Camino Pilgrim

The shortest walking day on this Camino. Still, it took a long time to finish. Between every village until Cadavedo there was a nature trail with hills and water obstacles. A really enjoyable way to spend the day.

In addition, near the end of this ocean alternative there were several locations with amazing views out towards the great big blue. Right next to the ocean views, the trail had not seen maintenance for a while. Some of the grass vegetation grew above my head.

Asturia’s region keeps leaving a very deep appreciation for the Camino. It has a connection between natural trails and the ocean that no other region seems to be able to replicate. In other regions, car roads have been built as close to the ocean as possible. Here, cars have their straight roads a bit more inland, and it gets you to your destination faster.

Time is definitely moving at a different pace around here. I keep seeing new forest animals every day. Today I saw a phesant, yesterday a wild boar. The day before, it was a black goat. Even the birds that fly around seem to be changing little by little.

Today I did something that you should not do in the middle of a long hike. Tried out a completely new style of footwear – barefoot style hiking sandals. Hiking sandals alone was a new test to see if sweating around the toes in the afternoon can be reduced with sandals or not. The test was a huge success. No sweating at all. The anti-bacterial cream had already healed the primary injury, so I was not afraid of dirt getting in contact with the feet anymore.

Why is trying out new styles of shoes a bad thing then? Because I have never trained hiking in barefoot style shoes. A whole new set of muscles will come into play that you have never properly developed before.

The sandals are quite thin on the cushioning side, so I absorbed a lot of shock into the knees. I did like walking barefoot a lot, although I had to move around like a cartoon duck to avoid small stones getting between the foot and the sandals.

I did see the benefit of completely avoiding blisters using sandals. I will use them in the future as a last resort on long afternoon walking stretches where I do not see benches in the shade. These situations are more common than you might think.

However, my main strategy until Santiago will still be to start hiking a bit before the sunrise. That seems to be the safest way to add a few extra kilometers to the day.