Another great day (day/stage 10)

Once again, we were late leaving the albergue.  We had shared breakfast with Ezra, who was still struggling with blisters.  We had colacao (hot chocolate) and she had eggs.  As we were leaving the albergue, another pilgrim was trying to arrange for her backpack to be transported to her next stop.  Yes, for a fee you can have your backpack taken to your choice of albergue at your next stop.  It helps if you speak Spanish and know the name of the albergue you are going to, but we got it sorted, and then got our boots on and set off.   The weather was good, some cloud cover, but not too hot.  With a good breakfast we made good progress, and only had to stop for "comfort breaks".  For some reason we had bought enough bread to make sandwiches, which we ate as we walked through the fields of wheat, vineyards and along minor roads.  It just felt good to be walking.

There were 5 albergues in the town we were heading for, and Jonathan had chosen one that looked good in the guide book.  The first one we came to was outside town, and looked huge and uninviting.  We walked on and arrived at the second, Santa Maria, next to the church, in a converted theatre.  Outside, the girl whose backpack we had helped send on, was sitting.  The backpack had arrived safely at the third albergue, where we were heading.  She had collected it, but said the albergue itself  had a bad vibe. At that moment, Ezra appeared,  and the hospitalero, a delightful man named Pierre, from Luxembourg also appeared and welcomed us warmly. We stayed.  The albergue was very quirky, but had an air of peace and calm.  It was Sunday, so all the shops were shut, but there was a Mass in the church next door at 6:30, followed by a special blessing for pilgrims, to which we were invited.  After the mass, we moved to a side chapel, and the priest welcomed us all, shook everyone's hand and asked where we were all from.  He then gave all of us a sheet of paper in our respective languages, and also asked one person from each language to read a little of the history and reasons for walking.  I read the English, and others read inn French, German and Italian. We then shared verses of the prayer in our respective languages.  It was very moving.

I had earlier had a wonderful conversation with Pierre, and there were few people staying, so it was all very calm.  The other hospitalero, Helene, was also by helpful, and got out a huge first aid kit for Ezra, to clean her blisters.  After the service and blessing, we went with Ezra to the clinic to have a nurse check her feet.  It was a bit stressful for her, but the nurse finally dressed them, and then we went for dinner.  A glass or two of Rioja helped ease the pain, and we had a great evening with laughter and fun.

Back at the albergue, the boys discovered that no one else had checked in, so they were able to sleep on the bottom bunks.  We all slept pretty well, and had a good breakfast, included in the cost, the following morning.  Once again we were the last to leave, but it did mean that we saw Pierre and  Helene, and were able to thank them again for a wonderful albergue.