Salamanca

A Tuna from the University in Salamanca

A tuna is a group of musicians made up of students of the various of a university. There is a colored sash that identifies the faculty or school to which they are affiliated. Traditionally, tunas were made up of students who could barely afford their meals so they played in restaurants and cafes for soup and other food that was offered.

As you can maybe see in the photo, taken in the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, it's raining. In fact it's been raining for days. I tried to cycle out of Salamanca today:

 

This is what it looke like. And this:

 

 

I got a little turned around when I arrived at the first junction, I made a wrong turn and ended up back in Salamanca. I am attempting to cycle south on the Ruta via de la Plata to Seville. This should not be attempted without having thorough psychological testing. The results of such testing on me would surely indicate: NUTS!

It was raining hard when I got going in the right direction into a cold, gray headwind. I made 12 K in about an hour and a half. That's about 8 miles. As the rain began to penetrate my rain gear around km marker 9 I began to ask myself, "What the hell am I doing out here"? Then there was this little conversation going on in my mind. One side (the sane side) asks, "What are we doing here"? Not only is the weather horrendous it's the middle of nowhere with no sight of somewhere anywhere. The other side of my brain responds with, "What are ya worried about, really, what's the worse thing that can happen"? To which the sane side says, "Oh, you know get blown into a ditch, a little hypothermia.." At  km marker 12, I actually turned around and pedalled back to Salamanca. You know the strangest thing happened. As soon as I turned around the wind stopped blowing and I seemed to be going much faster.

So, now my dilemma. Same crappy weather for tomorrow. I can probably leap frog my way very slowly from Pilgrim hostel to pilgrim hostel as they don't seem to be more than 20 K apart. Or jump more trains and busses and head farther south. I've given up trying to follow the route backwards. I've got a road map with the waypoints marked ad I'll just stick to pavement.

My other thought is to call this ride and come home...Ahhhh, home. Now there's a thought. Remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says to the 3 farm hands after waking up from her "dream"? "I know that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire, I'll never go any further than my own back yard. For if it isn't there, I never really lost it."

OK, whatever that means...

Anyway, maybe what I really ought to do is adopt a dog and grow squash.

Thanks for reading this.