12 - 24°C — Partial cloud becoming clear
By Jim
Our Camino cohort is beginning to take shape. The usual suspects each night include some subset of: Jose and Antonio from Spain, Jean, Catherine, and Christiana from France, Frank and Martina from Holland, Dario from Italy, Yuric from Switzerland, and Tony from Slovakia. With the exception of. Dario and Tony, the entire group stayed at the albergue in Zamora when we were hospitaleros.
Everyone is an early riser, which is a change from other Caminos where we were outliers. Today the kitchen was abuzz at 5:15 and Laurel and I left the albergue at 5:45 with three pilgrims already on the trail ahead of us. The Camino followed the Rio Tera for the first few hours, treating us to a symphony of song birds and a stunning sunrise.
Throughout the day, our amigos caught up to us, walked with us for a bit, then headed off at their pace. It’s funny that I had commented earlier to Laurel that we had covered 10 km in the first two hours and were in danger of losing our designation as “Caricoles” (snails). No such luck since everyone, except Yoric and Christiana, eventually caught and passed us.
If not for the lack of services it would have been a perfect stage. Warm, but not hot, shade when needed and interesting landscape to view. After 19 km without a break , we stopped on the Tera Dam to wrap Laurel’s right ankle with a tensor bandage (the patient is doing well). Antonio and Martina stopped to see how we were doing and told us of a rumor of an uncharted bar at the Albergue in Villar de Farfón, 3 km away. The young South African hospitalero revived us and half a dozen other pilgrims with coffee and cold drinks. The oasis was so inviting that Martina decided to stay there for the night. The final 6 km were getting tedious when suddenly it was finished and we were standing at our destination, the beautiful stone Albergue de Peregrinos.
After claiming our lower bunks (two days in a row!), showering, and doing the laundry, we joined Antonio, Frank, Yuric and Tony for a pilgrims lunch at the adjacent restaurant. The meal turned out to be a culinary high point for all of us as the Chef pulled out all the stops. Siesta was the only task left on our to-do list, so back to the Albergue we went.
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Getting a early start means that we never miss a sunrise |
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The trail had many different looks today |
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First a pit stop on the Tera Dam and then a rest stop at an oasis |
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| This was not your ordinary Peregrinos Menu |
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We all enjoyed the special meal that Chef Teófilo prepared for us |
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| Siesta back a the Albergue, my favourite time of the day |
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