The day that almost broke me
June 3, 2023
Today had it all. Beautiful views of the ocean, walks through lush forests, creek crossings and many villages with food and drink. It was also the longest day at 22 miles AND the most challenging. After I left my hotel just after dawn, the first village I passed through gave glorious views of the ocean! I found a bar that was open and stopped for breakfast. Soon after came a split in the path. You could choose whether you wanted to take the original route through the mountains or the coastal route. I chose the coastal.
I did see several other pilgrims today including a mom and adult daughter team from Paris. The mother and I chatted for a bit and she was just shocked and somewhat concerned that I was walking the Camino by myself. There are MANY women (and men) who choose to take on the challenge alone so it always surprises me when I get a response like this. I have never felt like I was in trouble or needed to have someone with me and I actually like the solitude.
Groundhog Day
The day began to play out like Groundhog Day. Walk through a quaint village, take a winding forest path to the bottom of a steep descent, cross the creek then climb back out again. Seven times! The first couple of times I’m thinking, wow, this is so pretty! These creeks are flowing into the ocean. I took lots of pictures and took my time seeing the sights. By the time I was doing it for the 5th or 6th time, it had lost its charm and I was tired.
The saving grace was the view that a few of these creek crossings provided. Absolutely stunning views of the ocean! It was a sunny and hot day and I was glad to finally reach my albergue. I specifically wanted to stay at this one after reading great things about it, thus the long walking day. Surprisingly enough, I still felt pretty good after arriving at the albergue which I attest to mostly being on paths instead of roads.
The Albergue La Yalga looks to be fairly new and was run by a very neat and organized hospitalero. She has you take off your shoes and leave your backpack in a special room. You are given a locker to put your pack in and a basket to put whatever you need to bring to the bedroom. The beds all have curtains so you actually have privacy! It was a full house, too!
I stupidly hand-washed my clothes (that I had totally sweated through multiple times). She did offer to wash and dry for 6 euros so guess who went to bed with wet clothes still on the line?
If I were to do it over again, I would have split up this day so that all of the ups and downs were not on the same day. But, I got it done and I was looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow.
Photos: Click to enlarge
