Suffering is considered part of a pilgrimage by many…I had hoped to avoid this part by doing my homework, buying the right shoes, the right socks etc., I trained for months… The Camino apparently had other plans for me…this foot pain is becoming tiresome…at the end of the past few days, my body has been so saturated with adrenaline from pain all day, that I feel weird and  am not hungry…I think I turned a corner today though.

The wildflowers here in Spring are a visual feast for the eyes.  They leave me constantly thinking of my grandson Cooper who loves flowers.  They line the roadways and are interspersed in the vast fields of wheat.

Kevin’s feet were much better today and mine weren’t, so he took off ahead of me…it’s why it is so difficult to plan on traveling with anyone here, so many moving parts.  But deep in contemplation this morning, I thought that the Camino is like a microcosm of life, people coming and going from our lives… Not a bad thing, just the way it is.

The weather was perfect for walking, temperate, overcast, no rain.  The first few miles were on a very quiet country road, in fact the only locomotion I saw was a horse and carriage

It didn’t take me long to figure out he was offering transportation to the next village, a looooong 10 1/2 miles away, with nothing inbetween. (The longest stretch like this on the Camino)… As my feet complained to me I was very tempted to hail him down, but just watched longingly as he passed.

Soon we were on a more typical wide, gravel path that seemed to go on forever, and the sun had graced us with its presence.

My feet were intermittently feeling better, so I started to make better time… I can now tell the people who are in pain like me, we all have kind of a rolling gait…I slowed down to speak to one old man going slower than me.  And met a beautiful Canadian woman who encouraged me to rest and let me vent some of the frustration about my feet.

At some point on this stretch, I passed the official half way mark.  Woo hoo!

I was several hours on this path before the hallelujah moment.  Tonight’s bed is in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere… It’s only commerce, several albergues, a cafe/bar and a tiny Tienda (store)

Kevin greeted me with a smile, bless his heart, he’d saved me a bottom bunk…

I had only eaten toast, coffee and orange juice for breakfast, so the first order of business was a big bocadillo (sandwich)… I ate the whole thing…one of the best parts of this trip are the vast amounts of calories I burn every day.  I’m losing weight as I eat things I would never normally eat.  

I kept the mileage down today, and tomorrow I will do even a little less… I’m hoping to turn my feet around in the next 48 hours