Camino Day 25 August 16 Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino 12.1milesTotal to date 231.1

Camino Day 25 August 16 Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino 12.1 miles Total to date 231.1

I'm sleeping in a barn tonight. Well a barn that was converted into an Albergue and it is packed to the gills. All the beds are full , so they moved the chairs in the lounge and put some mattresses on the floor and there are even someone who is sleeping on the lawn. I stopped here because the albergue sounded nice. It is run by a family. Mom who is also an artist is the cook and all the family works helps in some way making us pilgrims welcome. Eduardo, one of the sons was a nice young Spanish man he lives in Londo and Paris when he's not helping out in the summer i suspect he's an artist like his mom

They even have a yard with green grass, a swimming pool, and out door sculpture. Mom's paintings are hanging on the walls. All this for 6€. I sat and soaked my feet and knees in the pool the water was cool. The food is marvelous. I had red bean soup with bread for lunch. I almost made myself sick. I ate it all. I couldn't stop, it was so yummy. This with. Diet coke was 4.80€. Dinner was 9€

I climbed 3500 feet in less than a short distance, a 20 % grade all before 7:30 this morning. It was awesome watching the sun come up. And from the top I could see the whole.valley of wheat fields. Apparently we have gotten very lucky with the weather going across the Meseta. Normally at this time of the year it is in between 95 and 105 with no shade and no water. Today I was still wearing my long sleeves at 10 am. I think the high today might have been mid 80's and there was a cool breeze. So I am across the Meseta, it wasn't boring and I didn't get sun stroke. Yea!

I came upon a lovely rest area with a cover and seats about mid morning. There was a man there serving coffee and fruit for donations. It was a welcome sight. I had coffee and a banana. I met a woman Eva from Seville at the rest stop and we chatted briefly. She is staying at the same Albergue. We sat by the pool chatting, she practicing her English me practicing my Spanish. She was telling about a movie that inspired her to walk the tail end past the Camino from Santiago to Finnistere to Muxia with her 76 year father. She said it was an amazing experience. She is doing the Camino in stages, a little bit each year. Lots of people do this because they can't take a whole month off work or away from their families. While we were chatting she rescued a fly (mosca) from the pool because she said it was going glub,glub,glub. I looked at her amazed. She said everything has a purpose in the chain of life. I told her I have yet to figure out what the purpose of flies are in the chain. I've spent most of the Camino swatting and swearing at them. In Spain they must not use as many pesticides as we do because they have millions of flies. And it doesn't seem to bother them. So today because of Eva I didn't swat or swear at them. I don't know how long this will last. lol

I don't remember the movie The Way saying anything about tendonitis, blisters or knee problems. They are all very common on The Camino. Limping is almost a qualification. lol Yet there are many people who don't seem to suffer at all. There are lots of middle age a d older couples walking. They get bottom or top bunks next to each other and cuddle, lay whispering to each other, or holding hands across the bunks. It is sweet, but, not my cup of tea. Mr Burple and I prefer to sleep in the same bunk. hehehe