My morning starts with a quick Spanish breakfast of day old bread and marmalade. (How do these women have such beautiful figures?) I am lucky enough to sit with Thomas & Rachel, a young couple from New Zealand. I feel instantly at home with him as he is the spitting image and personality of Ray Shoemaker. The only thing that's different is his very cool accent.
After breakfast as we are all preparing to head out in the rain, another couple, Tim & Beth, overhear me say that I'm planning to walk 30k today. Tim suggests that I make a booking and offers to do it for me from his phone. They are from Minneapolis, but he speaks Spanish like he's lived here his entire life. I walk away thinking that I would love more time to chat with them and find out their story but the weather is awful so we all must get a move on.
I am walking alone today and have to confess that I really enjoy it. I can go whatever pace I want and make stops, or not make stops, along the way without having to worry about what another person wants or needs to do. It is a very free feeling. There are times that I miss having conversation and I do miss all the fun that Jenny and I had, but it seems like there are always people in relative close proximity if I'm desperate for a quick chat.
My body is feeling pretty good today so I start off at a strong pace. My plan is to chunk the 30k into 3 separate 10k stints with coffee breaks in between to warm up. The first 10k goes very quickly and on my way out of the bar, I pass Tim and Beth coming in and we all chuckle that again there's no time to chat.
As I start off at a fairly good pace, I come upon two tall men moving slowly through the rain. When I pass by saying, "Buen Camino!" One of the men replies back "Ah, rapido, rapido!" I just keep moving because it's too cold and raining too hard for us to try to chat. He continues along beside me in a sort of taunting way continuing to repeat, "Rapido! Rapido!"
I decide to slow a bit and make introductions then excuse myself and move on, but the formerly unmotivated taxi drivers, Miquel & Alroy, from the Canary Islands have now found a new amusing game. This goes on for quite sometime, approximately 10k, until my next stop when I linger in a bar with wifi for an exceptionally long period of time and they move on. This is the first time that I've felt uneasy on the Camino and it was probably nothing more than lack of communication, but I really didn't like that I was out numbered.
The last 10k of the day is a muddy slog. Walking on farm road with 4-6 inches of squishy mud is quite the workout. As I approach the hilltop town of Castrojeriz and the mud beneath my feet finally transforms to solid pavement, the rain lets up to a fine mist and the sun begins to shine as if on cue. First I pass through the ruins of a massive convent and then I can see the picturesque hill top ruins of a castle sitting high above the town, which gives the whole place a magical medieval feel.
I find my mystery hotel booked by Tim and without even asking how much it is I head straight for the shower. I take the longest, hottest shower I've ever taken and when I come out I can hear the rain pouring again. I lie on the bed in my towel, coat my body in various rash creams, soak my feet & ankles in ibuprofen gel, and take two ibuprofen pills for good measure. Then while lying completely still, I eat everything I can find in my backpack, including a completely squished package of GU Chomps that I have been carrying just incase of any scenario which may lead to starvation, and then two gummy multivitamins plus immunity, again, just for good measure.
As I lay upside down on my bed with my feet elevated and resting on the headboard, (I've found that doing this for 30 minutes helps to reduce the swelling) I notice a window with shutters locked tight. When I summon the energy to move I get up and open the window to find the most perfect view of the castle ruins that I could ever imagine.
That's it then, absolutely no reason to leave this hotel room for the next 12 hours.
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