Michel and I are gone by 7:00 am, again, when we leave C de C. Good riddance. Not a place I want to see again. I had to sleep in a dorm with 20 other people, communal - male and female showers in the same bathroom, all of which does not make me a happy camper. I just don't take a shower.
It is a quiet morning, nowhere near as cold as yesterday. We hike, me ahead usually, and he behind. He is a nice, sweet man who doesn't say much. He is a 65 year old grandfather of four children, and with his wife unable to walk, she has paired up with Nancy to take taxis to the next town. I am left to take care of him, which really wasn't in my plans, but turns out that way anyway. More about that later. Am I sounding a bit cranky? Well, I am.
My morning improves, as I walk alone, reflect, think, and just enjoy the solitude. Our destination is Sahagun, a paltry 22 km. Piece of cake.
At some point this cute little blonde Italian girl, smaller than me, just blows by me. I know she is Italian because of the flags on each side of her backpack. She is just a clipping it. I look down her backside and she is wearing these yoga type pants, and she has THE biggest wedgie I have ever seen. I start to laugh, then restrain myself, and just smile for the next two km. I figure she made a lot of people smile today!
Shortly after the wedgie encounter, I find a pair of socks on the path. They are women's socks, dry and appear to have been inadvertently dropped by someone. I put them in my backpack and for the next 5 km ask every woman backpacker I see, who has stuff hanging off her backpack, if she has lost a pair of socks. I am about to stop for a coffee in the pueblo of San Nicolas, and thus take a left, instead of keeping right and staying on The Camino, when I pass by this woman. At the last minute I think to ask, "Did you lose a pair of socks?"
She answers "Yes!" Her name is Irinel and she is from South Africa. She had been using the socks as gloves, and was hoping that someone on the Camino would pick them up. Two minutes more and I would have missed her. It was Karma, and yes, it was The Camino Way.
It took us less than 5.5 hours to hike 22 km to our destination, Sahagun, where Nancy had gotten us this lovely room in a Monasterio run by nuns, who do mission work in Peru.
Nancy and ML were waiting at the entrance to the town. I was so happy to see them. I was hot and tired. The fountain was right there, so I just dunked my entire head in it. Nancy and I continued on to our room at the Monasterio, assuming Michel is just behind. Well, no he wasn't! Trust a man to get lost when there is no woman to tell him where to go. I had left him at a little church just before the town limits. He goes into every church. You would think this were some kind of pilgrimage we were on - some spiritual journey! 😊 Upon leaving, he took the wrong path, and walked for 5 km before a good Samaritain picked him up and brought him back to the entrance of Sahagun, where his wife had had the good sense to go herself,when she saw he wasn't coming behind me 10 minutes later.
I am sorry, but if you do not see those darn "flechas", nor any other Peregrinos for 5 km, you should know you are lost. Don't you think?
Anyway, did I mention I was cranky?
At the Monastery we have this lovely, cool room, level with the street, and a big shuttered window, with bars on the outside. The sidewalk was right outside our window, so I could hear everything. At one point, a man walked by and let rip a huge "fart", which made me laugh. The couple walking behind him said, in Spanish, "It is good to hear someone laugh. Keep laughing". Then a horse clippety clopped down the street, we thought all by himself, only to find out later that he was being led by a young girl, whom we couldn't see because she was on the other side. Nancy took a picture of me trying to look out the window and see the horse.
All in all, a good ending to a good day in spite of a man getting lost and blaming it on me!
Cranky me bidding you all a good night, from Sahagun, Spain.
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