Molinaseca-Cacabelos 14 miles

Today is the farthest I’ve ever walked in one day ever and my calves would like you to know they are displeased.

We had great weather. In fact, it was a bit too warm for me toward the end of the day.

Our hostal owners sent us off with an amazing breakfast and, honestly, as I write this and think back to it, it feels like it took place days ago.

It was all urban and suburban walking today, which was fine. I got my fill of off-roading the past few days.

We hit up Ponferrada, which is the largest city we will visit before Santiago. It was a legit city with banks, multiple pharmacies, soccer fields, men who fucked with us as they drove by, etc.

The best part was the humongous castle of the Knights Templar, built in the 1100s to protect the pilgrims walking the Camino. According to others, we *really* should have toured it, but we had a 14 mile day and that shit just was not happening.

About two miles from our stop for the night, we came upon a man taking photos for what he’s calling, “The Pilgrim Project.” He’s a professional photographer taking portraits of pilgrims as they walk by (if they are willing, of course). We agreed to it, so we completely disrobed as he asked and posed with our arms around each other.

I KID! Of course he didn’t do that. We posed like regular hikers, fully clothed. He’ll send us a link to the images in a few weeks. Apparently he’s also creating an Instagram account for it but he hasn’t uploaded anything yet. It seemed cool and could be a really nice souvenir.Read more