After breakfast that Rocco provided to us, Mickey and I headed out on the Camino in a slight drizzle and cold. Mickey indicated that Chris would be taking a bus at 10 AM to join us at the albergue because his knee was bothering him.
The trail was fairly level and I was able to keep up with Mickey the marathon runner for over half the day until we stopped for a break of coffee and OJ at Hornillos del Camino.
Many of the villages we passed through had these big elaborate murals and this was one of the more interesting ones.
By then the drizzle had dropped off, and Mickey sped off. I continued along the open fields of wheat and then spotted an ambulance parked taking care of an injured pilgrim. It was like a foreboding of what was happening to Chris.
Just before entering Castrojeriz where I stayed, I stopped at the San Anton ruins and first ran into Betsy from New Jersey and her daughterEmma, from the Carolinas— I would see them several days afterwards along with the Camino.
I stopped at 3 albergues but they were full. I ended up staying at the fourth called Ulteria owned by Olga and Jose, and it was €15 cash plus another €12 for a pilgrim set chicken dinner.
Mickey had gotten there about three hours before me and still had not heard from Chris.
While I took a shower. Mickey got a call from Chris who said he was in Leon because his knee had gotten dislocated so he was in the hospital where they relocated it two separate times and he would not be joining us nor the rest of the Camino. That was really unfortunate to hear. He had been so excited to be going on this journey in remembrance of his mate who had committed suicide. Chris said at least his other nine buddies were still on the trail honoring that mate.
Olga had prepared a delicious moist chicken pilgrim dinner we enjoyed along with the usual jugs of red wine with the meal.
Afterwards Grace from South Korea got up and sang “Ave Maria” to our hosts and us. I thought it was really professional opera singing and soul warming. Hear for yourself:
After that, Jose gave us a demonstration of how the wine press works by using some volunteers and then taking us into the seller and offering us some sips of his wine.
It was quite an interesting and amazing evening.
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