Sundays in Spain

Day 7 Los Arcos to Viana
19.4km
4.5hours of walking
170.2km
246,254 steps so far

Today was magic. The weather was a bit cooler and our walk was a bit shorter.
We arrived in Viana at 11.30am after a 7am start. It was a pretty hilly walk but I’ve gotten over my fear of hills. One foot in front of the other until you reach the top. No race, just slow and steady.
Our first stop was a little cafe on the way into a small town. It wasn’t really anything special but it’s always nice to stop. They did have a pizza vending machine though. I’ve challenged one of the girls in the group to try one before the walk is done 🤢🤢🤢

Today I walked with Heather from Perth.
Heather is 70 and walking solo but she’s not just doing the Camino Francés like us. She started 46 days ago at Le Puy-en-Velay in central France and will have walked 1400km by the time she finishes at Finisterre on the coast beyond Santiago.
We talked about life all morning and covered a lot of ground. I could listen to life stories all day long. Everybody has a story if you take the time to listen, and time is what I have when I’m spending long days walking.
Heather’s wisdom today was to make every day count, don’t sweat the small stuff, and remember that the way we speak to and treat other people really matters.
We also talked about the time we spend worrying about the people we love and how it’s just so bloody pointless because, at the end of the day, we can only help ourselves.
She had a really quiet and gentle wisdom about her and was a bit of a balm to my first time solo travelling soul.
Toward the end of our walk, three young Americans joined us. Two were a young married couple from New York who head off on an adventure every summer. The other was a young woman who loves Australia, has a Hamish and Andy obsession and teaches jujitsu. I thought she would’ve been about Noah’s age, around 22. Turns out she was 35. I might take up jujitsu if that’s what it does for you! All of the Americans invite you to come and stay with them - I bet they say that to all the girls
Viana was a pretty ordinary town to walk into but ended up being one of my favourites so far. We usually hit our destination at siesta time so the streets are dead, like a ghost town, today it was alive. I had a beautiful feed of grilled octopus on potato and then a pastry that was unexplainably good.
All of the locals were out in their Sunday finest and they had a DJ pumping tunes in the town square.
These Spaniards know how to live.Read more