Carrion to Sahagun . . .

. . . Jose-Antonio, from Madrid, arrivedo late . . . a 40km a day man on his 26th camino, with a big pack . . . rather serious . . . the man from the Spanish couple is a snorer, so it was a noisy night . . . my thought in the morning to put some distance in for a snore free night . . . Jose-Antonio is up early, making coffee with his camping stove . . . offers me a date, which is nice . . . says the couple are not pilgrims, they are on holiday . . . scornful . . . he is aiming for Sahagun, 40 km . . . I set off at 6.45 . . . planning breakfast at the next village . . . a cafe is open in Carrion, a quick cafe con leche and on the road . . . a clear sky, bright moon, straight path . . .

. . . since I have not checked a map, I have no idea that the first village is 17km . . . anyway, the experience is wonderful . . . I don't know the moon so well, the sun is more my thing . . . since the light of the moon is reflected from the sun, it is gentler . . . yet still it moves the waters of the earth . . . a feminine energy I feel . . . after an hour the light begins in the east, behind me . . . enough cloud to make it interesting . . . another hour and the sun is showing his face . . . muse about drawing energy from the sun . . . plants do it, we eat the plants . . . or the animals which eat the plants . . . often I gaze at the sun, get a jolt, like plugging in to the mains . . . which I also did accidentally once . . .

. . . moon fading . . .  there are rest stations along the way, but the water, from old wells, is no longer labelled "not guaranteed drinkable", now it says "not drinkable". . . this is intensively farmed arable land and they have poisoned the groundwater . . .

. . . after 3 hours, Caldazilla and an albergue, though far too soon for me . . . a man is sweeping the step . . . dark skin, though not Spanish dark . . . I go over, say hello . . . he is Brazilian, Sidney, the hospitalier here for eleven years . . . his job . . . he did the Camino Frances 5 times, loves it . . . he says there are 6 people alive today known to take no food, just energy from the sun . . . also speaks highly of Ernesto, from Granon . . . next time perhaps I will stay at the church albergue and try to talk to Ernesto in the bar . . . a mystery . . .

. . . to the little shop, a friendly woman . . . buy a couple of things for the road, then to the bar for breakfast . . . what is there to eat? . . . he looks at me deadpan . . . nada . . . a couple of seconds and he bursts out laughing . . . what do you want . . . tortilla frances sandwich? . . . please, with tomato . . . it's good . . . to the bar for a cafe solo, the two women who made my breakfast are smoking, look guilty, apologise . . . I'm not the police I say . . . which they like . . . amazing how quickly this no smoking in public places has spread . . . even in France . . .

. . . back on the road . . . relaxed . . . reckon to be in Sahagun by 4 . . . small villages come and go . . . as do thoughts . . . stories for later . . . I have chocolate and water and the sun is shining . . .

. . . at Sahagun by 3.30 and not tired . . . made good time, but never rushed . . . Leon ahead . . . big city . . . Francisco planning to stop before, go in, check the cathedral and leave . . . I am tempted to do the same . . . other options are to stay there for a rest day, be a tourist . . . stay and move on . . . day after tomorrow will be soon enough to decide . . .