Day 18 - Hornillos del Camino, 15 miles
It appeared that pain would be my constant companion today…
As I was leaving my quite posh hotel at 7am this morning, I could smell the coffee…I felt a little out of place in the ‘white linen tablecloth’ dining room, but stopped in for a quick cafe con leche and a banana. As I rose to leave, the hostess refused to take any money from me, and instead, with a smile wished me “Buen Camino”…her kindness brought tears to my eyes, and I felt that my day was starting with a good omen… Good thing, because the memory of that would help get me through the next couple of hours…
Fortunately the walk out of Burgos is much more pleasant, and shorter than the one in…
I had optimistically set out thinking my feet were better, but it quickly became apparent that I was wrong! Well…. Better than two days ago, but still pain with every step…I slowed my pace, took smaller steps, and that seemed to help. I also began repeating “my feet heal themselves and feel better with every step” interspersed with the Gayatri mantra. Is this trip seriously about me seeing that I can heal myself… Sigh!
Shortly, we (me and everyone else in a long line of pilgrims), left the city. What a relief to be on a country Camino path again. Made more beautiful by the silence and the morning mist still hanging over the grass.
Did I mention my feet were still killing me…
Amazing how the brain can switch from pain to beauty…
It was a fair walk, 7 1/2 miles, to the first town where I could have my 2nd breakfast…with a sigh of relief, I sat and put my foot on a chair as I ate a most delicious bocadillo, tuna, egg, tomato, lettuce on some crazy good bread.
As I rose to leave, to my unbelievable relief, my feet felt a lot better! Ok! I could do this!
Darn I should have used the rest room again before leaving…. As I was leaving the town, and any prospect of a tree/bush to pee behind, I saw my opportunity…with a quick glance at the pilgrims behind me I saw that I had a very small window…I quickly relieved myself, pulled up my pants, and saw that I had christened the side of my boot…can’t rush these things I guess😄
In about one mile I went through a very beautiful little village, Rabe.
I was excited, I knew that after this would be a long steady climb onto the Meseta, the flat, mostly wheat field plains of Northern Spain… I will spend about a week traversing them.
Many say that the Camino is split into 3 parts….the first that I have just completed is the physical, as during this part your body is getting used to all the walking, or that’s the hope anyway, also the terrain is quite challenging… The Meseta is the mental, as during this part it’s very flat and mostly endless fields, so a great opportunity to ‘go inside’…the third part, Galicia, is the spiritual, a nature walk that is a testament to Gods creative abilities…’my words’ 😄
At this point in the next picture, according to the mileage in the books, I should have been at my destination… I knew then I was in trouble…non of the mileage ever adds up, is different from one source to another, it just is what it is…
And here finally, the ‘hallelujah’ moment… As you can see, I still have well over a mile to go…
Hornillos is a beautiful little town, and I found a great private albergue, even had a foot/leg massage machine.
After some rest, I tried to go for a little walk around the village on this gorgeous afternoon, but had to abort mission… my feet were screaming at me to just leave them alone.
Will see how my feet feel tomorrow… May ship my bag, or ship myself to Castrojeriz…
I have been in touch with Kevin, he’s having similar difficulties with his leg/foot…is one day ahead, but may have to take another day off also, we may end up being ‘gimp along’ buddies.
