A rebel without a clue.

After packing away in the municipal albergue I came down to Café Jacobus, Castrojeriz, in an attempt to rebalance my body after another terrible evening of the 'damned' food poisoning and it accompanying broken night's sleep. Orange, juice, coffee, aqua con gas and tosados con aceite and I will see where I am as the sun reaches it's zenith on this rainy Wednesday ... But there is also another way out along the main road heading to Palencia if I were to hitchhike away from the Camino Frances and leave it. Along the Canal de Castille I come to Fromista to the final night in the final albergue municipal - Albergue Municipal Frómista €14. I explained to the hostelera my stomach pain since Burgos so she put me in the smaller dorm: just 4 beds on my own for now. None of the awful disposable bedding sets and I was the first to step over the threshold as an amigo, with a guitar outside the albergue, gave me one of his three apples and smoked a cigarette as I stumble...

A few days of rain and everything is becoming greener! Since Sunday I've had constant stomach issues. Unable to keep anything solid. I was getting better in a private room, but it returned in the municipal albergue. It's not food? It's not water... It's the uncomfortableness of being in a humid room where people forget they don't need alarm clocks at 5am. Alarm clocks which don't just wake themselves, but also wake everyone else who is alert, half asleep in the discomfort of the disposable bedding. And I know I hate the Camino Frances for the way it's not helping me get to Santiago. I am not like other souls who sleep so deeply that a war could be going on and they wouldn't notice. I felt bad for having to take a private room on Monday, to help me recover from the discomfort of the nights, but now I know it could be no other way. But I may never reach Santiago a second time... Have I slept well in an albergue since I was in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port? I rea...

Fresh socks! The joy of freshly laundered socks! Simple but lush?! As I breathed in the soapy freshness those around me laughed at the absurdity of the act and also knew the deeper meaning! Today is ... Today. Pilgrims admire churches, however I use them purely as a shortcut in the north door out the west; so cynical am I? To me it is a building, which cost a lot of time and energy, to effectively control the populace when the seeds were sown. To declare that there is just one way, when there are billions of ways, during harvest. Cup of tea, yogurt and a lovely croissant; shoes and socks of for a feet refreshment. The sun is shining down on Hontanas.

From a good to a bad pilgrim: a private room in a private albergue. It's a single, but I still have the room without all the moving, grumbling, sighing, screaming, talking or walking in the night. I also went for supper and breakfast: demi-pension, but lunch was from a can: beans and sausage with bread and the water I made the effort to pour from Fuente de Prao Torre using the hand pump. Finally I bought some soap! I'd managed without for the whole time as I 'found' stuff along the way. The stomach ache is subsiding too. Shower and siesta ... The fountain/spring water at Fuente de Prao Torre was wonderful! The sweetest yet from the various fountains on offer ... Although the one up in the Pyrenees is so long ago it might have also been as excellent... In a cupboard I swapped Plato: The Laws for 4321  by Paul Aster as I wasn't sure ancient Greek philosophy is my bag on this tiring journey. The 'other' Camino individual appears in me, as I know none of the ...

If I fly back to England today the same 99 problems will still be there to cause me to come off the waggon once more. If it's not Gaza, Ukraine or some other war it'll be Halloween! But if I continue walking I will only have to contend with pain, exhaustion and my mind, but the camaraderie, freedom and peace... Yesterday I was really poorly. I went out for lunch(veggie noodles) and returned directly to continue my relationship with the bidet: what was it which poisoned and poleaxed me? Other than physical exhaustion... I collected a pack of natural yogurt too to help my bowels recover. Otherwise I slept almost since 10am, after the bath, with the toilet visits. After breakfast I get it together, but I am still loose. And clammy. Oh well. I've a packet of Kleenex at the ready for along the road! So I carry on! It's another day, week, future?

The anticlimax of the day after. However I really never saw the Way I search for on this Camino. Too oriented towards reaching the destination, in the heat of the afternoon, and it was up to me not to be the same, but I think I failed. Saying goodbye to those I've walked a long way with. Some took selfies. And some gave hugs. After a bad stomach ache during the night and a constant coughing from someone in the dormitory I feel pretty shady - and the light in the shower cubicle also regularly coming on helped not at all! It's probably not true that I never felt at ease. I did at the beginning in the greenery of the Pyrenees and below. Then I got into the pattern of the other folks on the way to Santiago. I am so fond of the ways through France, where I rarely meet another soul. But I just had to revisit the Camino Frances. Now I am indecisive about whether I stay here in Burgos,  and be a tourist, or go to Santander to do the same! It's probably advisable to have...

Humid room and a minor hangover. Thanks John! Once we get going it's a laugh a second!!! Coming down into Burgos, at last, shortly! It's took me ten years to get to here myself and back then I couldn't cope with all the young folks playing-up, perhaps now I am less judgemental, a little less arrogant and more understanding of youthfulness ... Well I hope so? Checked into the Albergue Municipal which is modern and comfortable at €10 so I've left it for a menu del día at an establishment adjacent to the cathedral - Bonfin desde 1962. Came back exhausted, showered and slept... Then preambulated back towards the Albergue Municipal on the corner below it I've had a couple of vino de Jerez and am enjoying a plate of Padron pimiento with a Gordello: back for another snooze, el Cantina Calle de Fernan Gonzalez. It's a city: a large town really with a population akin to Bradford, but it has very large area. There is nothing after here but Meseta Central, whic...