Remy’s 2023 Travel Notebook

What a day again. Today was my most difficult physical challenge yet. The stats:

• 55.5km (34.5 mi) walked over 10 hours
• Average moving speed 3.5 MPH
• 3,210 calories burned
• 800 meters total ascent
• Garmin estimated sweat loss 8 liters (I can’t imagine this to be accurate)
• Average/high temperature: 31C/39C !
• 2 hours worth of breaks mixed in (sightseeing, eating, drinking!)

I was woken up by a fellow peregrino at 5:30 am. I thought I might as well get myself up and start early. I walked out of the albergue into the dark with some immediate bushwhacking thanks to fields and the dark. Today I planned to walk alone because my walking partner for the last two days started developing a sore throat and is afraid she will have tonsillitis (for the fourth time this year).

I was hobbling due to blister pain, but the pain subsided within a half mile. I felt unstoppable and moved quickly with poles alternating each step. I quickly caught up to the guy that left before me, but didn’t talk much because he had to take a business call. Good for me – as I walked into the pastel sunrise I witnessed lots of wildlife as I woke them up or scared them from the fields.

The walk today turned out so long for a couple reasons. I wanted to challenge myself after taking a day off in Pamplona last week to let my body adapt more slowly. I wanted to test things out. I had two blisters on each foot, and two on my right toes. I had been fighting to prevent them for the three days prior but decided to try wearing two socks and no other protection. The idea here is that the inside sock will be more static and the friction will occur between the two socks. I am not sure how well this really works because the blisters on my left foot resolved while the ones on the right doubled in size to about an index fingernail. I took off socks and shoes at lunch to let things dry out. I am now in bed and patched up my blisters with band aids and tape over that for my walk tomorrow.

I had lots of time to contemplate my purpose on this Camino and life during today’s walk. The thinking guided me to skip past the big city (logroño) that was at the 40km point and walk the extra 15km to Navarrette. In my experience so far, big cities can be fun for a party and meeting new people, but the smaller towns provide more of the authentic Camino experience that I desire. I was also motivated by the idea of reuniting with The Group, which is now sleeping only 7km down the road. I will wake up at 4:45 and start my walk at 5:00 to find them along the trail and do about 38km total. I just hope my blisters and body can recover doing smaller distances for the next few days.

On my second day where I stayed with the nuns at the church on a hill, I first read the “10 beautitudes of the pilgrim.” They are principles that we should strive for during our respective caminos. It was quite an emotional experience reading them in the 13th century church and I will have to share them here soon. One of them reads as follows: “Blessed are you, pilgrim, if your backpack is emptying of things and your heart does not know where to hang so many emotions.”

The next day, I consolidated my backpack and donated half of my clothes and some other supplies to the Albergue in Pamplona. I felt a sense of relief and can already tell that with less items to manage, I have more energy to walk, think about what’s important and let the Camino do it’s work on me.

Getting back to details of the day. I enjoyed some “Pinchos” (northern Spain’s word for Tapas) and wine in Logroño before doing my last stretch to Navarrete. I heard from a Brazilian man on the trail that the Pinchos here are the best in Spain. I walked into a bar and selected three things (specifically the ones I didn’t know/haven’t had before). I snapped a picture of two of them.

Following are a random assortment of more pictures from the day.

When I arrived at the Albergue, the hospitalera looked at me with shock when she looked at my pilgrim’s passport. The last stamp was from Villamayor, and she could hardly believe I walked that far in the heat. I had to look at understand this by referencing distances in California, where I’m from. 35 miles is just shy of the driving distance from my house in Dixon to Benicia 🤯