dédiée a une tante que j'adore, et pour qui j'ai le plus grand estime car elle est très courageuse. Je parle de ma tante Anne-Marie. Cette journée de mon périple fut pour elle.
I wait for Michel, my new hiking partner, outside the church in Fromista. It is really cold out at 6:30 am - only 6 degrees. We can see our breath. I see people wearing gloves and tuques, but not this Canuck. I am tough!
The morning is spent making good time along this lovely country two track lane, alongside a river. We are the only Peregrinos around. The rest are going along the motorway, which is boring and hard on the feet. When we have a choice, we take to the natural paths. We make really good time and by noon have done 20 km.
We do a little more along the motorway, to get through and past
Carrion for then comes the Meseta and the heat. ML and Nancy are waiting for us in Calzadilla de la Cuerza, another 18 km roughly. I think we begin to realize we have bitten off more than we can chew.
Along the way, before we hit the Meseta, I chatted with a Belgian lady named Lucy. She is Flemish, but I won't hold it against her that she isn't Walloon! LOL We have a lot in common - same size, same age, similar backgrounds and she walks the same pace as I do, which is great. I find out she is a breast cancer survivor from 2008, who has hiked the Camino, EVERY year since, but one. I ask her why she does that? She says so simply "To remind myself that I am ALIVE". How wonderfully simple and eloquent.
Along the Meseta, in mid-afternoon I stop to talk to another couple. I had seen them going by with two small dogs, and each person pushing a kind of low, four wheeled buggy. His name is Jose and hers Maria. She is Spanish and he is Portuguesev, but of Turkish descent. He speaks French well; he learned it as a child. Turns out that he did well in life. They lived in Spain, he had a business and a house, but he lost everything in the financial meltdown in 2008. So he and Maria hit the road. Since they they have walked 51,000 km. It shows in their faces that they are people who are always outside. Their dogs are called Bruno and Daniela. He shows me two booklets full of stamps of all the towns they have hiked to all over Eastern and Western Europe. He tells me he has never been happier. They have no money. They sleep in a tent and earn a few Euros by selling jewellery that they make. They spend winters in Poland and Turkey, where they make or buy this jewellery that they later sell on the Camino. I ask to see some. He shows me. As soon as I see one bracelet, I know this guy is real. His bracelet has the "protector eye" , a bead that you see all over Turkey, not just in jewellery. This eye, when worn, is said to protect you from the people who would do you harm. I know, because I went to Turkey and I brought back a bag of those "eye" beads. I buy a bracelet and give it to Nancy that night, a reminder of the first day she couldn't hike with me, but could nonetheless share a memory of and therefore be a small part of that day. I leave Jose and Maria, crying of course, and his words ringing in my ears, because I gave him 10 Euros for a 3 Euro bracelet. He hugs me and warns me to beward of "fake" Peregrinos.
The Meseta seems to go on forever, and it is getting hotter and hotter. I think - I have been hotter; I have been more tired; I have been thirstier; I have had more pain; I can do this. I just keep repeating that as I put each foot forward. Michel is slightly behind me when we finally arrive to a point in the dirt road, where this little pueblo is suddenly right there, below us. I wait for him and we finish the last of my water. Walking down into town, who do we see but his wife Marie-Lynne, waiting for him with open arms. I think "How sweet." Then I see a figure in blue get up from a bench and hobble to the middle of the road. It is Nancy, waiting to greet me. I manage not to crumble into a sobbing heap in the middle of the road; I keep my composure and we hug. She had been worried about me. See, if I had been alone, who would have known it if I hadn't made it through the Meseta? Everything in life
is SO much better shared!
So ended my day - I hiked 37.8 km in 9.5 hours, in 32 degree heat. That feat is NOT something I am about to repeat, Dieu merci.
At the Albergue, I dove into the small pool fully clothed, completely ignoring the "Ducha" sign. IT was freezing cold and so refreshing. So was the cerveza. I ached all over, but... I made it.
There is so much more I want to write about, but this blog is long enough. I will do a Part B.
So ended my day - I hiked 37.8 km in 9.5 hours, in 32 degree heat. That feat is NOT something I am about to repeat, Dieu merci.
At the Albergue, I dove into the small pool fully clothed, completely ignoring the "Ducha" sign. IT was freezing cold and so refreshing. So was the cerveza. I ached all over, but... I made it.
There is so much more I want to write about, but this blog is long enough. I will do a Part B.
Bonne nuit et gros bisous à ma chère ma tante Anne-Marie et mon oncle Elphège, en vous souhaitant la meilleure chose de la vie - une bonne santé.
Avec amour et reconnaissance de Calzadilla de la Cueza, Espagne.
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