32.6 km – 20.2 miles

7:00am to 3:00pm walking time

250 meters – 820 feet elevation gain

It was hard to leave my comfy hotel room this morning. Without fail, on a day that I need to be well rested, my insomnia kicks in the night before. At least I had gotten a good night’s sleep the night before last. I knew today wouldn’t be too bad hill wise, but anything over 30 kilometers makes for a physically strenuous day. I wanted to get to this town though because it’s adorable.

The walk today was mostly bland. It was nice while in the heart of the city, but then the outskirts of big cities take forever to get through and the walk was alongside a highway most of the day.

On the edges of town, you usually have to walk through some undesirable places. Industrial buildings and so on. There was a lot of that today.

I even got to walk past a massive distribution center for a pilgrim’s favorite store – Decathlon! I didn’t take a picture though since it wasn’t all that interesting. I will be buying myself a duffel bag from there when I get to Santiago to help carry any additional stuff I buy once I’m done walking. I do intend to buy some new clothes so that I’m not wearing fitness gear for the time I’m traveling with my parents.

After getting out of the industrial area, it was just long flat stretches that felt like they may never end. It was hard to find interesting things to take pictures of along the way. Corn fields lose their appeal very quickly. 😃

The iconic thing about the town is the long bridge that you walk across to enter the town. You can see a jousting area off to the side when you walk along the bridge. Pilgrims might agree with me that the rocky bridge is painful on feet that have already put in 30+ kilometers.

Got an albergue with bunks that have a bit more privacy. I’ve seen more and more albergues and hostels with similar setups. I’m not going to lie, I’ll pay extra for something that’s not a squeaky old bunk bed – especially one with no roll bars for the top bunks. I definitely have a fear of falling off of those and it’s not a ton of fun climbing the ladder to get in and out of bed when you’re not a kid.

I need to search out food. Other than snacks, I haven’t eaten much today. Definitely having a hard time with siesta – meaning that most restaurants don’t serve food between 3-7/8pm.