Day 22 - El Burgo Ranero to Mansilla de las Mulas

Russ' supper last night was, unfortunately, as disappointing as the lunch.  Breaded, deep fried, sliced ham with cheese is not gourmet food, and that was the high point.  Being the only town in the middle of nowhere, criticizing the food may not be called for. Lynn, on the other hand,thoroughly enjoyed her dinner, which included what must have been a whole can of peas!

Breakfast was the usual bread of some kind, coffee and juice.  There was, however, yogurt for Lynn and more of that squeezed in front of your eyes orange juice.

Today was more walking on a trail that followed the highway.  There was little traffic but also hardly any settlements to be seen, in sharp contrast to other regions on the Camino. The sweeping open countryside gives you a view of the horizon, which has a desert touch to it. There were also no trees for many kilometers, so many small rest areas have been set up. We thought there were going to be no services the entire way.  As it turned out, there were restaurants and a tienda in Reliegos, a small village we passed through at 13km, but we didn't have our usual cafe con leche break and reached Mansilla before noon. The view today was improved by the sight of hills in the distance and we walked along the high speed train tracks for awhile and saw several trains go zooming by.

Mansilla is protected by a 12th century wall, which is intact in many places.  Russ surmises that it's survival may be due to the fact that it was built with cobble stones, rather than limestone blocks, and was therefore not used as salvage by the local peasants.  It is quite impressive as the best preserved section shows it to be 10 metres or so high, and several metres wide.  One could easily imagine soldiers watching the countryside from the top of the wall.

The town itself is quite busy and shows signs of genuine life.  This may be due to the fact that two main Camino routes converge here; the Real Camino Frances and the Calzado Romana.

Our hotel is absolutely charming, small, but has that very sit down and relax feel.  This started when we checked in and the owner invited us to come down after we settled in for a gratuitous glass of vino blanco.  We were sold!

We spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around this lovely village. We visited the 18th century church of Santa Maria, absolutely magnificent as usual, walked around the old walls, and crossed the river Esla via a medieval bridge. There is a campground here and you can swim in the river, which we walked down to from several points. The point where we were under the bridge is a series of rapids with what appears to be a very strong current, and the water was very deep. It was in a planted forest that looked like the forest in Mortal Combat. Very beautiful setting.

We met Margie coming in to town from the other old Roman road route. She is at another hotel. We also met the group of ladies from Canada who are at our hotel and love it too (but weren't offered a free glass of wine).

Summary - another day of uneventful walking.  It was very hot today (38 deg C) and thankfully the later portion of the Senda we walked along was beside a canal and lined with trees. These are the days you can easily let your mind wander, as you ask yourself exactly why you are doing this.

Distance today - 19km
Distance total - 461.5km