May 4, 2023

I went to bed last night before the sun went down and I was up and walking an hour before it had come up on the horizon behind me.  I slept much better in the little albergue than I did in my hotel the night before, but the wind blew so hard the little window had to be closed, making the room seem even smaller. I was trying to be as quite as possible while getting my pack together, but even so, I woke my roommate, she told me that I could turn on the light to finish up...big mistake. I should have used the red light on my headlamp, now I had lost all my night vision and the hall was so dark that I could not see. The night before I had remembered to turn right at the plant next to the wall, all I had to do was feel with my hand on the wall until I felt the leaves.   The next challenge was making my way down the stairs in the dark from the 3rd floor to the front door.   Luckily for me the young German girl sleeping on a futon on the landing turned her phone on to give me light. I had sat next to her at dinner and she was so kind and helpful to everyone. The steps were so uneven and crooked, I would never have made it down in the dark without twisting an ankle.

Eventually the sky began to lighten up. Because Ciruena is not a major stopping point, when I left there was only one woman in front of me for the next 4 miles until Santo Domingo.

I made my first stop in Santa Domingo to have a little breakfast. It was classic, coffee con leche and a tortilla which is a mixture of potatoes, eggs and cheese baked in a pan. It comes by the sliced warmed up.

Just before this bar was the main cathedral in the city.  It was too early to be open, but they keep chickens by the alter to commemorate a miracle. It is part of pilgrim/Camino folk lore, unfortunately I was too early to go in the church..

After first breakfast I continued along the Camino, this time with more pilgrims around as they were leaving their lodgings in the city.

I walked awhile and came to the town of Granon. It was time for another break at a little food truck that looked pretty stationary.

Well I did have second breakfast of an extremely tart lemonade and a chocolate croissant. Again, I got back on the road. There were many pilgrims and we walked for a long distance through agricultural lands. For the next 12 miles the wind constantly blew, but it wasn't really that cold.

Somewhere shortly after Santo Domingo I left the Rioja region and had entered the Castilla & Leon region of which I will be walking through for many days.

After a long straight stretch of Camino that paralleled the freeway, I made it to to outskirts of Belorado.

It’s not that big of a town, but I got a little lost trying to find my pension. My room is clean, the bed is a double, but the room is probably 70 square feet. I cleaned up and took a nap. Headed out to the nearby grocery store to get a couple small things for the morning. I made the mistake of touching the bananas. I was quickly reprimanded and the clerk took over the most important job of putting the fruit in the bag. I asked for some grapes, but you had to buy the entire bunch. The grocer was in what looked to be a crabby mood. I returned my items to my room and went out to walk the city and find dinner.

Storks love a good church tower. It was too early to find dinner at 6:00, so I got a beer and waited at a restaurant that the pension clerk had suggested. The restaurant opened at 7:00.

The first course was a tagliatelle with a Bolognese sauce. I think that cooks in Bologna are crying at how it was done. My main course is cod with an aïoli.

The aioli turned out to me a layer of baked mayo on the fish. Next up house made cheesecake. Maybe the pension clerk likes it so much at the restaurant because of the fancy added decorations on the plate. I miss my cod and garbanzo beans.

Safe to say that if I were to walk the pilgrimage again I would skip this restaurant. This little town is filled with pilgrims spending their money. At least 85% of the people out have been walking the Camino today.

Back to my pension for a good night sleep, my room is small, but I would be happy to have something like it every night. Tomorrow is an easy day of walking to Villafranca Monte de Oca, 8 miles. The real “monte” will kick in at the start

of the next day.

I like that there is no smoking in the restaurant, but the server is ok with lighting one up next to my table outside.