I didn’t mention much about the Albergue in yesterday’s post. The Albergue Casa la Calera in operated by Los Amigos del Camino. There are sixteen beds in two fairly small rooms, separate bathroom facilities (yay!) and a good kitchen. It is donativo and situated right in the centre of the city, close to the cathedral.
Today was cool but not cold, with a strong wind. I tagged along with Toby and Michael because they knew the route out of town, whereas I hadn’t bothered to find out, and carried on alone when they stopped for coffee after a few km’s. The walk out of this beautiful city was not too long with no horrible industrial areas but remained on busy roads all the way until it met up with the national highway (N630) which we had to follow around motorway exits and along the busy road for a long while.
I heard voices behind me and turned around to see Paul and new guy on the block, American Nick (new to me that is, he has been walking for ages). We kept in eachother’s company on and off all the way to Cubo, which entailed either walking along the road, or for most of the time walking alongside the road on a dirt track. We got a few beeps from passing lorry drivers which is always welcome. But overall it was a pretty uninspiring walk mostly alongside freshly turned brown land, with the odd cereal crop, and always within hearing of the traffic and within sight of electricity pylons. It stretched on interminably but the paths were easy and the weather was kind for a long hike.
It seemed that the only thing to do on entering a village called Cubo del Vino (wine bucket) was to partake of a glass of wine, which I did without too much effort, and then we went to find an Albergue. We stopped at the first one we came to ‘F&M Albergue’, which is a bit pricey at 12€ but has various rooms – mine has four beds and is a good size, includes bedding, separate bathroom facilities (yay, two days running) and good wifi. So money well spent in my opinion.
I am afraid I wasn’t inspired to take many photos today, so just a few to display here.
Distance according to Wikiloc – 38.8 km
Accumulated elevation uphill 229 metres
Accumulated elevation downhill 195 metres
Total distance walked 853.1 km, average 27.5 km per day
Trepidatious traveller - camino blog 
A few more glasses of wine are called for I think, you just have to in a place called ‘wine bucket’! Buen Camino and hopefully the landscape will be prettier for you tomorrow.
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I’m in Santiago now and went to Pilgrims Mass this am. There was a strong military presence occupying all the seats in the south transept. Afterwards I questioned 3 US personnel who told me they had taken part in an inter-force competition to walk from Tui to Santiago, which they did in 27 hrs! I think maybe you saw some of this event last year whilst walking the Portuguese?
All the best from cold wet Santiago, Margaret.
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Hi Margaret, what a shame about the weather. Santiago can’t be beaten in the sunshine, but in the rain is a different matter entirely. Yes, I waslked my last day on the camino portuguese into Santiago with hundreds of soldiers last year. It was great once I realised what was going on and got used to the idea of all those firearms on the camino. I loved walking amongst these guys and they were all very friendly and kind even though they must have been exhausted. I loved the prize giving parade in the square the following day and the special service in the cathedral. I felt really proud of them all.
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You keep on eating kilometers. With this distances, you will overtake Poor George.
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Super George is way ahead, but I hope to meet up with him in Santiago.
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What a fabulous name for a village ..wine bucket …love it ..and of course it would have been rude not to partake !
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Fabulous isn’t it.
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Maggie, every picture you take tells me a story. In the 16th century Spanish I speak, a bucket or pail is an ‘hoya’, which according to my (modern) English/Spanish dictionary is a hole or dip in a river. Could be a colloquialism, because the early settlers drew their water from rivers, nevertheless, a cubo de vino sounds very refreshing after a long days walk! Buen Camino!
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I definitely prefer the ‘wine bucket’ version leona!
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Maggie the weather doesn’t look very good for you but at least you haven’t had much rain. Walking along traffic filled roads in rain would be too depressing. I’m glad you are finding comfortable albergues at journeys end. Buen camino.
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Sounds like a bit of a boring day for you Maggie. Keep plodding on.
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You’re still going strong! Can’t believe how many km you walk a day. The pictures are always lovely no matter what you have the energy to share. ❤ ❤
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It was lovely to have somebody from the Málaga area staying at the albergue in Salamanca.
Great meeting you Maggie!
Today I worked on the statistics for 2015: there are about three times as many men on the Camino than there are women! Just to prove that, today all beds are occupied by male pelgrims here at the albergue. That feels like a pretty odd situation…
Marite (hospitalera for 15 days)
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Lovely to hear from you Marite. I hope you enjoyed your stay in Salamanca. The camino sanabrés continues to be male dominated with lots of cyclists.
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I am so enjoying reading your blogs, and am full of admiration for you.
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Made it to Spain, one month to study Spanish and then I’ll be following in your footsteps 🙂
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I hope you enjoy your spanish course. It is the best way to learn – and you will enjoy the camino so much more when you can communicate. I can almost always make myself understood, but still have problems deciphering the replies!
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