Our route today took us along elm-shaded sendas that, for the most part, paralleled quiet country roads. The landscape was unremarkable, but the addition of the elm trees along the path was a blessing as the temperature hit the low 80's by early afternoon. Rich walked today even though I had to lance his heel blister again. We bandaged it up with enough padding that the blister itself didn't bother him during the walk. It looks like we'll have to drain it again tonight and then let it breathe until morning when we'll cover it up again. Ashley/Brent, any other suggestions?
We had another encounter with a Camino "angel" today. There was one point where it was very confusing which road we should take to El Burgo. We were just about to follow the path on the left because that's what the map seemed to show when a local woman came walking toward on us on the right-hand path. She emphatically told us to follow the path on the right and that would take us to our destination. Thank heavens for our "angels".
We had a relatively short day (11.8 miles) on flat roads and were checked into our pilgrim hotel by 1:30 pm. El Burgo Ranero is a small town with a population of @ 250. There doesn't appear to be many services other than hostels and bars/cafes catering to the Camino pilgrim. The only other industry in the area seems to be farming.
As I write this post, Rich is sleeping upstairs and I'm sitting outside our hotel alongside pilgrims and locals enjoying an afternoon beer and discussing the latest gossip. This is siesta time and, if there were any stores here, they would be closed until 5:00 pm or so. Certainly, the local church is closed until then. Life here is so much slower paced than our frenetic American lifestyle. It gives one pause to reflect.
Only 15 more stages, 16 more days and 219 more miles to Santiago. Knowing that we've already walked almost 270 miles makes the remainder seem doable. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we journey onward.
Buen Camino
San Benito Arch on our way out of Sahagun
Obviously, what he needed was a staff and gourd!
And all we needed was a sunflower to spice up our wardrobe!
This is what much of our path today looked like
This is the road sign that caused us so much confusion. It stood at a crossroads,
with one road to the left and one road to the right and is showing a "Camino Frances"
route on the left (which is what we wanted) and a "Camino Romana" route
on the right. The right hand route was signposted with a yellow Camino arrow.
Our Camino "angel"guided us to the route on the right. Seems the "Camino Romana"
route was on the other side of the major road, not at this crossroads at all!
Crazy signposting, huh?
What a bummer about all the blisters on dads feet!!! What you guys are doing sounds good, hopefully the skin toughens up a bit. and what socks is he wearing? Sounds like there’s a lot of rubbing going on!
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