My Camino de Santiago (Nice weather for the time of year)

Despite the rain and wind rattling the windows of the albergue I had a good nights sleep so set off in the morning refreshed. My stomach bug appeared to be getting a little better and overall I was feeling fitter. It continued to rain throughout the morning and my old waterproof jacket was starting to leak across the shoulders, wetting my back and chest. Eventually the rain stopped but then the breeze picked up so everybody began to feel slightly cold. This did not dampen our spirits though and as we passed fellow peregrinos we each greeted the other with a cheery "Buen Camino" which is the standard form of greeting along the way and the only words of Spanish that some people knew.

I passed a couple of storks foraging in a field alongside of the track. These large white birds are common all over Northern Spain and can be seen nesting on every chimney, electricity pylon and church bell tower. Each year the storks add more and more sticks to their nests, some of the ones that I saw formed cylinders of sticks about two metres high, balanced precariously on their narrow perches. The local people appeared to love having the storks nesting on the rooftops in their villages and I really appreciated seeing them as well.

After walking all morning I eventually reached the little town of Belorado at about 12:30 p.m. where I intended to stay for the night. I registered at the albergue then climbed into my sleeping bag to warm up my chilled body and get a couple of hours rest. That evening everybody enjoyed a three course peregrinos meal apart from me, I stuck to chicken soup and bread that Henry had kindly bought for me while I was asleep. The walk today had sapped my strength and although my stomach felt better than it had been, it was still a bit dicky, so I was feeling sorry for myself. Never mind though because hopefully in another couple of days I will be feeling fully fit and be able to join everybody else in partaking of the local red wine at two euros a bottle.

The weather had definitely taken a turn for the worse and was unseasonably cold in the North of Spain. The tops of the nearby mountains were covered in snow which the locals said was very unusual at this time of year. Meanwhile in the South of the country it was much hotter than it should have been at nearly 40 degrees Celsius. An article on the television news reported that farmers were throwing away the tomato crops because they had ripened to quickly and all the fruit had split their skins. It's typical of my luck, on the Costa's they were having a heatwave while we were experiencing a second winter, so much for sunny Spain. I went to sleep that night with the knowledge that tomorrow we would be climbing another 600 metres so it was quite possible that we may encounter some snow or ice. I think that I should have packed my Thermal long johns and not my shorts!