A day of mud, knee breaker and rain

Another amazing day, despite walking in nearly 7 hrs or rain. The Meseta truly is a magical place.

I know so many people skip the Meseta, or dislike it, but for me, I love it.

There is great expanses of openess. The landscape is beautiful. Yes, there are long walks between small towns, and at this time of year, there are often times when you rarely see another pilgrim.

I guess that is part of what I love. The complete solitude. Today, it was 6 hours before I saw another pilgrim. I walked in the rain, singing away. Stopping on top of a high climb to spin in a circle, arms outstretched laughing.

The first climb out of Castrojeriz was tough going, so tough. I thought I would try it a second time just for fun. .... seriously, I was just about to start the downward climb when I realised I must have dropped my gloves on the way up. If the weather had not been so cold, I wouldn't have worried. Needless to say, they were a tad wet when I found them, but they helped all the same.

The decent down the otherwise was hell on my poor knee and slippery as heck with the continued rain
The miles passed slow today with the cold and rain. There were lengthy stretches which could be likened to walking on a river bed such were the stones underfoot. I swear my feet felt every one especially in soggy socks.

There is nothing worse than your hands being so cold that your fingers are numb. Add to that, that in order to keep the backpack weight of your shoulders, the hip belt has to be pulled really tight.....yep, positioned over the bladder. So we now have numb fingers, a backpack on that is squeezing my bladder, a rain poncho to wrestle with... the trail was clear, but there is simply no way I could have managed to pull everything back up with numb fingers, so it was a quickened pace for nearly 3 miles

I got into town to a voice calling 'Hola Helen' I looked around to see Domir from Croatia. We chatted for a while over a drink. Domir is feeling defeated today. He has had to send his pack on for a few days rather than carry out due to a knee issue. He feels this means he is not doing the Camino. As I said to him, it is his Camino, and he knows his limits. He has chosen the sensible option in order to take some pressure off his knee.
Tonight he is starting in the municipal albergue which ordinarily is what I would do. However the private one is the same price, and has heating- the municipal does not. The heating was welcomed if only to dry some socks for the morning.

I learnt the hard way why you should remove zinc tape carefully....I successfully peeled a wide strip of skin from the underside of my big toe. I have an area on my right heel which I thought was blistered. Now I am not sure- it could be a deep blister under the thick skin. I just know it's not comfortable for walking on, and sticking a needle in released no fluid. I'll pad it up tomorrow.

Tonight I met up with Siwan from Korea- I had a communal meal with her a couple of days ago. She came to Spain travelling then 3 weeks ago decided to walk the Camino instead. We talked about the cultural differences between Korea and the western world. She is a med student. Her family expect she will marry and have children. She has not actually told them she is walking the Camino as they would not approve.

I met up again with a young Spaniard Carlos, who I met a couple of days ago when I was walking with Dana. He is lovely and was just getting into town as I was out this evening. When I told him this albergue had heating, he had to ended up here.

Tomorrow will be a strange day for me with only about 12 miles to walk. The spacing of the accomodation during this stage dictates the distances, and I only have less than 40 miles till my end point of Sahagun with 3 days left to walk

Steps today 41624
Miles today 19.8
Total miles 318.49

⁴Read more