Castrojeriz to Leon

Hey, from the city of Leon, Spain. So, today, reality took over. I woke up this morning in a small town on the meseta in central Spain. I knew as I have known for days that as much as I walked, I would not have enough days to get to Santiago. My choices were to ask for two more weeks off so I would have the time to complete this trip or to travel forward by bus or train. I decided that I cannot ask my coworkers to cover me for an additional two weeks and to be honest, I have no desire to be out here for an additional two weeks anyway. So, instead of slogging through the rain on the meseta with no realistic goal in sight, I decided to catch a bus to Leon. I have a difficult time with this as I set out to complete the whole 500 miles but will fall short of that goal. But, at the same time, I do realize that I set very difficult goals for myself. I thought I could bang out the 16 miles a day pace without rest days and complete this in 32 days. To the contrary, I have discovered that unless you are a marathoner, young and in shape, that is not a realistic goal. My son could do it in that time frame being 19 and in shape from a lacrosse season, but not I. Soooo...I will start again on the trail from Ponferrada on Monday morning. That is 128 miles from Santiago. I have been averaging 12 miles per day for the past 2 1/2 weeks. I will need to average 15 miles per day to get to Santiago, give myself time to get to Portugal and get my ass on a plane back home on the 25th of this month. But, at least this is an obtainable goal. I will settle for the 328 miles walking...short of my goal...but okay in my mind. I have already accomplished what I set out to do when I started this. Also, there are many ways to do this trek. Many people send there pack forward by courier....I have chosen to grind it out with my pack on my back the whole way...as I will continue to do till the end. Not many photos today as it was more a travel day and a logistical planning day for me. Goodnight from Leon.Читать далее