We’ve learnt not to get away too early if we want coffee at the first village, so despite a 27km day ahead we weren’t on the road until almost 7:00am

Once again the way was like this

I stopped along the way to leave a memento and a bunch of the roadside wildflowers at a shrine

Today I am grateful for the thoughts from friends

“Hello Australia!” I heard from behind and turned to find yet another Australian striding up behind me. A quick chat, he’s from Dubbo and hasn’t had any blisters, and he was off.

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Once again walking was easy, no need for the walking sticks.

My goal for the day was to finish a 25+km head up, strong feet and a smile on my face. When I saw a church spire appear at the end of a long straight road I was sure the fat lady was standing in the wings, waiting to come on stage. Then a young man in a vivid fluro orange shirt ran past me and on up the road. I watched him and watched him and watched him until he was a tiny orange dot in the distance…..it turned out it wasn’t the fat lady after all.

I sat for a while in a rest stop, told the fat lady she better get ready, and was off

Goal achieved!

We stayed the night at a private albergue, El Jardin del Camino which had a lovely beer garden, served amazing home made sausage, and had a very large cramped dormitory for sleeping.

Two good days. All’s well on the Camino.

One of the topics around the table while we were enjoying a beer in the garden of San Bruno was the meteor shower that was due to occur between 4:00am and 6:00am the next morning and quite a few of us were interested in watching it. I had a bunk next to the door of the dormitory, and on my first peek outside at 4:00am-ish discovered the sky was covered in cloud and there were no meteors to be seen, I then stayed warm in bed and watched a succession of people creep outside, look up, then creep inside again. D2 and I had decided to do a short day, so stayed around for breakfast and eventually left at the late time of 8:00am.

Walking was easy and uneventful, the church and archway guarded by stone soldiers on the outskirts of Sahagún the most interesting part of the morning’s walk

Sahagún is the largest town we have been in since Burgos and I was able to recharge my phone and replenish my supply of blister pads and ibuprofen. I was a happy girl.
It looked like an interesting town with lots of history and it’s a shame we couldn’t spend more time there.

The walk in the afternoon looked like this for pretty much the whole way into Bercianos where we planned to stay the night. D2 as usual had gone ahead to find accommodation.

However when I arrived in town I found her sitting in the garden of a bar, very content with her beer and pizza, and not caring at all that we had no bed for the night!

I joined her for beer and pizza and by the time we had finished my feet and legs had seized up, so I was grateful there was a hostel with a private room just around the corner.
We tried for an early dinner, there was quite a few of us waiting expectantly in the dining room at the advertised time. 7:00pm came and went, as did 7:30, and we sat listening to the sounds of silence from the kitchen and the Aussie guy who was enthralling his captive audience, an Irish couple at the same table, with amazing stories of piggeries in Australia. The cook and dinner finally arrived and we were able to get a reasonably early night.

D2 was still yearning for spaghetti, and what should we discover but San Bruno, a private albergue in Moratinos, run by Italians and which served Italian food. The thing is, Moratinos was 31 kms away! We are getting fitter, and looking for new challenges, and a 30+ day seemed like the logical one, especially if there was spaghetti at the end. Before we could change our minds the booking was made.
We had already discovered that there was a 17km stretch without food and water and had stocked up on carbs like pastries and tortilla bocadillas.
I was quite excited at this next challenge when we woke up. We ate some of pastries for breakfast and set off at 6:00am. Unfortunately the structure D2 thought was a water fountain, wasn’t a water fountain, thank goodness for vending machines!

It only took me about a kilometre of walking to discover that while I was quite excited by the challenge ahead, my legs weren’t quite so excited. In fact they were majorly disinterested.
Thankfully it was a long straight road ahead, and I trudged on, one foot after the other, feeling quite out of sorts with the my legs and the world in general. If someone had asked I would have struggled to find something to be grateful for. After 8 kms without finding anywhere suitable to stop for a rest, we plonked ourselves down in the grass by the side of the road for morning tea. I was quite surprised to find that the watermelon and rockmelon drink I had bought from the vending machine also contained milk. It was surprisingly good

Having waited patiently while I struggled through the first 8 kms, D2 set off at her pace, and I was happy to continue on at mine. It was a morning when I couldn’t take a trick. Literally around the corner from where we sat in the grass for morning tea was a lovely pilgrims rest, complete with tables and benches. A pilgrim and his dog sat companionably side by side on one of the benches gazing out across the woodlands.

Thus it continued, I waited patiently by a large tree for a break in pilgrim traffic to take a rest stop, only to find 100m down the road a coffee stall, and toilet! I took every opportunity to stop, to take off my jacket, change into shorts, put my gloves away. Finally I trundled into the only bar in the first town. It was packed and I sat on the ground, glaring at a woman who was sitting on one chair and resting her foot up on another chair, whiled D2 hurried off to get me orange juice. There was wifi at the bar and I was happy to find emails from friends and family. One email contained this quote which I really did think about when I set off after a break
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
The walk to the next town was not so bad, one foot after the other

Another break in another bar where we finished off our pastries, and there was only 5 kms to go!

San Bruno turned out to be a delight. One of the staff waited for me up the road from the alberge, asking me if I was mama, and helping me with my pack. In the lovely grassed area at the back a large bath with running water provided relief for aching feet as well as a place to chat with new friends.

And yes, the spaghetti was good!

Today is the day of the MotoGP in Jerez, Spain. I would love to have been there, but the next best thing was to get to the next town, find a bar and watch it onTV. 6:00am saw me on the road and D2 having a welcome sleep -in. Inviting smells from an early morning food van were enticing me, a group of people, maybe the yellow team from the night before, were noisily enjoying the offerings, and I was very tempted……but no! I was in search of Motogp!
A pilgrim who must have arrived into town too late to find a bed was sleeping on the pavement, his boots, pole and bag packed neatly beside him. We try to think of something we are grateful for each day, I was grateful that I had slept in a bed that night. (D2 said when she went past a couple of hours later, he was awake and having breakfast and he offered her toast!)
Sunday morning, there was nothing open in the first few villages, the track was easy, and the walking was good

The kilometre countdown to MotoGP

A pretty town but too early on Sunday morning to find a coffee

There were plenty of these signs, but not a bounding deer to be seen

Carrion de Los Condes is in sight!
I arrived at our hostal, and happily there was a TV in the room! I made it as they were holding the flag to begin the moto3!!

D2 arrived and surprised me with a present for Mother’s Day. I told her she was a week too early, but no, it was Mother’s Day in Spain. How lucky am I to have two Mother’s Days this year, and a daughter here to help me celebrate.

After the first race we went in search of food, D2 wanted spaghetti but the cafés that sold spaghetti were closed, and the ones open didn’t have it on the menu. We settled for a beer and a chorizo with baguette.
The rest of the afternoon I spent in a bar with a group of excitable Spaniards watching the rest of the MotoGP on a large screen and drinking copious amounts of freshly squeezed orange juice. The audience exuberantly celebrated Marquez’s win, while I was quietly happy that Rossi held onto second place.
Usually a staple on the pilgrim menu, there was still no spaghetti to be found, but we shared a perfectly grilled sea bass, and a piece of roast lamb, I am not sure what piece, but it was surely delicious.

After dinner we had a walk around town, where D2 had a chat with a rather tall pilgrim, then bed to discuss the next day. Another great day on the Camino