Camino Frances, Day 6

 6:51am, temp 56 degrees w/ cloudy sky’s. Out the door nice and early this morning. I was surprised by the cloudy conditions, because weather forecast yesterday was for sun and temps in the upper 70’s -80’s. Oops somebody got it wrong. I also decided to dump the long pants and from now, walking in shorts. 

I was in a 5 bed dorm. I had a lady from Wales, married American couple, from Virginia, and an Asian Canadian girl, that was so scatter brained or she was just amp’d up on caffeine, I couldn’t tell. She was literally bouncing all over the room. She came back to the room around 10pm, let me just say in a polite way she was not very quiet, more like a bull in a china shop!! Camino Life!!!!

Okay back to today’s walk. Out the door @ 6:50am. Miles today around 14, about the same as yesterday. Not so much elevation climbing today. I was really surprised by the cloudy conditions, but I’ll take it any day over the blazing sun. I didn’t par take in the Albergue breakfast this morning because it didn’t start until 7:30am and I didn’t want to wait around for that. I knew I would find a cafe somewhere up the road. I walked with the married couple from Virginia to start the day. After 1.5 miles, found an open cafe. Grabbed a Cafe con Leche, muffin, & banana. Cafe’s are also good spots to use the restroom because sometimes they are too few and too far apart. 

After my morning pit stop, I was up and going, leaving the Virginia couple behind. But I soon picked up another walking partner. Bill from Scotland, real nice guy, and close to my age. We chatted about all types of things, from sports, he is a big soccer fan, to work, retirement, & families. He said he would like to visit America and travel around the country in an RV, but his wife is not on board with that. Then I ran into Michael, to 20 yr old kid from Copenhagen. He told me he shipped some of his stuff back home to lighten his pack. He was carting a complete camping cook set because he thought he was going to be cooking meals on the trail🤣. That’s the PCT not the Camino!!

Today’s route didn’t offer up much  in the way of food services. Meaning no snacks or places to go to the bathroom. Some days are just like that. By now there was a real light mist falling from the sky. Really not enough to put on a jacket or my pack cover. I had pulled out my rain jacket at my last stop, just in case I might need it later. Actually, a bit latter, I did put on my jacket, for wind not rain.

Now passing through one of Spain’s wine regions. I am starting to notice more and more wine vineyards. The grape plants were just starting to grow little green leaves. Another iconic stops on the Camino is the famous wine spicket, that allows pilgrims to drink a very small portion of wine. It’s actually the back side of a winery that has the wine spicket. But it’s free to all pilgrims. I used my Camino Shell that I have attached to my pack. Just took enough for a couple of small sips.  Some people were filling cups with the wine, that is just being rude & selfish because once’s it’s gone they don’t replenish the wine, and pilgrims later on don’t get to enjoy the experience. I left the wine area and went up the trail about 100 yrds to take a picture of an old church. Starting moving on and something didn’t feel right… ahhhhh, I left my walking sticks back at the wine spicket, 😡, good thing it was so close. Oh speaking of losing things. The woman from Wales, that was in our room last night. She was the first to leave this morning. I left about 15-20 min after her. I noticed she left a shirt on her bed. It was her Yellowstone T-shirt she was wearing the day before. So I being the nice guy, picked it up and stuffed it into my backpack hoping to see her down the trail. Long story short, I checked into my Albergue today, I turn around and who is standing almost behind me waiting to check in, yes the woman from Wales. I told her I had something for her. I pulled out her shirt, she was so happy!!! The Camino Provides.

Today’s walk took me through the wine and wheat fields as far as I could see. Long straight dirt roads with slight up and downs. In the distance the pilgrims looked like little ants walking in line, but with colorful packs on. I was starting to get hungry and needed to use the bathroom. I rounded this corner and I see a sign, food truck up ahead.YES!!!. I see it in the near distance but I realize they will have no bathrooms, so I did the next best thing, found a bush🤣, luckily nobody was right behind me because there was no hiding from anyone behind me.

Now that priority #1 was taken care of , priority #2 FOOD! I came to find out, the good truck was run by Americans, go figure, right out in the middle of nowhere. I ordered a ham/cheese sandwich, chips and my daily Coke Zero. Also ran into some pilgrims I have not seen in 2or 3 days. It’s funny how I keep running into people that you think are long down the trail, but in reality they are still here. They are just on different agendas. After spending about 45 min at the food truck and chatting with my fellow pilgrims I was back on the road, with only 7.5 km to go to I reached Los Arcos. Shortly after that the jacket came off, and the sun was just starting to poke through the clouds. I reached the out skirts of town about 12:35. Again I arrived earlier that I suspected. Look for my Albergue on my map. Luckily it was on the same road I was walking. Arrived at Albergue Los Arcos at 12:45

Checked into Albergue Los Arcos…no frills or thrills here for sure. The owner is really nice, very out going and plays cool music. I am in a room with actually 8 beds with a divider wall separating the room, so 4 beds per square. My roommate’s, an elderly man from Japan,  and two woman form Korea. I found out that they met each other on the Camino. The one girl speaks pretty good broken English, and her dream is to attend Coachella. Like I said this place is old. The shower in my motorhome is about the same size as both the showers here. Just don’t drop the soap because you can’t bend over to pick it up🤣. After showering, no laundry today, I went looking for a place to sit have a🍺 and people watch. This is when I usually write this blog because it’s fresh in my mind. Of course all these small little towns have massive churches. It’s like each town had a competition a few hundred yrs ago as to who can build the biggest church. Maybe they heard a voice, “ if you build it, he will come”.. Pilgrim humor.

I did sign up for the pilgrim dinner tonight, mixed salad, lentil soup, bread, red wine & tiramisu.

Gear- shoes yesterday, so socks and underwear  today. I brought 4 pairs of each, maybe a little over kill. I have 3 pairs of Darn Tuff socks, 1pair Injinji toe socks, wearing those tomorrow. Did you know that Darn Tuff socks have a life time guarantee. See you learned something you didn’t know. I also have 1 pain ankle cotton socks, my town socks. Underwear, 32 degree (brand) dry fit. They are real lightweight and dry fast.

Fun fact. You don’t have to carry a backpack on the Camino if you don’t want to. Now, you are saying to yourself, Randy what are you talking about. There are company’s that will transfer your backpack, suitcase whatever for a fee to each of your destinations. Example, if I were walking from point A to point B, I would leave my backpack down by the front door, with the destination written on a provided card, attach it to my backpack. When I arrive a point B my pack will be waiting for me. Easy as that!!!. Downside is you have to have designated destination, and you still would have to take some type of small day pack. So now who is ready to walk the Camino with me, knowing you don’t have to be a pack mule !!

Stats—> Estrella to Los Arcos, Stage 6

Miles- 14.2

Duration- 5hrs42min, that includes breaks, forgot to hit pause on my tracker

Elevation- 1,437 ft

Temp- 53-62 degrees 

Song- John Denver’s, Country Roads, because that’s what it felt like

Tomorrow I go to Logrono, 17 miles, and looking at my bookings.. I have a single room booked… Happy Dance. Thanks for reading, May the Force Be w/ You