Kinda Busy for a Rest Day

With nothing scheduled until 10:30 am, I kept hitting snooze and stayed in bed until 8:30. My hotel has really hot water, making up for the lukewarm-at-best shower at the albergue in Mansilla a few nights ago.

I found the massage place, fortunately not too far from my hotel, and then looked for the closest pharmacy. Pharmacies are everywhere, and I lucked in to one with a fluent English speaker. I handed the first person my doctor’s prescription, at which point he tried to hand me compeed. I refused, and as I was typing into Google Translate, the English speaker came out with what had actually been prescribed. It’s similar to compeed in the way it heals, but it’s not nearly as sticky. You leave compeed on until it decides for itself to come off, usually days later, and you don’t mess with it in between. Since I need my blister to have air wherever possible, she agreed that the VariHesive was something that could be used to cushion while walking but wouldn’t take off additional layers of skin at the end of the day. Hopefully that’s true!

That done, I had coffee and an unfortunately-non-chocolate croissant next door to the massage building until it was time to go up. Because I was meeting an osteopath rather than a masseuse, there was a lot of stretching and bending as well, after which he re-taped my shins. I do feel better, so hopefully with some more consistent stretching on my part I can keep the shin splints at bay.

I went to the outdoor store and got new, non-cotton socks, but did have a discussion about which ones would be best for my blister situation. And then I had another croissant while waiting for my laundry. So busy!

I was actually cold this morning while doing my errands, but the weather was beautiful once it warmed up a bit. I tried to go to the cathedral, but again, siesta, so I sat outside and had a beer. I heard, “Viva, Borda!” and knew Tom had spotted me. The bar I was at didn’t serve food, so we went next door. By then it was too hot to sit in the sun so we opted for inside and were surprised by how busy it was, since the bar in front was empty. Today’s lunch was just as wonderful as yesterday’s, so I get why so many people were there.

Yvonne showed me the new shoes she’d gotten this morning, and I got jealous, so back to the store I went for my own pair. They are Merrells, like my hiking shoes, but are designed more like a running shoe, so much lighter and with better ventilation and arch support.

Then I finally made it to the cathedral. It’s the favorite I’ve been in so far; the stained glass is stunning. I managed to attend the last half of Mass being held in the smaller chapel before visiting the cloisters. I hadn’t gone through them in the monastery hotel last week, so I made a point to go today, and it was so quiet and peaceful. I sat on the stone steps for a while just enjoying the sun and the breeze.

I have a bus ticket to Astorga tomorrow. The station is about three-quarters of a mile away, so I’ll wear my new shoes and carry my pack to get a taste for how that feels. I’m not committed to carrying my pack again yet; it makes a big difference to not have that extra weight on every step.

I texted Lynn, one of the Borda group who has been going at a slower pace, to see how she’s doing. Unfortunately, she ended her Camino today due to a badly bruised sprained ankle that she continued to walk on. I think the Camino was providing reinforcement for my decision to rest.Read more