It’s become a challenge now. The backpack has set its terms and conditions and I have signed the agreement. It is coming with me to Santiago and no smirking pilgrims can tell me otherwise. 

I woke up with achy legs, sore shoulders, determination and needing a piss. I had stayed in a tent last night and the patter of rain and trees rustling had been an audible blessing……the thin mattress had been crap though.

Even still, I got out the tent with a slightly painful spring in my step ready to take on the next part of my glorified wander. 

I had an official pilgrim buddy now so for a day or two we would be walking together. She is Spanish so that means I get to go to all the really authentic taverns and bars that don’t speak English without having to speak Spanish! Also, I don’t get ripped off which is always nice when you have no income because you quit your job and pissed off to Spain.

We started out towards San Sebastian with the intention of walking another 10km to the next albergue. What actually happened was we went to a tavern at 10:30 and had tapas and wine. I’ll be honest with you, this isn’t the best way to start a 10km walk in the 32 degree heat with Bronson the backpack on. We decided to stick around for a bit as there were celebrations, music and dancing Spaniards to look at. After a beer and a chat about whether we should walk on or stick around the city we decided to walk on. The £250 rooms for one night were a small factor too. 

We cracked on past the beach then off into the wilderness again. Just after we got in we bumped into the Italian bloke we had spoken to yesterday. We had picked an albergue and he decided to join us.

After, what felt like a few million kilometers, we decided to stop for a rest and some water. 

Now this image below may just seem like a couple of fellas laying on a road so I will try and explain a bit about the moment to you.

I had been walking for a long time in the heat and going up and down some pretty hard terrain. My shoulders were sore, my back was sore, my legs were sore and my feet had started to hurt. As I lay down on the sun warmed tarmac with my tent as a pillow I could feel every part of my body relax. The gentle sound of the bells that hung round the cows necks in the field next to us could be faintly heard. To my right I could hear birds softly singing and directly above me there were tree branches slowly moving in the breeze. The open sea was visible a few hundred meters below us and it looked a deep blue. 

If you can close your eyes and put all of those things together then you may have a chance of feeling 10% of what it was actually like to be there. It felt a bit special.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense.We picked ourselves up, put on our stuff and headed towards the next albergue.It turned out to be a bit culty but that’s a story for another time.

BUEN CAMINO

(photo dump cause there ain’t much here.)