7-26-10 Rabe de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz day 113

7-26-10 Rabe de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz day 113
I wake at 5.45, to the rustlings of my room mate..there is no breakfast here, I get going by 6.12 Ed who got up earlier, takes his time getting ready and I would not see him till later.. he too is walking with injury.. his left foot looks terribly swollen... I cant believe he can walk on it but he does.... it is still dark when I walk and the moon is out as I walk through the Meseta.. It is 8kms till the first town with an open store.. I get a sandwich and juice but no coffee... this is in Hornillos del Camino.. then there is nothing again for 11kms..weather is windy and sunny...flat landscape...wheat fields ...as I walk this woman comes up beside me, she is french and speaks a very limited english but seems to want to communicate... she is a french school teacher..shes been doing the camino over several years in stages .. this year, is her final stage to santiago. She's walked six days already... she is unusual in that she has had no foot problems or other body probs... She got a faster pace, too fast for me... she seems to slow down to keep up pace with me.. and I quicken my a little...mostly because at this point I am eager for coffee... it seems like the next village is not showing itself at all.. the Meseta is flat.. usually one can see villages for miles away... Hontemas stays hidden till the final turn in road. There is a dip in the meseta.. I would not have known it was there, I thought it was probably great defense against invasion as well in the past....it is a charming looking village...I finally have my coffee ..I meet A, a man who is also french this is his 8th camino.. he seems to know every thing about the Camino...he's got healing scares on his head ..he says he had fallen into a barb wire fence while tripping in the dark....from there we continue on..... me and my new companion for she needed to want to walk with me walk the dirt road..where as we see A beneath us, he is walking the tar road because it is faster..he is odd he walks with umbrella against the sun, I like him..... In San Anton, is a ruin of a church.. part of it is build up with roof to house a rustic auberge, it does look cool but I want to walk further today.... there are charming woman run this place we stay for a while and rest and get our credential stamps and some water.... Very beautiful setting. Ed, is there and plans to spend the night. He has got foot problems..his foot looks terrible to me.... we go a back way on dirt road, (the main camino is on the street)... we go this longer way, with the idea that we will pass along a Cloister, but markings are a bit vague.... we do find our way towards Castroreziz and right before is Santa Clara cloister for nuns, we stop in the compound...apparently they sell cookies to tourists but that part is closed... we enter the cool dark church and sit there for a while.. upstairs behind us we see a few nuns praying.....

Then we walk into town it still feels like a long walk to auberge.. we chose the newer one. There are 30Beds ..there are many french peeps there that S my new companion seems know....the place is pretty spacious so it does not feel crowded... the auberge is hosted by a hungarian woman who also offers massage... and later I saw her chatting with a male pilgrim and it seemed like she was giving him counseling as if in therapy..... I shower and do laundry...and take only a short nap. S does not sleep and goes to talk to fellow french peeps. .. then I go to dinner by myself..it takes long time to find restaurant.. It's because I am walking on the wrong road.. I thought it was the main one..but the restaurant road is on lower parallel street so I had walked to end of town then got directed back by local, on the right road...... A walks in and joins me, according to him I have picked the better restaurant... we hit if off very well..... he is charmingly weird and we laugh a lot.. its a relief to hang out with him somehow.... I feel like the Camino stretches us and all our vulnerabilities just float to the surface we can not hide our foolishness..... he says he has not learned spanish in his 8 times here because we are walking the route called camino frances... he is not serious.., I see that he actually understands spanish quite well... but I do joke that this explains all the french peeps saying bonjour to me not bonas dias, when we pass... after I spend a little time journaling and go to bed....