Etapa 6. part 1.

Not such a perfect Albergue last night. Next to the church the bells rang every quarter of an hour and twice on the hour. I had many 10 minute intervals of sleep. Luckily from 1700 until 2230 I was so exhausted I didn't really register at all the blasted things. Today is either 22 or 35 kilometres ... Chinchilla or Albecate. But I really feel flawed. La Mancha is breezy and cold. Cool to be on the plateau I've read much about, but now I understand how inhospitable a place it really is! Walking in July and August must be a different kind of personal murder. The purpose of Camino de Santiago is penance for sins and half of the penance is the self flagellation of carrying so much stuff through such a desolate environment: it often reduces me to tears ... So far not this time, but it's only my third day in amongst nothing but my bare self!

Time to eat Tostada con Tomate and contemplate another long road ahead? Yet this is the trap. It's only a step at a time, not a race and an opportunity to be still inside while witnessing the stillness outside. The very purpose is to leave the past in my shadow receding behind me ( if I was walking east, not north west)?