Stage 14: Recedilla del Camino to Belorado

24 Sep 2019

One of the things I’m often reminded of while walking is that pilgrims have walked this path, through these hills, fields, and towns, for over 800 years. It’s kind of cool to now be part of that.

Claude and I left Recedilla del Camino before sunrise, once again navigating the path for the first 30 minutes using headlamps. It was a little warmer (58F) and dry but very windy. We walked 11Km directly into a steady 20mph wind, with gusts to 26, which is surprisingly tiring, and arrived in Belorado quite early, at 11am. Our walk took us, again, through rolling farmland with acres of wheat and dried sunflowers. Mercifully flat.

We checked into a good albergue, Hostel Punto B, which had a lot of nice facilities. I took the opportunity to pay to have my laundry done but the socks weren’t quite dry. Never underestimate a pilgrim’s ingenuity when it comes to rigging a clothesline!

We went out into town to find a farmacia, an ATM, and something to eat, and were successful with the first two. The siesta shut down all restaurants, though, and we had to settle for tapas and Sangria for lunch.

To be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the beer-wine-tapas diet (yes, folks, you heard it here first). The breakfast albergues and hostels offer is always coffee and toast or croissant, no protein, and lunch is often tapas or a salad (at least there’s usually tuna and egg in a salad). Dinner is usually something we make, like a sandwich, based on our forays to the local super mercado (no, nothing at all on the scale of an American supermarket) but there ain’t much variety in that. We usually pass on the Pilgrim Menu dinner because it’s too much food, too late. On the other hand, I got on the scale at an albergue (probably not too accurate) the other day, with my boots off, and it said 95Kg (209 lbs) which is around 20 lbs less than when I started my walk!

Traditionally, the Camino is a cash-only economy (though many hostels and hotels take plastic now), so you need to manage your cash carefully and, of course, only Euros are accepted. A lot of small towns do not have banks nor ATMs, so planning is important. The good news is that the Internet is very helpful in locating cajero automaticos.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know, Part 2: What devices are you carrying? I’m carrying an iPhone 6 SE and the compact Bluetooth keyboard shown above, along with a recharging battery, and the usual charger cable and adapters. The keyboard folds up to become a lightweight 2” x 6” x 1” block and works very well.

I’ve spent the last nine months researching the Camino and place names like Zubiri, Logronio, and Belorado were the stuff of my dreams. Now when I find myself in these places, for real, I can hardly believe it. It’s very moving to actually be here.