Camino Pilgrim

The hardest mountain day of Camino Norte is done! In just 2km of walking you will need to do practically all of the 700m mountain climb. It had been raining hard all day, which made the uphill part especially difficult. Although walking on concrete made it quite safe.

Almost all of the day was on natural terrain. This made going forward especially nice. After conquering the mountain, it was very easy to progress. The whole road to Santiago should be easy now. A handful of days are only left.

The mountain walk was so refreshing that most of the day I kept walking without any breaks. Besides, once I was in Abadin, the rain had stopped for a while and I was more focused on getting a hot shower after finishing.

There is not much to say about the day. I started off with my own breakfast that I bought from the store the day before. For tomorrow I also did my own grocery shopping. Meanwhile, today I can have dinner at the albergue, making the relaxing part extra easy.

Although I have never walked this route before, it has become very familiar. Maybe it’s all the planning and map checking that has been done day by day.

Today there was an option to go slowly uphill around the mountain besides a car road, but I am happy that I chose the steep natural climb. Using an app to know the route helps a lot. Most pilgrims took the longer route next to the car road. Thanks to the Buen Camino app, I found my way to the mountain trail easily.

I am starting to become so tired after hiking that I need a nap first to recover. After dinner, I have at least seven hours of sleep. I think there is a mix of being over tired from hiking every day non-stop and good physical fitness foundation, from slowly building up strength to walk long distances without issues.