August 17, 2013

After two nights in a donativo albergue, I’m ready for a real bed. A donativo is an albergue run by dedicated volunteers who serve two weeks at a time. The albergues are typically associated with a local church, and the experience includes a communal meal, evening prayer service, sleeping mats on the floor, and a simple breakfast in the morning. Sort of like a slumber party for grownups.

The word donativo means that you make a voluntary contribution when you leave in the morning.

When I left at 0745 this morning, most of the other pilgrims had already hit the trail. This is fine with me because the mornings are cool and it’s a great time to walk by yourself. Since there was no wifi last night, I posted my last blogs along the trail today. I took a lot of breaks (note my average speed below) but both my legs were hurting and I didn’t want to push the pace too hard.

The second half of the day was spent without villages so it was a pretty quiet experience. I was considering stopping earlier than I planned but I took a long break, changed my socks and felt like a new man. I’m really glad that I continued because the last hour was through a shaded forest and I got to walk a labyrinth. Now I can walk into Burgos tomorrow to meet Kathryn. She lands at 10 am in Madrid and will take a train to meet me. Monday will be a rest day.

Notes from today:

Left Losantos at 0745, arrived Ages at 1600
Total time 8.25 hours
Total distance 22.1 km
Average speed 2.8 km/hr (it’s not a race, right?)