Day 5 of the Camino

Stage 5 – Fromista to Mansilla de la Mulas

I woke up with a fat lip again but it had gone down by the time we left the hotel. Our intention had been to leave at 7:30 but we couldn’t pay or get to our bikes which were in a locked area behind the hotel. So we went and had breakfast. That meant we left a little before 9.

We stopped in Carrion de Los Condes for a stretch break and to get a sello but the main pilgrim place was closed so Karin went into a bar. Not much was open since it was a holiday. We found the monastery and went briefly into the courtyard. That was the end of the tourism for the day.

We spent the day on the plains – more fields and it was fairly flat. We saw our first corn fields of the trip. Terri Lynn said it was the first time we had to slalom through sheep dung. I felt good for the first 3 hours and then had to work hard to hold the wheel in front of me.

We faced some major winds that most of the time were ¾ headwinds. Terri Lynn estimated that it was blowing at 40 kms an hour with gusts of up to 50. There was a nice wide shoulder so we rode most of the day two abreast. The best place to be was in the “back pocket.” Pedaling was a whole lot easier back there. Earlier in the day we had met Fritz, an Austrian who had started his ride in Geneva. He was riding by himself. As we faced the wind, we were all thankful that we weren’t alone and could help each other make it to our destination.

It was cloudy much of the day and at one point it started raining so we quickly put on our rain gear. The rain didn’t last long and I think I was wetter inside my rain jacket than on the outside.

We were all grateful when we turned north about 20 kms from our destination of Mansilla de la Mulas. There was still a good cross wind but it was 3/4^th behind us. I wanted to take a picture of the flags blowing straight out to demonstrate how hard the wind was blowing but the only flags I saw were rather tattered. The wind must blow a lot around here.

Our lodgings for the night were the worst of the trip. Our bikes were kept in the entry way which proved to be safe enough. The rooms were small with barely enough room to walk around the beds. We did find a great place to eat with lots of character/ambiance and the food was good.

Vital stats for the day:
112.3 kms
17.4 average speed
5:27 riding time
2119 m climbed (all pretty gradual)

The route we followed: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/spain/frã³mista/597779188