Different Day, Different Walk

Today was a joy. There was nothing particularly easy or particularly hard about it — same as yesterday, really — but I just really enjoyed being out there, and the time went by quickly.

I don’t mind staying in the dorms at the albergues. In the evenings, that is. I really dislike getting ready and out in the mornings, though. No matter how packed and ready I try to be the night before, there is still a lot to be put away, preferably quietly. It’s harder to deal with foot care in the dark, preferably quietly. And the shoes are kept in a completely separate space, so you have to muck up your socks getting to them. Preferably quietly.

I am not a quiet person. Mornings in the dorm are very stressful. So when I’m in a private room like last night and don’t have to worry who I’m flashing, how loud I’m rustling bags, or whether I said that out loud or just in my head, I tend to spend a lot of morning time flashing, rustling, and muttering. I didn’t leave my room until 7 am, and then I had breakfast at the hotel.

Except for a farmland detour early on, most of today was walking by the highway. However, there appears to be a newer interstate that almost parallels it, so the highway itself had very little traffic. We could hear the cars, but we could also hear the river that we walked beside most of the day, which made it seem very pleasant.

I didn’t see another pilgrim until I stopped to eat at a town five miles in. Because I’d left so late I expected the others to be way ahead, but they were also in the same town. I caught up with Tom and Yvonne, then we all met Kathy and Mim stopped at a cafe a few miles ahead.

Tom and Yvonne are staying about three miles short of the rest of us, so we said goodbye and kept going. Vega de Valcarce is a cute town, but there appear to be no restaurants open. Whether on Monday or ever, I don’t know, but I had to go scavenge dinner at the grocery store. By the time I went, after every other pilgrim, I suspect, it really did feel like scavenging. There was one carton of gazpacho, though, so I’m happy.

Not carrying my hiking shoes made the pack feel so much better today. I really didn’t take out that much to have sent other than those, which leaves me trying to decide what to do about tomorrow’s big climb. I don’t have a bed, and you’re certainly more flexible with your pack on your back, although it has worked out the last two times I blindly sent my pack to an albergue. Decisions, decisions.

I am nervous about tomorrow. It’s only eight miles, but it’s a steep climb. The big unknown is the terrain we’ll be hiking. (And what it’s like coming down on the other side, but that’s a tomorrow problem!)Læs mere