It's seven in the morning and I am again alone in the dormitory. There's been a different demographic in the dorm than on previous nights; I must have been the youngest of the entirely male group. They are mostly Spanish, and when together as a group they are not particularly considerate of others in terms of who may be asleep. Nor are they quiet. The lone Korean on the other hand did not say a word to anyone and seemed to sleep the entire time. Mr. Grizzly, my Italian neighbour, had his worst fears met and the night was alive with the sounds of not music but of alternate contributions to the record of loudest snoring - punctuated throughout the night by equally loud swearing in Italian.
After the by now obligatory café con leche, zumo de naranja and pastel, I set off in the rather cold morning. It was around 6 degrees, but blue skies were just appearing. Before too long, I caught up with the walkers, including my Italian neighbour and Marylin, who I rode next to a while and chatted with, until we came to Castrojeriz, a lovely neat town in a photogenic setting. The Camino becomes a beautifully paved path through the town. If you're ever in need of someone to do some paving, then find whoever made this path. The workmanship is just incredible: the joints were so perfect I could not even feel them under the wheels. Interesting the things you notice.
It struck me later that yesterday and today I have had some of the nicest riding of the trip so far. Apart from the fact that it's been relatively flat - and even better today with no wind (the hundreds of wind turbines you see in this region were all silent) - the countryside and scenery is simply gorgeous. Strange, because in a sense it's also boring; gently undulating fields of wheat and barley and large expanses of flat land. I felt like I was riding through a continuous Windows XP desktop.
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| Riding through Windows XP desktop scenery |
Soon after morning cafe con leche and pinchos (I am getting into the hang of this) I came across a German couple (from Dusseldorf, not Bavaria) riding rather heavily-laden bikes. While riding with them we had a lengthy conversation (in generally one-sided German) about all the equipment they were carrying; tent, cooking equipment, food, and so on. And I haven't even used my sleeping bag yet and am beginning to wonder why I am lugging it around all over Spain.
It's been gloriously sunny (but cold) all day. In the afternoon I even rode without my warm jacket for the first time, and dug out the sunglasses. Which made me remember a forum post about what to take on the Camino: this guy was saying he was going really light, and was not taking any sunglasses since the walk in generally to the west so the sun's behind you. He probably saved 50g right there but equally probably carried 1kg of bananas and 1kg of water with him each day. It's all relative.
I arrived at Carrion de los Condes around 14:00, and since the next places are some way off, I had ridden 56km already, and the glorious weather meant I could do a big wash and have a chance to get it dry (things take on different levels of importance when you're on the road) I decided to stop.
Tonight I shall sleep under Christ on the cross who is hanging over my bed. I'm staying in a former convent school and it's a fascinating place. The woman running it (in uniform) is wonderfully efficient and kind. Another new experience.
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| Bed for the night - watched over by Christ on the cross |
The rigours of Pilgrim life
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| Castrojeriz |
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