To Granon, Mo 16 Sep '13

As with every new day so far, we started the day looking forward to another great walk.  We were not disappointed.   Each day opens up another unique slice of Spanish countryside.  Today, though, it was as much about the destination as we're aiming for the Parochial Albergue in Granon.  It was highlighted in our guidebook as one of the most welcoming and popular, and again it did not disappoint.  It was a delightful overnight stay.

What's better than beautiful morning sunlight?

Walked through an almost deserted golf resort, with swimming pool and street after street of homes, most of which are still for sale,  Developed during Spain's boom period, the bust pretty much killed the resort:

Harvested countryside.  Nary a vineyard today.  We hope to see them again: 

91-yr old Cimmaron at a coffee stop in Santo Domingo.  I was telling him that Gary had contacted me asking for a picture and that put a smile on his face.  "That's my doctor and friend". He told us how he, Gary and a few other retirees walk 5 miles together each day.   His hip is bothering him, had seen a local Dr and was planning to call Gary in the next day or so:

Irrigation is done through an extensive series of small concrete-lined channels, with simple gates here and there controlling the flow.  Individuals can tap off it with even simpler gates:

And then to our destination for the night, in an albergue in a church in Granon.   It's one of the oldest albergues in Spain and has been hosting pilgrims in this same building for centuries:

The facilities are very modest, but homey and the welcome you receive is such that this is one of the most popular albergues on the Camino.  Two volunteers hosted us and they were great, one Italian, one Dutch.

I said it was modest and the guidebook says mats on the floor.  I assumed they'd be a bit farther apart, but in the end it was quite OK.  Jan ended up with me on one side and 91 year old Cimmaron on the other.  All mats were taken by day's end:

Looking across the great room to our sleeping loft.  Another sleeping area downstairs.  All told, over 50  of us.

Everyone is pitching in to help set up tables and chairs:

We prepared the salads, while others did the main meal (a tasty lentil-rice dish):

Almost time to eat.  At this point, many of us left for Mass at 7 pm, with dinner starting at 7:45.  Mass was great.  Quite a few locals (almost all older women) plus 30 or 40 of us pilgrims.  The Mass was entirely in Spanish, of course,  I have wondered what the locals in small towns like this (maybe 200 people in Granon) think of so many pilgrims spending the night in their town, wandering about.  At mass, I felt very welcome.  At the sign of peace, almost everyone around me was a pilgrim, but two local women two rows ahead made a point of leaning back to shake our hands and wish us Peace.  At the end of the mass, the priest called all pilgrims to the front, said some words that I got the rough gist of, and gave us a blessing.  Very nice.

Back to the meal and it was a warm, lively room.  Within our hearing distance, a dentist from Ireland, named Liz, a young woman from Australia, free spirit type with dreadlocks, having already been on the road for 2 years, a Polish woman who has a business, helping build management teams through the use of horses, a Spanish fellow, who's English was a bit weak, but we enjoyed his company, our Dutch volunteer,  and a young woman from Germany who's in her final year of civil engineering:

Our two host volunteers, from Italy and the Netherlands  -- the Dutch guy is a judge back home!

Afterwards, cleanup time with all done at the table, with buckets of warm soapy water.  Plates at our table and the cups and cutlery at the other one.  With many hands, it was done in no time.  Larry washing plates:

And then to bed for a most comfortable sleep and in the morning, a simple breakfast served at 7:30. And all this by donation.  They have two bins at the front: one for clothing, one for money.  Both say "Give what you can, take what you need."  I had lost my hat and towel a few nights ago.  I'd been happily sharing Jan's towel, but she wasn't as happy as me about that arrangement, so she found me a nice ultralight camping towel and I found a cap (white with a German company name on front), so I took that.

A most memorable Albergue, with very fine people.  This Camino is such a special experience.