Camino Frances 2024

It ain’t all sunshine and roses. I’m not sure how my friend (Hiker Holly on Penguins) will describe today but I’m going to give it to you strait. To be fair, the day started out great. We had a small breakfast in Astorga and hit the road at a good time and good pace. We passed through a couple small villages, had a coffee in one, put our feet up, and felt great when we left. I commented as we were leaving town that the sky looked awfully angry. No sooner did I notice that we started getting a little rain. My first thought was nah it’s not going to last, don’t want to gear up for a little sprinkle. Then it turned into more so in the middle of the trail, off with the pack and dug out the rain gear. Then it stopped. Off with the gear. Great, moving along we entered El Ganso that has the ‘famous’ Camino cowboy bar. There we stopped and Ian an Aussie we met a couple days ago walked in. Alone. We knew his wife was meeting him in Astorga yesterday so we were curious what was up. He explained he (a physiotherapist) was having tendinitis and rented a car for a week to let it heal. He’s following his wife and friend on the Camino this week. She and his friend showed up 10 minutes later and omg that conversation was hilarious. She was giving him so much crap that she had just come from visiting their daughter in Singapore to join him and he can’t walk. She was telling him he can’t eat big pilgrims dinners because he’s not walking and no 3 meals a day if not walking. The banter between these two kept us laughing and enjoying this break to the fullest. Finally it was time to get back on the road and we went our separate ways, Ian in the car of course. Lucky, lucky Ian. We no sooner hit the trail and it started sprinkling again. It won’t be too bad I thought…then it was. Geared back up. Then it stopped, took it off. Back on. We had a nice pace going so we were working up some heat and the rain gear had to come off if it wasn’t raining. Then of course it started again. So frustrating. But what hit us next was something neither of us anticipated. FLIES. I’ve never seen so many flies swarming me. I thought I was being picked on and then as I passed others they were everywhere on other people too. People were waving their poles in front of them, wearing face masks and hoods, it was unbearable. I was getting so pissed. Swear words were coming out my mouth at a rate I’ll never admit to. My hood was up (and that made me more hot but they couldn’t buzz in my ears at least) my poles were being used like a baton twirling in front of me, they were fricken everywhere. I stopped to take off layers since the rain stopped again and there was a lady at a bench taking a break. She had her feet up and said she had like 20 on her shoes. Needless to say, my pace picked up like I was running in the Olympics. Get me the hell out of here was all I could think. I left Holly in the dust, poor thing. I just couldn’t tolerate it. Then I looked over and there is cow shit and cows everywhere. No flies. I found myself talking to the flies saying what you really want is over there, not here you little f*#@%!! I’m getting all worked up again just thinking of it. It was a traumatic 2 hours. What sucked is it was a pretty area to be hiking through and could’ve been really enjoyable! Finally, I see a glimpse of the town. Hallelujah!! I slowed down, still playing baton with my poles and turned back to Holly. We had booked 2 bunk beds for tonight in the small village. All I could think of between the buzzing flies was that the albergue would be full of flies with all the in and out. I was hot, sweating, and didn’t want to wait for a shower or sleep in a room with 20 others and 1000 flies feeling so bitchy. I told her, first hotel I see, I’m going in to see if there is a room. She immediately said, ‘OK!’ We walked into this restaurant/Posada that was packed with pilgrims sheltering from rain and flies. We asked if there was a room. She said she wasn’t sure but she’d text around this small village to find out. She told us to have something to eat or drink and wait about a half hour and she’d let us know. We absolutely did. We needed to chill out anyways. After a bit she informed us that yes indeed there was a room available, we paid her and she told us how to get there. We had laundry to do and she said the people are leaving at 3 so if we wanted laundry done we had to give it to them by 3. It was 2:30. Shit ok. We found the place stripped down, got our laundry from yesterday and today in a bag and Holly ran it down to them, just in time. We were so done. So tired. So over it. But, as with every hard day, the cure is a nice hot shower and clean warm clothes. Before long, all was right again. We had an early dinner (no siesta at this restaurant!!), our clothes were finished washing & drying, we went back to our room and have been relaxing since. Tomorrow it is forecasted to rain all day. We have 31km, a big hike up to the iron cross (where we leave a stone that represents the burdens we carry—I brought 2 😂) then back down to Ponferrada. It’s going to be a challenge to say the least. I’m praying the storm moves through tonight and we have a nice day tomorrow, but I’m prepared for the worst. I gotta leave these stones behind once and for all. Others were booking taxis for tomorrow. No taxi for Tammy, no flaking out. I need to do this.🙏🏻❤️Read more