Day 19: Terradillos to Bercianos (Bob)

We left in the dark this morning as usual and got passed by a kid from Denmark whom we had met in the descent from the Pyrenees. Several of the pilgrims we see every day had been talking about this kid’s recent misfortunes…

Last week, the Dane told us that someone had stolen his rain poncho. Then, a few days ago, he passed us fast while wearing flip-flops. Later in the day, we found out why—a friend told us that someone had stolen his shoes from the hostel. (In hostels, you leave your shoes and hiking poles in the entrance.) A couple days after hearing that, we saw the Danish kid wearing a new pair of shoes. He told us the new shoes were giving him blisters but were better than flip-flops. When he passed us in the dark this morning, the news was even better—not only had the sisters in his church back home pitched in and replaced his poncho, but he was wearing his old shoes.


Apparently, a woman had grabbed the wrong shoes in the dark and put them in her pack since she was wearing sandals that day. When she heard a panicky kid running around asking people if they had accidentally taken his sneakers, she wondered who would steal someone else’s shoes. Answer: her. She realized her mistake a couple days later and got a couple of hotel owners to make things right.


The sunrise was nice this morning. 



We walked through a large town that seemed oddly vacant. We walked by thousands of buildings and houses and saw only about 4 locals. 


The final stage of the walk was on a pleasant path under a line of trees. 




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