I hit the wall..

San Juan de Ortega>Burgos

The title is figurative not literal, keep reading.

Usual 5:00 wake up and quick prep for the day. The village quickly exited to a long stretch of dense forest. It’s still dark at 5:45, but a tree canopy over a rocky trail, that’s a whole different kind of dark. My headlamp is about the size of a matchbox and is perfect for navigating a dark stairwell or finding the bathroom in an albergue. On this trial it was seriously outgunned. I was standing on the road looking into the pitch black mouth of this forest, with a little yellow arrow pointing in. The camino really does seem to give you what you need, and i turned around to see a couple of seriously bright bobbing headlamps from approaching pilgrims. If I could keep up with the group I could make it through the forest. Elsa from Finland was packing some serious lumens and slowed her pace to help me out. It was really awesome, it felt more like a leafy cave than a forest. This is her third camino and we exchanged typical pilgrim banter. It was about 20 minutes through the woods and I thanked Elsa for sharing her light. She continued with a faster pace and I slowed down to take a picture. With open sky the morning was taking shape. It was incredible. A full moon was setting over village in front of me. The sun was rising behind me illuminating low thin clouds. Incredible. The pictures don’t do it justice! High on nature, I made my big mistake of the day. There was a little line at the coffee shop in the first village of the day, so I skipped it. I left SJdO rested but without much breakfast (two bananas and trail mix) I have to keep more provisions in my pack for these situations. Dinner the night before was tuna on tomato with lettuce and olives, a heavy meal felt like way to much after the heat of the day. The result was that about 9:30 I hit the wall… hard…. It was on the only hill of the day, an easy one by camino standards. I was out of gas. It seems like everything on the camino happens for a reason. I suppose life in general is that way, I’m just not tuned in. Crawling up this seemingly endless hill.  I realized that pride was the real issue. I was pushing to get to Burgos to rent a bike so I might me able to cover every mile of the camino. I was telling myself that “I didn’t want to miss a single step”. In reality it’s probably more ” wanted bragging rights for getting all 500 miles”. As I zoomed out on the situation I realized that I probably avoided a train wreck. I’ll have to cover some ground by bus, but I’m just fine with that.  Every step got easier after that point. It also got much better after I found a coffee shop and had a cafe con leche, tortilla and blood sausage with quail egg. Btw the blood sausage has a creepy name, but it’s delicious. I also had a chocolate croissant ….and another tortilla. Hobbled away from the cafe feeling like a new man. Opted for the river route to Burgos. Very scenic, but ran the total for the day up to about 18 miles. Said goodbye to Bob and Nancy who I’ve seen on and off for the past few days. Opted for rather opulent diggs in a two star with an incredible view of the cathedral. I booked two nights. Tomorrow I’m a tourist, not a pilgrim. It’s been 13 days and almost 200 miles. I need a break. I’m meeting friends for dinner. Body sore, spirits high!

  
  
  
  
 

  
  
  
  

  
The view from my room!  I’m still amazed by the prices.  Two nights here are cheaper than one night at a best western in Ohio!