Day 20 - Wednesday Nov. 22 - walking from Sahagun - Mansilla de las Mullas (38km)

I don´t know if we were drunk from the wind or if it was after effects of the wine we had been served in the butcher shop the night before, but late afternoon we had a very silly picnic in the middle of some farmer´s fields. I continued to walk with my Spanish and Japanese companions and for most of the morning we walked against the wind. Today the force had changed from feeling like you were flying to feeling like you were about to be blown over. It was about 3:00pm when we stopped to eat. Each of us had a barra or baguette of bread because of the difficulty of finding bread the day earlier each of us on our went out and bought some. Other items on the menu included canned mussels, chorizo (Spanish sausage), jamon cerrano ( a kind of cured ham) and a handful of jujubes, kikos ( dried roasted corn) and apples. We ate well and it was a little silly because we sat on top of the picnic table a la japones to stretch and rest while we ate. The next town was an hour or so away, but it was time for a break. The night earlier while out shopping for supper we went to a butcher shop where we were served by a very friendly woman. She not only brought out a bottle of wine to pour us each a glasss, but took us on a tour to visit the back of the shop. She walked around pulling out the ready meaty bodies of a lamp, cow and pig. Seeing the pile of sausage filling in a bin on the floor alongside the heads of various animals was almost enough to make you want to be a vegetarian, but after all the walking it did not affect our appetites. After walking for a long time little things become silly like my fear of dogs, which I prefer to call and uneasiness now that I am ´grown-up´. Earlier we had found a stray boot in the ditch and the Japanese man said ´Americano´ and I said ´perros´. I feel reasonably safe with my walking stick, but I did hear of a woman who got bit by a stray dog in one of the towns.

I wanted to stop in the next town, but the albergue was locked and there were very few people to be found so on we went to Mansilla. The atmosphere was serene as the sky was lit by the setting sun and the wind had died down. With the fatigue I felt peaceful and calm. I had a thought that death is maybe something like that feeling of arriving at the end of the day, the sun slowly disappearing as my feet slowly continued to walk the last kilometres. It was more of an awesome moment with colours of the sky and I guess I was feeling pretty tired.