Friday, June 24, 2016
Sahagun
Day 24
Right next to our hotel, this very old building stood. I didn’t see a plaque or any indication of why it had been allowed to continue standing. It was a very visible reminder of old building styles in Spain, and looked quite different from all of the brick and stucco buildings around it.
When setting up my schedule, I built a “rest day” into it every week. Besides rest, I planned to use the day to do laundry and other needed tasks. Sahagun, though a somewhat larger town, foiled me. There was no laundromat in the town.
The hotel receptionist suggested that I try using the machines in the aubergue across the street. That sounded like a good idea to me. I could go over and wash clothes early, before the next batch of pilgrims arrived in town.
So at 10 am, I was sitting on the steps of the aubergue with my laundry, waiting for it to open. Opening time was announced as 10 am on a large sign posted right by the front door.) 10 am came and went. 10:30. 11:00.
By this time I was getting nervous. We could have the hotel wash our clothes, but it would be much more expensive and we had to turn the clothes in by noon. At 11:45, I gave up on the aubergue and went in and turned our clothes over to the hotel, which promised to have them done “by 9:00.”
The aubergue finally opened its door at around 12:15, while James and I were sitting on the terrace in front of our hotel having a drink. No one I asked seemed to know the reason for the delay in opening. We saw lots of early arriving pilgrims from 10 am to noon shake their heads in bewilderment and then move on when they got no response to pounding on the door. At least we just had laundry troubles, not housing concerns! Another lazy day for us.
Steps Today: 4,017
The Half-Fast Camino Walking* Club 