14

Quite an easy walk today. The hills are flattening out and the paths are in the main better prepared. It is also a help to be walking towards and through small villages. It gives some interest. The weather was beautiful again, with the few clouds dancing on the hills. Greens of all sorts are everywhere and new growth dominates.
Last time I saw the interior of the church at Redecilla but on going through today I was told it would not be opened. Pity. Still I saw inside the church at Grañon. Last time the path bypassed the village but now with a camino-mad priest the camino has been bent a bit. Some nice features inside but very dark.
Now typing at the computer in Belorado. The albergue is newish and privately owned. The owners ask for a donation and most people gave 5€, so it seemed. There are three floors with many, many beds, maybe 100, so you can see the potential to make lots of money with little effort.
I bought some items at the supermercado for lunch. 1l of milk cost 58(€)c, zumo do naranja (orange juice) was 70c, half a long baguette 35c, ham and cheese, orange and apple - the lot totalling less than 4€. I still have stuff left over.
This morning I woke with a crookish back due to the banana shape of the bed. 4am. At 5.15 I got up and after breakfast of milk, apple and orange, I packed then spent some time on Hotmail. I´m pretty weary now. I have asked Kate to contact Matt Marcos at school to find out why the emails are not arriving. Bit of a worry. I suppose they have set the server up to reject any e-mails to a large group, so we may have to find a way around it.
Met an Australian today. Peter is an ex-diplomat with a command of Spanish who is now a public servant in Canberra. Also two young USA women who are walking about 10km a day and have decided that´s a good amount! They reckon they´ll come again to finish next year. One of them, Deb, is a Psych major who said she had written a paper on the influence on children of the texts they read. She said that a search of the Internet showed lots of papers on similar aspects. Also, Deb, I earlier said that a young French Information guide said he enjoyed Australian music- ¨the best in the world.¨ Hope you are now receiving the emails.
Hope you are all well.
JW