August 2, 2010:
Almadén de la Plata (KM 70.5). The Tale of the Bicycle Boys, in three Acts.
Act 1: I’m amazed by the number of Spaniards who are willing to brave 100 degree daily high temperatures to tackle the Via de la Plata. Two of them, cyclists, pony tailed and mildly unkempt, accosted me two days ago in Guillena. They wanted to borrow my official Pilgrim’s credential passbook to counterfeit their own. This is no grave offense it itself. Any record at all of “stamps” collected along your way can document your Pilgrim effort earning you your sin absolving indulgence certificate at the Cathedral in Santiago. But these boys seemed ill prepared.
Act 2: Castilblanco. The hapless two are found at the refugio were they over-ed the prior night. A wheel from one of their bicycles has been stolen. My Spanish isn’t up to deciphering the unfolding drama, or, their irate indignation.
Act 3: Walking out of the “White Castle” town this morning at 5:30 a.m. Manuel, a Portuguese school teacher Pilgrim fluent in English regales me with the full story. In the late yesterday afternoon, Manuel, from the second floor of the refugio, spots two kids in possession of a mysterious bicycle wheel. From a window, he extracts from them a promise to give him the wheel. They cheerfully agree but at street level, he finds them absconded and no wheel. Police appear and search fruitlessly. Meanwhile, the cyclists with too much oversized luggage are refused bus transport back to Seville. Drowning their sorrows at the nearest taberna, the grapevine induces a local to show up offering them their choice of two used bicycle wheels. One fits and the pair are soon rolling off into the cool evening.
It’s hard to say if I will see these vagabonds again. I’ve walked a near 19 miles (30 km) by 11:30 this morning and retired, like locals for a long afternoon siesta. Manuel and I walked through “El Barocal”, a reforested National Park this morning--every tree providing a shaded oasis.
