No 22 miler for us today! Barely 12 miles.  Here’s another photo of Diane on the trail in the Meseta.  Can you spot the difference?

Yep, she’s already wearing the rain gear. It rained for the first 1/2 hour of our hike, then let up for the remainder. That was nice.

We also spotted more of those beautiful lavender flowers that seem to grow where they have no right to grow. Here’s one:

A couple of days ago, we had to make a decision on which trail option to choose, as there were 2 options, each with something different to see. The option we didn’t choose eventually led to an old Roman road that Caesar Augustus used to travel to the gold mines of Astorga. Hey, we HAD to see that, right?

Bill found a point where the 2 trails were reasonably close, then found a dirt road across a farmers field, then found a way across the high speed rail talks that stood in the walk and then across a swamp and … we were on the Roman road! Here’s Diane slogging along the Roman road.

Once again, the photographer isn’t the best …

On entering Mansilla, we quickly found that this town has more charm than just the typical 2,000 year old history (typical?) This is a village that the urbanites from Leon like to visit. We had lunch at a funky restaurant named, “Curiosa”, or “Curious”. None of the plates matched, the walls were lined with mismatched headboards, the beautiful picture frames enclosed either a hot water bottle or a fry pan, etc. And the food; awesome! No Peregrino porridge, here!

Now, on to our chores. Tomorrow, we’re back in the big cities, at least for 1 night.