01 October 2017
Walking Day 19:
19 kilometers
24,177 steps

Today was another mostly overcast day, protecting us from the sun, as we made the relatively short walk on the meseta of about 19 kilometers (12 miles) from the very small town of El Burgo Ranero to an older, larger town of Mansilla de las Mulas. In this case, “larger” means population 2400 compared to El Burgo Ranero’s population 800. Mansilla de las Mulas is an old historic town, having been built as a walled city in the 12th century, and has always been a refuge for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. The name Mansilla de las Mulas is derived from Mano en Silla (hands on the saddle) that is also shown on the city’s coat of arms. The addition of de las mulas (of the mules) most likely refers to the town’s earlier prominence as a livestock market. There is a modern and thorough museum of the town and its history in what appears to be a restored monastery. I visited the museum last year, but did not have time today.

Before we got to Mansilla de las Mulas, we had to make our way across more of the meseta. Here I am at one of the very large, old way markers fairly close to El Burgo Ranero.

The seemingly never-ending meseta can be seen in the background. The meseta reminds me of parts of Montana, the “big sky country” where the vistas are so long and the sky so big. So here I am, ready for today’s walk – my feet are healing slowly but progressively, and thankfully do not hurt when I walk. The new North Face shoes are serving me well, but I do miss my hiking boots.

Almost impossible to see in this picture, but the far away mountains appear to have snow near the tops. Perhaps that distant view is a foreshadowing of cooler weather coming our way as we are now in October, well into autumn.

I started walking with Jeff and Tracy of Minnesota; John and Kathy of Texas were behind us a bit. Soon I was walking and talking with Pat from South Carolina. Pat keeps up a good pace, and we talked a little about Camino experiences.

Hard to see the whole faces – most people (including me) are wearing sunglasses. even though it is a mostly cloudy day, it is bright and there is some glare – sunglasses are comfortable. Notice the rail line in the background. This is the main rail line from Madrid through Sahagún to León (and maybe on to Santiago de Compostela). We did see a few smaller freight trains go by today.

More of the meseta and the “big sky.” The path today is lined with trees (on the left), as it was yesterday.

Soon we were in Mansilla de las Mulas and were welcomed by the clear Camino markers in the road & sidewalk.

This is the Saint James monument outside the Iglesia de Santa Maria (Church of Saint Mary). The church itself was closed, and it was difficult to get a good picture of the church and its bell tower because of the narrow streets all around.

Mansilla de las Mulas was built as a walled city in the 12th century. Good sized parts of the wall still exist. Here is the city arch and entrance to the north, the Arch of Saint Mary:

The church of Saint Mary at which the previous picture was taken is about 100 meters inside the arch. Below is more evidence of the old wall along the west side near the bridge over which we shall leave the city tomorrow morning.

And walking back to my hotel, I pass out of the old part of the city through the east port in the wall shown below:

This “port” in the wall is about 8-10 meters (25-33 feet) thick!

I did walk over to the museum to have a look, but they were closing in about 10 minutes for the siesta break, so I got a stamp in my pilgrim’s credential, and thought about coming back in the evening as I photographed the cool doors in this restored monastery, now the museum.

It is now October, and autumn in here. The fall colors are emerging the last few days in the trees along the Camino path. The smell is different, the air is subtly different, and though warm, the feel is more autumn than summer. It is a good time to be walking in northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago.

Next: Walking into León, an old city of 150,000 and a rest day to visit the Cathedral.