• Day 12 on the Camino

    12 czerwca 2019, Hiszpania ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Another tough day all round today. We have a team talk over breakfast and agree it best to send the boys forward by transport. Their feet, and other aches & pains, are not letting them enjoy or complete a days walking. We part again as Tracey ad I set off around 9am - late for pilgrims hitting the path. We are aiming for the same place the boys are off to, so we will see them in just over 7 hours.
    Most of today is flat, with a ‘blip’ at around 13km in. We first follow a path out of the village and into fields. Soon dropping onto the road we come across the ruins of a monastery straddling it. Again much of the fields are corn or barley ( rarely any grape vines). The road is long and straight, and the swallows are weaving themselves in and out of the trees lining it. They are swooping over th field crop catching the insects, but looking like they are having fun doing it.
    The ‘blip’ soon appears on us. As we round a coupled villages at the bace of a steep hill another looms towards us. The path would be too sensible to go around it; instead it climbs at around a 1:8 gradient - constantly up. At the top)some 200m climb) the views are spectacular. It’s surprisingly flat for a while, with fields. But, what goes up must go down, and we are met with a steeper decent of 1:4 - knee breaking!
    We keep the pace up on the gravelly track, even when it turns rocky at times. Not great for the feet as it’s not long that I get a hot spot on my right foot and what runs out to be as 3 deep small heel blisters. We push on, stopping 20 mins for lunch before more of the same. We are getting tired and fed up, drained from starting late and walking later into the afternoon. Each of us take time to drag the others along the way.
    Skirting around the penultimate village the road enters the countryside and soon along s canal; a welcome change. By now the chilling wind that had cooled us all day had gone and the Spanish sun was warming the afternoon up. Growing weary the sight of Fromista was welcome, though it took another kilometre to walk into the centre to find the boys by the fountain, at around 5pm. The pace today took its tol on me (Simon) picking up three small deep heel blisters. Tracey again is fine!!! How so?
    Albergue- double washing (by hand) and out for dinner. The time goes by so quickly and soon it’s past 9. Lights out just before 10, and we have it all to do again tomorrow.
    At breakfast (6:30) we will all devise the plan for the next few days.
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