October 24 2019

Today was beautiful, but physically- I struggled

We went down hill for the first 5 miles.

The scenery looked kind of like Hong Kong when hiking. Rolling green peaks and rocky dirt trails

We also walked through some very cute little Spanish villages tucked away in these hills

I really got massacred by bites two nights ago so was struggling with those, and the blister on the bottom of my foot was really bothering me today.

I didn’t get breakfast this AM (nothing was open). So stopped around 5 miles for a quick croissant and coffee. I then planned to stop again for a big lunch in Ponferrada (the next big town at mile 10) 

 I got in around 12:20… nothing was open. It was weird, like a bigger city but everything was closed

I finally found a restaurant but they said they wouldn’t do lunch till 1:00pm. That’s fine. I’ll just have a beer and fix my blister.

My blister was… just awful. Nothing I could really do at the moment 

So replaced some bandaids and then set up camp 

Charged my phone. Tried to figure out where’d I stop today etc 

Lunch was GREAT

It was a pelegrino style meal, slight more (€15 instead of like 10-11), but the food has way more variety and refinement 

For example: first course was a vegetable stuffed crepe with goat cheese on top….

Normally it’s like iceberg lettuce salad, soup, beans, pasta etc 

After about an hour at that place- I set off again. Pace was slowwww my left foot is starting to get like a bunion on the side and my right foot has this blister 

After about 2.5 miles – I reached the next town and said it’s time to throw in the towel. I was hoping to go about 15 miles today but 

1. the one hostal there told me they were full. The other wouldn’t answer their phone… 
2. I just couldn’t mentally do it. It was already 3:30 pm and I was crawling 

So I found a place. Guy almost didn’t let me in bc he thought the bites on my head were bed bugs. I had to reassure him I didn’t think they were.

They’re large – not in a pattern really, not zig zagging, you can see the fang mark etc…

But then he had me creeped out and paranoid so after my shower- I asked to wash all my clothes including the ones I normally wear to bed. And then went on a mad googling spree 

I still don’t think they look like bed bugs but ya.. 

After I showered and did blister care, I sat for a lonnnng time. About 2.5 hours just figuring out the next towns and my week. I’m going to aim for 20miles again tomorrow. I have a place to stay and I’m gonna send my heavy pack along and take a lighter one to give my feet some relief.

Did some yoga, and then got told it was time for dinner around 7:10pm

Dinner here was super no frills. Egg chorizo and potatoes … a glass of wine and BREAD!