Today was the day where I wanted to test my own boundaries regarding walking. I had decided to go to stages in one day and walk 55 km to Astorga, which is the town we were supposed to reach in two days. Plan was to then take another rest day to recover.
I started walking around 6:50 and found a coffee shop after 3 km for first breakfast.
I continued to walk out of Leon, and the first 12 km were really boring - lots of roads, traffic, industry etc. I even passed a Tesla super charger and felt a bit like home. After 12 km, I reached a bifurcation in the path - take the straigh path, or the scenic one, and I of course took the latter even though it was longer. After +2 hours of walking in the city, I was finally back at the trails.
About one hour later, I catched up with Pedro. A funny detail was that Pedro was walking with Mitch from Texas, while I was walking behind with Miches friend from Canada, and we called them out to stop, and we had breakfast together. It was a nice buffee at a hostel, and after recharging energy, Pedro and I continued walking. Pedro had decided to walk 35 km, but after a bit of conversation he got convinced that it was a fun idea to find out boundaries and go for 55 km instead.
We walked together and had great conversations about traumas that everyone has and about the importance of sharing and be vulnerable.
After total 5 hours walking we took a break and had lunch and had the worst burger at the camino.
Good thing was that we were inside when the first and only rain came - and it was heavy and included hailing. It took 5 min, and then we were at the trail again. Shortly before lunch we got to the 300 km stone marking was is left walking, and that means that we now have walked nearly 500 km. What an accomplishment, and for me without any pains and blisters. That should change later in the day…
We continued walking and came through nice smaller cities. And we ended up in the country side that we had longed so much after. Thunderstorms were coming all around us, but the camino provided us luck and we had the pleasure of walking in sun with a little wind so temperature was perfect.
We had a break at 44 km and got a soft drink, and talked about doing the last 11 km. We both were in OK shape and wanted to push through and prove we could do it. Right after starting, I started to get a new sharp pain in the upper side of my left foot. I have not had this pain before and got a bit worried if it would continue and if it could hurt me for the rest of the camino. The pain got worse and worse, and we had to slow down the speed. About 6 km before target - in the middle of nowhere, and at 19:30, we meet Camino magic. A table is there, full of fresh food, cheese, cakes, break, fresh coffee and places to hang around - and it felt like it was made for us. We had not seen any other pilgrems for hours, and I am pretty sure no one would come after us - and here there was this amazing table - all for us. We took the break and ate as much we could. I made my own freshly pressed orange juice out of three oranges, and got really hot coffee. This was an amazing experience.
We pushed through and did the last kms to Astorga in a slow pace and arrived really happy to have accomplished our goal, but I also had a bit concern about my left foot that was in so much pain. I got my room, took a long hot and cold shower to cool down the foot and met with Pedro and Rachel afterward in a neighbor bar. Rachel did not walk with us, she had taken the bus in order to make it for the spa hotel.
This day was tough, but really rewarding. I pushed myself over my boundaries until the body said stop, and I had great conversations with Pedro while walking.
