Day 1 – El Camino del Norte
“Move, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.” – Rumi
The short of the long of it, I overpacked. Dammit. Fear led me to do it and the Camino is a strict teacher. Before I left for Europe and while I was in Madrid, everything I read and even the Weather Channel app said it would be cold and rainy. Completely untrue. I even bought a light weight coat in Madrid as a last minute freak out moment in addition to a rain jacket I had already purchased along with a sweatshirt I tossed in at the last minute out of concern for being too cold and wet. It’s sunny and 70°F (21°C). Very warm for hiking and my pack runneth over. The weight doesn’t bother me so much except it’s probably not great for my knee (the one that I injured last year while riding a bike to the grocery store in Florence, Italy and then used to limp across the finish line of the NYC Marathon…all of this after hiking the original 500 mile El Camino – last year was a very physical year for me) but trying to squeeze all these items into my pack is like a Houdini magic trick every morning.
The second mistake I made was with my trekking poles. One of my former boyfriends used to say, “Rand, cheap people pay twice. Whether it’s in money or time doesn’t really matter but they’ll have to do it again.” I bought cheap hiking sticks in Madrid because I will discard them at the end of the hike, but they are awful with a capital A. Dear Lord. Since it’s Sunday no shops are open so I’ll walk at least one more day or two (who knows what lies ahead in terms of shopping) with a tool that doesn’t work very well. Rookie mistake by a non-rookie.
Camino – 2
Em – 0
Today kicked my ass (apologies to the sensitive ears in the room) but the views were stunning! The knee is definitely an issue and I’m mentally struggling with the climbs. I thought about my amazing yoga teachers over the years while walking and their explanation of how to use the breath to move through pain. It did help when I wanted to sit down and cry. My current mantra is “my knee is healing with every step.” No luck yet but a freezing cold shower has revived my spirits and taken the swelling out of my knee and feet as well as a nice top coat of Voltaren (topical ibuprofen – they should be the official sponsor of the Camino) to ease the pain. This sounds like I’m complaining but it’s just another teaching moment. C’est la vie.
Camino – 3
Em – 0
I hiked with some wonderful people today.
-
Stephen from Australia. Fantastic “bloke” and we’ve hit it off smashingly.
-
John from the Netherlands. He basically keeps us all in line. Poor fellow.
-
Michele from France. She doesn’t speak much English but she taught me how to eat a grilled sardine off the bone. Not all hero’s wear capes. Absolutely amazing and I checked off another new food outside of my comfort zone.
-
Later in the day we added another American, Miranda! Yes, there are two of us now. Watch out!
-
And tonight we’ve added Flo from Germany. He is awesome and was a marketing promoter for independent movies before he quit to travel. We have the same sense of humor so he is now one of my favs.
We started the morning in Irún. We had lunch (including sardines) and took a boat ride in the cute little town of Pasajes de San Juan and we finished the day in San Sebastián. A fantastic city but sadly I didn’t see too much of it because I was icing my knee. This totaled 26.1km (16.2mi) which felt like quite a bit for the first day with all the climbing. We survived to tell another tale.
Funniest moment so far: tonight’s dinner. We all went to a tiny little market that had a limited selection of goods for purchase. Unknowingly we bought, chips with no salt, salad ingredients but no salad dressing, pasta, and drumroll please, tomato sauce that turned out to be tomato soup. I was in charge of the cooking which was half the problem and when I heated up the “sauce” I thought, “bloody hell (I’ve been around the Aussie too long) this smells like Campbell’s tomato soup.
Camino – 4
Em – 0
Highlight of the day: we got a lift on a boat!
Camino- 4
Em – 1
At least I’m on the board.
Irun to San Sabastian 25km (15.5 miles)
Goodnight and much love from Spain.
