Started unnecessarily late today. We had decided to give ourselves a bit of a slack on the account of the cooler weather today and set the clock to 5:30, vowing to get up earlier if someone wakes us up. So, when my clock vibrated at 5:30 today, it all got boiled down to “okay, nobody else is up, so we can sleep” – don’t ask me, why. So we slept until 6, when somebody else’s clock did wake everyone up… Started walking around 6:30 with a 39km stretch ahead of us, of which last 17km were with no water sources (and nothing else, obviously).
So, the last town before this desert was Carrión de los Condes, and there we had to make some provisions for the road. Most things we had, but wanted a couple of tomatoes, so we went into a shop with some fresh produce, but apparently those also double as clubs for the local abuelas who each needs a specific number of mushrooms and so and so many onions, and… so eventually after like 20 minutes we gave up and found another, less socially important, but more efficient tienda.
On the road went, and equipped for a very basic picnic (bread, jamon, olives, tomato – single, and some light alcohol to use purely as anesthetic).
This last stretch, even with a rest stop with some food was a rather grueling experience, which would have been tenfold worse should it be hot, but at least that part was taken care of by the powers above. But still, 39 kilometers is a lot of kilometers. Lidia’s feet aren’t in the greatest of shapes by now, there’s a couple of blisters that won’t quit, so for her it was much worse than for me.
Having made it to the municipal albergue, we waited at the empty reception (the whole place looked rather empty, being blown through by the relentless wind) and eventually just helped ourselves to the stamp for our passes and checked ourselves in.
Pilgrim’s dinner here (at the tiny village’s best – and only – establishment – included lamb roast as one of the options, can you guess what it actually was? I rightly guessed liver, but the lady serving us said that, no-no, it was both liver and lung of a lamb. Rather good, I would have actually taken the liver gladly, if the menu said that’s what it was. Lung.. well, good that it was forced on me, but it wasn’t terrible.
Not many people known to us made it here today, but I hope we haven’t lost them forever – the ones who haven’t.
Tomorrow is outright cold, 9 degrees before sunrise. No idea where we end up, all depends on Lidia’s paws. Hoping for the best!
