The Cows are my Only Companions
Dang yo, today was hard. I planned 37km today. My reasoning for the past two days was multi-fold. I wanted to land in larger cities for the evenings, I wanted to challenge myself on mileage, and I wanted to spend more of the day walking (and less of the day chilling).
I did not set out until 6:45AM this morning. About 5km into my day, there was a split where you could take the ‘original route’ along the highway, or the alternate, along an old Roman road.
I wanted to do the alternate, thinking it would be more pleasant to be away from the highway. What it meant though, was a 9km section of nothingness, a small town, then an 18km section of nothing…no towns, services, or water. What I also did not realize is that almost no one else would take this route, so it would be absent of humans as well.
The 18km stretch took me from 10:45am until 2:30pm. It was hot, no shade, lonely, and mentally very difficult. Step after step after step. The view does not change; the road has no bends. It is flat and straight. It is actually a pretty view, mountains at the edge of my vision, with colorful clouds above them. But it did not change for nearly 4 hours. It was like walking with a picture in front of my face. I saw zero other humans the entire time. The first living creature I saw near the end of the section was a bunch of cows.
I said hello.
At the end of this stretch was a town called Reliegos. I saw nothing of that town except the inside of the bar, where I could get an espresso on ice. This was because I still had another 6km to go on my day, so no time to dilly dally… Just enough of a break to rest my feet.
The final 6km were, you guessed it, flat and straight. I popped into the gas station on the way into town and bought a litre of pineapple juice. It was gone within the hour.
This albergue has washing machines, and their price is reasonable and includes soap. I washed everything I have with me. I’m currently rocking a baggy dress (which I snagged from the ‘leave what you don’t want’ bin), commando, discreetly in the back garden while everything dries on the line.
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Some folks I met from Colorado like last week are staying in this town!! I went over to their albergue to meet up for late dinner. The Host over there was insisting that everyone share songs from their country (this is a theme…), But this time it was not associated with a church, so people were sharing all kinds of stuff! This guy did a slam Poem, there were songs with actions, it was good fun! I was (again…) The only Canadian so when they called Canada it was like… Me or nobody. I rocked out a few versus of Barrett’s Privateers. Needed to represent the East coast!
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Reflections one year later….
As evidenced by the above picture of the ring of dirt on my ankle, I really wish I had brought gaiters ( mention this in packing list as well!). I considered them before leaving and decided against it. Mistake! They would have been so nice to have. Also, the Albergue I stayed in on this day was Albergue de Gaia. It was lovely.