Day 4: Wooo hooo kind of day

June 16, 2015

Loved today! LOVED IT! This is they kinda day you hope for when you plan a bike tour!

My first reaction to the cold, foggy mist when I woke up was "crap". But the fog soon burned off and it was a beautiful day!

Most of the day I rode dirt/gravel roads that wound through rural, small town Spain. Wheat blew in the wind on rolling hills, birds chirped, shepherds herded sheep, calling to their dogs who were doing most of the work. At times the road meandered through pine forests, then back through small towns with ancient looking churches, slumbering dogs, inquisitive cats and locals saying things in Spanish to a rider from America who couldn't understand.

That was my only regret actually. Lots of locals tried to talk to me, trying to ask something about me, it seemed. Many were old and looked like they had many interesting stories, but all I could manage to say in Spanish was "I am from the United States" and "I am riding on the Camino de Santiago". Of course to the second statment, in their head they were probably saying "duh" because they know their town is on the route. But This is rural Spain. I didn't meet one local who spoke English today.

Which brings me to my next point. You may remember last nights entry about cheating, re the Camino de Santiago alberges. Well after I posted the entry 3 people from Italy showed up, one older (than the other) woman and the other two, late teens early 20's, were her nieces. Turns out they are cheating too. They are walking part of the route but doubt they will make it to Santiago. I don't think it matters on this branch of the Camino though. I am in a huge Alberge tonight and I am the only one here. The charge is 7 Euros and is better than some hotels I have stayed in, and much quieter. Apparently, however, when I get to the Camino Frances all hell will break loose crowd wise.

But that's not my point. My point is that one of the nieces spoke near perfect English. I asked how she learned it. "From watching movies in English," she said.

I've been busting my hump for, I'm not even going to admit to how many semesters in Spanish class, and I can barely hold a conversation with a bar owner to find out how much my coffee con leches are and this woman is practically fluent by watching movies? I hate people like that. HATE them. They make the rest of us stupid people look bad!

Still, they were nice, and left me milk for my coffee this morning. They were up and out before I got out of bed. I am still in the slow start mode. I did meet up with them later, which you will see in the pics below.

That's all for today. Time to hit the sack. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Rib update: They are no worse and maybe a bit better.