineyard country — it's just wheat on rolling, vast hills, which is pretty in its own way.
We went through many small towns, all very quiet. My big event was scratching two friendly cats on their backs. They were a good diversion.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on a dirt track next to the N120 (one follows this road off and on for ever). It wasn't horrible, nor was it great. We were still in rolling hills of wheat (!).
Then we dropped down into Belorado.
We walked by this church as we were hunting for our hotel (well past the hostel). As you can see, there are more storks and their nests. This is a multi-nest condo.
Our hotel, the Jacobeo, is a nice one, an 1850s building that has always been a hotel. I had a good bath and a nap (I couldn't budge) and then we went out for dinner (on a cool evening).
We're back in the part of Spain that does a great ensalada mixta: greens, carrots, corn, hard-boiled egg, tuna, tomato, asparagus (often white), olives and whatever else they like to throw in. This is just the first course but it is terrific. I look forward all day to it.
Our waitress spoke only a little Spanish; she finally said, Soy Roma — I am a gypsy. This all came about because we wanted to make sure she would get her tip (which is not a required thing).
The fun part of the evening came after dinner: we stumbled upon a group of very celebratory 30 year-olds. Apparently they all decided on ONE day that they would celebrate their birthday. So everyone in town born in 1977 got together to party and so they did. They all had on green t-shirts that read, 'I am not 30; I am 18 with 12 years of wisdom.' They had a local band that played tunes and they all marched around the plaza before taking over the bandstand. They tried to get us to join them but we opted not. Later on the folks born in 1982 (the 25 year-olds) came along with their band and they had a little competition. I asked if the 50 year-olds (my age) had such a party, and the answer was yes.
There were a bunch of kids running around in a group. It was fun to watch them, all caught up in the excitement of the night, and also poignant to think that in many years they, too, would be doing the same thing some day perhaps: celebrating their 25th or 30th with the next generation of kids zooming around in circles.
It was fun to tap into the local life, to remember that this camino wends its way through towns that still have their life that is not dependent on a bunch of pilgrims.
A word about our lodgings: we are not doing the hard-core, tough-it-out pilgrim routine of staying every night at albergues (hostels). Maybe it's our respective ages, though loads of people older than us stay at the albergues, but frankly, we like to have our own room for the three of us, a hot bath without having to wait in line and an easy place to do our nightly laundry. We sleep better for it (only one person snores, me, rather than an entire chorus) and, therefore, stay healthier, I suspect. We don't struggle with the 'purity' or 'sacrifice' of the pilgrimage — walking as much as we do every day is plenty. Besides, we 'carry our house on our back': everything we have is in our backpacks (about 12kg including water); we don't ship them on ahead of us; we lug them and walk with the extra weight. Likewise, two of us like to have our three-course dinners at the end of the day. It's our reward :)
