A rebel without a clue.

A rest day is what I really needed and San Clemente is large enough to hang about in for an extra night. My shin feels less enflamed today too, but I wish my head was in the same vein? Too many local wines yesterday. But it is fine! I will repair soon. Turned inside for an hour. Three separate vibrations of the phone brought me out of the meditation. I forgot to turn the thing off to charge. Oh well. The sun is shining through the light curtains. The room is very cold, but I'm in my sleeping bag snuggled so tomorrow I start again on The Way. I've not much longer to go really between San Clemente, a very pretty place to relax, and Toledo the original capital of Castile, before Madrid. Been around the various parts of town and it's stacked with vintage buildings and nice squares, but there are too many cars. Every road I went down sooner or later one came rumbling down the cobbles and it was getting to me. Then I ducked into a bar for a glass of water and a slice of Tortilla,...

Now it's mud I must contend with and this is really adding to the chin strain as the weight on my feet just doubled. 27.70 33.90 30.84 37.15 26.84 42.61 42.19 16.94 18.85 The distance on The Way each day, without the mileage covered after the walk and prior to bed or before breakfast in the morning. Today was unbearable so what can I do about this shin? I've asked if I can stay here another day, but that has the potential to ruin the vibe! I'm in a very cold albergue on the edge of San Clemente. The local Manchego is divine so I've stopped for a plato and an obligatory Alhambra Verde(reserva 1925) because the other cerveza I've come across is not so nice! My shin is definitely buggered. Oh and the wine is nice too - Puente del Rus - this is the problem I have once I know I'm not walking - alcohol!

The helpful hostess has given me an ice pack for my shin and I recall this is why I didn't actually feel the pain on the way. It was so cold and wet on my ankles that I didn't feel the cluster of pain I had been experiencing, before I got away from La Roda, with every step I took along the path I was upon. *** Jaded. I'm awake going through the routine of getting ready for one more stage. It's not a long one if I decide to go along either of the Camino: Sureste or Levante, leading from Minaya, as they split again before coming back together in Toledo Province in a few days. Thankfully the kind gentleman yesterday put my wet clothes and drenched boots somewhere that by this morning there is no damp in the boots! I've treated the boots as they went through a lot of punishment in the driving intense rain. By noon, when I'd done for the day, the skies were clearing back to standard blue. Today I should opt for another short stage and see how my shin is once I get go...

Full to busting from lunch. Thank you Minaya. And the people in Hostal Restaurante Antolín for helping me in such a difficult moment. Now I'm most worried by my right shin. Both feet are a little tender, but this will pass, however my right shin is truly inflamed. It wasn't there yesterday, but this morning there was an obvious tenderness. While walking in the down pour it was the most difficult aspect, including being soaked by the time I arrived here in Minaya. Perhaps I go ask the hosts if they have any cream along the lines of Voltaren? Otherwise I am busted for tomorrow. I'm due a day off but does this mean I have to stop moving? It got unbearable but the cold, wet and the road took my entire pain threshold: only once I stopped did it become the dominant feature of eight days on this blasted way! This hotel is both a local and a truck drivers passing point. The lady behind the bar gave me Voltaren 100mg tablets. But they're not localised. The local pisshead tells m...

So tired this morning. Being in the Mercado, as the day begins, isn't a sign I am awake! Clearly as I yawn over my cup I'm having troubles. What could I do without coffee on a morning when my whole body is reaching for oxygen. My right shin is aching this morning too. Inflammation requires rest. Today is only 16 kilometres. Is this rest? Some people who walk everyday on Camino walk less some days and consider that a rest. Back on my first Camino I had a 15 kilometre day before I reached Aumont-Aubrac and then had a day off before the day I got caught in a snow/hail/sleet storm in May 2013. When I saw the Tour Anglais in Aubrac at 1300 metres I was so relieved! Once I deposited my backpack in the Tour I realized everything in my sack was drenched! *** That was as much as I could do. I've never been so wet. I was walking in buckets of water as the rain poured into my boots. For the final five kilometres I couldn't feel my feet or hands and the cold was spreading up my arm...

Another day down. Should it be this way? From tomorrow the stages are a little closer together so I feel a more leisurely pace and later set off time. Mostly I love walking around or just after sunrise bit the last few days the afternoon has gone on and on. Ducked into the first bar in La Roda for obligatory Alhambra Verde, but they also have Roja so it's two. Walked passed an inglorious number of battery farms catering to the carne lovers. My lunch, in a town which feels days ago, was a mountain of the schweinefleisch which is dictated by Spain's love affair with all parts of the pig. It got me here into La Roda without losing my mind in the awful windy and cold weather that was against me, but now I feel I've been a bit unkind just eating whatever was available in the tapas display wherever I went. In the previous town I asked for beans(frijoles) but she only had Tortilla on the veggie front. *** The Albergue Today is at the edge of the town as I came in and I really don...

The rule which states that 24hr news must be relayed in every café in the world is definitely part of the problem. It's either that or some overwhelming music - on the radio or TV channel banging against the head of morning peace. It's planned to keep the masses in their fearful places stressed by the projection. In my society all TV would be banned in such social places as cafés  - in days gone by they were a forum for the disenfranchised who could go to discuss, consider, debate and change the way. Or I'm I wrong? Are the lower classes ever going to overrule the ways of the 1%? The peasants will remain peasants and perhaps that's a good thing ... It's time to leave another café for another day on The Way. The gentleman running the bar tells me it's going to be very fresh today - I ask does it ever stop being windy on La Mancha ... This is The Way and I'm definitely winning time off in Purgatory - whatever. Guilt has driven me mad! What have I really done t...