Half way  to Santiago in Sahagun

The evening mass was not as bright as usual as the sisters were late due to an emergency with a pilgrim. At the end of the mass the sisters gave us a present: a colored star of Carrión - wonderful gester!

I wake up realy early and can’t sleep anymore so I decide to get ready and start walking at 3. the first hours are easy as the way Leads right in between  freeway and national road. I hast through the night, then dawn at 6 am is amazing: I have my Camino just to myself. At 6:30 I arrive at Terradios de Templarios, since no cafe is open yet I decide to keep walking - otherwise my feet might be hurting more. The remaining 12 km to Sahagun are a constant up and down now, which is a little bit more challenging, but I make it to Sahagun just around 8:15 - early enough to catch the train to Leon - yes, I am skipping 2 tours - it’s my birthday and that’s my present to me.

At the train station it looked like pilgrim central: about 30 pilgrims were taking the train. I waited inside the building to not get cold again as a lady approaches me: ‚can you help me buy a ticket at that Maschine?‘ Of course I can. Little did I know that you need a Maschine diploma to get a ticket. First of all it is all in Spanish, which is not a problem for me, but for many others. Then you need to choose one way or roundtrip and have to enter enter in two different boxes your Telefone number, country code separate from local number and in the end you need to push the right button in order to pay. ‚I injured my foot‘, the lady from the Netherlands apologizes for her train trip.‘We all have our reasons to take the train, no explanation needed‘, I responded with a twinkle of an eye.‘Where are you from‘ the Dutch lady wants to know. As I inform her that I am German her face looks serious for a while - yes, neighbor; also Germans can be helpful. ‚You have done your good deed for the da ‚, she waves me good bye.

But just minutes later a nervous British lady almost shouts for help in front of the ticket Maschine. ‚No worries‘, I calm her down.‘ We have 3 minutes to get your 3 tickets‘, and I walk her through 5he process again. See - I was meant to be here and help!

In Leon I check into my Hostal and try to find a bar where I can watch football - last day of the Bundesliga, but no sports bar to find and so I listen to my team loose the championship via headset in a restaurant.

Evening mass in the cathedral is the end of this day!