Walk

We woke up earlier than normal this morning. The pension we stayed in had a breakfast “buffet”, so we wanted to get down there early and partake and still hit the road around our normal time or earlier.

The alarm went off at 5am. Again, I woke up about 2 minutes before it. Pretty wild. Continue Reading

For dinner last night we went to the same Italian restaurant we enjoyed lunch at. We liked the food, so didn’t think anything of going back. The server thought it a little amusing.

This go round we had caprese and lasagna. Quite good, but they run a little light on the sauce. We finished up dinner and headed back to the hostel.

Estella has a beautiful downtown, but the rest of the city seemed a run down. Its the first time I didn’t particularly feel safe in a particular area of town.

We were in bed shortly after dinner. Hiking in the heat of the day really took it out of us. Molli and Tony attempted sleep right away. I chatted with the boys back home for several hours. It was a hot, rather muggy night. About 11 Molli, moved to the other bed, as it was just too hot to sleep with another person. I finally put down my phone around 11:30 and fell to sleep almost immediately.

We all woke up a few minutes before the alarm. before it went off I said out loud, “Well it’s almost 5:30 if we want to get going.” They both responded immediately. We must have all been awake for a little bit.

We hit the road right at 6. It was significantly easier to hike the coolness of the morning. Noted in the guide book, on our way out of town is a winery that has a water fountain for filling you water bottles and also a wine fountain that dispenses free wine! Right there for pilgrims to use on the side of the building! Rumor is, they put one barrel of wine up a day and when to gone, it’s gone. We thought the gate might be closed because we would by there too early. But sure enough there it was! Molli and I both had a sip. It was pretty decent wine! We didn’t take any with us. It was more just to say we did it. Wine in the morning before 13.5 miles of hiking just didn’t seem like a good idea.  In the U.S. you would be required to have a security guard, special permitting, a huge liability insurance policy and someone checking IDs.  

 
There are generally several villages along the way, so we wait to eat until we get to a village after several miles of hiking. We ran into a snag this morning in that the only cafe to get breakfast, didn’t open until 9. There were roughly 15 pilgrims milling about contemplating what to do. We only passed through 1 village today, so it was either wait for the cafe to open, or go without breakfast. T&M and I have been carrying a small amount of food. We decided to snack on that and hit the road.

We remembered there was supposed to be a mobile lunch truck about 3.5 miles away. What we ate should easily tide us over until then. We hiked on. The ice baths did wonders for everyone’s feet. We got into a pretty good rhythm and pounded out the miles. We arrived at the lunch truck and had a quick bite to eat and a coffee. We had just under 4 miles to go to arrive at our stop for the day, Los Arcos.

Similar to what we have seen the places we have been, Los Arcos has a historic downtown, with a smaller community built up around it. We found a “pension” for our nights rest tonight. A pension is basically a hotel. We have determined its only a few more euros each to share a room than it would be to stay in the dormitory rows of bunk beds hostels. So it’s a win.

The only downside to it, is we miss out on some of the social interactions you would experience in the hostels. We attempt to make up for it at lunch and dinner when we see other pilgrims out. We gladly strike up conversations. People love to talk.

After finding our room, we had lunch in the town square. I had paella again. It is soooo good. Molli and I also split a pitcher of sangria. Being a little dehydrated, it went very easily. Fortunately its not overly potent!

The last couple days have been rather hard emotionally. The camino is a strange place. It takes any emotional baggage you have been hiding away and rips it to the forefront of your mind without warning. It then waves a huge flag in your face and says, ” HERE YOU GO!!! DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW!!”

Ready or not, there is generally no option but to start working it out. You are too tired to resist. So you start working through it. There should be a disclaimer on the Camino. “Anyone hiking the camino needs to apologize to their friends and family in advance. You will be reaching out to them with stuff drudged up from the far recesses of your brain. Either to make amends, make changes, or just to ask them for help.

The PCT definitely didn’t strike this sort of emotional response. Sure I worked through so things, but nothing like what I have experienced on this trail so far. A few people I have talked to have shared a similar experience. It’s something to do with the trail and not the act of hiking. No wonder people have been hiking this trail for over a thousand years.

The three of us have fallen into a groove. We have also gotten rather quiet. We are all working in our heads, and hiking down the road. Three pilgrims following the way. Im really glad they invited me to come along. The experience is golden and I’m sure I have a lot of “stuff” to deal with. I welcome it with open arms.

As a side note, Tony has been on the minimalist shoe band wagon since it started. He routinely wears vibrams.  When he told me he was planning to where minimalist sandals on the trail I was verbally skeptical. He’s hiked the last 87 miles in a sandal made by Luna and hasn’t had a single issue. Pretty outstanding. By no means am I affiliated with them, but if you like minimalist shoes, check them out at http://lunasandals.com.  He’s wearing the Luna Leadville Trail. 

 

Tomorrow we are hoping to send a package home and ditch weight of items we aren’t using.   When we arrived in Los Arcos the post office was already closed. The hours are 8:30 to 11:00am Monday – Friday. (Huh?!) On Wednesday the forecast calls for thunderstorms and rain!  Always an adventure!

Buen Camino.

Today we were lazy and didn’t get out of bed until 6:30. It was nice to sleep in, but the primary reason we lounged about until so late was due to the hostel offering a breakfast buffet. All of us are running a calorie deficit, so we thought it would be worth waiting around until the buffet opened at 7.

We headed down to the buffet as the opened and ate like savages. by 7:30 we were back in the room packing up and we hit the trail by 7:45. The sun was already somewhat intense, and the normal coolness of the air we normally experience the first few miles of our hike was already gone.

I had a rough nights sleep. Emotions on the trail are very raw. I have found, as you remove yourself from your layers of protections, your home, variety of clothes, friends, routines, etc, you are more vulnerable. When you are vulnerable, you see more things as a threat and react accordingly. Things that would normally be benign or a joke you take way to personally. I had an instance of that last night before bed. Fortunately I was able to talk through the situation and realize I way over reacting.

Even with my apologies and regret, the tone for my sleep had been set. As a result, I experienced a couple very disturbing dreams involving a couple of close friends. So my sleep was restless and interrupted.

When I woke up, I felt very confrontational and took a couple of comments from my fellow travelers the wrong way. Fortunately I had learned my lesson from last night and didn’t lash out at them. I kept my mouth shut because i knew it was my issue, not theirs to deal with today.

Again, their comments would normally be taken as benign, but coupled with being worn out, homesick and already on edge, I blew them way out of proportion. After pondering on them for a good 2 hours, and walking the anger away, I started to feel better. He can be taught!

Emotional maturity is hard work!

Today we were all pretty sore. Our feet are feeling the effects of 70 miles of walking. We were all rather quiet today. Basically, the honeymoon is over. The work of hiking the Camino has begun. We are no longer floating along on adrenaline and excitement. Let the growth begin!

Our walk today took us through the rolling hills of wheat, oats and vineyards. I can’t get over the villages in Spanish countryside. 

The temperature rose quickly. We came to a church built in 1062. A 950 year old building. You don’t see that every day. the building is in an amazing state of repair considering its age. It is not a currently active church, but someone is keeping it reasonably maintained. The timbers supporting the roof appear to be almost brand new and must have been replaced in the last 10 years.

 950 years old!  
  

The miles were difficult. We all couldn’t wait to get into Estella and find a hostel. The last 2 miles seemed to take forever, but we finally arrived. Once again we ended up with a private room that sleeps 3. Definitely not a bad deal.

We found our way back to an Italian restaurant we passed on the way to our hostel. T&M both had pizza. I ordered an Antipasto and spaghetti a la chicken carbonara. Quite delicious.

We returned to the room where we each participated in the torture of ice bath for our feet. This afternoon we are just lounging about with our feet up. We’ve walked enough today.

Ice baths are fun!    

    All and all for 5 days in with 70+ miles on our feet, we are fairing well. One day at a time and tomorrow is another day.

Buen Camino.