And Then There were Nine

After the fiasco of the previous evening, we were all a little apprehensive as to what form our breakfast would take at the Puerta de Sahagon. Getting ready in the morning was a little easier than usual as I didn't have the distraction of the Internet to delay my preparations. The only place in this huge hotel that has an Internet connection is the foyer. I still cannot understand how the proprietors must have found millions of Euros to build the place, but could not find a few thousand extra to set up wifi routers for the rooms.

At least the breakfast looked reasonable, with the usual offerings of scrambled eggs, sausages, cold meats, cheese, yoghurt, fruit and bread. The only problem was that there was only one staff member to manage the entire breakfast area. This might have been OK if the automatic coffee machines were working. Unfortunately they weren't. One quickly ran out of coffee and the other went down when the circuit breaker blacked out all the appliances down one side of the room, including the remaining coffee machine, the TV and the toaster. It remained thus for the duration of breakfast.

The poor hassled girl in charge started manually making coffees with the machine behind the bar. This meant that she then had no time to clear tables or maintain the breakfast items. Once again the place degenerated into a shambles. Since we had to leave early for our walk, we all got up and left.

During the evening Christine Swistak (aka C1) had fallen ill with a stomach bug and was still feeling quite unwell when it was time to leave the hotel. She had no alternative other than to stay behind and be picked up later by our bus. Her roommate Christine Brown (aka C2) decided to also stay behind and look after her. Allan Barden had been affected by the previous day's heat and decided to catch a couple of extra hour's sleep. With these retirements, our walking peloton was reduced to 9 people.

Fortunately we were able to begin the walk in the relative cool of the morning. The path was almost flat and we made excellent progress, achieving over 7 km before we stopped for a rest under the shade of a small clump of trees. Because of the flat and open landscape we were able to see the steady stream of fellow pilgrims stretching out into the distance in both directions. This really is a sight to beyond. It is hard to prepare yourself for the spectacle of so many people all working their way towards a common goal. Each time you encounter a fellow walker you greet them with a blessing of "Buen Camino". You are almost universally given the same greeting and a big smile in return.

We only had another 6 km to complete before the end of the day's walk. This brought our cumulative total to 88 km and we even had time for a cool drink before being collected by the bus for the transfer to Leon.

Our hotel for the next two nights is the very impressive Hotel Silken Louis de Leon, situated in a perfect location. Not only is it within easy walking distance of the old city and the cathedral, it is also only a short walk from a laundromat. I am sure that we will all make good use of that facility while we are here.

The end of today's walk marked the half way point of our walk along the Camino. We might not be walking the entire length of the path, but it still requires a lot of hard work, especially in the afternoon heat from the fierce Spanish sun. We are rewarding ourselves with a free day tomorrow. It will be wonderful to be able to pass the day without having another 20 km walk to wake up to.

So what we will we wake up to ? Tomorrow morning just happens to coincide with a sacred festival in Melbourne. It is called the Grand Final. Of course we will be keenly following it from the other side of the world.Read more