I’M A DAY BEHIND

This is day 2 of my second Camino.

You all know that yesterday was a difficult day. After a good meal with fellow pilgrims and a good night’s sleep I started out feeling pretty good. We had breakfast together and with a cafe au lait under my belt I was prepared to conquer the day.

I started strong then at about 1/10 a mile I realized I had left my trekking poles behind. So I got to add a few extra steps to my day. I was doing very well as the climbs are more of a gentle slope and there are a few flat parts and even a few down hills. Then I stopped about 1 km before the summit of the Pyrenees. At this point there is a little food truck where I stopped to get a hard boiled egg and a water. After that stop I had a tough climb. It wasn’t so much the climb itself as it was the head wind blowing me backwards.

Then…according to the hand drawn map on the side of the food truck (I’m pretty sure this is copyright free) I was supposed to have 5 km of flat land and then 5 km downhill into Ronceveaux (French) or Roncesvalles (Spanish). For a flat land there were a lot of climbs.

Then I hit my first real challenge. One km uphill with a strong headwind. It didn’t get any better after that. Five km that was supposed to be flat turned out to have several climbs. When I finally got to the descent into Roncesvalles I forgot to take the longer but better paved road. It was brutal. If I ever walk the camino Frances I hope I never make that mistake again.

By the time I dragged myself into town I had to laugh at the hotel reception. He explained that I would need to use my room key to enter the hotel after 11:00 pm. NO PROBLEMO! I went to my room, got cleaned up, did some laundry, got a 🍷 from the bar, and ate the rest of my sandwich from lunch.

I was in bed by 8:00 🥱😴

Buen Camino