Camino Pilgrim

The picture quality is bad because of water damage from yesterday. My phone was still playing tricks on me and kept changing time zones at random. I rushed out the door in the morning thinking that its sunrise. It was still pitch black. There was still another hour until sunrise.

I decided to start hiking early anyways because I wanted to cover as much distance as possible before the rain starts. I knew I had only a few hours of good hiking.

The road out of Morille went through cattle farms as has been usual here. I was able to see the city of Salamanca from about 15km away. The walk into the city was super smooth. Barely any water obstacle issues and the trail was soft but not muddy.

Right before Salamanca started there was a small hill with a cross on top. It offered a good view to all directions. Getting into Salamanca old town was simple too. The trail went through a park right up to a big Roman bridge. The other end of the bridge had the old town with a mighty gothic cathedral waiting. The sight felt very similar to Porto.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat in Salamanca. At most it took 15 minutes and I was already rushing forward. It had started to rain by now. Wind had been picking up speed all morning. The rain was small at first and each wave passed quickly.

Walking out of Salamanca there was a nice pedestrian road next to the old N-630 highway. I followed the safe walking area until the end. Then I went off the Camino towards a campsite, because the same road going straight north that the Camino trail would switch to started from a nearby camping area.

I was able to quickly get from village to village on nice dry sandy and rocky roads. Only right when exiting Castellanos de Villiquera I was hit by a massive storm cloud. The wind was so strong that I thought it was hale at first. The rain came at me so fast that it actually hurt. I was able to see 20 meters in front of me. As I pushed myself through the storm with each minute it got just a little easier. By the time I reached Calzada de Valduciel, everything was sunny again.

My first priority was finding the public albergue because it only has 8 bed places. There are at least two other accommodations in this big village, but I was lucky and got the second to last bed. Once arrived I went for a hot shower. Hands are still freezing even an hour after the shower.

Hopefully I can find a good place to eat around here. I will need lots of calories to feel proper warmth again.