Wrong Path, Snow, Hail, Rain

Yesterday the terrain on the map looked just like the day before.  Several of us decided to take the green path, the more scenic way.   From the beginning I worried about finding the turn off.  Alternative routes aren't always marked well.  Sure enough I ended up in Bercianos instead of Calzadilla.  My pack and friends will be in
Calzadilla.  As soon as I arrived in Bercianos I found the Albergue, walked in and asked if it would be possible to catch a taxi to Calzadilla.  The proprietor made a phone call, holding the phone he asked me if 25 Eros was OK.  How could I say no, all my things were in Calzadilla and my friend had been kind enough to make a reservation for me.  I agreed.  When he got off the phone he told me it would be 20 minutes.

That taxi cab ride was well worth it.  The place we stayed had great showers, heated floors, sheets on the beds and pillow cases on the pillows, and the bathroom was a typical house bathroom with a shower, a toilet and a lockable door for privacy.  The HOT shower in private was the best.  Oh ya, the beds weren't bunk beds.  We only had four in the room and we all knew each other.

We all had dinner together with a couple of additions of other people staying at the Albergue.  This Albergue was family run with kids following the parents around.  I slept good and eat well.  At breakfast we all compared weather predictions, snow stood out.  Several people staying at the other Albergue in town came in for some coffee and breakfast.  They reported it was only drizzling outside now.  I suited for a day of rain and walked out.  By the time I got to the edge of the small village the rain came down harder, then hail mixed in, then snow.  For quite a while it just snowed.  I walked switching my hands with wet gloves into a pocket in my gortex jacket to warm up then the next.  I didn't look at my smart watch, didn't look at the map, just mindlessly walked.  Watching for those yellow arrows to make sure I was on the right path.

After I don't know how long I came upon a town with signs advertising an Albergue just down the road.  Several pilgrims gathered going in that direction.  When we arrived there two pilgrims in the lobby.  We walked in.  The place was empty.  There were five of us.  We took off the first wet layer, ate lunch, got hot drinks out of the coffee machine for one euro.  Then a truck drove up, some guy got out with keys in his hand.  He looked in, got an angry look on his face.  He tried the front door and realized it had been left open.  We said hello and that we would be leaving.  He walked right by us, unlocked the door to the dining room, we left.  I had walked 10.63 miles, in four hours, only four more miles to go to Mansilla and hopefully warm clothes, a hot shower and some rest.