Alli's Excellent Adventures!

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Day 22 El Burgo Ranero to Mansilla de las Mulas October 13, 2022

Same breakfast: eggs, ham and toasted baguette and by 8 o’clock I was on the road. Today’s walk was 18.8 km through flat country-

My intention for the day was the same as yesterday – being careful of making assumptions based on first impressions. As the four of us carry on, I’m finding that maybe I’m not as open to meeting new people as I was in the beginning because we have become very comfortable with each other and that is good. However, a big part of the Camino experience is meeting new people and forcing oneself to do that. It’s being alone and going inside oneself to find the strength to carry on that can be the hard part, the lonely part. That is one reason why I like to travel alone - I have to rely on myself to survive and I always do. There’s a feeling of empowerment that comes from being alone and dealing with issues as they arrive. And I like knowing that I can handle whatever comes my way.

This idyllic group we have is going to end Saturday when Mirjanne goes home, Bernadette stays an extra day in Leon and Helle stays an extra half day. I am going to leave early on Saturday morning and so we four musketeers will be no more. We have had a good run but it is time to move on. This has to become “my” camino and starting Saturday, that’s what will happen.

Anyway back to meeting new people – there was an American sitting with us yesterday whom I met for the first time and he was so annoying because all he did was talk about himself. I think I would give him a second chance if I were to meet him again, so maybe my consciousness of my intention may be working, I’m not sure.

Along the way –

There is a lot of irrigation for corn and this canal feeds the ditches into the fields –

I must’ve passed five monuments like this just today –

More cultivated fields-

These mileage post are very funny because they’re not at all accurate. They get our hopes up and then the next one will be further kilometres than the last one-

Some trees are wrapped with crocheted blankets. I’m not sure if it’s to keep worms from crawling up the tree or if it’s just decoration –

It’s time to combine corn –

Town signs like this are everywhere in Mexico but this is the first one I’ve seen in Spain –

Is this an eco house or just a mess-

Our backpacks-

I made it to Mansilla de las Mulas about 2 pm. It is another walled village but our albergue is just outside the walls. The southeast gate is named the gate of Saint James because it is through this entrance that pilgrims walked to Santiago de Compostella. In the 12th century, this village was the first stop in the Kingdom of León–

One church was closed –

but the Ermita Virgen de Gracia was open. The Virgen de Gracia is the patron saint of Mansilla-

The Virgen de Gracia is the patron saint of Mansilla-

We managed to find a place for beer and then a supermarket. It sometimes is a long afternoon when you get to a place at two and everything is closed from 2:30 until 4:30 for their “siesta”. Another strange thing is that there is no variety of food in the restaurants. You can count on having a mixed salad, spaghetti and meat sauce, fried chicken breast and french fries, tortilla and bocadillos - baguette sandwiches of ham and cheese. If you’re lucky enough to find a bakery, you can find a chocolate croissant or perhaps a fruit filled pastry but the food is getting quite monotonous.

I feel like them most days-