Last night I bought walking poles. Last night I was also convinced that my Camino was over. My right leg hurt! No idea what I had done to it, but I was hobbling around the albergue.
That didn’t stop me enjoying a lovely communal meal with Vladymyr and Oleksander from Kyiv and Kharkiv. They are cycling the Camino so we’re slightly concerned about there bikes getting wet overnight. Vlad pointed out that my Garmin would be a much better option for navigation in the morning than constant checking on my phone (the way markers are tricky to spot in the dark). I don’t know why I had to thought of this before! He even found a .gps file of the route and sent it to me to download to my watch. The albergue was lovely, but Belorado was having a fiesta which meant most shops were closed and noisy celebrations, including a silver band just marching up and down went on into the night. I was in a small dorm of six, the two French ladies were insistent that the window be closed - so we gently cooked!
I set off in the dark and rain. I hate the noise of waterproofs - so after about an hour I put an audio book on and listened to that. (I’m listening to fourth book in Lucinda Riley’s ‘Seven Sisters’ series). There weren’t many photos to be taken as everything was shrouded in grey mist.
The poles were great. Walking with poles is a lot like marching - the minute you start thinking about it everything goes wrong, and it certainly took some of the strain off my leg. Terri, who I walked with a few days ago, was adamant that it was good for upper body strength too. Given that I have the upper body strength of a damp tissue that can only be a good thing.
I stopped at a cafe for breakfast in Villafranca Montes de Oca, had a quick chat with a group from Honduras who were putting off going out in the rain for as long as possible, and then Vlad and Olek pitched up. We had breakfast together, I thanked them again for the Garmin reminder and we went our separate ways complete the 12km climb to San Juan de Ortega. This wasn’t as bad as I’d feared- I’d been told it would take three hours! I was almost disappointed!
I’d planned to stop at this point, and despite arriving at 11am I decided to be sensible and stick to that plan. It will give my shoes a little more chance of drying out if nothing else!
Had a coffee and sandwich in a bar, and the albergue, while not yet open, is allowing me to sit inside to wait for check in to begin! While waiting I chatted with Laurent from Calvados, who paused to say hello, and to an Italian man I shared a room with way back in St Jean Pied De Port. I love the randomness of the Camino. I do the same thing every day, but every day is different!
Fabulous stuff. With you all the way, Toria.
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