21 Apr 2022
Sleeping at the Albergue Victoria was perfect last night. Luc, Linda, and CJ were with us in the upper room. They were absolutely quiet. The room was nice and warm.
Lights were out at 10:00 pm. We were up writing then felt asleep, probably at 11:00 pm and did not wake up until around 6:00am.
The view from the bed last night. That was Luc on the other side.
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We drank the remaining milk and decided to skip the breakfast as we were no a big fan of scrambled eggs. We left Cirueña at 7:30am. Peter was a minute before us. He left his wife and the other two ladies behind to walk with themselves.
After about 30 minutes, Luc blew by, showing the perfect form of a long distance runner. We saw him one more time in Santo Domingo de la Calzada where he stopped to get drinks. We never saw him again.
It was cold this morning. The temperature dropped down to 6 Celsius. Overcasting sky with low cloud but calm, no wind.
We only saw Peter in the distance, then Luc. No other pilgrims were on the Camino from Cirueña to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. From there, we started seeing pilgrims on the Camino. Apparently, most pilgrims planned their stop in Santo Domingo de la Calzada as it was a larger town with many services available. Half of the pilgrims we saw from there to Grañón had on small day pack. We assumed they used the luggage transportation services.
At Santo Domingo de la Calzada
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Reached the entrance of Grañón
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It took a few minutes to get the photos at Grañón. The wall was nicely done. We stopped at the bakery Panadería Jesus and got a loaf of bread. Getting into this bakery felt like going into a haunted house. The front door opened into a small room. The room was dark, not more than 8x8. The only light came from behind, through the small glass panels on the entrance door. The limited light made the room seemed even smaller. Immediately ahead was a dark wall, with a small door. On the left of this door was a poster, listing all the available baked goods. At any moment, we were expecting some things jumped right out of either side to get us. Nobody clenched tight to the bag, not wanting to open the next door. We mustered all the strength we had, held our breath, an slowly turned the handle. The door screeched, light came out. An aroma leaked out…Ah, fresh baked bread. We swung open the door an found the shop owner stood behind a counter. The shelf behind him was full of many kinds of breads, and cookies, and donuts. We asked for a piece of barguett, paid the man, and walked out, backward. Please do stop by the place. The bread was good. Whatever he put in it.
The stretch from Grañón to Belorado and the few towns after was easy to walk but was very uninspiring. For many miles, the Camino ran within a few hundred feet of the highway. This highway was heavily used by 18-wheelers; thus, there was constant road noises.
We reached Belorado at 1:30 pm, very hungry. This time, we found a supermarket at the Plaza Mayor. We got some beers for Nobody; cold cut pork, cheese, bread; and a bar of chocolate. We made ourselves a po’boy and enjoyed our late lunch.
We had never had the Maestra before. It tasted very much like the Shiner Bock.
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We fished our lunch at 2:10pm and left Belorado. For the next two hours, we only spotted four pilgrims ahead of us. We passed two just before Villambistia, and the other two stopped at a restaurant in Espinosa del Camino.
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At 4:30 pm, we got to Villafranca Montes de Orca. The next town was too far for us to continue, so we got a bed at the San Antón Abad Albergue.
The albergue had many rooms. The bed we got was the last in one of the rooms.
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A hot shower closed out the day. We ate the rest of our po’boy, then walked around a little.
Buen Camino
Cost today:
1. Bread: $1.19 (1.10 EUR)
2. Two beers, porks, cheese, bread, chocolate: $5.31 (4.90 EUR)
3. Bed: $16.26 (15.00 UR)
. We leave for our first Camino exactly 12months today, so your photos are giving me a good idea of what to expect (although I know the weather is never the same year after year). Keep up the great writing 
. 
