Earliest start so far at 6:15 am.
Cold morning and nowhere for food until coming across a donativo stall, 6 kms in, at Morantinos where a banana and small cake were enough until a proper breakfast break at St Nicolás del Real Camino.
As the sun rose so did the temperature, a good walking day at about 25°.
There were further snacks at Sahagún and at Bercianos del Real Camino (where it was decided to carry on the next 7 kms to El Burgo Ranero).
Sahagún was the major town today, quite big and plenty of services which, being Sunday, were closed. Not sure why ‘pictures of walls and doors’, doesn’t give much idea of the town itself. Suffice to say, there’s a big church, or chuches – usually too many pews for the population. Then there’s the old row houses, bars and maybe a monastery or twenty. Albergue, bnb’s and hotels too.
Sahagún also claims the title of ‘halfway point’ on the Camino Frances, with a sculptured gate to mark the place.
But, another rest was needed on a roadside bench for 20 mins about 4 kms for BdR.
The path was flat all the way today and paved with gravel. Most of the walk was partially shaded by plane trees planted at regular intervals for almost the entire 35 kms.
A ‘highlight’ was at the first village of the day, Terradillos de los Templarios, where at 7:00 am a dj was already playing, and a brass band cranked out tunes afterwards. Plenty of ‘merry’ young guys who claimed to have been drinking for 48 hrs – probably from Friday night to now (Sunday morning).
It’s been exhausting putting in this string of long days, and when I thought blisters were a thing of the past, it’s annoying that a couple of toes have pretty big ones. Longer days seem to be blister magnets.
Checking in to an albergue was a pain. An Italian group took long enough they could have bought the joint, so much to the hospitialero’s displeasure, I picked up my stuff and left. After another long walk today I needed another private room, which I found in a nearby pub.
It was seniors’ game day with every table hosting a games of cards or dominoes (now I understand where the Cubans interest in dominoes comes from.
El Burgo Ranero is like many of the villages on the Camino: old, in a state of neglect and crumbling.
