Day 21: So Long Cowboy... (Leon to San Martin del Camino)

It was absolutely freezing this morning and following the convoluted route out of city, which always happens when trying to get back into the Camino, wasn't helped by the 7°C temperature!

In the darkness we also stumbled upon two British people, quite literally the first British people I have met on this walk! Neil was from Ireland and had walked from Belfast! The other was called Freddie and he had walked from Bristol! The lunatics!

Today is the penultimate day on the Meseta, tomorrow we will arrive at Astorga and the foreboding mountain ranges begin again! For all my grumbling about the flat, boring Meseta I am sure that I will be begging to have them back after a few days in the mountains!

I have suffered a bit of another fatal day in terms of physical well being! The pinched nerve in my right thigh - which has plagued me for the last week with intense pins and needles - was back with avengance as well as a muscle knot or another nerve playing havoc with my right arse cheek! I feel this has come about as a result of my right leg taking the lion's share of my weight as my left knee and hamstring are still playing up sporadically. I've invested in some tiger balm which does seem to help a little but I am quietly dreading the mountain ranges to come, I'll just paracetamol up and hope for the best!

Talking of tiger balm, just before settling down to write this blog, I noticed that the guy on the top bunk next to me was sound asleep so quietly pulled my knickers down a little and eased my right arse cheek out. With a generous spread of the oil I started to massage my cheek vigorously, trying to work out any kinks. Whilst in the depths of the feverish massage I locked eyes with the gent that was now awake and looking quite startled. As I froze and held his gaze we both started silently laughing our heads off as we didn't want to wake the other beds - my ribs were actually hurting from trying not to laugh! I hope I don't see him at the coffee machine tomorrow morning.