Off-Road Trekking
It’s difficult to decide how to describe today in one phrase.
The options are:
(a) Rocks, friend or foe?
(b) Mud, mud, and lots more mud.
Both are interrelated as you walk the Camino in the rain.
The day started off fabulously. Yes, that means I got Wordle on the second line. Breakfast was a little more sparse and the skies gray. It started to rain about 50 feet from the front door of the hotel in a slow but consistent drizzle. As soon as we left the city limits, the roads turned to mud.
While the Eskimos might have a hundred different words to describe snow, I'm guessing the Spanish must have at least half that many to describe the different types of mud. There is a red clay mud that is slimy at the top of the hill and viscous at the bottom, almost like chocolate pudding. That’s where the topic of rocks comes in. If you can find rocks to use for footing as you traverse these mud puddles, those rocks are your friends. Unfortunately, if they are somewhat hidden or not seated properly as you step on them, and you snag a toe or turn an ankle, they are no longer your friends.
Again, the trekking poles, used as outriggers, saved the day more than once.
A quick coffee stop about three miles into our 13-mile trek was delightful. The owner of the shop was very understanding as we trudged in with all our wet rain gear. I suppose it is something he sees multiple times every day of the week.
The route was pretty straightforward. We probably spent around 70 percent of our time off-road today, for a change. The paved surface was a welcome relief. There were fields of barley and many more of canola, and at one point about eight miles in there was a long sloping hill. At the top was a beautiful view angled back toward all the fields we had passed. But it was exposed and the wind whipped up severely. After wolfing down a sandwich, and taking no more than five minutes of relaxation, a very definite cold-soaking of my body took place. I'm sure wind chill factors were well below freezing to exposed skin. So we got right back up on our feet and started down the trail.
It is very strange to go through many towns and not see a single person. There were lots of signs showing "for rent" or "for sale." The latest town, we can only imagine, must be a summer refuge. It had a golf course, jai alai fronton, and swimming pool, but today in the rain it was deserted like the far side of the moon. Very eerie. The only face in a window that watched us go by was a Rottweiler’s.
I feel very safe in our hotel. It shares a parking lot with the police station. What was interesting as the clerk walked us up the stairs was how low some of the ceilings were. I'm sure some of it functions to retain heat in the winter. It also speaks to how old the building is and how much shorter people used to be.
A hot shower set everything right. But even in the shower there was drama. It may sound comically odd, but as I rotated my body under the spray, my back hit the temperature controller. Shocking every time, whether it went toward full hot or full cold.
On an errand to grab a beer and transition to relaxation mode, it appears I misplaced my warm knit watch cap. I will survive for the meantime. I'm down at the lobby as I send this. Spencer is in the shower and I have effectively locked myself out of the room. If he doesn't get out of the shower soon, I might have two beers and he will get none.
