23.9km

Fermín wakes us up singing what sounds like a Spanish ballad. He drinks like a king but can still wake up like a farmer. The table is set with a lavish breakfast, including thick Spanish hot chocolate. After breakfast we say our goodbyes, with warm farewell embraces. It is the latest we are leaving a place, at 9am—the hospitality of Grañón is just hard to tear away from. As a we walk away from the church, Fermín chants from the window, “Jeremy de Singapur! Jeremy de Singapur!”, something he joked last night he will do after forgetting where I was from twice.

We walk into sunbathed fields with the moon still in the sky. A gentle wind stirs. I think, Grañón was such a great time but the Camino is teaching me to treasure things that come but to only hold on loosely. To cherish the present but remain open to new things.

We are leaving La Rioja and entering Castilla y León. It gets more windy. At 4°C, it’s perfect walking sweater weather with just a rain jacket for wind. The skies are clear and blue. The first town we get to is quiet; the second too.

We go on paths between rolling fields. Samuel has a fascination with big machines and sometimes leaves us to check them out, which I find amusing. We are accompanied by strong winds that cool us down and also dry the laundry socks hanging from my bag.

Some roads, some highway walking. I think about how company is nice to keep pace with and to feel their presence even when we’re not talking.

It gets to a comfortable 7°C at midday. We walk along a very long straight road heading westward next to a highway.

We stop for lunch at Belorado. For the menú del día, I choose arroz con marisco (rice with seafood), conejo guisado (rabbit stew), and we drink wine from Burgos, which turns out to be really good. For dessert I get goxua, a kind of cake from Basque Country which I end up really liking.

The walk continues on farmland plains. I can see the long path ahead and I just walk, not thinking too much, just enjoying the windy air and surrounding countryside.

We reach our home for the night, Casa Las Almas at the town of Espinosa del Camino. It is a guesthouse and home of a lovely couple, Uli and Sabine, two retired Germans who now live on the Camino with their cats, hosting pilgrims. They greet us in our respective languages (Ingrid had reached earlier and sweetly made sure there was space for the four of us, saying she could sleep on a mattress). Their house is cosy and their story is interesting, and they offer homecooked dinner and a German breakfast as well. I wonder how many people who walk the Camino end up making it their second home.