Camino Pilgrim

Today it got to +37, so I already had the idea of waking up a bit earlier. When I opened my eyes at 3am it seemed a bit crazy to start hiking already, but then again I was able to finish just before the first big heatspike started.

Nighthiking to Castojeriz went really smoothly. I even took some time off to lay down on a park bench in the city. To my surprise, more than 20 pilgrims left the area around 6am. I decided to follow them once I felt strong again.

It was really nice to have an uphill and downhill climb. I missed having something other than just a completely flat Spanish desert. I took a second break in the rest area in the picture. I even took my socks off now that the sun was out.

My feet felt so much better than yesterday morning, the recovery has been going very well. Today I was able to finish hiking early and have a pool at the albergue. Another opportunity to get feet close to fresh conditions while still hiking daily.

What I had noticed in the first part of today was that I was using my weak foot incorrectly. I put too much pressure on the wrong places to avoid stepping over where I had the blister a few days ago. Once I corrected my step, the going went extra smooth. I guess that for many days, if not all of the Camino, I had been stepping wrong with the weaker foot.

Maybe in a day or two we will now take the correct step on both feet to feel effortless. At least swelling from pressure and heat is gradually going down.

I might get up somewhat early again tomorrow to continue avoiding the heat. Pretty much all pilgrims here plan to walk the next 25km starting between 5am and 6am because of the continuous heat.