End of camino

I walked about 16 km, making it into Arzua where the Norte joins the Frances. And in about 5 minutes I saw more pilgrims than I had seen in total from the whole Salvador and Primitivo. And then I decided that my body was just not cooperating. My self-diagnosis (along with the online help of a few friends) leads me to conclude that it’s piriformis syndrome.

So after two or three days of occasional bad pain, I decided it was foolish to continue. I am right outside Santiago, but my main goal was to get there and then go south to Braga in northern Portugal to walk a new (for me) route —the Geira. Walking into Santiago on the Camino Frances is always fun but it was not my primary purpose.

Since I only have 10 days to walk the Geira route, it seemed silly to spend a few days resting on the hope I could walk at least some of it. So, hard as it is to do, I am cutting it short. I have had to do this once before, in 2008 I think it was, and I know it is going to leave me deflated and bummed out. But if this means I can count on 12 more years of caminos till the next problem, I’m all in favor!

I know one person who will be happy about my decision, 😄 though I’m sure he’s not glad about the circumstances.

So now I have to cancel many reservations, figure out how to get to Madrid (trains are all full for days and the bus is not much fun), spend a couple of days with my BFFs in Madrid, and change my flight. I am assuming I’ll be home on Wednesday or Thursday.

I do know that I need to pay more attention to the fact that I’m no spring chicken and that I have to cut back the distances of my walking days. No more 40 km days for me next time!Read more