A mat on the floor

Spain Day 3 Montjardin to logrono. 41km!!!

After a free breakfast provided by the kind sisters who were up at 5am chopping baguettes I set out in the still dark, stars in the sky of 7.15am, though was still the last to leave. Lots more walking through vineyards which was cruelly tempting. I passed a couple of speedy french guys a few times and on the third passing they had succumbed to the tempting bounty of grapes and shared their booty with me, though did try to leave me with the evidence. Ran out of water rations today in the relentless heat and arriving at the public font of Lorca was like reaching a welcoming oasis where quite a crowd of pilgrims had amassed, one stood with his feet under the taps, but i drank from it anyway. For some unfathomable reason i decided to walk a seriously long way today though the building black clouds behind me did keep my pace up a bit, they never reached me with a downpour however and i was left to slog on into Logrono in the sweltering afternoon sun, always just one more hill. An old lady on the side of a road gave me a stamp for my credencial and a fig and a smile to keep me going before shouting and shaking her fists at some cyclists for speeding dangerously down the hill, this she did on a daily basis just for kicks. Finally arriving in Logrono i entered the gates of the albergue and thought i had reached heaven itself as pilgrims sat around with a cold beer on the lush lawn and others cooled their feet in the sunken fountain....it had been worth all the struggle.......not so, however, as the hospitalero came out shaking her hands saying ´completo completo´....full! So i miserably plodded on to the parochial at the monastery where after struggling with some secret benedictine password at the door i was allowed admission and shown to my mat on the floor.....ah, the harsh cruelty. It turned out to be a wonderful evening though as the not at all pious brothers in charge were extremely jolly and made a huge free dinner for everyone and would never allow you to refuse just one more meatball. A grand fiesta was wildly playing out on the city streets but after the camino the crowds and noise were just a bit overwhelming. Spent the remainder of the evening chatting with the bandy legged french Georges who also covered the same distance today and shook my hand for it. He spoke french and italian and i spoke english and spanish which made it a completely unintelligible conversation but i enjoyed it nonetheless. With the combination of the late night revellers outside and my mat on the floor inside not too much sleep occurred this night despite the copious amounts of the communion wine that the brothers had been splashing about during dinner.