19-05-2018
Walk 29.8 km, 7 hours 21 minutes
Ascent: 510 meters
Descend: 440 meters
Kilometers to be traveled: 737.1
Photos / Video
The first pilgrim gets up at 5 am to prepare for a new walking day. I also get up for a moment, walk downstairs to the toilet and go back to bed. Around 6 o’clock it is already much louder in the hall, most of them are awake and are therefore also getting ready for this new walking day. Downstairs a breakfast of stuff I bought yesterday in the supermarket. We share food and drink among themselves. If you have too much of something, or don’t want to take it with you, you can leave it in the Donativo box, others will know that they can use it. Nice initiative on the camino.
About 30 minutes to 8 hours, popularly half past seven, the walk of this day starts. We walk towards the ‘shopping center’ again and then turn left over an iron bridge, then right onto an industrial estate. After 400 meters it goes along a path along a meadow, behind a smelly factory. The path then goes up towards a village. After that, it only continues to run uphill for a very long period, steep, less steep, false flat.
At a water trough, no drinking water, stop and look around. There are quite a few windmills on many hill ridges, and almost all of them run. Sponsored by the European Union? And further towards the high side, then a few hundred meters down and again up, down, up … .. We pass pilgrims again this morning or the previous day.
Then again quite a steep part to go down, once down, again steeply. Because it is writhing considerably, you cannot look far ahead to plan where it is going. It is heading for the adventure. Then a very long rather steep climb, over a gravel path. We hear many motorbikes in the area. The area seems to be very popular among quad-riders. They are very friendly drivers who all adjust their speed when they see walkers.
At a junction of paths we take a moment of rest and eat bread with cheese, meat, fruit, recovering and strengthening, it can not always be strenuous. After all, we still have many kilometers to Santiago. According to my Rother booklet, I would have to come across a bar at a distance of 20 kilometers in a village, so if there is enough of the rest moment to enjoy it, walk further.
We enjoy nature, we regularly see birds of prey flying in the air trying to catch a thermal in order to rise higher during their flight. There are also many silent moments, so if no one is talking and there is no traffic nearby, you can enjoy nature with all your senses. We approach the village that was included in the route description, walk to the bar, but unfortunately, close. I still don’t know if it was due to the siesta time or the fiesta in the village.
Unfortunately, there is nothing else to see or experience in the village, so then on again, foot by foot for foot … After a while we come to another village. The bars are also closed here, but there is a vending machine with items that a pilgrim may need: bandages, soap, candy, snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine. So it’s time for a stop to eat something from the machine.
It is still 3 kilometers to the next sleeping location and we manage to arrive at 3 o’clock. The alberge is at the top of a steep stone staircase. The door is open and we walk inside. Some pilgrims have already arrived. I follow the others, up the stairs to the dormitory, all bunk beds of the low type, but enough space between the beds. I choose one from the bottom, next to an outlet. Something I now pay attention to, an outlet at your bedside.
First another message to the Netherlands, then make bed and rest for a while, do some laundry and hang it in the sun, then shower, again cold water. There are seasoned pilgrims who claim their bed as soon as they enter and then immediately take a shower, then there is still hot water. The aspiring pilgrim has yet to learn this and is now taking a shower in cold water.
A walk through the village, see if there is a supermarket that is open, but unfortunately. And is there a restaurant in this village? Yes, but today they are closed due to a fiesta in another village (where we have already passed). If we go back to the alberge, we pass a kind of sports canteen, but without sports attributes next to the church. Here we can have a drink and sign up to participate in tonight’s pilgrim menu.
When I come back to the alberge, there is a volunteer who registers the pilgrims, hands out the stamp and receives the payment for the bed. Time to blog blog and call home. That way it is time to go to dinner again. At the table we again see many acquaintances, Domenique, Victor and Oliver. The food is simple, but nutritious and enough for everyone. And it is pleasantly busy with stories and anecdotes.
After dinner a quick chat and then back to bed. It is getting used to eating late and going to sleep with a full stomach, there is no other option. The alberge usually closes around 10 o’clock, just to allow everyone to rest. Some get up early, or even earlier than early. We are approaching the end of the camino Aragonese and therefore we are approaching the camino Frances.
Sweet Dreams, and see you tomorrow.
Accommodation: Albergue Municipal
