Day 20 May 21 Saturday El Burgo Ranero

​

Day 20 May21 Saturday

As we prepare to leave Sahagun at 7:40am the sun is up however the sky is hazy. This will provide some relief to the predicted 32 deg day. The Albergue we stayed at had this mural on the wall next to our rooms. It is so nice that you often have art on the masonry walls. If my retaining wall were in Spain it would be the perfect canvas for some artist.

As we left town just past the Benedictine monastery we came across this pilgrim monument consisting of a staff and a set of boot prints in rusted iron and plaque. So neat to find what the guide book has captured in our walk as well.

We leave the town crossing yet another very medieval period looking bridge over the river Cea originally a Roman bridge  but reconstructed in the 11th and 16th centuries.

We did have some (10%) of our pathways shaded however we were highly exposed to the suns rays for most of our four hour walk as the pathway paralleled the secondary (less travelled) road.

The days route had a critical junction as both lead to the same end however we had to make certain we stuck to the left as our reservation for the night was at El Burgo Ranero. We chose wisely.

Every once in a while one come along a little fixer upper. An opportunity awaits just that right person or that reality TV program.

We are definitely seeing the affects of warmer weather in that the roses are more common than not, while the landowners have already cropped their fields and seeded again. You see a very expensive and comprehensive irrigation system on a very large track of land. Variations of this is very common throughout Spain. A small vineyard also displayed significant more growth on the vines than we noticed a couple of weeks earlier.

The Camino mile markers remain encouraging as we are at end of day today 38 kms (2 days) out from Leon and then 307 kms to Santiago. There are many signs one keeps an eye open for and some pilgrims use their rest time creating pilgrim sign art. The brass scallop shell is affixed in the centre of the road in our town today and we will see more of these as we approach Leon and beyond. Easy to get in the wrong path at times - easy to miss one of these at a junction.

These two fellows were here to greet us today to our place of stay. We have folks we have got to know on the Camino who are not finding accommodations now - all booked up. One couple from Australia had done their booking a couple of months ago and this town and a few others were already full. They are walking the section of the trail then taking a taxi back to their previous hotel then in the morning will take a taxi to where they walked to the day before and commence walking once more. I can only imagine as we near Leon and then Saria this will ne very stressful on the pilgrims. How fortunate we have reservations every night right through to Santiago thus removing that stress and allowing the Camino to be what it is designed to be - a true break for the mind and body. As for me I am lucky to have been added to Ven Deborah and Dr Jouni Kraft’s package.

Hot days / room at the inn each night / happy feet and the rest takes care of restoring the body for another day. And here we are 20 for 20 no rain - your prayers and our luck is keeping us strong and dry

Off on Sunday for a 19 km walk to Mansilla de las Mulas

Till then

Buen Camino

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 34 June 4 Saturday Arzua

Image
​ Day 34 June 4 Saturday Arzua Lots of rain last afternoon and evening and we woke to a very heavy land fog but no rain. On the trail by 7:15am for two reasons/ 1 - we have a 30+ km day to walk and 2- we heard the rain was to come in around 1 -2 pm and I am still a little afraid of melting. We walked right through with only two brief stops and no lunch on the trail and this achieved its end goal - arriving in Arzua before the rain. Rain did happen around 4 but we were well situated - no worries. Rained as well this evening with the expectation that we will be dry walking in the morning. If so that will be 1 rain day only in 35 days walking the Camino. That has to be some kind of a record. Easy walk today albeit one of our longer ones - which says volumes for the shape we are in at the end of the 800 km Camino. We had lots of kms in the wooded paths today many of which were the planted eucalyptus forests. They brought this species over from Australia for the paper industry as the eucaly
Read more

Day 32 June 2 Thursday Portomarin

Image
​ Day 32 June 2 Thursday Portomarin We left Sarria this morning at 7:30am with favourable skies. Although mid morning it looked questionable we managed to walk today without rain. Once here it did rain around 3pm although we were checked in at that point. The number of walkers increased as we knew they would as Sarria is the last point one can start and walk through to Santiago 115km and receive their credentials as Camino Pilgrims. Picture 1 shows another very old tree - one of many that border this wonderful trail. Soon after leaving Sarria I came across the Albergue that I stayed in back in 2017. I actually walked by it - albeit marginally this time as it’s identification is somewhat obscure still. I guess they do not need to advertise like the others - picture 3 What was very neat was the pastured horse in the exact location as the mule was back in 2017- picture 2. Thinking this further the mule or now horse is not that stupid - as he is right on the Camino path for treats of apple
Read more

Day 33 June 3 Friday Palas de Rei

Image
​ Day 33 June 3 Friday Palas de Rei Last evening I caught this rainbow over the towns name however it was for sure not the end of the mighty storm in this area  We attended pilgrim Mass at the San Nicolas’ church last evening. It is simply amazing that this church was taken down - relocated to the top of the hill - and rebuilt stone by stone. Beautiful sanctuary- one gets to appreciate the simplistic after so many heavily brass and gold leaf works of art Last evening there was much discussion within the pilgrims of considering a taxi if the mornings weather forecast held true. Not in my plans. I have walked every step thus far and another day of rain will be just that - another day We awoke to a very heavy sky - however no rain. So I started out at 7:30am as any other day in my shorts and Tee wearing my sunglasses which some thought was too much however I like the light protection on the eyes even if the sun is not present. My walking partner kept talking about the ant statues / which
Read more