Espinosa del Camino to Cardenuela. 29km.

A pleasant 7 hour Camino through pine and maple forests that intersect small towns with their ever present and dominant Catholic Church. We started out in cooler conditions, but the sun came out in full force in the afternoon, which didn’t help the grind over the hill and then the road walk to reach our final town - Cardenuela Riopico. The albergue has a cold pool that helped soothe our aching feet. That saying, our bodies are certainly stronger and recovery time has considerably reduced.

According to Camino folk lore, the first third - 250km - is about physical preparation, second third - 500 km - is all about the mind as we are walking the long, barren paths in the Misetta, and last third - 750km - is about soul as we go through Galicia where it’s wetter and greener and about new life and beginnings.

I was thinking of a NZ tramping analogy. We have just walked through the low Canterbury foothills for the first 250km for fitness; now we’re moving into Central Otago (without any lake or mountain vistas; just barren walking) for the next 250km; until we end up in the West Coast for the final 250 km.

Hokitika as the NZ version of Santiago de Compostela!

We have some concerns about this progression of body, mind, soul. Small Paul doubts he has something resembling a mind and we both doubt the concept of soul. So as we approach the end of the physical juncture in Burgos, we talked about tapping out of the Camino and staying with the physical - hitting the white sand beaches of the Algrave in southern Portugal….or even go full physical climbing in the Pyrenees.

Let’s see what how we feel after our 25 km walk to and through Burgos tomorrow.

Buen Camino!Read more