Viana

Today felt like a long day again, even though it was only 18km and I started at 6:30am.

It was a rough night of sleep. It was so hot and lots of snorers in the room. I finally broke out the ear plugs and they work well. The only trouble, is I could also not hear myself, so I wasn’t sure if I was being loud with all my moving around.

My plan was to leave around 7, but everyone was already awake at 5:30 and it was impossible to sleep anymore so I decided I might as well get going as well. At 6:30am it is still dark and I wore my headlamp. It was actually quite nice. Just the right temperature and the path was a straight gravel path so easy to navigate. The one downside is all the moths and flies that hang out in front of your face because of the light.

I was at Sansol (7km) before 9am and stopped for the daily Coke Zero and a banana. I didn’t eat the banana, I instead ate the chocolate muffin I had bought yesterday along with the bread I had left over.

I was off again, with a few rest stops and had a bigger stop with a sandwich at a food truck about 5km from the end. I arrived in Viana just after 1pm. I still felt the effects of the sun as if I had been walking all day in the sun. I have to be sure to drink lots of water today, perhaps I am suffering a bit of heat stroke.

I was originally going to go 22km tomorrow, but I have decided to break it up to two days instead. I have a few blisters on my toes that are bothering me a little so giving them a break should be good.

I took a nap this afternoon (I don’t often do that), so maybe that will help. I am in a top bunk today in a room of woman, hopefully I will catch up more on my sleep.

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

Today was hell!!! I am in such a bad mood at the moment, I am hoping this beer will help. We were up at 6am as usual and again as usual, I was in a ton of pain. I packed by 6:30 and was down for breakfast. Today was a day for tears. We were off by 7am. Most of the walk today was on gravel roads which was hard because it was kind of boring. …

I convinced Joerg to stop in Torres del Rio and then do the 20km to Logrono tomorrow. I am going to stay in Logrono an extra day. It sounds like Joerg does not want to so it may be where we part. I thought he understood that I wanted to stop once a week. I guess he didn’t. Anyway, we will see. My heart is aching as I love him and I love his company but I cannot keep his pace. I think it is time to let him go.

Well, the rest of the evening was fine. I am determined to get a hotel room tomorrow. We went for a little walk then dinner. We were pretty quiet after the fight we had at the entrance to the hostel. I said something along the lines that tomorrow would be our last day together and he said that was fine as there were lots of other woman on the trail. I then said “That is fine, I have been trying for 10 months now and I give up.”

Anyway, when dinner was complete we were sitting alone and I apologized for not being nice and he apologized as well. After that we were better. Dinner ended about 9pm, we then headed off to bed.Read more