Day 23 26/4/12 Terradillos - Bercianos del Real Camino 25km (cold church and singing)

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Up and had a coffee and left by 8am.....we were wondering if it would rain....If I dont have to wear the rain coat I wont....It gets very hot and sweaty as they dont breath, but works well against the rain........Jacqui was quiet her knee was hurting when she walked....It was a big day yesterday and she was cold.....I have been wearing knee braces every day and keeps my knees warm....they sure do help......she delved into her private farmacia found a couple of tablets and they worked.....we stopped and had a coffee and pastries and kept on walking till we hit Bercianos

The walk today was in much better weather than yesterday but its quite boreing as everything is flat....I miss the hills and climbs.....We both had our music in our ears....helps with the bordom......

Found a albergue that had been a church....200 yrs old ...quite young for Spain's standards.....It was a donation only.....was clean good showers but no heating and very cold....We had a shower and I hung some washing on the line outside....Jacqui went to bed mainly to get warm.......I wandered down stairs and found a room with a lounge and table....it was sooo cold but there wasn't much to do so sat and wrote my journal.....


A couple of people came in with a pack of cards and a half bottle of red wine and sat at the table with me.....One of the people was Rosie a 24yr old from Sydney....she spends one year travelling and one year at uni in Sydney....She had just finished Politics and languages and said that she graduates tomorrow.....all tho she said she doesnt want a job in either....she loves politics but was very disilluisoned with it......Her backpack told me she had done a lot of travelling.....quite a few badges sown on to the back of it....the other was a guy Antony from South Africa but had spent 3 years in Sydney living with his sister and had lived in New Zealand as well.....they had met only a few days ago but they seemed very relaxed in each others company.....they were playing a different card game similar to fish....It was great just sitting there watching them playing cards and to have a conversation with some Aussies not having to concentrate on the language or explain my slang.....Just before we had tea a guy came in that had been walking off and on with Rosie and Antony. His name was Craig and he was from Melboune....grew up in the same suburb as my ex husband....All sat and talked for a while...Jacqui came down and we went in for tea......

Oh Joy.... there was a gas heater that we all hugged.....Susan was there....met her at the slopping room....so had a chat talking about yesterdays walk..

We all sat and a pray was read in english and spanish of no religious denomination.....We had a tomato and lettuce salad followed by a macaroni dish with red wine.....possibly the most basic of all the pilgrim meals we have had.....We all had to introduce ourselves to everyone and let them know where we came from...there were 4 Aussies and Antony.... Our hosts suggested that us aussies sing Allaluya and bought the words out.....A old German guy heard half the conversation and stood up and just sang the word allaluya over and over again...we all joined in wondering when he felt his song would be sung.....It stopped eventually....was quite nice tho.....then Craig Jacqui and I sang the allaluya song with more words in it.....dont think we would make money from it but it was fun....Craig said he sings in a band somewhere....not in Australia......What started out to be a bit of a cold miserably night turned into quite entertaining and a good time had by all

We left the dining room, the host was wanting to turn the gas heater off so we went back to the room with the table and we all sat around and played cards till about 9.30 then went to bed.

When I start walking in the morning I never know what the night is going to bring...All ways different

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