The Tasty Pilgrim

It is already Tuesday 4 May and the wonders of the Camino continue. I have lost sight of the two witches and come to think of it Salvador may have saved me from a painful treatment. However, at the end of this episode you will meet him. I am sure you wil look up to me now, as I am the only man that you know who has slept with witches. Dangerous though, to find yourself in bed with two witches. After all witches will try to lead you into temptation.  Look up the Shakespeare sonnet "Two loves have I of wonder and despair ".

Here you may find that the female part of the body which is usually kept covered is refered to as hell. Awful thought, suppose they had dragged me into their beds and that the smell of burnt sausage would fill the air ( it is barbeque time there you know) They might even use Heinz hot ketchup for a lubrication or so, come to think of it. So glad I escaped the ordeal. Would be great material for an erotic story by the Dirty Pilgrim.

Back to reality now. So here I was in Puente la Reina and had a room and a shower all to myself. Woke up late ! It was 7.30 ! Shall I make up for lost time then ? No, I was going to take it easy today. After a large breakfast in the dining room I set out. It was cold and it rained a bit, but never mind you will get warm going along. I passed through this very old city with its narrow mideaval streets and then across the famous Roman Bridge. Very scenic indeed. Far away in front of me I noticed two ladies, who now and then stopped and picked up something. They turned out to be French and creature friendly. They picked up snails and put them in the grass beside the road, so noone would step on them. In my country there is a new political party THE ANIMAL PARTY sounds like Orwell, I will tell them about saving snails, as important as saving wales. Why not ?

After an hour´s walk, I noticed two girls far in front of me with a wheelbarrow. They turned out to be from New Zealand and one of them had hurt her foot badly. They had " found" the wheelbarrow next to the road and put their rucksacks in it. One was pushing uphill and the other one was limping beside her. Then on top of the hill the wounded one sat in the barrow and they tried to go downhill that way. Made a few photos of them ! Later on I met two French ladies who dragged along their belongings in a small suitcase with wheels.

The only problem they encountered was dragging it through the mud. And today there is lots of mud. Wonderful to see so many birds along the path all talking and whistling to me. Then came the road verges with so many wild flowers in beautiful colours. It reminded me of the poem about the First WW " In Flanders fields the poppies grow ". So many poppies blooming along the road !!!!! Great heroine opportunities here.

Being on the road now for a few days you meet time and time again the same faces. There is a French elderly couple that I a seem to meet every day when I sit down for a coffee. Lots and lots of Germans on the way, hardly any English, but many Italians en Spaniards. I passed the village of Lorca, famous in Spanish literature as the author Garcia Lorca comes from that place, or rather his ancestors. There is a new clean refugio in Lorca selling good coffee and a bocadillo con tortilla frances, meaning an ommelette. I bought some bread and Spanish ham for on the road. Today I would walk to Estella ( the star) There is a great warm welcoming refugio there run by the church. The Albergue Parochial offers free accomodation and food to all pilgrims

They have been doing so from the 9th century ! Of course I gave a donation. Now here I met my saviour, whose name is Salvador. He works here as a voluntario. We do not live in a meaningless world. Everything is connected. He stamped my Pilgrim´s Pass and wrote my name in the book. Suddenly he started to talk in Dutch !!!!! He lives in Holland and works for Philips, being a medical equipment expert. He lives in a little village called Schijndel, right next to the village I once used to live in. So we had a great long chat !!!!

The refugio was full and there was no place for me in the inn. But the church owns an appartment just across and I was given a bed there. The apartment has all modern creature comfort and a bathtub in the bathroom !

I did not dare sit in it afraid I could not get up with my painful muscles and joints. But I had a hot shower for at least half an hour. Then I slept a bit and went across to the refugio for a meal in which eryone participates.

In the meantime an Italian couple had arrived and were also put in the apartment. No problem for me at all.

I slept well and took another hot shower before leaving. Had a bit of coffe and some bread with Salvador.

He asked me to write something in his diary.  What an honour.

The Shakespearian Pilgrim.