Zamora-Granja de Moruela-Tábara-Santa Croya de Tera

I had a very nice little evening in Zamora. There is a little alley that leads off of the Plaza Mayor full of tapas bars which I remember from my days in Salamanca. I had a glass of wine and some chiparones a la plancha (grilled little squid with lots of garlic and olive oil). They were so good. I also stopped in at a bar that I remember from back in the day. It has a wood burning oven and they grill chorizo which is so tasty. After this fine food I felt so good the following day that I did a very long walk of 26 miles. The lower temperatures are agreeing with me as I feel so much better walking. It was a long, but not difficult day. I spent a bit of time with 73 year old Cecilio and then I arrived in the village of Granja de Moruela. In this town the camino separates into two routes. The actual via de la plata follows the old Roman road between Merida and Astorga (In one of the previous posts, there is a picture of me leaning against a big stone marker...it is a "miliario", a Roman mile marker... it marks the distance from Merida). If you continue north from Granja, you reach Astorga where you continue on the Camino Frances. As I have already walked that route, I opted for the Camino Sanabres which cuts to the Northwest from Granja. In Granja I met up with Daniel, the German boy from weeks ago, Catherine (an English woman) and Anya a German girl. The albergue was VERY cold and I was very tired. We ate at the bar connected to the albergue and got a kick out of the fact that they didn't take our order or tell us what was available, they just served us each a heaping plate of food (pork, salad, fries) which was tasty nevertheless. The following day, I headed on to Tábara which is a really cute village which is featured in the pictures. The one church, with the tower, dates from 1137. It was a reasonably short day´s walk and a nice one too. The cooler temps and the softer trail are really making this so much better. Also arriving at the albergue in Tábara were two German couples: Andrea & Frank and Eva & Hans. Andrea is nice but some sort of a nut as she is running the camino. She ran about 35 miles yesterday and Frank, her husband, follows along on a bike, hauling a trailer full of what appears to be hundreds of pounds of stuff to include a laptop computer and a teddy bear. Although I wouldn´t want to run 35 miles, nor one mile, I wouldn't mind having Frank haul all my gear for me. Oh, and when they get to the albergue, Frank cooks dinner. Take note, Brian, this could be your role on future walks. Eva and Hans are from Bavaria and are so incredibly outgoing and friendly, and, frankly, "jolly" is the word that best describes them. Usually you never see cyclists after one night as they cover so much ground but they assured us that they go very slowly and that we will surely see them again. I certainly hope so. Catherine, the English woman, and I are here in the town of Santa Croya at a very comfortable and well equipped albergue. I threw in a load of wash immediately after arriving and I washed EVERYTHING so I am here wearing a pajama top, raincoat, and pants with my feet in my sleeping bag as all my clothes, including my socks, are out on the line drying. I fear they will not dry as it is about to rain. I will be in a real fix then as I will have nothing dry to wear but I could not face another day of semi-dirty clothes. Although I handwash daily, the roads are so incredibly dusty that my socks are filthy as are the bottoms of my trouser legs and after scrubbing and rinsing them repeatedly, the water that runs out of the rinse is still so dirty. So, instead of having a peek around the village, I wait, inside, semi-dressed, for my clothes to dry. It looks like I am well on my way to Santiago and barring injury or extreme weather event, I should arrive in time after all.