Day 23- Busy Wet Day

Leaving Salas and my castle, I was greeted by a 7 mile climb. As I was trudging along, I noticed a man in front of me. I caught up to him and we started talking- Spanish. He was the most religious person I have encountered to date. He talked of God’s presence in all we were doing, seeing and thinking. He said the Camino was God. He asked me my name. I said Peter. He said his daughter has a son named Peter. I asked him his name. He said Angel (Clarence?). We came to a small church. I told him I was going inside the church. He nodded. I never saw him again.

I kept running into a group from Mexico- very loud but joyous. There were also a boat load of Pilgrims I would keep seeing and passing or being passed as it’s easy to fall behind if you stop for a picture, to change your clothes for the weather, for churches, for coffee…. I ran into 4 young Lithuanian’s. With about 5 miles to my destination, I met up with a German, Marcus, who has been living in Ireland for the past 25 years. He is a chef. Shortly after we connected, it began to rain again. He said he had been walking with his former girlfriend but she had hurt her foot and was taking a taxi to their destination for the day. He said they lived together for a long time but broke up 12 years ago. He said they make great travelling companions and mentioned a number of trips they’ve been on since they broke up. He was good company and we were on a pretty good pace, just to get the day over with and get out of the rain. A taxi came upon us. It was his ex girlfriend. She waived at us as the taxi splashed us. She did not stop. Soaking wet, we laughed as she passed us by. I have a feeling I will bump into Marcus again.

It was a tough day. I’ll leave it at that.