What a difference a day makes!

Glorious weather today as we made our way from Santo Domingo de La Calzada to Belorado. Blue skies and sunshine. We walked 22km (14m), which was slightly longer than yesterday but it felt way shorter! Same temp as yesterday but what a difference without the wind! It was a busy morning on the Camino after a bus load of day trippers unloaded just outside of the city center in Santo Domingo. Fortunately, they were all much younger and faster walkers than we were, so they got ahead of us pretty quickly.

Coming into Granon, the first little town, we passed by what may have been a slaughterhouse- at least that’s what it smelled like. But we stopped anyway and took a lovely break in the shade with several other pilgrims.

Again we saw a change in the landscape. Still lots of rolling hills but not the red clay soil and not a single vineyard. Many fields of crops - not sure what - and many fields laying fallow.

We took a lunch break in Recedilla del Camino, hoping to find a cafe. But there was only one in town and it was closed, probably because it is Sunday and many of these smaller places close on Sunday. So we sat by a fountain in the main plaza, took off the shoes and socks and had a little picnic. There was hardly anyone about, except for the occasional pilgrim that passed by, so we had the plaza to ourselves which was quite lovely.

Our next stop was in the little town of Viloria de Rioja, known mainly as the birthplace of Santo Domingo. He is a revered saint along the Camino, as he did much to improve the paths and provide hostels and hospitals to care for the prilgrims in the 10th century. (Fun fact, he lived to be 90 years old - which is a crazy long time in that century.) While passing through Viloria de Rioja, we stopped for coffee at an albergue called Parada Viloria which had a very cool Santa Cruz kind of vibe. Run by a sweet couple; he makes beaded jewelry and helps to cook, while his wife also cooks and runs the albergue. Here we met up with the Australian friends we have been keeping pace with. Two sisters, a brother and the husband of one of the sisters. The siblings are from a family of seven kids too, so we are having fun comparing notes on our upbringing.

We made it to Belorado, which is a town tucked into a little valley between a couple of mountains. For once, not on the top of a hill! It sort of reminds me of an old western town. We walked through the old city, and saw all of these amazing murals painted on the sides of building through the town. We also noticed these very large black and white birds in enormous nests high up on the bell tower of the church. Turns out they are white storks and make a strange noise that sounds a bit like a jack hammer.

At dinner tonight, we ate with the Australians which was fun. Talked a lot about favorite movies, and shared our displeasure about the late dinner hour! I tried seafood paella (very good!) and hake (a light white fish - pretty good) which was served with a side of “fish spaghetti” which I thought would be pasta with some fish tossed in it. Wrong! It was raw fish cut into thin strings that looked like spaghetti. Awful! But the double chocolate mousse for dessert chased away that fish taste.

We keep seeing these trees through Spain that are still fairly barren of leaves (but most have buds), and the branches reach out and sort of fuse with branches from neighboring trees of the same variety - kind of like they are holding hands. It’s beautiful. I believe these are Spanish Plane trees, but not certain.

In just four weeks from today, we will be walking into Santiago. So hard to believe we are almost a third of the way through our journey - and we haven’t given up!