El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 15: Sahagun to El Burgo Ranero

Michelle wrote:
21 Sept. Thursday

Leaving Sahagun before dawn

We left Sahagun at 7:00 am and had a nice cool 12 km walk to Bercianos del Real Camino.  We stopped there for breakfast and a rest.  Then it was another 7 k to El Burgo Ranero - a quiet village.  

We stayed at an older albergue that got mixed reviews.  It was a step down from the other places we’ve stayed, but not too bad.  We had a private room with a  double bed that sagged in the middle and shared the bathroom in the hall with the 8-10 people staying in the dormitory room at the other end of the hall.  There was another dormitory room and bathroom upstairs.  The little kitchen had a table, microwave, electric kettle and a vending machine  but no sink.  There was no potable water here, unless you got it from the bathroom.  I understood why it had bad reviews, but we were grateful we didn’t have to walk another 13 km to the next village.  It felt crowded here and chaotic, but I realize it was an unusual day for the albergue owner, who worked very hard trying to help everyone get settled somewhere.  

Arco de San Benito on the
right as you leave Sahagun

Even though things were a bit uncomfortable, we were lucky to get a room that day because one of the other albergues in the town closed it’s doors for the day and all the people that had reservations there were scrambling for a place to stay the night.  It turns out that the albergue that closed had a bed bug problem and had to be sanitized.

We washed our clothes by hand out in the small patio.  I felt a bit bad about our clothes taking up so much space on the drying racks because I knew it would take longer for them to dry because the walls of the patio blocked the sun and wind.  It all worked out okay in the end, but I definitely like the open drying areas better!  

My blisters have calmed down and don’t bother me anymore.  Now I have a tight muscle on the side of my left leg.  I think I strained it trying to favor my right foot.  I have to massage it at night to get it to relax some.  

Curtis was helpful once again in translating for a Korean couple that wanted to take the bus to Leon.  He was able to find out what time the bus comes and where to pick it up.  They were so grateful that they bought us “drinks” (Kaz Lemon) and we had an interesting conversation in very broken English.  

I was getting antsy and ready to leave the town.  There wasn’t much to see and nothing to do.  We had a good dinner at a place that played an Elton John cover, so we knew all the songs and enjoyed listening to that.  I had a homemade vegan burger that was very good.  

We stopped at the local tienda and bought ice cream bars (Magnum!) and walked around watching the sun set behind the clouds.  It reminded us of Nebraska, where the highest point on the horizon is the overpass!

As the sun rises behind us we see Bercianos del Camino ahead of us.

Curtis writes:
The tree-lined path for much of the meseta was greatly appreciated.  It was a lot of work to plant all these trees.  A lot.

Unique house near Bercianos

This house is set in the field adjacent the Camino as it enters Bercianos.  Homes like this are relatively rare along the Camino.  Most people live in towns in homes that are wall to wall with the neighbors, as is shown in the image below of Calle Mayor in Bercianos del Real Camino.

A flowered balcony in Bercianos.

Trees where the Camino crosses Arroyo del Olmo

Entrance to El Burgo Ranero

Even though the hike was short, it was painful.  The left foot was not happy.  So, it was good to see El Burgo Ranero.  The second main anxiety at this point was: are we in time to get a decent bed?

We were able to get a room to ourselves in a low cost albergue: El Nogal, for 10 euros each. Granted, you get what you pay for. There is a small chain hotel right off the highway, but the price is 3 times as much. It turns out that one of the other three albergues is closed. All the beds in this albergue were taken by 2pm.  Reading the reviews of El Nogal, we found that the negative ones were critical of owner.  She is a strong character; quite passionate about saving money.  She made sure that everyone understood the necessity of turning out the lights when leaving the room.  A Canadian man walked away from the bathroom with the light still on.  She re-emphasized to him that the lights need to be turned off and he tried to apease her saying "no problemo".  She walked away mumbling about how it was no problemo for him but it is a big problem for her.  Later she got in 'discussion' with 3 Spanish pilgrims who were challanging her on the cost of doing their laundry.  They expected their laundry could be done in 3 loads.  She was telling them it was 6.  She eventually won the argument when she came back from changing the laundry and told them there were 26 pairs of socks.  Of course, each of the 3 women said no way, but when they started totaling the numbers they had given her, they realized she was right.  It was fun to listen to them go at it without any acrimony.  Nobody got hurt feelings.

Alberque El Nogal

Our private room at El Nogal

To her credit, the albergue owner was also passionate about helping pilgrims.  When she learned that there were no more beds for pilgrims in town, all of the albergues were full, she loaded up a hiker in her car and took him to another place to stay.

View of the courtyard at
El Nogal from our window.

We can't recommend El Nogal simply because there are no kitchen facilities, not even a sink to fill your water bottle.  The mattress sagged in the middle, which made for a night of bumping elbows and knees.  I'm glad the weather was not cold because I suspect that heat would have been minimal too.  Nevertheless, with all it's problems, I'm appreciative of the fact that we had a place to stay (many were turned away) and that we got there in time to get the one private room.  I remember the look of relief the owner gave me when I told her we wanted the double bed.  It precluded a potential problem if a single person requested the room.  At other places when making reservations over the phone I was asked if it was for a married couple.  Since I always answered yes, I don't know what would happen otherwise.

After cleaning up and sending off the laundry I took a short nap while Michelle wrote in her journal in the court yard.  Eventually we got up and wandered through the town.  At one of the other albergues I found this posting of the train and bus schedules.  There was a couple from Korea with minimal Spanish ability and a little English ability.  They were trying to get to Leon by bus or train.

Transportation from El Burgo Ranero

I'm including this here for future reference.  Note that for this town, the train is the more common mode of transportation.

Friendly Korean couple who treated us to drinks.
We helped them figure how to get to Leon.

Flowers on the window sills on the clean streets of El Burgo Ranero

We walked around the small town long enough for the restaurants to open for dinner.  I had a delicious spagetti bolognesa with chicken.

Dinner at La Costa del Adobe in El Burgo Ranero

After dinner we strolled to the little market (Autoservicio Pili), bought some dessert and then watched the sun set from the west end of town, looking over the pond that is really hurting during this drought.  We got some snacks for tomorrow and then back to our room to get rested.