Camino Pilgrim

I was right to assume yesterday that today I will have some backlash for walking too long the day before. Although I have nothing hurting or injured, then physically I did not fully recover by the morning and was half exhausted all day. It is not as bad as it sounds.

More frequent rest stops were needed and the total rest time was similar to my first days on the Camino. I will probably be almost fully rested by tomorrow and can walk a similar distance as today, much faster.

I slept like a log today. Nine hours non-stop. It might be the first time that my alarm clock rang before I was awake. Walking 5km to Portomarin was quite effortless. I was really distracted by the heavy fog and kept trying to take pictures and videos.

Once I got to Portomarin, the Sarria pilgrim hordes were also starting their day. At first I pushed myself past a few dozen of them, but I soon realized that there is no point competing. They will finish hiking before I do. I need more rest than they do and if I am relaxed enough at cafes, then their majority will be far ahead of me and I can walk quite relaxed. This picture I made is just 3km before the Sarria pilgrims finish their day, so you can see that there are not 100+ more people in a line in front of me.

The Sarria pilgrims finished at Palas de Rei. I continued just 4km more. This way, tomorrow I can walk in peaceful silence all day. Most annoying were not the Sarria pilgrims that went from bar to bar to drink beer and cheated by using a taxi to get to their destination. The annoying pilgrims were carrying soundbars and playing their crappy music real loud. When that happened, I just stopped walking and let them pass far enough that I could continue peacefully. Pilgrims having loud conversations with each other in Spanish did not disturb them at all. After all, these people are on the trail for just a week and it’s normal for locals to talk to other people they have just met.

Even though I was half exhausted all day, I was able to walk at a pace I felt comfortable with, I had plenty of blissful moments enjoying the scenery and could always put on headphones when overwhelmed by the pilgrim masses.

I also have decided to shorten my daily hiking distances after Santiago. Once I finish there, my average daily distance will be 30,6 kilometers. There are so many days left over to complete a 1000km hiking goal, that I can easily slow down to 20-25 daily and still catch my plane. I won’t slow down before Santiago because I feel very driven now to break my own record.

There are 2 more days left until Santiago.