Camino Day 21: Bercianos del real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas
“Though the road’s been rocky it sure feels good to me”
Day 21: 23.3 kilometres - 34,700 steps
A cloudy day, no rain but a little cooler - makes for great walking weather. We hiked 20km before our first stop, then had lunch at a crazy bar called Elvis Bar.
With 7km left to walk Sylvie called a taxi. Her leg is hurting and she is not sleeping well. We craft a new plan for her, to walk 20km maximum a day and for any extra call a cab. This was the second day of similar terrain - the last of The Meseta. It’s Donna’s last day of walking tomorrow. She wonders how she can maintain her fitness when she goes home. It’s an excellent question - how can we?
Mansilla de las Mulas is a surprising town, surrounded by a 12th Century wall. As a result the centre is compact, with intriguing winding streets full of surprising architectural delights.
Tonight’s hotel reminds me of a Spanish version of the Weasley house in Harry Potter. Filled to the brim with bits and pieces, all manner of parraphanalia squeezed into even the most unlikely of places. Overall it works, just reflects lots of personality. Donna’s room is super cute with a canopy bed. I am sitting in the pleasantly overstuffed bibliotheca (library) writing and thinking I should try to read some of these kids books in Spanish to practice.
We have planned an afternoon visit to the Museum of Anthropology in town with Rob, then we will meet Phil for drinks on the patio. In true Camino style, while we are chatting with the Melbourne boys on the patio, the shutters on one of the rooms above burst open - its Matt, he pops his head out with a delighted grin - he’s staying here too and will be down in a flash to join us. Love it! We all have dinner together in the dining room of the hotel. It’s gorgeous. The owner Javier serves us and his personality is just as his decor would suggest.
Tonight I discover that Matts name is NAT. Poor man, we’ve been calling him Matt for weeks!
As we check out in the morning Javier gives us each a small pebble to leave at the cross on The Way. As he presses the small stone into our hands he gives us each a quick hug. So we will come back. He tells us he has one customer from Argentina who has done the Camino every year for 16 years! We pose for a group photo, and continue on our journey.
POSTCARDS FROM Bercianos del real Camino to Mansilla de las Mulas
