Today was the first day that I can remember that it didn't rain and that was warm enough to walk without coats. Our Dutch friend Barb wished us a "Buen Camino" as she drove by us on her way to work.
We left Aija at about 8:30 and followed the road just about the whole 20 km, which made walking pretty tedious. There were some pretty villages along the way and ian and I stopped for a picnic lunch at noon. Barb had zipped on ahead of us.
There were several small villages, two of which were joined by a pink sidewalk for the kilometer or so that separated the villages. At one property there was wonderful Spanish music playing so loud you could hear it foe kilometers way. It was nice to be serenaded while we walked.
One very peculiar thing we have noticed in all the villages is the effigies of people representing different sorts of occupations which are mounted on poles and platforms. We are not sure what this is all about and our Spanish is not good enough to get an explanation from the locals, but we took photos to share.
We started to see snow capped mountains in the distance.
We arrived in La Baneza by 2:30 and checked into the really nice Albergue which was just a short walk from the town square. This Albergue has one large bedroom with 12 hospital beds, a common room with TV, a kitchen, great showers and a laundry. All for 8€! The Albergue had 4 unused beds. I guess most Peregrinos do not go from the VDLP to the Frances route.
The weather warmed up nicely and after a brief walk around town we stopped at the Plaza Major to eat and watch the children playing in the square.
Showered, clothes washed, rested and fully fed, we went to bed just after 9 so as to be well rested for an early start. The weather forecast is for sun and 30 degrees tomorrow! We will be heading into Astorga, which is a fairly large city, so I expect we will be walking through urban and industrial areas tomorrow, it is 25 km from here.
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