Sept 18 21 km
Our day started in a beautiful way, walking in the dark with other pilgrims. The rains had stopped and most of The Way was without muddy bogs. All along El Camino were the beginnings of a beautiful sunrise.
As we moved along, we encountered some amazing mushrooms beside the road, blue butterflies and a developing blister.
We passed the ancient Convento de Santa Clara in San Anton and, as we walked into Castrojeriz for some coffee and breakfast, John told me he had a blister forming. It was on the opposite side from his sore Achilles' tendon, so I suspect he was favoring his good foot. Voila, a blister. Some coffee, tortilla and a Compeed patch on the blister, we moved on.
We passed the ancient Convento de Santa Clara in San Anton and, as we walked into Castrojeriz for some coffee and breakfast, John told me he had a blister forming. It was on the opposite side from his sore Achilles' tendon, so I suspect he was favoring his good foot. Voila, a blister. Some coffee, tortilla and a Compeed patch on the blister, we moved on. 
A few more kilometers down the road, we had the 1050 meter climb, at a challenging 12% grade, up Alto Mostelares. After pausing to listen to a woman who was playing her guitar and singing by a bridge, we attacked the mountain. Rather I attacked and John struggled. Once at the top, John applied a Compeed patch to a fellow pilgrim who was suffering from a blister. Then there was the walk back down. By the time we were back to flat land, John had a blister on his other foot. He is blaming the inserts and, unfortunately, he left the Keen provided inserts at our last albergue. And we had about 4 more, painful, kilometers to go to Itero de la Vega and our albergue.
Mister Blister, preparing to head back down the the mountain. Much of El Camino today was on farm roads, meaning we had to clear the way for the tractors who take up most of the space. I can't imagine what it is like, always seeing pilgrims wandering on their way to Santiago. Is it similar to always seeing the tourists at home? We passed harvested wheat fields, sunflowers and corn, ready for harvest and more root vegetables. Dry dry dry earth and a path that has been tread upon by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims for centuries. We got doused by some irrigation sprinklers outside Itero de la Vega. We were blessed by no sprinkles, or showers, from the sky.
On the back of a traffic sign that we passed was the following message, 'This is not Hollywood. Tourist of The Way movie, go home'. It was signed by someone from Greenland earlier this month.
John is conked out in his bed, I am at a bar eating lovely mixto ensalada and trying to translate the Spanish news on the TV. Later, when I have internet, I need to confirm what I have loosely translated, that Scotland has voted to secede from England. What a great time to be in Europe! And in Spain, the Castillians are preparing for a vote in November to secede from Spain. I am rather enjoying be disconnected from the world while on our walk. Before the afternoon news however, I was treated to music video. Good grief...it's Shania Twain in a bar in Itero de la Vega!For the only the second time since we have begin our pilgrimage, I've done our laundry. Our albergue today is a major shift from yesterday. Santa Brigida in Hottanas was deluxe. La Mochila (the rucksack) in Itero de la Vega is available. And for only 2 Euro less! But they are the only show in town and own both bars and the only cafe that is open in the afternoon.
The patio of our albergue has the most amazing mural. I couldn't help but think of Pele, and her path of lava heading across Hwy 130 when I saw this.Due to the blisters and swelling Achilles' tendon, our walk will,be very short tomorrow. We had hoped to get in close to 30 km, but will probably just go to the next village, 10 km away. Such is life. Such is El Camino.
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