I got into San Juan De La Arena, where I would stay, in the early afternoon. I spent the rest of the sunny day playing and swimming at the beach. When evening rolled around I decided I would go check into the albergue only to find that it was closed. I scrambled around town trying to ask locals what to do, but being unable to understand their replies. Finally, I decided my only option was to sleep in the next town, 7K away. By this time it too late in the evening to walk there before dark. So I had to trust in old-fashioned hitchhiking. Not even a second after sticking out my thumb, a car pulled over. The driver was a friendly guy who was going to university in Gijón and had no problem taking me to San Estaban. By 7:30 I had a bed and could enjoy my dinner. Now I know to check in to my albergue BEFORE I play!
Category: Feet – Body
Wild Goose Chase in Léon
Two rainy rest days have me eager to start walking again. We walked into Léon on Saturday, the 28th, and found ourselves in a stressful wild goose-chase through the bustling city to find an albergue. We stopped at a bar in a town 7k before Léon and were told by other pilgrims as well as the bartender that every albergue and hotel in Léon were booked full because it was a festival weekend, but the municipal albergue had a few beds left. We took off as fast as we could- speed walking over the desert. It felt like a competition with the other pilgrims on the road; a race for a bed. Lucky, the average age of other pilgrims worked in our favor to give us a speed advantage. Once in the city, we were scrambling around trying to find the municipal albergue with no guarantee that the beds were even still available. We walked up and down the busy streets that were filled with people in chicken and unicorn costumes, groups chanting, and plazas that looked like they were the scene of a massive food fight. It took nearly an hour before we stumbled upon a monastery that doubled as a pilgrim albergue- and they had beds! Once checked in and led to the dormitories, we were surprised to see that they had rows and rows of empty beds. We had no reason to rush into the city. Other pilgrims were still checking in hours after us with no problem.
Once settled, we were able to enjoy the Saturday night liveliness Léon had to offer, which was due to Léon being awarded the food capital of Spain. Ironically, because of traveling with a tight college student budget, we ate overpriced frozen pizza for dinner.
The next day we had our first full rest day since Burgos. It poured rain all day, and all the food and tourist attractions were way over our budget, so we ended up cafe-hopping all day; writing postcards, answering emails, and taking care of other housekeeping needs. That evening we hopped on a bus that would take us up north- to the beach!
How to Make Your Body Hate You (And Then Love You Again)
I’ve been on trail for 10 days now and have walked 200 something kilometers. The adjustment period of blisters, sore muscles, and nervousness is coming to an end and I can feel my body comfortably falling back into the thru-hiking routine. My feet are a little less sore at the end of each day, my stomach becomes a deeper pit every meal, and I’ve stopped concerning myself with being smelly. Ahhh the joys of simple, nomadic livin’.
From Roncevalles we had the bright idea of walking 44 k (28 miles) to the city of Pamplona so that we could spend more time there. This wouldn’t have been a problem if we had been walking for a couple weeks already, but trying to do this week 1 caught up to [most of] our bodies. We walked from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm and by the time we spotted the promise land of Pamplona, all of 5 of us were limping and groaning on empty stomachs while squinting through the wind and rain that had decided to accompany us, desperately searching for a hostel. We were taken in by a friendly hospitalero (hostel owner) named Cesar who told us we were crazy for walking so far and raved to us about how nice the showers were— which was no lie. We were greeted by more classmates who were also in Pamplona, and got to catch up on each others Camino’s so far.
So of course being the wise young people that we are, we rallied our broken bodies to go out on the town. Pamplona was a lively city. Loud music coming out of every bar and restaurant, vendors walking around trying to sell us bracelets in the best english that they could, streets bustling with Friday night cheer, and clusters of limping pilgrims as the cherry on top.
The time came to strap on our packs and boots once again, and thus Gimp Squad was born: those of us who’s bodies just weren’t totally ready for that 44k. Our steady pace was stolen and 3 of us were left inching along with unique pains and new walking styles which were too funny not to laugh at— because yes, we were still going to walk all day like this. The next day as we are gingerly stumbling down a hill we hear “Yo, is this gimp squad?” from behind us coming from a girl we would come to know as Katie who was hobbling along just like us. Katie was a girl doing the Camino by herself, coming from Portland, Oregon. Small, small world. The 4 of us laughed our way through the pouring rain all day which made for a simultaneously miserable and wonderful day. Thanks Gimp Squad.
We rejoined the our classmates at the hostel and enjoyed a big pasta dinner with other pilgrims from all corners of the earth. How special it is that so many people from such different backgrounds can be brought together by such a simple act as walking.
After a couple slow days, my body feels recovered and the miles came easy today. The rain and wind have still not let up, and there’s no signs that it will anyday soon. I guess this is the trade off for all of our beautifully sunny days walking in France. Give and take. Misery and Wonder. Simplifying life helps to bring out this balance in everything. So on it goes!
Farm Animals Everywhere
We made it over the Pyrenees mountains today! Day 5 of walking delivered the goods: grazing wild horses, delicate wildflowers, patches of glistening snow & expansive views.
I’ve been walking in a group with Anne, Aidan, Harry, and Caroline since Anne and I started our walk April 1st from Oloron-sainte-marie, France. The first day dished us a ridiculous amount of mud; got rid of that new shoe look in no time! We ended up in a charming, tiny town (2 restaurants, 15 houses, and a church kind of tiny) for Easter evening. Since the town didn’t have a grocery store I loaded up with a 1€ baguette from a baguette vending machine…I love you France.
The next day we strolled through miles of rolling farmland. Waving to happy, healthy cows helped me justify giving up veganism for this walk. We passed rams, sheep, donkeys, horses, and chickens. This made for a wonderful aroma, as you could imagine. These sights and smells accompanied us on our walk for the next couple days.
Tuesday we had a long day walking hill after hill after hill under an intense sun. We also hadn’t seen Anne since the morning & other pilgrims on the trail had no word of her. We were limping every step the last hill, and going a little crazy. Moral was running low, but when we got into town we were welcomed into the guest house on a picturesque farm- equipped with 1 safe Anne and 3 farm dogs wiggling for affection and ogling our dinner. As much as I wanted to love them up, their layer of cow-poop smell was enough to keep me away. It was still the best reward after a long day walking.