The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Total steps stand at 443,521. 

Yesterday I felt like an extra in a Clint Eastwood movie.  It was late afternoon, stinking hot, a mirage shimmered in the distance.  I walked down a dusty street in a small dusty town and expected Clint to turn the corner in his poncho and cigar.  Instead I had to fend off a pack of mangy dogs with my walking poles.  Again, I asked myself what was I doing here?  But the answer was simple.  Bedbugs had brought me to Poblacion de Campos, it translates as Village in the Country but might as well be Shithole in the Middle of Nowhere.

I´d been resting my foot and decided to start walking again. I made it to a town called Fromista and checked into the alberge, a German woman in the bunk above me decided that her sheets weren´t clean and got new ones to change.  As she did out fell a gaggle of bedbugs.  I decided then and there to leave.  I´d met a Bulgarian girl in Puente la Reina who´d been bitten so bad she had to go to Hospital.  So out of there I was.  Had to argue with the arrogant manager to get my money back´, but did so and found myself in Poblacion late in the afternoon.  But as with most things on the camino, it turned out well.  The Poblacion albegre was clean and only 6 people in 22 beds, so extra pillows on tap.  Very little snoring and we shared a self cooked meal in the kitchen.  Foot felt OK so I decided to press on for the next day. I´m walking across the Meseta.  The great, flat, hot and boring central plain of Spain.  The altitude is quite high but the land flat and unpleasant to walk in.  By next week I hope to be in Galicia, the green, wet, north western part fo Spain.

Bedbugs are an unfortunate fact of life on the camino but I haven´t been bitten yet.  I´m extra vigilant but have seen a few cases of it.  I suppose with 200 k people waklking through these alberges the chance of someone bringing unwelcome friends is high. 

Can´t share any photos but will update this and add a few more when I can. I´m now at the half way point.  I think I can finish it.  Would like to have a motorbike every time I see a big hill though.  Looks like rain tomorrow.

Pilgrim Bob