March 25th El Cubo de Tierra del Vino to Fontanillas de Castro

Today I was going to make a short ride to Zamora about 30kms away from where I spent the night… I woke up feeling very tired and was being rushed out of the place by the manager… I kind of wanted to get out of there as well so I packed up as quick as possible and rushed onto the road and stopped at a gas station with a cafe a kilometre or so out of the town… feeling a little calmer, I decided on a plan of action…

First plan, get to Zamora… it’s only 9:30am and I should be there by noon. Next, I must decide if I want to continue on the Ruta Via de la Plata to Léon and then further north to the coast, or start my way towards Burgos, on a road going North East and join the Camino Francais…

I got to Zamora well before noon, even stopped for a snack before entering the city… I went to the Albergue to check it out and get my stamp, it only opened at 2pm so I abandoned it and went to check out the town… lots of tourists about, it is the weekend, and more old buildings and statues of old boring looking men… I decided to cycle out of there to the next small town…

The weather was beautiful… cool and sunny, with a westerly wind that gave me a bit of a push once in a while… I was making incredible time and had clocked another 30kms by 2pm and reached the next town… the managers of this little donation based hostel just rolled up five minutes after me and I thought to myself, I will know if I want to stay here or keep going to the next place as soon as I meet them…

I decided to stay… it was supposed to be a chill day anyway and I didn’t want to be in a big town on the weekend… it all worked out.

There was a cool looking lady running on the same road as me, and I passed her a couple of kms before I got to the Albergue. She had the full oakley Sunnys, triathlete outfit on and was ripping down the highway. She passed me, while I was sitting outside the Albergue and yelled something playfully in Spanish… I think she was calling me soft for stopping for the day as she zoomed past me. Well… thanks I guess. It’s one of those cool things that kind of hits you about the world, that even this small sleepy village-more-than-a-town probably has one of the top athletes in the country. The amount of space and time that people here have to do things without distraction and interruption, is really something to admire. No noise of big cities, unimportant news stories or the grind of making money to survive. Just… living.

I put 20 euro in the donation box, dinner and breakky is included, it’s only 3:30pm and I am going to get in a nap in my bunk bed, I am the only one here but there will be more pilgrims rocking up tonight…

Simrin, my new soul guide, has instructed me to be more deliberate with my manifestations. I will ride north to Gijon, I will see the ocean, and then follow it to Donista-San Sebastián. It is said and it will be so.

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