Camino Pilgrim

I am starting to see the light! The first few days of the Camino, I had issues with spraining my left Achilles. After that, I overloaded my right achilles and even got my right ankle swollen up a bit from pushing too much. It seems to be rare currently to have both feet healthy at the same time, but I am hopeful that it will come again soon.

The walk out of Santander was extremely boring, going just in a straight line. On the positive side, you get out of a big city really fast this way. The whole day was following some major highways, but locals had done their best to make it safe and relatively pleasant. It got better the further away you were from Santander.

I reached Boo and Acre very fast, so the first 20 kilometers went by like flying. I only took some small breaks and one potato omelette meal. I did start to feel some swelling in the ankle kicking in right at the end of Acre.

I sat down on a wide bus station bench and took my shoes and socks off. This way, the ankle can reduce swelling the fastest. While I was sitting comfortably there, it started to rain. I just took my time and casually sat for 20 minutes until the rain was over and my feet felt brand new again.

Actually, my ankles got so much cold air that they had frozen a bit and it took several steps to walk like normal people do.

A few kilometers later, I again felt swelling in the right sock, so I made another bench stop and booked myself accommodation in the next village.

Mar is a very tiny place. The two-star hotel I am staying in does not even serve dinner. I had to eat in the local village bar/restaurant/shop thingy before checking in. I still have some snacks left if I feel hungry later in the evening or in the morning.

I have a private room with a bathtub! This is a huge luxury on the Camino. First thing after washing my clothes was to take an ice bath on my feet. I kept them in very long to make sure selling was pushed to an absolute minimum. After that, I had a hot bath followed up by the typical hour-long stretching routine to keep both of my feet healthy for the rest of the trip.

I am definitely in a good routine now. I will try to maximize sleep now that it’s guaranteed that I can’t hear anyone else snoring at night. Looking forward to tomorrow. I will walk again according to how my feet feel tomorrow.

Hopes are high currently. Midpoint to Santiago is approaching in just a few days.