I slept in again at this little spot, not a glamorous spot but the hospitilario Vicente is friends with Carlos from the night before so it was on my radar. At one point as I was hanging my laundry my underwear fell to the ground ( there is little private here in the auberges) and Vicente picked it up and started swinging it over his head, i know the Camino was originally a religious pilgrimage and wondered how does he know i am mot a nun...
Anywho I was one of the last to leave
The next big town was VillaFranca where I really thought I was going to try to make it to last night, had I attempted it it would have been another two hours at least AND rumor is the auberge I was hoping to stay at (a friend of Carlos') had bedbugs. I got to VillaFranca about eleven and imagined that Mary had set out from there a good four and a half hours earlier. I got turned around in VillaFranca and took a wrong turn down a hill, it was no biggie but it threw me off a good forty minutes, fortunately I stopped to get directions at a bike shop where two bike pilgrims were getting something fixed, they were very nice and pointed me in the right direction. I think they were married and I would see them thru out the next two days off and on. Today's route outside of VillaFranca had three options, I actually thought it had two...one a very steep climb over the mountain called The Dragon Net, I actually wanted to do this but the book made reference to this being a good eight or so hours and it was one by the time I was done eating and ready to set back out, three young guys at a bar/restaurant talked me out of it and I back tracked to go up the road where two sweet locals pointed the way. had I not followed the two locals directions I might have noticed there was a third Orion thru the woods...my option took me for hours on the road, this would be my largest Camino disappointment to date. My feet throbbed as I was walked and I finally ended up in the woods. I stopped one time and had a nice conversation with a young guy from Belgium, Squiddly Diddly would also make an appearance. These young European guys on the Camino all roll their own cigarettes, I am amazed with I think no exception that they all smoke. There were a few temptations to stop, usually a pilgrim you recognize already showered with a drink in hand and flip flops on. Sometimes you pass them jealous they are done other times you walk by like you own the World and know something special that they don't.
Tomorrow is the highest elevation to climb so it is best to plan the stop tonight accordingly. My notes show some wonderful auberges coming up but their distance is almost out of reach for the day, though I would certainly try.
I walked past a modern building that was a hotel with an add on auberge, not typically my kind of place being all modern but I overhead two American ladies chatting and turned to see two great women who I had had coffee with just about two days before. They were having the time of their lives, dear friends laughing harder than anyone I have ever witnessed and were dressed in sarongs hanging all of their clothes out to dry (and it was late afternoon). Seems they had stayed in a place they thought might have bedbugs and the host/owner here suggested they wash their clothes. They said how nice this place was, how they justified staying there knowing it was super clean, had a killer menu and that we would be alone in a two bunk bed room. I hopped right on in and had a wonderful evening with these gals. It almost seemed like a break from the Camino as I had never walked with them or really knew them as pilgrims. THe dinner was fabulous, I had trout stuffed with ham and from our window we watched cows graze and a Turkish Anatolian Shephard bark. I slept great, I forgot what time I would wake in the morning, I think about seven or so, the restaurant opened at eight and I would have my typical coffee, orange juice and pastry.
The gals clothes were still damp and as I left they were trying to find a dryer to dry them, we had set up our room with all of the devices to dry but it was still to damp.
I would head out to one of my longest and most beautiful walks yet...
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