Day 12 -To Morille and Day 13 To Salamanca

Day 12 - To Morille
The main route for today goes a little west and over a decent size ridge, with no services for 28 km.  The rain and wind continue to be brutal.  Because of the weather we took an alternate route, vering right after 13 km toward Pedrosilla.  This gave us the opportunity to stop for a hot drink there, and get a 30 minute break from the wind.  This actually added a bit of distance to today's walk, for another 30 km day, but it will make tomorrow much shorter.

Several of us received a very special blessing from Don Blas as we readied ourselves to depart this morning.  He prayed over us by name and then sang a beautiful spanish hymn of blessing. It was very meaningful.

The albergue in Morille has 3 bunk beds in the smallest room you can imagine them in.  It also has only one bathroom, with toilet and shower together. We know all these folks by now, and all 5 of us ate dinner together in the local cafe/bar.

Weather: Low 42F High - About 50F but very windy, with only a few spots of sun and several hours if heavy rain.
Quote from RA's journal: "Favorite part of Camino: Breaking bread at a table with people from all over the world."
Tip for pilgrims: Be sure to know your way out of these little towns. By leaving on the wrong road, one of the pilgrims did an extra 2 km on an already long day. On the Camino Frances you would immediately recognize the lack of yellow arrows and absence of pilgrims, but on the VdlP this is not so obvious.

Day 13 -To Salamanca
We said goodbye to Constance today. She takes a train to Madrid in the morning. Salmanca is exactly halfway from Seville to Santiago, so many folks start or stop here. We are sure to meet a few new folks in the next few days.

We were both tired from yesterday's walk, making todays 20 km seem harder than it should have.  We continue to walk through wonderful ranch/farm land.

One joy of the Camino is that we hear roosters crow every morning, even in the big cities. We believe that yesterday, first time ever on Camino, we did not hear one. As we started it was raining so hard they were hiding in the barns. The instances of sunshine came when we were far out into the country.  We look forward to hearing them welcome the morning in the future.

Weather: Low 42F High 54F  Both heavy rain and sunshine, about 50/50.
Quote from RA's journal: "Sitting in a tapas bar in Salamanca listening to Adelle. Does it get any better."
Tips for pilgrims: Be prepared for rain in springtime in Spain.

Dinner in Morille

These pigs ran to the fence when we walked by

Two fellow pilgrims catch us just before entering Salamanca

Entering the old city