Day 22

Fromista to Carrion de los condes…knowing we had a good 20km to walk today we had a good breakfast…set off about 930am , the wind is up today and it’s chilly. Apparently we are blessed that it has been such good weather so far,normally it would be cold wet and windy here at this time year. As we,walk past the church someone is sleeping in the doorway, a pilgrim I would guess, pretty safe as most churches don’t open their doors apart from Sunday mass. We head out town and pass a man sitting down adjusting something, we find the right arrow to follow and head over the bridge. There is a statue made of metal on bridge, a woman pilgrim with the shell as the heart. Pretty awesome.

We carry on for an hour and find little village with cafe open to stop to use loo and buy drink. The man in his 60s,  we previously passed comes in and says Gidday…from Darwin Australia. I tell him I had meet another guy from Darwin who had lost his son. We chat for a bit and Carrin and I wander down the street, here is a guy selling crystal bracelets and offering Reiki treatment, he tells us he learnt Reiki in Nepal and his wife is Nepalese. We tell him we have both been there this year, his wife is from Pokara. I am drawn to buy an amethyst bracelet, not really needing it.The guy ties it onto my wrist with 4 knots and trims it . Then Ian comes along we say to him pick out a crystal, he says don’t need one. We all start walking together, he shares his wife had passed away  6 months ago of the dreaded cancer. I  suggest he may get some awareness or healing on the journey. He says so far in 14 days nothing. We stopped in an hour at a park for a break, then Ian and I chat as we walk, a bit later Carrin needs to use the loo so we decide to take an alternate route via an albergue, we say our goodbyes, Ian says he probably stay at next town but we will continue to Carrion de los conder as we have booked a hotel for two nights for a rest day. While at the albergue my bracelet just falls off, it had been tied 4 knots.

The next village we stop to rest our feet for half hour, as we leave I say to Carrion I think that bracelet was for Ian if I see him again I am going to tie it onto his pack. I look up and there he is, sitting with some other blokes, I go and tie it on his pack, tell him it had fallen off so wasn’t for me, give him kiss on his forehead and wish him safe travels. The final 5 km were hard going for the day, we finally get to our hotel, run a bath and soak the body. Luxury at last. Half way to Santiago, deserve a rest day.

Day 23.

Sleep in day, when you stay in Albergue, pilgrims accommodation you are pushed out the door at 8am, even when it’s cold and dark. They want to get the place ready for the next influx. Everyday New pilgrims coming by, you can only stay at most them for one day, so if you get sick or need a break, you have to take hotel. We arrived at breakfast about 10 well brunch really. Then Carrin went back to sleep while I caught up with washing and blogging.

Washing that a pain when you are moving everyday, we both did our washing by hand cause once again it’s weekend and no laundry service. Hanging all over the room wet washing, outside door open trying to get it dried. I went for walk to get some bottles water and found a cool museum that had a spiral staircase to roof where the bells are, you had a view of the whole city of Carrion de la conder. Back at the hotel I decided to take my washing out onto the lawn in a corner where no one could see to dry it in the sun. Everything fenced off as they don’t like people on the grass. I found a gap and laid out my washing. Later when I went back to room, we realized there was a heat pump and wondered how two brains had not thought to shut the room up and turn on high…!!

The joys of the Camino…..lol.

Blessings

Angel xx