So, this morning we got up around 5:30 am. Margaret was awake. Once we were both actually up, she told me she had been up all night because she an emergency and was going to have to head home immediately. She had had several things going not well at home, throughout the trip, this was enough. 

This was actually the date that she had originally planned on going home. Then she found she was enjoying herself and unbooked herself so she could stay…now she had to rebook all those things; trains, planes, etc.

It was part of our agreement from the outset that she could leave anytime if it wasn’t her thing. It was also part of our agreement (originally) that she would fly back tomorrow. So, strangely enough, she is.

I am sorry to see her go, yes. She and I joked that we had one whole functional brain between us! It is so helpful to travel with someone else. Not strictly necessary, I would have come by myself, but it is much nicer with a companion.

She helped me overcome the frightening part of the journey; getting off the plane and to the accommodations while jet lagged. She reminded me of a lesson I had already learned: there are times to throw money at a problem; like getting a taxi from the airport. Thank god we did that! 

When I set out on this trip, I thought it might be my last overseas trip and definitely thought (think) it might be one of my last opportunities to exercise ‘freely’ – if you call hauling all these medications and equipment freely! {I guess I do!}

We fell into some great habits, like getting done early before the heat of the day, eating our big meal between 2 pm and 4 pm and buying food for breakfast and ‘lunch’ at the grocery store. She was right; Gadis (a supermarket) is better. We both encouraged the other to take alternative paths – and every time they were way better than the current route; green, cool, foresty…. Aaaah!

With her around for the start, I felt a lot safer testing out my ability to walk a fair distance. Now I know I can do it. 

While I miss her, it is also okay. I am here doing what I need to do. She is headed home to do what she needs to do. Isn’t that what friendship does, lets you let go?!

We had a taxi booked for 7:10, so this was plenty of time. We are waking up at consistently around 5 am. We had cocoa and cafe, and the taxi came. I got dropped off at 7:30 AM in the pitch black and she went on to Santiago de Compostela (SDC), to catch a train. Hiking alone, in the dark…

IT

WAS

GLORIOUS!

No offense to Margaret!

The forests glow at night! I mean it’s almost fluorescent in the light of the headlamp. It is cool, there is no traffic, and all the space and time in the world. I love it. 

(It’s funny, because I hated hiking in the dark on the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) as it meant setting up camp and a bear bag in the dark. I despise that. But This! This I loved.)

I walked down dirt roads until day break, then walked another hour until dawn. It was a foggy cool day. I actually put on my jacket and wished I had put on gloves. I rested and ate when I needed. Of course, the day made that easy. And it was an easy walking day; very mellow. Of course, Margaret would miss the best walking day of them all! I believe, she would have loved a lot about the walk today.

By the time the sun came up, I could see other peregrinos in front of me, namely a girl in an bright orange shirt and her companion. Others started to pass me. But I kept up, overall, with the orange shirt girl, leap-frogging her. 

I had talked with the orange shirt girl. She and her friend are from Portugal. Since we kept leapfrogging it was nice to ‘know’ someone on the trail. When I came to my turn off to my hotel, they were only half way to their destination. Wow! They could walk so much farther than I could! 

That is another thing about today; it was everything I thought the Camino should be. There were cafes, dirt and gravel roads through forests, friends meeting friends. I stopped at the first cafe and had cocoa. I stopped at the second cafe and had more cocoa and a ‘tortilla.” I really regret no longer being able to drink café, but my body is not tolerating it…it’s very sad, yes indeed!

One thing I noted, was that the walkers are now on the end of their journey phase, not looking forward to the end, thinking of it with nostalgia. I, on the other had, am days away.  Somewhere between 3-5 days, depending on whether my brain can do math at the time I am trying to figure it out. I am definitely more than half way today. But these normal hikers have today and they reach the end tomorrow. An entirely different point of view.

After about 3 hours of walking, I watched the orange shirt girl and friend greet large groups of friends at cafes, etc.… And suddenly it made me lonely. Up until now, I had been alone today, but now I was lonely. 

I guess, this whole trip, I secretly hoped to make fast friends – immediately. That is stupid I know. You read about (and I’ve experiences on the A.T.) forming a pod and making friends and the community that develops. The way Margaret and I have been traveling has had us to miss most of that. I guess, too, I miss Margaret and the companionship I have grown used to. So here is my moment of sadness.

So much of this trip isn’t what I have expected. It makes me wonder what this trip is about for me, personally, not my mission to raise awareness, not even my desire to have an active adventure before I can no longer do so (which is possible only a few weeks from now.)

I actually felt pretty good, physically. Really good: 2 betablockers and 1 nitro patch today, completely covered the pain. Most days I start or end with some heart pain – not today! I made it to my accommodations in record time, and had an hour to wait. I felt so good, I even considered resting and hiking on, then getting a taxi back to my accommodations. Instead, I forced myself not to push it.

I sat beside a large tree outside of Casa Rural Anton Veiras until almost 1 pm, when they open, then went in. One of the workers, a woman named Nadia, speaks enough English to be helpful. I cannot highly enough recommend this place. It is reasonable priced, having a discount for peregrinos. They have a wonderful restaurant for lunch and dinner. Unlike the review on Gronze, I found the prices in line with most of the places Margaret and I went to. We’d had little luck at finding cheap food or Daily Menus. They helped me with my luggage and seamlessly changed my booking from a double to a single room. It is nice (!): not homey, not too fancy, but very nice. Nadia would get me a bag lunch (as there aren’t services much in this section) and arrange a taxi to pick me up tomorrow where I was to stop. She even offered I could stay another night. Since in this area, I have to taxi to and from my starting point anyway, and it is soooo nice here, I said yes!

Once I got in for the afternoon, I lay on the bed for 30 minutes under a heavy blanket trying to get warm. All that activity in the cool temperatures and constant mist, then an almost hour long wait without exercise, had chilled me down. I couldn’t rest because I suddenly had chest pain…or acid reflux. I wasn’t sure, but I could only rest sitting up. After I got warm again, I took a shower, a hot, long shower. Then I went down for lunch. I had salad (in memory of Margaret) and squid (because we are still near the coast…sort of.)

Then I started untangling the mess I had made the night before with the bookings. I had overestimated our speed (or just been confused) and booked wrong days, etc. The place that I booked in Sigueiro was booked for days after a place I booked in SDC. I heard everyone talking about how hard it was to get a room, and when I looked, it did look booked up.

The Sigueiro place was nonrefundable, but they would let me change the days! Yay! The place in SCD I was able to cancel. Then I spent a few more hours making a rational hiking plan (for <8 miles, which I had done today and felt great, then later felt poorly) then booking hotels for the rest of the trip. All except Madrid. I got tired and quit. 

I looked at my medication box and realized I had somehow taken all my daytime medications, except my H2 Acid blocker. Apparently why I couldn’t laydown was my stomach, not my heart. I had already redone the plan for shorter days, so I decided to stay with that. It would be a 10-12-day journey…just as I planned.

Now it is time to pee a bunch, then go to bed. If they open the restaurant up again, I may have cheesecake. 

I did just walk 8 miles (13+ km). 

I deserve cheesecake!

PS – Coronary Microvascular Disorders are problems with the smallest arteries that feed the heart. They can’t be seen on normal chest pain work ups. Read up about it on my YouTube Channel (I recommend video#3), my blogs or the INOCA International website.

PPS – We can do hard things (- Glennon Doyle) Many of us are doing hard things, every day. Perhaps, most of us are doing hard things. 

Some of us can walk the Camino. Some of us can not. Some of us can only do it with a lot of accommodation and support.

So – You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit (-Heather)

and

Live fully before you die (- Tama Cathers)

See ya! I’m going to go hunt cheesecake!

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