Before I write about today let’s talk about dormitory etiquette. The word itself is derived from the Latin ‘dormire’ which means ‘to sleep.’ That should be all one needs to know in order to behave appropriately in a dormitory. And, when on Camino, pilgrims sleep a lot. Or try to! Yesterday afternoon at about 5pm, siesta time, three of us were snoozing or quietly relaxing on our beds. Three young Spanish men came in, talking loudly, laughing and joking. As late arrivals they each had top bunks. One thing you should not do when climbing onto the top bunk is to use the pillow of the lower bunk to step on. Especially when your foot is still encased in the sweaty walking sock you have been wearing all day (and from the smell possibly longer). This crime is even more egregious if the occupant of the lower bunk has her head on said pillow at the time! Shall we say that I wasn’t warming to these new arrivals? The three of them proceeded to chat across the dorm and on their mobile phones, often turning the volume up as they showed each other videos. At 6.30pm I’d had enough and went out to find dinner. On my return they were still at it. There was a brief respite when they went out to dinner at 8.30pm, but they returned a couple of hours later. Let’s just say that none of the early risers in the dorm felt at all guilty if we made a noise this morning!
It was an odd Albergue. It had the most chaotic kitchen I’ve ever seen (mine included) and I’m not sure that all the hospitalieros are on the same page. I’d booked my bed in advance and arrived relatively early. A group I met and was chatting with hadn’t booked but were told there was space when they arrived. At about 6.30pm however two people with reservations arrived. The hospitaliero was not on site, so they phoned the number to check in. The first we knew was that they were walking through the dorms looking for their beds. Which had been given to other people. I can’t imagine how awful they felt, thinking they were at their destination and then having to hunt around for somewhere else.
I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic about my accommodation for tonight. I’d booked via email, and it occurred to me that, although I’d supplied all the information requested, I hadn’t had anything back that said, definitively I had a room. Accommodation at this stage is tricky because two paths meet and Hospital de Bruma is tiny. It is also 10km to the next town on the Camino that has any accommodation. I had booked a room 2km off the Camino rather than walk hoping to get a bed in the municipal albergue which only has 19 beds. I emailed, because ‘phoning at 2am didn’t seem like a good idea. I ‘phoned at 8am and got no reply. By then I was already walking, and walking with a purpose. Every other place had been fully booked when I’d been doing my planning. If my room wasn’t secure I needed to be one of the first 19 people to arrive at the municipal. It wasn’t until about 5km before Hospital de Bruma that I managed to make ‘phone contact. I used my best Spanglish and was relieved to have my reservation confirmed.
So what about the actual walk? Today was the ‘big hills’ day. This meant that there was about the same elevation gain as on a typical Primitivo day. The difference being that today’s walk was mainly on asphalt which makes it easier as you don’t have to worry about tripping over or loose stones. I raced a group up one of the long hills. I’m not sure the youngsters realised it was a race, but I won anyway! I chatted with Courtney, originally from California now living in Algiers, a couple of times while walking and when our stops coincided. I had the best tortilla ever at my breakfast stop at Mesón Museo. It was fresh out of the pan and was just delicious. And although I have failed to see a theee legged cat, I did see a three legged dog. It was a small dog - so almost a cat.
On arriving at Hospital de Bruma I discovered that I would need to retrace my steps for about 500m to find the road to Mesón do Vento. In some ways this walk along farm tracks was some of the best walking of the day.
In other news, I knew I’d regret getting rid of the socks I wasn’t wearing. I had two pairs I was wearing in rotation, until someone took one pair off the drying line, they even took the two safety pins that were attaching them to the line. So now I am down to one pair. Obviously the pair that I have left is the older pair, I predict at least one hole appearing by the time I finish walking!
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