Friday, July 13, 2007

08/12/07 CÁCERES

On the 7th I took train and bus up to Frómista and stayed in a hotel. Got up that following morning with my back hurting a fair amount and hit the road. Talked with a woman from Slovania (I think that is the spelling, it is just South of Austria and used to be in Serbia) who told me that quite a few Slovanians walked the Camino. My lower back felt pretty good when I quit walking at Carrión de los Condes. I stayed in another .5 star hostel. I did quite enjoy the 12th century church outside my window and got some nice pictures even though they said I couldn't take any pictures inside. I got started about 7:30 the next morning on my way to Ledigos. There was a long dirt path with round pebbles from 1/2 inch in diameter to 2 to 3 inches in diameter imbeded in the dirt that stretched on for 19 KM. Many parts of me were hurting by this time, my back in particular. Behind me I could hear this guy singing at the top of his lungs and as he came closer I could hear that it was opera and in Italian. He came up to me and in his small English and my 0 Italian we talked for a while. It seems that he started on the Camino last year and after walking for some days he went into breakfast one morning expecting to walk that day, but instead found himself on a bus back to Genoa. So he is walking a short bit this year to stand in the center of a particular church which was supposed to give one the ???, well he didn't know either but had hopes. So, when I came to the town of Calzadilla de la Cueza and stopped for a sandwich, coffee and water, it was a good thing that I wasn't close to a bus station as I was not in a real happy state of mind. I got in Ledigos which according to my dinner companion who was from Strasbourg, France and spoke some German, probably better than mine, we were just about at the end of the world. I agreed. My bed was so bad, another sway backed monster, which was in a room so small that I couldn't put the mattress on the floor without truning the bed frame on its side which was impossible. So, even before it was completely dark I had awakend hurting from my neck to my knees. I battled this all night with my lower back hurting more and more until I figured how I could sleep on my side sort of up on the bed rail and mattras leaning on the wall. Of course every time I woke up after a few moments I would think that I had to pee so I would get up and go to the can. There were beams that were very low and finally I forgot and really konked myself in the dark. I was up early and knowing and fearing my lower back put great effort into getting the back stretched out. I was out of there before 7 am. That early is a wonderful time to walk as the normal walkers aren't on the road yet and the long distance runners hadn´t had time to catch up to you from their last stop. It was a beautiful but as I walked I thought that maybe it was time to quit. 38 days on the road was not all that bad for an old fart. I got into Sahagún and went to the railroad station to see what my options were. Called Mary who was down below Placensia with Betsy and we made a plan. I would like to say that in spite of the four seperate and distinct areas in my back that hurt, the toe nail that was gone, and the two that were working on detaching, etc., that I had struggled on until I dropped. But the reality is that after being in Salamanca with Mary and later Betsy, I really had lost the desire. The walking is wonderful and I loved it especially in France where there were not so many people, but in fact I just ran out of steam. So I went to Salamanca by train and bus and the next morning went to Placensia where Mary and Betsy picked me up. Then the new story began which is in section 2

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