I’m writing today from Leon, having put the entirety of the Meseta behind me. It’s a beautiful day, as they have been for the last week: cool starts, sunny, warming up nicely, and only hitting the mid-70s by the time my daily walk is done.
The Meseta is certainly devoid of much but farm fields and the Camino. In some areas, the Camino path is nicely shaded by hundreds of plane trees, one every 25 feet. From above it must look strange, this green ribbon cutting through vast corn and wheat fields.
The walking suface has changed over the last few weeks, from rough, rocky farm roads to a dedicated path, with a fine grit surface. In many places, this senda runs alongside serious highways, the better for me to see motorcyclists and camper vans buzzing by. I sometimes think it would be nice to be in one of them, but they would never be able to go where we pilgrims do.
Since my last post, I’ve passed through (actually, got lost going to) Atapuerca, then Burgos, Hornillos del Camino, Castrojeriz, Boadillo del Camino, Carrion de los Condes, Cazadilla del la Calzada, Sahagun, El Burgo Ranero, and Mansilla de la Mulas. What a mouthful these names are.
With regard to Atapuerca, I made two classic mistakes that resulted in my easy 18 Km walk turning into a tough 25 Km walk. First, I failed to check my route before leaving from a coffee stop; and second, I fixated on two pilgrims walking ahead of me and followed them, assuming they were headed to Atapuerca like I was. They were not. I missed a marker where the Camino branches and followed this pair for 3.5 kms before realizing they were bypassing Atapuerca and heading directly to Burgos. So, cursing a blue streak, I had to walk back 3.5 kms and cut across on a side road to get back to the Camino path I needed. Which proves, regardless of the number of Caminos one may walk, failure to be alert can still result in failure to succeed.
I arrived in Leon yesterday and indulged in what has become a tradition here for me: buying new footwear. My lovely Hoka Mafate X trail runners are superb in all respects except that my right big toe doesn’t have enough room and is getting beaten up. As usual, I’ve tried all manner of tricky lacings, Compeed patches, etc., everthing but cutting up the front of the shoe. Instead, I’ve been quizzing other pilgrims who are wearing “hiking sandals”, who generally give them good reports. I also checked out the RunRepeat.com website, which provides terrific shoe and boot reviews. They recommended the Hoka Infini Hike TC sandal, so my first stop upon arriving here was the Ameria Castro hiking gear store. What were the chances they had, this late in the season, that particular sandal, in my size 13? They did (the Camino provides!) and so I’m breaking them in here and will debut them on the trail in a few days. Despite some misgivings about lack of ankle support and small stones getting in underfoot, I’m already enjoying the toe freedom. I’ll report on my experience with them next week.
I’ve met some interesting people lately, including a nice couple, two geologists from Florida (hello, Jim and Aleisha), and two friends-of-a-friend from Virginia, who are doing a short Camino group tour (hello, Bob and Karen) and whose schedule overlapped mine here. And plenty of Kiwis, Aussies, Poles, Irishmen, Frenchmen, and even the odd American.
So far, this walk has been dry. And, as we know, rain can change everything. Rain is, in fact, forecast for next week, but with low probability ( < 20% ) and that only in the early morning. Nonetheless, I’ll have my poncho at the ready.
I’m going to wrap this up and go get my absentee ballot for the U.S. midterm elections printed and shipped. Oh yes, I never let the Camino get in the way of my unbroken voting record and won’t, especially not now for such an important election. I send my ballot in via DHL, bypassing the local and U.S. postal services altogether. If you’re a U.S. citizen, I urge you to vote.
My next rest day comes up in a week, in Ponferrada. I’ll be in touch here then. In the meantime, thanks for coming along and for all your encouragement. Cheers!
