March 8 2018

Today we woke up to a crisp and overcast day. The albergue last night was a donativo albergue with no heat but plenty of blankets. It is cold at night so I used a blanket to sleep on, my down sleeping bag and two blankets on top. I am not a fan of heavy covers when I sleep, but I am not a fan of freezing as well.

Our plan today was to walk a quick 2k to a bar that our guide said was in the next town. Well, that bar was closed so the next option was to walk another 14k to the next town. There was mention of a little albergue along the way about 8k ahead that allowed pilgrims to come in and make a coffee or a tea. We did not hold much hope but hey, what the heck it was along the way. The walk was actually really nice. We walked Toward a Hermitage and then once past along the banks of the river. At one point we followed the arrows down along the river which reminded me of walking along the American River where we do our training walks. Once we came to a clearing we climbed the hill and walked across a good sized dam and then along the embalse (Spanish for reservoir) Once we cleared the reservoir we walked through a little town that like many in Spain seemed occupied but deserted at the same time. We started to see signs that pointed to the Camino with a hot cup of coffee on them. Well, as you can imagine we were hopeful. Finally, at the end of the little town we came upon this little albergue. The owner/hospitalero was out front and invited us in. Once he realized we were not Spanish he explained that he was from South Africa and that he and his wife and two daughters had moved there 7 years ago. His name is Craig. He told us his whole life story, which was very interesting, all the while we were drinking hot coffee and dipping delicious cookies in it. We really enjoyed our time talking and relaxing.

Finally, we were off to our final destination of the day, Mombuey. With about 10k to go the rain started coming down pretty hard. The path was like a river with a mud bottom. A little sloppy but we finally made it. Tonight we sleep in the local municipal albergue. A stone building with one room and 10 beds. It is raining cats and dogs and supposed to continue for days to come.

The albergue is very near the church so we were able to go to Mass. The church was beautiful.

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Location:Mombuey