I wrote this at lunchtime while sitting at an outdoor café in
Logrono, but didn’t have internet access until this evening. We had a trouble-free bus trip from Logrono
to Leon, with an easy change at Burgos.
We discovered that one of our fellow travellers, who got on at Burgos,
was a pilgrim we had met in Zubiri.
During Sunday’s 8.4 km walk from Lorca to Estella, I decided
this wasn’t the right time for me to be attempting the Camino. So I have decided not to continue. Anna said it was up to me, but agreed it
wasn’t really working. I had already walked
just over 10% of the distance – a bit over 80 km, although according to Anna’s
GPS we had done more than 100km! However, it had taken me 9 days! At that rate I might still have been going
for months – long past any realistic time frame!
Why did I consider it the wrong time? It would have been a really good idea to have
got past lesson one in learning Spanish!
Although there are a lot of English speakers along the Camino, it would
have been great to be able to communicate in Spanish. It would also have been great if I had done
more training to improve my stamina and flexibility, although the yoga I did
helped with the latter. In addition, there was
a considerable mismatch between Anna’s and my preferred travelling speed. Anna’s feet had been giving her trouble (although
neither of us got blisters!) and she preferred to travel fast, whereas I was
happiest at a snail’s pace, just putting one foot in front of the other,
looking at the scenery and taking photos (not that Anna didn’t take photos or look
at the scenery, she can just do it faster than me). No wonder it was taking me so long! The rather hot weather was also a major
factor – felt like the middle of summer after my pre-breakfast training back
home when it was only 10°C or so. I also
felt that I would prefer to be home earlier rather than later, although we
haven’t as yet changed our return flight.
Yesterday we caught the bus from Estella to Logrono. Unfortunately it was only this morning we
found the place we had hoped to stay the night – one street over from where we
ended up. Where we stopped was fine, but
dearer than the place we had been looking for!
Not our fault, the guide book got it wrong…
Today we are catching a bus from Logrono to Burgos and Burgos
to Leon. We booked online into a hotel
in Leon as the bus isn’t scheduled to arrive until about 7pm. We are stopping two nights in Leon – the
second night we are booked into the Hostal San Marcos, described as a sumptuous
15th century pilgrim hospital now restored as a modern Parador hotel. According to my guide book, this was the
hotel featured in The Way, where
Martin Sheen’s character treated his friends to a night of luxury. Looks gorgeous, hope it lives up to
expectations!
As it turned out the hotel we are stopping in tonight is
pretty luxurious and was quite reasonably priced. We used an Australian online booking site so
the price was in $A not Euros and I am a bit too lazy to convert and make a
real comparison with what we have been paying on previous nights!
I feel that I have had many benefits so far from this
experience – I have met some great people and I feel the little training I did
do, improved my health.
We plan on continuing our travels, although not strictly a pilgrimage,
as we meander around Europe and Great Britain...
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