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- Sep 7, 2022, 6:56 PM
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 823 m
SpainCastille and LeónSalamancaPlaza Mayor40°57’54” N 5°39’52” W
Day 1 walking

The first “stage” on this walk is about 32 kms. Normally I would walk that without batting an eye. Especially since it’s flat, flat, flat. BUT … my hamstring injury from last year is not completely healed, and I am now in the 70-something cohort. So I decided to split it. At about 17 km, there is a highway hotel about a kilometer off the Camino. So that’s a pretty good place to split the day. But then I was thinking, yikes, why would I want to get to a highway hotel at about noon and have to spend the whole afternoon there?
So here’s what I did. I walked to the highway hotel but got a cab back to Salamanca for the afternoon. Tomorrow I will take a cab back to where I stopped walking. The pilgrim puritans will say this is ridiculous, and I sort of agree, but I know myself well enough to know that I would otherwise just have kept on walking the whole 32 kms. stage. And I know I shouldn’t do that.
You might wonder why someone would travel thousands of miles to walk on flat terrain through brown fields, sandwiched between the superhighway, the national Highway and the railroad. I can go in any direction from my house and find that landscape.
I will admit that if I were looking at a whole month of this, I would not have chosen this route. But even so, there was something very different today about walking than there would’ve been if I had done it out in Champaign County cornfields. It’s hard to describe, it’s like being in a bubble where I don’t have to think about anything other than walking and whatever my brain presents. Sometimes those things are totally banal but sometimes I find myself contemplating some of life’s biggest questions.
Anyway, I got back to town with plenty of time to enjoy the festivities. I picked two of the following options — the medieval market, the parading around of all the bulls that will fight in the next two weeks of bull fighting merriment (in honor of the patron saint, mind you), and a parade of “giants.”
Salamanca is always fun, but during the fiestas it’s even more special. I will be glad to be totally on my way tomorrow, no more motorized transport, I hope, till I am taking the bus back to Santiago from Finisterre or Muxia!Read more
Traveler Kudos for being smart and not pushing too hard. And a bonus of 2 nights in Salamanca during festival time!
Traveler Two nights in Salamanca? Perfecto. And you got to practice being in close quarters with bovines.
Traveler Glad you are taking care with your hamstring. I admire your stamina. Now, time for a nap!