Grañon

Azofra – Grañon 22km

After a great sleep in the municipal albergue in Azofra, we met at the bar for breakfast – a chocolate filled pastry and a cafe con leche (milky coffee).

We set out on the way towards Santa Domingo De La Conzada, passing through Cirueña where Ciaron and I walked in a loop around town before we found the correct route out. This was a lovely little town to pass through but nowhere seemed to be open.

We walked through some glorious countryside before we got to Santa Domingo.

All of us met at a cafe for lunch while Christian (Austria) went into the church famous for having a chicken in it.

You can read the story about the chicken bere:

https://caminotimestwo.com/2017/03/17/the-chickens-of-santo-domingo-de-la-calzada/

Myself and Ciaron spotted a hiking shop on the way through town and paid a quick visit. Ciaron got an extra large poncho to cover himself and his extra large backpack. I got a pair of running socks with a little extra blister padding than the ones I have. I also checked out the price of new Hoka trail running shoes as the ones I am wearing are degrading quite fast. Unfortunately I don’t think they will last the whole Camino. This saddens me a little as they were bought to me by my wife Marissa for a Christmas present specifically for the camino. But we’ll see.

When we arrived in Grañon, it looked like a nice little town. The sun was shining and there were plenty of other peregrinos sitting outside the bar drinking beer. Mmmmm beeeer!!

We had intended to stay at the church albergue which is a donativo. (A donativo is a place where you can stay for the night and just donate whatever money you can afford for their hospitality.) There was only a huge room with about 20 mattresses on the floor, very poor lighting and no sign of showers. We decided to move on.

We went to another Donativo up the street which had a lovely smell of insence throughout. A lovely man showed us our room and a few of our guys were happy with their beds but myself and Olaf (German) were not happy with the small very dimly-lit room we were given with bunk beds and no way of climbing onto the top bunk ?? It felt a bit claustrophobic so we made our apologies to the kind man and got booked into the municipal albergue at the edge of town.

Much better and for 12 yoyos each for a twin room and a fancy shared bathroom. Great choice!

I got some food in the local bar. A big plate of patatas bravas (fries covered in spicy tomato based sauce and mayo.) Replacement carbs after a long walk. I also got a chicken fillet with this for protein.

Then at 7pm the church bells started ringing for Friday Mass. Ciaron (Wales), Dora (Hungary), Lisanne (Netherlands) and myself decided to go to the Mass.

The Spanish priest gave us all a blessing (In Spanish) for the rest of our Camino. I actually enjoyed it. Something about these big medieval churches makes it all special.

One thing I have noticed and disliked in this town is the number of big fat flies everywhere. So irritating. Landing on my balding head every minute. Not sure what the problem is here. And no, before you even say it, I do not smell like shite! 😆

Tomorrow we head to Espinosa Del Camino which is about 25km away. Olaf took care of the bookings for tomorrow in a decent albergue.

Just having one more pint now and then bed. Nitey nite folks xo