The Fine Line Between Grit and Stupidity

It’s not as much fun getting up and out when there’s not someone doing it with you. (I’m in a dorm with nine other people tonight, so I’m guessing that won’t be a problem tomorrow!) I stalled for a long time this morning, and when I finally did leave, I forgot my poles. Thankfully I remembered very quickly!

The ankle brace I bought was a bust — it was so tight (despite being an XL) that it was causing more pain. The walk today was so lovely I wish I’d loved it more, instead of actively contemplating if I could get a taxi to come pick me up in the middle of nowhere.

I spent a long time at my breakfast stop and stopped again in a town a mile down the road for another cup of coffee. For some reason, my foot felt better after the second stop. Not great, but not quite as painful, so the second half of the walk was much better.

There was a long ascent, not tough, just long. At the top, just before a rather steep descent into town, is a bench. I stopped there and spent probably 15 minutes just enjoying the breeze and the view and the big blue sky. Truly one of the highlights of my day.

Hornillos is a tiny little one-street town. I checked in to my albergue, which has an above ground pool with a nice deck, then went to get a sandwich from the little market. The accommodations all have dinner you can buy, since there really aren’t options here in town. Mim and Kathy are across the street, but Yvonne suggested they get dinner here since our place serves a big paella.

After dinner we went back to the pool. Tom took a tumble and is also nursing a sore ankle, so we were doing our hydrotherapy. It was so pleasant just hanging out and talking.

I did bag transport today and will do it again tomorrow. The terrain is fairly smooth and mostly level, which makes it easier on my ankle. The rest day in Burgos may have helped — I suppose it could have hurt even more walking today — but it certainly didn’t fix it. I don’t know how many days off I’d have to take for my ankle to not be problematic, but I really don’t want to just hang around somewhere. I could bus forward town to town, but that kinda defeats the purpose, as well. I’m trying to find the balance of doing what’s right for the foot and doing the Camino the way I want. I’ll see how it feels tomorrow.Read more