I am walking 800 kilometers across Spain, from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France over the Pyrenees through Navarre, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Cantabria, Asturias and Castile and León to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
I get up at 4:30 and wait for dawn. Before I went to bed yesterday, I treated myself to some more charcoal tablets, and another few again this morning. Since then everything is fine, and I am happy that I can continue my way.
Estella – Los Arcos Read more »
Once again my night is over at 4:30, because most of the others in the room have started packing and are pretty noisy. It is still pitch black when I set off, mainly following the beams of the pilgrims' headlamps ahead of me. Of course I can't make out any yellow arrows until the sun rises at twenty to seven.
Los Arcos – Logroño Read more »
I leave Logroño around six. It thundered until the early hours of the morning, I don't know how I would have fared in a tent. And just like in Pamplona, people from the previous night are still hanging around everywhere in the city, some still in party mode. I could hear their loud shouting all night, sometimes right next to the open window. So either every weekend is a holiday in Spain, or they basically party every weekend. Strangely enough, I also happen to be in a big city when it is the weekend.
I am in no hurry this morning as I have to wait for the shops and the post office to open. So I sit down at a table by the window in a small café to have breakfast. Then the waiter comes over and tells me I can't sit here because that table seats four. What? The whole café is completely empty and there are other tables for four, and yet another one is piled high with dirty dishes and leftover food. And I am blocking a table for four? I am furious. Finally, I sit down at a single table behind my current one and simply turn my chair around towards the window. So with doing that, I am still sort of sitting at the four-person table, except that my back is now turned towards my plate on the single table. The waiter doesn't say anything more.
Nájera – Santo Domingo de la Calzada Read more »
Holy moly, I was freezing last night! That stupid cotton mummy sleeping bag - it doesn't keep me warm at all! Besides it is incredibly tight and stinks of chemicals! I should have known what a mummy sleeping bag meant. My legs felt as if they were tied together, even though I kick so much in my sleep. In the end I just laid the sleeping bag over me, so I had practically a double layer of blanket. But since it is so narrow, one side of me always stuck out and was cold.
Santo Domingo de la Calzada – Tosantos Read more »
Remarkable how well I am sleeping on the Camino. So far I haven't had a single bad night's sleep. At home I often lie awake, thinking and thinking, and that robs me of sleep. Here, everything is fine. The only thing that worries me right now is my digestion. It has been completely stagnant since I was ill. That was seven days ago, far too long. In Villafranca I want go to the supermarket and buy certain things like yogurt, fruits and other healthy items. I wish I hadn't stuffed myself with so many charcoal tablets. It is also not really helpful that it often takes ten kilometres in the morning before I can get my first coffee.
Tosantos – Atapuerca Read more »
During the night one of my earplug comes out, and I witness Nicola snoring like a chainsaw! When he wakes up in the morning he is no less noisy. He sits on his bed and sings and driving me absolutely crazy. He speaks neither English nor German, and I speak neither Italian nor French, so I don't understand a word he says.
Atapuerca – Burgos Read more »
During the night I wake up a lot as I don't know where to put my feet. The blister on my little toe on my left foot hurts, and my heel hurts on my right foot. I also have a bit of a cold and my voice is really hoarse. Like I said before, there is always something.
My alarm goes off at five when I am in the middle of a dream in which I am trying in vain to pump up my bicycle tires. Strange dream. It feels like my rucksack is almost as heavy as it was at the very beginning. The new sandals definitely weigh more than my old ones, and I am also carrying a sleeping bag again instead of a cotton sack. Plus, I have got an extra half litre of water and a nectarine.
How beautiful it is to wake up to the song of the larks at 4:15 a.m. in the middle of the meseta. However, the air is so incredibly dry that I have a sore throat and my already inflamed sinuses burn when I breathe. Even the tent is completely dry - no condensation inside, no morning dew outside, nothing!
Hontanas – Boadilla del Camino Read more »