Camino: Almost There!!! Day 12, 13 & 14

Day 12 - July 1, 2023

We got breakfast included with our stay in Armentiera. Since there wasn’t a grocery store to grab snacks and water in town we decided to stay for breakfast and take along some things if we could. It meant getting a later start than we had been doing. But we thought it would be fine….

Not so much!

It started out great. Breakfast was delicious and we were able to snag some food to wrap up and take along for snacks along the way. We got started and it was overcast so it wasn’t hot. The trail took us along a creek that ran through a forest area. It was green and beautiful. It felt like we were walking through a fairy land or maybe a path to get to the Shire. 

There were old aqueducts and stone houses that were all along the creek as we walked. The path was lots of ups and downs over rocks and tree roots. So even though it was only a couple of miles through that part, it took quite a while. 

It also didn’t help that I was stopping a lot to take pictures. 😜

We came out of the woods and continued along the path. Joe and I got a bit ahead of Josh and Wendie and eventually found a cafe to stop and have a snack and take care of my feet for a bit. Josh and Wendie caught up and weren’t ready for a break yet so they kept on trucking along. (One of the best things about traveling with them is the freedom to do what is best for ourselves and know that we will connect later at some point.)   

We got going again.  The clouds were breaking up and the sun was out. It was getting much warmer. Eventually the path took us along a river. It was a good trail and the river was pretty but we were on the side with no shade so it didn’t take long to start feeling the heat. 

We did cross and get on the other side of the river which was so nice because of the shade. 

In my head I had broken down the day into 5 mile segments, hoping that we would be done before I got to mile 15.  

I did pretty good for the first 10 miles and then I really started struggling. 

It was hot!

My blisters were seriously pissed at me!

After crushing the hill the day before it was a bit demoralizing to have this day be so hard!

But we kept moving forward. 

We got to a point where the Camino path would take us out to the ocean, and then bring us back toward the hotel, or we could turn and follow the road in a straight shot to the hotel. 

We decided to do the straight shot. 

We still went almost three miles to get there but it would have been more than five to do the round about way. 

Total for the day was was 14.4 miles. It was hot, and long and tiring. We started at about 8:15 in the morning and didn’t get done until almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon. That was a long day and I was very glad to be done! 

Josh and Wendie had a place down by the water and my feet weren’t wanting to walk over a mile to meet them for dinner and then walk a mile back to our hotel. So we decided that we would fend for ourselves. 

Joe and I ended up in a local bar just down the steer from our hotel. The kitchen didn’t open until 8:00 pm but we went earlier than that to get some well deserved drinks. 

Our waiter looked like he was about 13 and the young lady working with him looked maybe 16. We think they were brother and sister. Good thing Joe can speak enough Spanish to get understood. 

We enjoyed our drinks. Then the young waiter came and told us that the kitchen wouldn’t be going until 8:30 pm. 

Oh well! So we had another drink. 🤪

Another pilgrim couple came in and sat down next to us. We hadn’t really talked a lot to them during the Camino but we saw them almost everyday. Joe had met them on one of the days I wasn’t walking and we referred to them as the Dutch couple when we saw them. 

We chatted quite a while with them. Didn’t realize it until later that I never got their names. We were just so busy talking and sharing that I think we all forgot that part. 

After all we had been seeing them and saying hi all week so we were already friends. 

Joe and I finished dinner and headed back to the hotel. 

The next day we would be taking a boat ride most of the way to the next town of Padron. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 6:50 am so we needed to be there by 6:30. We had a little over a mile to get from our hotel to the dock so we had to be up and ready to go pretty early. 

Day 13 - July 2, 2023

Joe and I head out at oh dark thirty so we can meet up with Josh and Wendie to catch our boat.

It was kind of strange to be starting out the day knowing we weren’t going to be walking very far at all. 

The boat took us most of the way to Padrón but slowed down a few times to show us cool things on the water and along the river banks. 

We got to see how they farm mussels out in the ocean. Pretty cool process of how they get the mussels to grow along ropes that dangle from a platform. Then the bring the rope up and it basically goes through something that scrapes them into a basket. The basket then is swung up and the bottom opens up to drop all the mussels into the holding tank on the boat. 

After we watched that we continued up the river. 

Next we saw crosses along the shore line. The boat captain told us there were 12 sets of crosses that were on both sides of the river. They had been placed there to help guide boats in so they would know the sections of the river that had dangers. 

While we were traveling there was a woman next to Joe that was very tired and she put her head back and was sound asleep in no time.  Not just light dozing, I mean out! Eventually she started leaning toward Joe. It wasn’t long before she was all tucked in next to him. We were all giggling about it, including her friends. I’m pretty sure she heard the laughter because she woke up and realized what she had done. She was embarrassed but Joe reassured her that it was all fine. Later when we were walking in Padrón we saw her again! We all smiles and waved but she stood up and gave Joe a huge hug and told him he made a great pillow.

I love those little Camino moments. You end up with a connection with someone you don’t know, don’t know their name or where they are from. But they are are part of the adventure. 

We only had to walk a couple of miles to get into Padrón so we found a cafe and hung out for a bit. Then we went to a pharmacy to get more blister bandages and some Epson salt for my feet. (They were still super pissed from the walk the day before). 

Josh and Wendie were able to check in to their place early so we started making our way to our hotel which was a couple miles out of town along the Camino path.  But first we had to stop and check out the Iglesia de Santiago.  (Santiago Church, even though it’s in Padrón.)

Iglesio de Santiago

On our way we found a laundry mat and took the opportunity to get our clothes washed and dried. (I know I’ve said this before, but I will never take my dryer for granted again!!) 

By the time we finished that and got going to the hotel again my feet were really hurting. The blisters that were under my toes on my left foot had expanded and now I had a hotspot/blister developing on the ball of my foot. So every time I stepped it was like stepping on a really sharp rock. All the other blisters hurt too. 

I was very ready to be off my feet! 

I was also really grateful it was a really short walking day.

I was having serious doubts on how the next day was going to go. 

On the plus side we had decided to break the last segment up into two days into Santiago. So I wasn’t going to have to do a 14+ mile hike. 

The downside was I still had to do about 10 miles. 

On blistered feet that were really angry with me. 

When we got checked into the hotel and got cleaned up I used the Epson salts I got and gave my feet a good soaking. Wasn’t sure it worked but at least I tried to do something to make things better. 

It was so nice to just be in the bed and off my feet!!

It was around 7 pm and I told Joe that we needed to go to the cafe or something until the restaurant opened at 8 or I was going to fall asleep and not have dinner at all. 

Robin and Sea were at the cafe so we had a great time catching up with them and all their adventures they had been having since we peeled off the main route to do the Spiritual Variant.  They had made some changes to their original plans but they had been having a blast so that was fun to hear. 💜

Joe and I took off to have dinner and then headed for bed. 

Two more days and we will be done with our Camino walk!

Day 14 - July 3, 2023

Joe and I got up early enough to be all ready to go and checked out before 7:00 am. The plan was to grab a quick breakfast from the breakfast buffet included with our room and then head out the door. 

My feet seemed better. Some of the blisters that had been really angry looking the day before looked better and the ones on my heels didn’t have as much gunk in them. So the Epson salt soak probably helped. I put special bandaids on the hot spot on ball of my foot. They have a little cushion in them. I used two and basically made it so the cushions were on either side of the hot spot. Put bandages on both heels and then got my socks and shoes on.

Here we go! 

It wasn’t great but it was better than the day before. 

Robin and Sea came down to give us hugs and see us off. They plan to be in Santiago when we finish to cheer us in! 🥰

We started off at a pretty good pace and I was keeping up with Joe. We stopped at a beautiful church to get our passports stamped. 

We noticed yesterday in Padrón that some of the arrows for the Camino way were not pointing correctly.  For instance, if the arrow is directly in front of you and you need to go straight it should be pointing up.  If it points to the left or the right, then you need to turn.  Someone needed a lesson on how arrows work for directions. Lol

Can’t exactly turn left, so must mean straight? 🤷‍♀️

Suddenly we were already 5 miles in. 

My feet still hurt but I just wasn’t going to let blisters keep me from finishing the last two days. 

Not after pushing through all the other aches and pains! 

I think it was a lot of mind over matter! 

There was one last big hill before we arrived in the town of Milladorio. 

We had reserved an AirBnB and requested an early check in. They wouldn’t have the cleaner in until 1:00 but they would let us know as soon as we could get in. It was only 11:30 am so we found a cafe and had some drinks. We also were able to get on the wifi and locate a grocery store and pharmacy for the last bit of supplies for the next day. 

I got a message from the Airbnb letting us know that they were cleaning the apartment but we could come over anyway. 

So we headed out to the place, which was about a mile from the cafe we were at. There was some confusion about location the place but we eventually figured it out. 

An extremely nice man named Luis got us in the building and up to the apartment. His wife Susanna was there and they were both incredibly sweet to us! Neither of them spoke any English but once again Joe to the rescue. 

Luis took care of getting the passport information all set for the rental. Susanna gave Wendie and I big huge mom hugs and kisses on both cheeks. Then we got a tour of the apartment. They had water in the fridge for us and some sort of desert. They were taking care of the pilgrims. 

They were both so kind and loving. They were also really excited for us to be almost to Santiago and that they got to be a part of helping us on our journey. Wendie and I got another round of Susanna hugs and kisses before they left us. They seriously touched our hearts!!

Susanna and Luis! Our amazing hosts! 💜

Tomorrow is the last bit to the finish! 

It was such a huge number of miles at the start, it was a bit daunting. 

Now here we are…

I have logged in 156.3 miles (not including walking around to get groceries or dinner after we have stopped for the day.  

I have less than 5 to go. 

Wow! 😳

I’m going to have a lot of big feelings tomorrow.

Actually, they already started today.

Final installment of Camino 2023 will be here soon.  

Did I mention Wow?