Hermanillos de la Calzada - Mansilla de las Mulas (pop 1900) 24.5 km October 15

Last evening we enjoyed a thanksgiving pilgrim meal of salad, fish and a goat milk custard, which, when honey was added made it kind of ok.  We had a very pleasant evening with the Acadian 4 some.

It rained most of the night so when we began our walk this morning we had our rain gear on.  It was wet.  No wonder this stretch is called mental...we did 17 kilometres with not much for distraction, or food or water

We passed this canal early and for most of the rest of the time this was our path

The base is pit run, so it is not an easy walk.

For a while I thought about how this mornings walk was a life lesson

( high=dry)

If I took the high road everything was good (especially my feet )

I had to concentrate on where the high road was

Sometimes what looked like the high road wasn't but I had to figure that out for myself

When I was on the low road I didn't like it

Sometimes the high road led to the low road

The high road was not always an easy walk

At times the high road was hard to find

Sometime I got so focused on the high road that I forgot to look behind me and when I did my boyfriend was a half kilometre behind trying to take his rain gear off and could have used my help

Today was long and somewhat boring.....we saw this way marker

Which did make me smile- because really - where else were we going to go?

We saw this welding rig working on some farm equipment....

For the past three days we have walked through farmland without seeing any farm yards?  Are these folks living in the villages?  Also we have seen almost no grain storage facilities...

We pass a planted field of pine trees

And we see a cemetery which we both marvelled at

And in the centre

And to the left

So interesting .  It was all locked up so we couldn't walk through it.

When we got closer to our first stop after four hours plus we saw these chimneys coming out of a hill

One even has an antenna!  When we walk around the corner we see huts built into the ground 

Looks like a village of huts

We don't explore this much further

After a short break in Reliegos we continue on to our final destination and check Into this Pension

40 Euros - private room con bano.  Our room is decorated in lime green and blue - very clean, and the  owner is very helpful This village has a population of 1900 and has a lot of activity going on.  We make our way to the central square and market, which is getting ready to shut down for siesta!

Tomorrow we have a shorter day and will be in Leon, we are considering another day of rest there.

We are hoping for better weather soon