Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Mornings lately have been more relaxed. It isn’t until 7:30 am that I rise to enjoy the breakfast included with the reservation. I walk to the Cathedral square to find Greg snoozing comfortably in the sun. Like a cat. We sit for a while, watching pilgrims enter into the square and display all possible emotions. Our mood is relaxed, quietly chatting and reflecting upon the previous thirty-seven days. And then, the mood changes. Jess’s group suddenly arrives, eliciting several explosions of laughter, hugging, and celebration. Directly afterward, the group of Italians we have been walking with enter the square for a renewed round of celebration. “Cloudy” suggests getting together for a major dinner downtown, which we set for the beginning of the 7:00 pm Pilgrim Mass at the Cathedral as a meeting point. The majority of my afternoon is spent in a lovely park beyond the limits of the old city. I wander slowly, listening to the wind in the trees and the people strolling around me. I thoroughly enjoyed the energy created this afternoon! Some of these people I have come to know quite well—others I have only briefly chatted with. They all have such distinct and authentic personalities. Big hearts and determination to do big things. I return to the albergue to enjoy an irresponsibly long shower before setting out in search of a pint over which to put down some writing for a few hours. I find a stationery store on the way, deciding to purchase some back-up felt-tipped pens. Find the group, where Greg and Magnus are angling toward enjoying some tasty pints and limón radlers. Some big laughs follow, erupting throughout several bars before joining the larger group for dinner. I met a very interesting friend of Greg’s on the Camino a few days previous, and we continued a conversation lasting over an hour. After dinner Greg, Magnus, and I venture out once more in search of tasty beverages, rounding out the evening with some more fun and laughs big enough to hurt. We break around midnight and I make my way back to my albergue. On the way I spot Chloé on the patio of a tiny pub, and I stop in for a refreshment. A lot of fun and a bit of an evening to let loose without having the strain of walking the entire following day. By 12:30 am I am comfortably back in my lodging, preparing for sleep and flopping into bed exhausted but confident in my resolve for reaching Santiago.

Today’s distance walked: — km    |    Total distance walked: 916.23 km

“Thoreau had a rather extreme notion of preparing for a walk: ‘If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again—if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man—then you are ready for a walk.’ We prefer Clark’s minimalism—as long as you have a pair of sensible shoes, the rest fades away.” — Craig Mod