My night staying in the albergue (hostel) was not as bad as I thought it would be. Remembering, at 2am, that I did have earplugs, and finding them easily in my rucksack allowed me to sleep while others snored. Whether I kept them awake or not I am blissfully unaware. The first up this morning was our new Hungarian friend, who wanted to make it to Puebla de Sanabria, 40kms ahead. I was the last to set out with the aim of making a 22km walk, just over half the distance to Puebla de Sanabria.
The first half of today's journey was not exciting. 9km of scrubland next to a motorway sums it up. The weather was strangely British, with bright sunshine and rain. In two hours I arrived at the interestingly named Mombuey. The name is the extent of the interest, I'm afraid. It was a place which has had its day. It is one of those small towns which existed solely because it was placed on the national road network to provide a place for travellers to stop and rest and eat. With the coming of the motorways, and the killing off of traffic on the national (equivalent to A roads), so these towns have also been killed off. And you can tell. I stopped for a bite to eat at lunchtime. The barman was surly, the salad unwashed, and the place felt tired. There was none of the usual Spanish bonhomie around the place at all. It does have an interesting looking church (which was, of course, like at the churches along the way, locked), but as I moved on, I was glad I hadn't spent a night here.
Back on the way, the second half of the day was much more pleasant. With the Sierra de Culebra hills in the background, famed for their wolves, I went through a series of villages. The villages were all of them quite lovely as places, but they all had one thing in common: no people. I walked along the minor road which linked the first three, and in two hours only one car, with an elderly driver, went past. In the summer, more people do come and live in these villages, but at this time of year they are almost completely depopulated. Many of the houses look in such a state of decay as to be evidently abandoned. It is such a shame. Each of the villages has its own church, and a little ermita shrine, but no Mass or resident priest. There are no bars, shops, or usual signs of life at all. So, here they are...
Firstly, Valdemerilla...
Then, Cernadilla...
Then, San Salvador de Palazuelo. This place amused me because of the very hopeful sign on a ramshackle house by the church, which advertised itself as for sale for a good price. The church was interesting because of its staircase up the tower and the portico.
And finally, Entrepeñas, where I met up with my Norwegian friend Kjartan. The lady who owned the house we were staying in was very welcoming. The house had belonged to her parents. She said that, during the winter, the village has barely 40 inhabitants, all elderly. She was very kind and took us over to the next village, Asturianos, to an excellent bar where we were given a good pilgrim dinner of chickpeas with wild mushrooms and calf's liver. We also had some of the local chorizo and cheese and a good portion of good Iberic ham.
So, tomorrow is my last day, and is really only a half day before I return to Madrid and back home.
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