Today we walked 18 km to Soto de Luina to stay at La Reguera, a donativo albergue. It is run by a husband and wife team, Elena and Jacim, originally both from Madrid. They bought the house in 2018, renovated in 2019, and planned to open in 2020. COVID changed their plans, but they both were able to find jobs for the year to keep them going. In 2021 they opened the albergue in the lower level of the house and began welcoming pilgrims, 11 at a time.
I am sitting outside in the sunshine with four pilgrim friends as I write this – one German, one Italian, one Dutch, and one Czech. For every one of us, the weather is better here than it is at home. At 7:30 pm Elena and Jacim will serve us a lovely meal. We all feel very fortunate. We have only 278 km to go.
Justin is from Lithuania. He started his camino in Gijon and hopes to reach Santiago.
Peter and Rosa are from Melbourne, Australia. They started walking in Bilbao and are staying at small hotels along the way.
Shelagh is from Mississauga, Canada. She was joining Mark and I to walk the rest of the Camino. This was her first full day walking and she did very well. She felt like a celebrity because almost every pilgrim knew that she was joining us.
Woosung is from Korea. He started in Bilbao and was walking to Santiago.
Gilbert is from Alsace, France. He is a retired wood worker. He told us that his current pair of Lowa hiking boots had 4000 km on them and that this would be their last trip.
This Fernando and his dog Coca at a bar in Soto de Luina. Coca was a rescue and is now 19. She was a very friendly dog. Fernando is an art critic who also runs a foundation for the dignity of the elderly in memory of his mother.