Hello all,
We´re in Sarria... the last 100km to go!!!
I realize I am leaving huge gaps here ... but it seems that telecommunications are few and far between in rural Spain ... and I am okay with this!
So, for the past week, Vince and I decided to take some solo time just to enjoy the camino at our own pace and to meet others along the road individually. It was good timing since we ´re-entered´the camino at Leon and there were two routes branching off for a little section ... a perfect time to begin a slightly different camino.
We just rejoined each other yesterday at the top of the cordillera Cantabrica at O Cebrerio, a stunningly beautiful celtic village at a couple of thousand feet.
The most interesting thing about the past week for me was the realization that although I had set out alone, with the intention of enjoying some solitude for awhile... you are never really alone on the camino. I had some wonderful moments in the early hours when I set out in the dark with stars above each day... but that was about it really. Typically I would join others for coffee mid morning and perhaps carry on with them for a few km´s and of course you always meet up at the end of the day to recount events and reconnect with those you have seen over the past few days ... its always a nice surprise to see who ends up at the same Albergue.
It was along this stretch that the camino finally began to wear me down a little... had a bit of a cold, first blister and worst of all, shin splints... for those of you who are runners, that term strikes fear into my very core! These were bone breakingly painful shin splints... what would I do... take a bus? Wait it out a couple of days? No. I limped into an Albergue in Rabanal del Camino and within 5 minutes was sized up by an Irishman who just looked at me and said ... are you going to make it? YES! I firmly said (I believed it too!). Well then, he said, you´d better meet Martin... And so, during the most trying day of my camino so far, I was guided step by step by Martin from the UK who has done this before... he continuously reapplied topical ibuprofin to my aching leg and was chatter enough to keep my mind off my pain and keep me laughing through 30km of brutal downhills (but with stunning vistas) from Rabbanal to Molenaseca. (Thank you Martin! I will forever be grateful for you!) When we finally arrived late the next afternoon... I asked him .. why did you stick it out with me? He replied... I just knew you would need somebody today, and this is the camino way.... I haven´t seen him since, but I bought an extra tube of ´Voltaren´the miracle cream he shared with me... and I hope I get to give it to someone else along the way.
Buen Camino,
A.
We´re in Sarria... the last 100km to go!!!
I realize I am leaving huge gaps here ... but it seems that telecommunications are few and far between in rural Spain ... and I am okay with this!
So, for the past week, Vince and I decided to take some solo time just to enjoy the camino at our own pace and to meet others along the road individually. It was good timing since we ´re-entered´the camino at Leon and there were two routes branching off for a little section ... a perfect time to begin a slightly different camino.
We just rejoined each other yesterday at the top of the cordillera Cantabrica at O Cebrerio, a stunningly beautiful celtic village at a couple of thousand feet.
The most interesting thing about the past week for me was the realization that although I had set out alone, with the intention of enjoying some solitude for awhile... you are never really alone on the camino. I had some wonderful moments in the early hours when I set out in the dark with stars above each day... but that was about it really. Typically I would join others for coffee mid morning and perhaps carry on with them for a few km´s and of course you always meet up at the end of the day to recount events and reconnect with those you have seen over the past few days ... its always a nice surprise to see who ends up at the same Albergue.
It was along this stretch that the camino finally began to wear me down a little... had a bit of a cold, first blister and worst of all, shin splints... for those of you who are runners, that term strikes fear into my very core! These were bone breakingly painful shin splints... what would I do... take a bus? Wait it out a couple of days? No. I limped into an Albergue in Rabanal del Camino and within 5 minutes was sized up by an Irishman who just looked at me and said ... are you going to make it? YES! I firmly said (I believed it too!). Well then, he said, you´d better meet Martin... And so, during the most trying day of my camino so far, I was guided step by step by Martin from the UK who has done this before... he continuously reapplied topical ibuprofin to my aching leg and was chatter enough to keep my mind off my pain and keep me laughing through 30km of brutal downhills (but with stunning vistas) from Rabbanal to Molenaseca. (Thank you Martin! I will forever be grateful for you!) When we finally arrived late the next afternoon... I asked him .. why did you stick it out with me? He replied... I just knew you would need somebody today, and this is the camino way.... I haven´t seen him since, but I bought an extra tube of ´Voltaren´the miracle cream he shared with me... and I hope I get to give it to someone else along the way.
Buen Camino,
A.
1 comment:
AL, I finally made it on your blog! I'm emotional just reading about your journey...amazing ACR!
Safe travels to you both!
Love
SONN
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