The Song in My Head: Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
Word of the Day: Cappuccino
Today’s (Random) Craving/Memory: Walking down to hollow creek in Leggett
Total Steps: 57,231 steps
Total Walking Distance: 25.5 miles / 41.0 kilometers
⏰ Wake Up: 4:00am
💤 Sleep: 9:30pm
Wawoo weewoo.
I woke up at 4am. Last night was the sweatiest sleep I have ever had. I woke up in a pool.
Today I walk to Villafranca (eventually San Juan de Ortega). 27km (40km). It is supposed to be the hottest day of the week along with tomorrow, so I want to start early to beat the heat. I grabbed my stuff and went outside to pack up. Surprisingly, all of my friends were awake as well. Jacob, Pablo, Hugo, Martina, Brydie, Liz, and Emily.
The boys got a head start, and Martina and I began shortly after them. The kiwis were taking their time to get ready so we left them.
It was pitch black outside, but a full moon so we had some light. Martina had a bright flashlight from Amazon that helped us either way.
Martina and I got to know each other as we walked, eventually catching up to the boys. I didn’t know much about her until this morning for I had only briefly met her last night and she said she was down to walk with the group in the morning. But she’s from Italy! And barely knows English so I was teaching her during the walk.
The trek was smooth, we did get a little lost. On the unpaved roads but once the sun came out it was easier to see where we were going.
We even walked through a town that was still partying at 6 in the morning. Once the sun started to rise, I was finally able to get a good picture of the landscape.
We walked into a town with a cafe around 7:30am to get food. A loose cattle dog was trying to herd us and other cars passing by.
At the cafe, I got this weird egg ball thing with chicken, rice, and a hard boiled egg inside. Actually really good. And an empanada and croissant for the road.
We got back on the road as the kiwis were catching up to us. They went into the cafe as we left.
We stopped in Belorado, got a stamp at the cathedral, and I got some cash from the ATM.
Continued on, and saw some sunflower fields that looked better than the ones we’ve seen before on the trip.
We also started debating whether or not we wanted to push on to San Juan de Ortega today.
The boys were going to stop in Villafranca, but Martina and I decided to push forward. We were either going to do it today or first thing in the morning, because we want to be in Burgos tomorrow night.
So we stopped at a cafe, Martina got a coffee and coke. I hit the market and got some fruit.
We changed socks and got on our way.
This section started with a gnarly hill climb, lightly shaded but with a lot of bugs. I was getting swarmed with these gnats, but nobody else on the trail was.
Two and a half hours later, we arrived in San Juan de Ortega at 2pm.
It’s a ghost town. Very small, but an albergue for 15 euro. And a bar for eating.
We got situated at the albergue, did our shower and laundry routine. Martina was taking a nap and I was laying on my bed starting to get hungry until Brydie walked into the dorm room at 4:30pm!
I didn’t know if anyone else was going to push on to the town but she had made it. Super cool.
We then all went outside, and reserved ourselves a 15 euro pilgrim dinner.
It began at 7.
There were 5 pilgrims in this town today.
Much less than yesterday.
We had soup, salad, paella, and cheesecake. It was delicious and very filling.
After dinner, we all looked at the weather and made plans to leave at 4:30am again tomorrow, for it will take us about 6-7 hours tomorrow to walk, and it will be 90°F by 11am.
Can’t wait to be in Burgos.
See y’all then,
David