Pickled on a stick!

Started late this morning about. 7:30 it was raining again I left the poncho in my pack and opted for a jacket and the rain cover over my pack. A quick check and I was off, I only got about 50metres up the road and saw a local shop open with Maurice outside enjoying a coffee, so I stopped and had one myself also bought some fruit for later. The walk took me across plains of cropped fields and onto a road the passed through the old convent of San Anton. Apart from the coffee I realized that I hadn't had any breakfast I couldn't reach the fruit in my back pack without taking it off, but I found a half eaten bag of hazel nuts in my belt pouch so that was breakfast sorted. I carried onto Castrojerez a small hillside town where I found an open bar and treated myself to two banderilla's (pickles on a stick) and a donut with coffee, by now I'd covered just under ten k. I set off in the rain after following the streets of this little town round the side of the hill it was sat on, I rejoined the plains and I could see in the distance that there was a climb ahead. The climb was steep but the views across the wide expanse I had just covered was breathtaking and worth the effort. A quick stop at the top to eat my apple and joy of joy a snickers bar. A short walk across this plateau led me to view that was even more breathtaking looking across Palencia and the start of the Meseta, I looked across the horizon and I couldn't see a town anywhere. Lucky for me a few kilometers in the distance tucked behind a line of trees and across a river was the town of Itero De La Vega. So now I have stopped for the day. I have noticed the ever-growing numbers on the trail since Puenta la Reina where the Arragon route meets the French route. There has been an increase in numbers almost on a daily basis with some breaking up their Camino to fit in with their time and some who are busing parts of it as well as the tourogrinos, I saw some today they had got of a coach at Castrojerez and walked through part of the town to the coliagate church, I saw them again at the foot of the bridge as the trail turns right towards Itero De La Vega I could see that a couple of had their legs resting on the seat in front of them (it must be really exhausting getting on and off that bus) .As a result it's becoming harder to find some time of solitude . A few people tend to cut out the Meseta as it is flat feature less offers no shade and takes on average six days to cross hope the numbers thin out to allow me time of contemplation. Adios