Nothing is less conducive to good sleep than heat. Our room in the Estrella church had only inoperable windows, so we slept on the floor. Heat is the major obstacle here in Spain during the peak of the summer. It changes your schedule, makes you sleep late and rise early; this sleep can only be regained during the midday siesta, provided you find a spot with enough shade to nap in. If you start late, as we did today - and 0830 counts as late in this weather; 0500-0600 is desirable, whereas most pilgrims even stop short of rising earlier - then you have a very long and sweaty climb out of Estrella (provided you happen to be there, which is admittedly an unusual set of circumstances for the average person.)
But we made it out of that first part and across 100 km or so of rolling hills to Azófra - we made it, despite the heat and the swath of flats due to insufficiently wide tires we had to fix and our steadily mounting exhaustion and the usual bit of mis-navigation. We always make it. Why? Stubbornness, I suppose - we keep going despite everything, despite the challenge of bringing another person on board. Everyone brings their own mindset to a trip, and the Camino is an intense test of that mindset. It is hot in the summer, and long regardless; it has more than its fair share of gradual climbs, mountain passes, vast plain crossings...of different cultures and ancient cathedrals, of footsteps pressed into the roads and paths over millenia by all the wanderers and armies that have ever walked these lands...and here we are, just trying to move closer to the end each day, adding our names to the long list of those foolish enough to attempt this journey.
And we are getting better at it. The hills seem less daunting now. The gearing gets easier; we seem to ride consistently - no stopping to walk steep parts, no panting and wheezing our way uphill...just steady climbing. We are approaching this Zen point, the exact moment where rider and bike become one in an over-clichéd fusion of intent with raw muscle power. The bikes go where we want them to. Especially with the cycling shoes and toe clips, there is very much a feeling that the bike is merely an extension of your legs...
...and so here we are, at 2200, fixing yet another flat just out of Azófra. We roll into town after nightfall to find everything closed, prepared to sleep on the bare ground if need be - but the kindness of strangers comes through again; a local leads us to the home of the albergue keeper, whom she rouses from sleep for the express purpose of making sure we have a decent place to stay. If you look desperate and lost, people will often help!