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LIVE from the Camino Héctor Walks His Way-week 4

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Ham? I would not carry that, unless it is the cured jamon, rather than what is called jamon de york, cooked boiled or roast ham. I would not carry them at all. Even jamon jamon, I would not carry it. Hope the feet are ok...
 
Camino Preparation Guide
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
HBS60 said:
I don’t know exactly where Puente de Castro ends and Leon begins, but in any case it’s a very nice metro area.
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The suburb boundary of Puente Castro - La Lustra is shown in orange in the attached image.

 
Meats such as ham I would always eat the next day; meat such as salami will easily last two or three days. Ditto soft versus hard cheese. Depending on the weather of course.
Fruit of course is typically good for days. The key is to avoid bashing the hell out of it, bruising makes it go off very quickly. I never buy more than a couple of each - apart from anything else fruit is heavy (although a good source of water). I've also found fruit available in cafes, often in a dish on the side of the bar. Slightly more expensive but still reasonable and it avoids you having to carry it for half the day.

If you've bought the long life yogurt drinks they don't need refrigeration and they're good for weeks if not months- there will be a 'best before' date on the packet.
 
Best lightweight pocket guides
Ideal pocket guides for during and after your Camino. Each weighs just 40g (1.4 oz).
Based on (unpleasant) experience, always, always wash fruit before eating. Not to do so can cost you two or more days of walking if you fall ill. Bananas are the exception as they come 'ready wrapped', they also have the added benefit of providing potassium.
 
Musings from a weary pilgrim…

As planned, I took a day off walking the Camino at León, such a beautiful and charming city! Even the chilly, rainy, gloomy weather has failed to suppress its vibrant energy. Yesterday, the streets were full with all kinds of people, pilgrims, tourists, locals, to the point it was hard to walk without bumping or being bumped by someone, and needing to be alert for bikes, scooters and similar devices that can easily run one over.

In contrast, this morning I got out around 7:45 AM, the streets were deserted and glistening from the rain that fell just before sunrise. My quest for coffee would have to wait until 8:30 AM when businesses started to open. As soon as I obeyed my caffeine receptors demands, I went back inside, took a little nap, then tried to figure out what should go in my new day pack and how to organize it. I also needed to decide which town and which albergue I would walk to tomorrow.

Because September 11 is approaching, I decided I would do two 24 Km days in a row, so I can make it to Foncebadón (just before Cruz de Ferro) on time, by the 10th. I hope the lighter daypack will help me cover the distance. After that, I might slow down a bit.

I’ll admit I feel apprehensive about that day, as it is do loaded with significance to me. Will dropping a stone will actually make a difference, will I be able to let go? Or will it be an empty, meaningless gesture? I suspect I will need lots of space to grapple with this, so I may post less or not at all that day. I actually have 3 stones to drop, for different reasons, and I hope this ceremony will help at least one or two of these three reasons.

While the reason I decided to do the Camino is a 10 year grief anniversary, I have been too preoccupied with the logistics of walking, rough terrain, hills, food, shelter, blisters, resulting in my losing sight of my purpose. I do catch on to my distraction so I try to refocus, but the Camino is like a river of humanity, it keeps flowing, pushing or dragging me along, my intentions forgotten as I struggle with learning how to navigate this flow.

I also struggle with the impostor syndrome. Why should I be allowed to do this pilgrimage when I’m decidedly not religious? While I put every effort to be respectful, I’m not fueled by religious devotion, maybe that’s why I’m struggling. This is not to minimize what I have accomplished so far, it’s more about the struggle for authenticity. I remind myself that all I have to do is walk. I am not required to carry a huge backpack with medical equipment. I’m not required to spark great friendships, romances, or meet the love of my life. I just have to walk. It’s that simple, but simplicity has been elusive for me.

I also think the Camino might be a sort of “sampler” of various experiences and relationships. I’ve met several people either whom I’ve clicked but these mini-relationships never last too long, as we are being swept apart by different currents. So it might be a good training ground for real life. People move on, and new people come in. It’s that simple.

I know there are challenges ahead, and I’m glad I got lots of people cheering me on. I can’t promise success, but I can promise my efforts to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It doesn’t get any simpler than that…
 

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Hector, you came looking for something. You're not an imposter. You're a pilgrim.
As for apprehension, we all face it.

You may not think of yourself as religious, but I find this reading helpful...

"Por lo tanto, no se angustien por el mañana, el cual tendrá sus propios afanes. Cada día tiene ya sus problemas."

You won't control tomorrow, and you can't change yesterday. You *are* changing today. Be at peace, and keep walking.
 
Get a Spanish mobil number + data while on the Camino
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Hector, your travel logue is inspiring. You keep going through thick and thin as well as extend care and kindness to others. Thank you. Chuck
 
HBS60 said:
I also struggle with the impostor syndrome
Click to expand...
I can only 'judge' you from the way you write and the things you tell us. You appear to write from the heart and if anything you are honest to a fault.
Yes, originally the camino was walked predominantly, perhaps solely for religious reasons. But that is no longer the case.

You may be many things, but in my opinion, an imposter you are not.
 
Hi Héctor. I have read your thread with great interest and much of what you have written about your time so far has resonated with me.

In the past, I have walked the section that you are about to enter ten times. In fact, I will be just two days behind you, when you reach the Cruz de Ferro. It is always a subjective and very personal thing, but for me it has always been a very special section, which is why I am drawn back to it repeatedly. I have been at the Cruz when there was snow on the ground; in the mist and rain; under clear blue skies - and at night with no light pollution or lunar brilliance, I have stood there under a canopy of stars.


It can be a remarkable time and I very much hope it will be so for you. Sometimes it is often with the passage of time and upon reflection, that one realises just how remarkable.

On Caminos, I have had “encounters” that I simply cannot explain, humanly-speaking. I have met many remarkable people and have heard many amazing stories. Your own story, I sense, would be yet another. Sadly, we probably won’t meet, but then again we may….. such is Camino life!

Coincidentally, like you I also have three stones to deposit at the foot of the cross there. There is something deeply significant in the act of such placings. The first time, I wasn’t even aware that the pile of stones and the cross were there! I seem to recall that I simply glanced at it as I walked on - my focus was to complete each day - I had 33 days of agonisingly painful foot blisters on that very first Camino.

However, with each Camino I walked - and I have walked many now - I realised that it was like peeling away the layers of an onion. Each time I walked seemed to reveal to me more and more just what it was that I was doing… I’m a slow learner! But, I had started a process that would increasingly come to define me as a person, into old age.

I started off as a relative youngster - a walker - but was taken by surprise and as mentioned to you as a possibility by another contributor above (dbier), I discovered that I had become a pilgrim. For me it was some kind of gradual process, over many years. As I say, I’m slow on the uptake sometimes!

When engaging with others on Camino, I often ask the question, what to that point on their Camino would they say was the biggest single “takeaway” for them…. What they have learned and might take forward into everyday life after Camino. One of the most significant answers came from someone very, very much younger than me - a mid-30’s Portuguese guy, who was nearing the end of his Camino Frances….

A Journal extract from spring 2019 records the reply I got:
…..he said he had learned from
walking his 800km Camino Pilgrimage the following. "I have learned to open my hands. I have realised that I have lived much of my life with clenched fists, holding on to things that needed to be released. Past failures in life; resentments and bitterness; grief and sadnesses. It is only when our hands are open that we can be free to release what needs to be released in our lives. With those same empty hands, we are then free to receive fresh, new things into our lives.

There are things that we carry and hold on to - sometimes for many, many years - that we should release.

With clenched fists and closed hands we cannot do these things", he said.

I think that the Cruz de Ferro in part is a part of this.

As an aside, I had also added in my note:
“Walking the Pilgrimage Paths can be a time of great God-given grace.
We release from our inmost being, the things that need to be released.
We absorb from the Camino the things that Grace means for us to absorb...from the wild ways and the ancient paths and places; from the times with the good folk who we share our path with for a week, a day, an hour or perhaps even just a few moments.
These places are "Thin Places" and the times can be "Grace Times".......It is in those Thin Places that one notices things that others don't notice and see things that others do not see, perhaps hear things that others cannot hear”.

Héctor, I believe we all walk Camino for an important reason. It is most probably because we need to.

Buen Camino to you, Pilgrim Héctor! As mentioned by Peter above, you are no “imposter”!
Go well.
 
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Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Thanks for all the wonderful, helpful replies. My day in León was what I needed, I rested, I napped, I ate, I shopped (a little), I explored. The gloomy, rainy weather cleared and it was a delightfully sunny, clear afternoon. Much needed!
Tomorrow is Sunday, so it’s the beginning of my 5th week, so I’ll probably start a new thread.
Thanks to all!
 
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"I can't promise success...", Hector, you've already succeeded!
 
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If you hard-boil eggs they should be good for 3 days. Fruit can usually survive 2-3 days except apples which can last a week.
 
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Camo said:
This is on the "through path" (called Camino de Santiago) and it seems the Camino has been "chiseled off" at some point and "competing factions" have at another time painted a yellow arrow.
Click to expand...
The Camino de Santiago has shifted route more times than some rivers. It will quite certainly continue to shift over time.
 
Don't worry , there is a food truck
There is a food truck in the middle of the long 17 km stretch.
 
Camino Cleanup Program & Retreat
Join Camino Cleanup: Logroño to Burgos May 2025 and Astorga to O'Cebreiro in June.
MarioM said:
There is a food truck in the middle of the long 17 km stretch.
Click to expand...
Héctor discovered it last Monday:

 
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