Camino del Norte Day 22

Today was another short 20km walk from Villalba to Baamonde. We headed south today towards the French Camino Way. It was a wet morning to start with. Before we checked out of our hotel, we visited a local cafe for breakfast. I don’t think the sole trader expected four visitors to request bacon and eggs all at once. He said it would be ready in 20 minutes while he served other regular customers coffee and breakfast. One guy I noticed was having shots of a liqueur and having a go at the poker machine as his start to the day—each to their own.

After our bacon and eggs, we returned to the hotel to clean our teeth, pack the bags, and put on the wet weather gear to venture out into the wet to walk the route for today. I had on my parker and waterproof pants today so that my boots would stay dry today. Yesterday I had squelch, squelch going on in my shoes as the water had gotten into my boots. I noticed today that my shoes may have met their demise as cracks are appearing. I think after three Caminos, they may have done their job.

As I was well dressed for wet weather today, the rain didn’t eventuate. The clouds threatened as we walked, but they decided not to let loose because I was so prepared. Always the way.

And then there were 5 of us. A guy from Texas, originally from Argentina, decided to walk with us for half the day.

Once we’d reached Baamonde, it was early in the afternoon, so we decided to meet for a beer and chat at the local bar once we had checked into the hotel. We had some open sandwiches from the bar and a few beers, and before we knew it, a pilgrim from the US had paid our bill. A very kind gesture.

The choices for dinner were minimal, with only one restaurant taking bookings for a 9 pm sitting or a local bar that offered to make us some pizza and pasta at 7:30 pm. Of course, we opted for the latter as it suited us way more. We also get an extra hour’s sleep as the clocks here wind back an hour.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow’s walk is meant to be 41km, but we’re opting to take a cab 15km in, so we will only walk 25km.

Time now to turn in. Thanks for reading, and Buen Camino! 😇