23 May to Reliegos

My GraphMaker got a bit wobbly with the 26km-distance-walked that I posted a couple of days ago (must say I felt a bit the same given the guidebook said 22km, but I do know I do a fair bit of detouring and zigzagging-around-puddles and walking-around-when-I-arrive, so I’m not really surprised). Anyway, it seems a good time to provide my Rationale for Longer Distances. It’s multifaceted.

i) every week I am increasing the amount of ground I cover by 10% and so the numbers should always be going up!

ii) I count per week rather than per day, and I expect to have a short day into Leon on Saturday, so I could “afford” a long day earlier in the week (in justifying my decision to walk farther than planned the other day, I ignored the fact that the short day is to allow me to wander around and have a look at a thing or two! I can adjust my expectations then if I need to)

iii) I figure I have been exceeding my planned distances and am not suffering unduly for doing so, which leads me to believe it is ok (of course I am monitoring closely the little niggles – I have absolutely no desire to make things worse)

iv) when I left I was resigned to the fact that I probably wouldn’t reach Santiago on foot, but once I realised it was possible I moved the goalpost. The Tooth Fiasco reduced my chances, but heightened my desire to make it!

v) the Tooth Drama gobbled up a few days, so I knew I needed to do a bit more than I had planned on some days. Doing this on the flat meseta seemed to make a lot more sense to me than trying it in the hills that are coming.

The results thus far….
The left Achilles has given me no trouble whatsoever. The toes on that foot regularly complain instead. Something to look into when I get home.
The right Achilles puts on a little burning show when I exceed 15km. It can be a bit tender and I notice it. I try to treat it kindly and keep off it as much as I can once my chores are done, and while I am walking I will stop and rest it for a few minutes, which helps. Thankfully, so far, come the next morning it is not even a little stiff. So this is progress. As long as as I can maintain that, I will be comfortable seeing how far I can push it.

Today I pushed it along a Roman Road. It is said to be the best preserved Roman road in Spain, and I started wondering what the criteria to make such a statement was. I am guessing perhaps “the longest”.

You see, I have seen other Roman roads in Spain that seemed much more “authentic” – the Fuenfría Pass on the Camino de Madrid and a couple of spots on the Camino Primitivo spring to mind – there you see the iconic rocks-placed-lengthwise-in-the-middle-of-the-road, but today there was none of that.

I couldn’t help wondering if it is just that the top layers of the road have been kicked away – it would not be inconceivable to think that might happen over two thousand years!

I don’t know why more people don’t choose this route, but I am glad they didn’t today! There were just six of us in the municipal Albergue last night, and a small handful in the hostal, which meant I walked for over two hours this morning without seeing another pilgrim. Bliss.

I did keep my eyes open for the obviously big owner of this footprint, but I did not have the pleasure of making his acquaintance:

My eyes were frequently drawn to the mountains too. Over the course of the morning they went from being far-off faint silhouettes to more distinct masses with nooks and crannies and crags and shadows.

Before anyone had caught up with me, I realised I was walking towards a patch of fog. It felt unusual enough to be alone, without adding in ethereal weather patterns as well. But that was not the end. The fog became quite thick, which does not make for fabulous photos, but when I thought I was seeing a white rainbow, I took a photo anyway:

As the fog dissipated, the fog bow became clearer. I had not known such a thing existed.

Having reached the edge of the Fog Patch, it became simply a memory.

I was fortunate again to have someone catch me and slow to chat for the last few kilometres , which made them fly by.

It is such a good feeling when you spot your finishing point for the day and it is not far away AND downhill!

I wandered around most of the streets and thought there was no grocery store, so bought myself a ham-cheese-lettuce-tomato stuffed omelette for lunch.

As I was sitting there eating it I noticed pilgrims approaching from one of the few streets I had not traversed – it turned out to be the main Camino route into town and it had a small store and a couple more bars. So then I had half a loaf of bread and some butter, honey and a banana for breakfast tomorrow and a nectarine to add to my salad-from-Sahagún, which I shared with a Rachel tonight, and even with two of us eating it, there were leftovers…which got passed on to a guy, who has been travelling for eight years and staying in a tent for four of them. True story.