Now in Castilla-Leon

For October 3rd we hiked 21 miles to the town of Redecilla del Camino, on a good day for hiking. Not to much to say about this day; we hiked pretty hard, we entered the community of Castilla-Leon, I got a toe blister. The usual stuff.

We’re thinking about options going forward, as a lot of rain is expected over the next two days. I’m guessing that the option we’ll select will be “hike hard and tough it out”.

We passed through the town of Santo Domingo today, and perhaps spent too little time there. It looked like it had some spots worth seeing, but we were focused on getting something to eat at the time, our first break after 13 miles.

I seem to be having less conversations along the way this time, in part because there are just a lot less people on the trail this time, and partly because our group of three hikes faster than most others on trail. Just wait until we fully “have our legs”  (i.e. we’re up to full hiking strength).  I’m still willing to adjust my pace for conversation, but not for too long lest my hard-charging compatriots get too far ahead.    So, proportionally more conversation occurs in the Albergues this trip.
I almost think it would have been better to start in mid-September and just reserve lodgings along the way.

Oct 4 (Sunday) wasn’t nearly as rainy as expected, we stayed pretty dry.

We had a decision to make today: stop at about 15 miles, or hike uphill from there to do a total of over 23 miles. We decided to stop at 15 in the town of Villafranca Montes de Oca, because there’s a nice hotel that has an associated Albergue, which we assumed would be nice for the price … and it is. They also offer both breakfast and dinner, which is especially helpful in a town with a population of 200 on a Sunday.

Maybe some real rain tomorrow, but overall the weather has been great for us.

Our latest plan is to walk most of the way into Burgos tomorrow, then take a “NERO” (short hiking day) in Burgos on Monday.