Spain, Day 4

May 26: Villafranca to Laguna de Castilla

This was a truly tough day but our experience is softened by the understanding that this will probably be the toughest stretch in the entire 202 km of our journey. We walked at least 26 km today, almost all of that uphill, and the last 6 or 7 km were quite steep. And after all, it's only our second day out and our muscles are still tender. We are really, really TIRED. Weather-wise, though, we can't complain: it never rained hard but it spat and sprinkled all day to keep us cool.

This, apparently, is our last day in the province of Castile-Leon. Except for the constant elevation, the Way was like yesterday: varied and beautiful. We walked past many vineyards and fields, through tiny pueblos (communities) with the most fascinating combination of buildings in all stages of antiquity, disrepair, renewal, and modernity. We walked over a roman bridge! It was wonderfully overgrown and unpretentious: obviously strong enough to fend for itself over many hundreds of years.

In spite of all the trails and village streets and country backroads, we didn't get lost once. We are getting the hang of looking for Way-signs. The Camino is signed in at least a dozen different formats: layers and layers of signage added over the years. There are government signs, municipal signs, brass shells embedded in the pavement, EU/UNESCO official signs, tidy directional arrows and much cruder yellow arrows spray-painted on pavement, tree trunks, and the sides of buildings. Once you have the eyes to see them, they are everywhere you need them to be.

We stopped at Laguna de Castilla only because we had to: most perigrinos continue on to O'Cebreiro which is a major pilgrims' hangout only 2 km further along. But we were exhausted, hungry, damp and cold so we pulled out at the first opportunity to this little aubergue-plus-cafe, situated sort of in the middle of a cow pasture. Once we recovered a bit, we did walk on to have a look at O'Cebreiro, a collection of very old stone and even older stone+thatch buildings immersed in mist at the top of the summit. I believe the sign said that this is the oldest continually-in-use aubergue on the entire Camino and it is an entire village of dormitories, cafes, and support shops. We were able to buy postcards and stamps and scallop shells to hang on our packs like so many other pilgrims.

But if I had to pick a highlight of the day it wouldn't be the roman bridge or the stone village at O'Cebreiro: it would be a green plastic laundry basket. After arriving at the aubergue, painfully extracting our muddy boots, and seeing how nice and clean and inviting the little dormitory looked, the aubergue owner appeared in the doorway with a laundry basket. “If you need any laundry done,” he explained in Spanish, “we'll do it for you for 4 euros.” Incredible, welcome, marvellous luxury!