It was a grrreat walk today.  Wonderful scenery, billions of poppies and sunny and warm.  I had lots of energy for some reason; perhaps it was the double dose of sugar in my morning cafe con leche, or maybe because I sang along with the “Evita” soundtrack all afternoon (this iPhone sure is the bomb!) 

Diego passed me about 10:30 am

Arrived in Puente Duero about 3pm and checked into the best albergue ever!  It’s run by Arturo, who’s walked more Caminos than I can remember, and is a character unto himself.  The albergue, his home, is a wonderful little wooden house on the edge of town.  There are 2 large courtyards with fruit trees and flower beds, plenty of benches and picnic tables, a vegetable garden, and a couple of clothes drying areas.  Inside there’s a compact kitchen, comfy lounge area bursting with Camino information and memorabilia, and 2 bunk rooms that sleep a total of 7 pilgrims

Michael & Estefan

Arturo took quite a liking to me & my two amigos and offered to cook us dinner.  We 3 wandered into the village for a few supplies and by 8:30pm we were dining al fresco (with Oscar, a bicyclist from Madrid who showed up just in time) to a wonderful dinner of potato torta, meatballs in homemade tomato sauce, salad, bread and wine

Arturo, Estefan, Oscar and me

After dinner we sat around talking – poor Michael and Oscar had to translate almost everything for me, but my lack of Spanish didn’t stop Arturo from trying to convince me to come back next year and be the hospitalera while he went off on Camino!! Anyway, my thoughts were minimal walking today so I’ll let the pictures tell the story…

BTW: we lost Carlos today, we think he made his way to Valladolid this afternoonPN: arrows in Valdestillas poor, just follow main road straight thru (the only open bar I saw was near the far end of town, around the corner from where the street meets another in a “V”.  The markings are also poor after town; the Camino basically follows the highway to Puente Duero, with arrows on the powerline towers.  After crossing an old bridge, you come up into a pine forest.  You can follow the unmarked (?) trail around to the left and go under the railway line and around to the Camino by the highway, or go straight thru to road and follow along power lines and scramble down a very steep embankment to walk thru the highway road under the railway. Obviously, I recommend the former after having down the latter!

Thanks, Allison
Sent from my iPhone