9 May 2008

Today we did not try too hard to get an early start because we expected that it would be a cloudy day, so we could walk without discomfort for later than usual. At 5;00am some dork turned on the lights in the dormatory. I can only think that he read his watch wrong, and thought that it was 7:00am. Needless to say after a few irate shouts he turned them off again, but not before he had woken most of us up. We expected the night before to be very cold. Soon after we got there, a rain storm came up, and the temperature dropped. We were freezing all evening, and there was a run on the limited blankets supplied by the hospitalario. However by bedtime he had turned up the heat in the radiators, and it was quite comfortable. We were finally up by 6:45, and on the road by 7:30. Our destination today was Sahagun a larger city about 22.5kms away. Our Australian Camino friends Tina and John walked with us through Ledigos where we stopped for a cafe con leche and chocalate before continuing on to Terradillos de los Templarios and then on to Moratinos. According to the history of this area it was under control of the Knights Templar for very many years during the crusades, though most of their buildings have since been destroyed. The next town was San Nicolas del Real Camino where we stopped for lunch. Tina had been having trouble with her feet, and felt that she couldn´t continue for the last 7.5kms to Sahagun, so they stopped there at San Nicolas where there was a small allbergue at the top of the bar. It was very convenient! Danielle had also been having trouble with hot spots on her feet, but we decided to press on even though a storm seemed to be coming up. We finally got into Sahagun about 2:00pm. We had got some rain along the way, but it was more of an annoyance than a problem. The town of Sahagun is not very pretty. All the old buildings and remains of the old Benedictine Monastery which was once the most powerful in Spain are all gone, replaced by modern buildings and industrial sites.
The total distance covered today was 22.5kms. We are now 2 or 3 days away from Leon where we plan to take our third day off. The albergue we checked in is like a big concrete warehouse with all kinds of antiques all over the place. Because of the large area, it is very popular with bikers, but does not seem to be too popular with the walkers, though it is still early in the afternoon. We haven´t worked out a destination for tomorrow yet, but will walk into the Centro to take a look around, and perhaps have supper there. Hasta mañana.