Remy’s 2023 Travel Notebook

I missed the blog posts for 2 days. I admittedly got caught up in walking, enjoying company, and immersing myself in the Camino experience. We have covered about 90km in the last 3 days. We will cover 60 more in the next 2 days to finish the Meseta and reach Leon. The Meseta is a part of the Camino known for it’s desolate landscape, heat, and low shade/water. We walked 17km today without any civilization between. The Meseta was a scary thing to think about before we started, but the weather has been more mild than average. However, tomorrow it will reach around 105F around where we are, so we are waking up at 3:30am to start walking. That really means I should be sleeping now since it’s 9:30 pm. Walking at night was on my Camino to-do list and I am glad my group is all on the same page to do that. We look forward to an amazing starry sky, a beautiful sunrise, and a nice long day at an albergue after 30km. Here are some views of the Meseta in the first 3-4 days we have been here…

I am currently in the bunk beds at an albergue with the 4 guys in my group, and 4 girls in our group in another room. The Group recently grew from 7 to 8 when I saw a girl walking alone with a mini guitar strapped to her bag. I had to ask her about it since I was also carrying a ukelele. She is a Dutch musician pursuing a career in music and writes/produces her own indie-folk albums! She bought the guitar in Burgos when she realized she couldn’t go that long without one. We had a nice conversation and walked along to some amazing views while discussing music, life and all things between.

We have had some beautiful albergues in the last few days… for tomorrow we reserved the only albergue in a small town with only 8 beds, and we just found out it doesn’t have warm water (shouldn’t be an issue, plus it only costs €5). I think it will be an interesting time.

One thing I love about the Camino is the attitude of sharing and generosity that the pilgrims and locals have. The first person to the bar buys the drinks, and they trust that the next time someone will buy theirs. Food, chips, cookies, water, blister patches…etc are always passed around especially on very hot, long or early days. Today I ran into a friend (the same guy who came to the Camino unprepared with cotton socks and had massive blisters) who was walking through the Meseta without a hat or glasses. I pulled over and gave him my extra one. Maybe I’ll get it back, maybe not, but I feel assured that the Camino will provide for me should I ever need anything (and I want to make others feel that way too).

The days are starting to blur together but I am trying to remember to keep my notes and write my journals. I want to remember each day for the amazing memories each brings. Today, with Géonne (Dutch singer/songwriter), we put on a little concert for the 10 people at our albergue. We played fun songs on the ukelele and sang as a duet. My friend Charlie took some videos and I will have to get them from him. It was a perfect moment.

Here are some extra pictures!