Copied and pasted from my FB post:
Carrión de los Condes to Ledigos
15 miles 24.14 Km.
I started my walk even earlier than usual at 5:30 AM because I knew the first 10 miles (17 Km) would be through a stretch that had absolutely no services, no cafes, no bars, no towns. Unfortunately, I got to Carrion yesterday on a Sunday, and by the time I got settled in, showered, and changed, the only open food store on Sunday had closed. Since I left so early, nothing was open. I did have a leftover cupcake and a package of cookies, and I managed to get a restaurant to sell me an Aquarius and a Coke bottle.
So I set out in the dark, there was another pilgrim ahead of me but he soon vanished in the dark. The trail was along a highway all the time, but it felt very scary, even though my headlamp was working perfectly. Soon enough, other pilgrims started to pass me in the darkness, many of them I already knew, and seeing their headlights in the distance was reassuring.
Slowly daylight was creeping in, and I managed to get pics of the sunrise, pics I’ll always treasure. But I was feeling hungry, weak, and my feet were bothering me, not a good thing so early on my day.
I managed to keep going, until I spied a makeshift rest area, so I stopped, took off my backpack, ate some cookies, and took more pics. A pilgrim passing by hold me there was coffee ahead, just a few meters away. So I put on my backpack and walked to a semi-permanent structure with a seating area, with several pilgrims around, so I thought hallelujah!
My joy was short lived because they had a problem with their electricity and there was no coffee, aaargh!!! They did have a coconut cake and I had a slice of that and a Coke. I know, less than ideal, don’t hate on me!
A couple of ladies insisted in giving me a cereal bar and an apple, which I gladly accepted and put in in my pack for later.
Feeling better, I resumed my walk, but my feet were bothering me, as I’ve forgotten about them. I trudged along the best I could. I saw in the distance a lady I’ve seen before and talked with a little. Something didn’t seem right with the way she walked, seemed unsteady. Eventually she got off the trail, and I saw she was laying on the seat of a concrete picnic table. I figured that she was ok so I sat on the other side of side, tending to my feet. The two ladies of the cereal bar then caught up with me, and they tried to help me by giving me an antiseptic cream, band-aids, and some suggestions. I thanked them as they left, then turned my attention to the lady lying down on the bench, to make sure she was OK. She wasn’t. She spoke Brazilian Portuguese so we had some trouble communicating, but it seemed to me she was struggling with low blood sugar. She told me she also had a Coke, but it didn’t work, what she really needed was coffee. I remembered the cereal bar, and offered it to her. She accepted only a little piece of it but would not take the entire bar. She ate the piece and felt better. At that point a friend of hers came by so I felt ok resuming my walk since she wasn’t alone.
It was a mercifully cool, cloudy day, and that helped tremendously. One big highlight was reaching the 400 Km marker to Santiago. At various points I’ve seen the numbers dwindle down from the 600s, after today I’ll start seeing 300s, yay! I did decide to try wearing my hiking sandals instead of my trail runners. I think it helped a little, but I really needed to stop walking, but I was still away from my destination.
After an endless stretch of straight road, I finally reached Calzadilla de La Cueza, where it seemed everyone I knew was there. It’s interesting to see how the group seems to reshuffle, I don’t see the same people every day, but I keep running into them every few days.
I finally had my Café con Leche, Tortilla de Patatas and orange juice. I ran again into the two ladies from this morning, a lady I met the day if the storm, and the Brazilian lady, now doing much better. We were all going to walk different places, the storm lady was staying in the current town, and the Brazilian lady was going much farther. She and I walked out of town, she told me this was her 5th Camino, and when I explained that I’m walking slow because of the weight of the cPAP machine, she offered to take my backpack to give me some relief. I politely declined, as that f****ng backpack is f****ng heavy (sorry, but no other words will do). Eventually she said she wanted to go ahead, because she wanted to get to her town before we got rain. She said she would pray for me and asjked I would do the same. Of course! She walked away, moving very agilely, unlike how she was in the morning. I hope I did some good for her today, just as the two ladies were good to me.
I only had 6.5 Km to go, it was only around noon, so I took it easy. The sun did perk out so I deployed my umbrella, but it got cloudy again. I found a good spot to sit and relax, watching pilgrims go by, some of them I knew, some of them not. I admired my pilgrim tan lines, drank my Coke and Aquarius from yesterday, because I was getting close.
Finally, I arrived at Ledigos , an extremely tiny village with not much going on as far as I could see. The exterior wasn’t encouraging, but they do have nice facilities and a nice yard with beautiful flowers. I showered, rested, will have a dinner here on my own since the place is so quiet (at least at the moment).
Tomorrow, I plan to walk only 16 Km to Sahagún, to keep my walking to a minimum. I also will try to get a distance certificate (not related to the Compostela) because it is considered the halfway point of the Camino Francés.
I can’t believe I’ve walked this far, and I hope I can keep it up. I’m trying to better learn how to meet my body’s needs, how to keep moving ahead without hurting myself. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”. How to walk the line between these two realities is the task I’m trying to learn, one day at a time, one step at a time…
FB link for pics:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/eTFXqdsoTP6thQDM/?mibextid=WC7FNe