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Monday 18 October 2010

Pilgrim luxury

Day 10 Hontanas - Boadilla del Camino 28km

Very early morning setting out in the dark and guided only by the stars since i don´t have a head torch and my wind up penguin torch is of course in the bottom of my backpack where it will undoubtedly remain til christmas. Spent half an hour trying not to trip over til the first light meant i could just about see where i was going, again....daylight saving time??? Still unsure of how to solve the problem of my rapidly dilapidating boots the camino provided a solution, or temporarily at least. Having had a vision of gaffa tape being the answer to my problem i chanced upon a small shop just opening which looked like it might just about sell everything you could possibly ever imagine needing and a lot of other stuff too. I spent a few moments trying to tell the elderly shop owner what it was i was looking for by means of random related words and descriptive gesticulations and he seemed to get it for just a few minutes after shuffling off into the back of his store he shuffled back from the sets of high shelves with none other than a roll of gaffa tape in his hands, not only that but it was affordable too. I taped up my boots in fine style, for sure they would get me to Leon now. Picnic pickings were meek today, a crisp sandwich and some hedgerow brambles before once again into the desert.Passed through a real oasis at lunchtime, again in a dip in the landscape, a small village surrounded by trees and clinging to the banks of a tiny river, before pushing on the last 9km to Boadilla. To pass the time i listened to music and perhaps chose a beat slightly too uptempo as i was flying along for little over an hour on my ´disco camino´ before arriving in Boadilla. This proved to be most foolhardy as i had developed over the morning a new pain on the front of my lower shin....a sure indication of potential tendonitus and skipping along at 7km an hour with 10kilos on my back was the exact opposite of how i should have behaved based on this discovery. Sure enough by 7pm that evening i could barely walk anywhere. At least i was in the best place possible. Boadilla had a fabled albergue that was true luxury for 4 euros. As i sat with other peregrinos in the beautiful garden with my feet cooling in the pool and an ice pack on my leg, a quartet of french pilgrims sang and entertained us as the sun shone and cold beers were passed around...this was a good day to be a pilgrim. As for my leg, there was nothing to do but wait and see.

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