Camino Pilgrim

When I woke up it was +4°C outside. Since I did not prepare for weather this cold I was staying for an hour extra in the albergue. Good time to get breakfast done and some dynamic stretching. When I went outside it was still only four degrees.

I was hiking in shorts in cold windy weather that had several short rain showers. In addition there were several water obstacles where I needed to take my shoes off to cross the water. The further I walked, the more I felt frozen. Hot shower in the albergue after finishing barely had any impact.

The walking route itself was amazing. The farm roads to El Real de Jara were gated because you were passing pigs, sheep, donkeys and horses right in their natural habitats. You could freely approach any of these animals as there were no fences between you and them.

The route was clearly improved over the years to have more and more walking comfort for pilgrims.

After El Real de Jara there was another water crossing that I needed to do with bare feet. The temperature had reached +7°C by now. It got up to +11 today at the warmest point. The 20km walk from El Real de Jara to Monesterio went along various roads. Always comfortable for pilgrims. Now that I have entered Extremadura region, then every few kilometers there are these huge stone blocks for pilgrims to sit on. If it weren’t that cold then I would have really been able to enjoy every part of the day.

Monesterio has a much bigger albergue and it seems a lot of the locals with small kids are faking to be pilgrims to get cheap accommodation during the holy week. I did not see any kids walking the Camino today. Yet in the albergue there are tens of them.

My personal discovery in the middle of the hiking today was that my man-purse I was carrying around the waist was heavily restricting feet movement from the hips. I had to put an extra 2kg of effort every time I took a step. I put the waist bag into my backpack and I finished the day with very fresh feet. I could do longer daily distances easily now, but it will mainly depend on the weather.