Night on the road, arrival in “paradise,” and a full recovery day. | Day 25

Day notes

Title

Night on the road, arrival in “paradise,” and a full recovery day.

Where I was / stage

Night walking until the albergue with pool, with a recovery base for the day.

Key scene

At 1:10 I wrote to Giselle: I had reached her village and had settled to sleep at the football field, asking her to wake me when she left.

At 5:00 the alarm rang. I woke up and saw she still had not read the message. At 5:20 I wrote that I was leaving anyway, because I understood she was still sleeping.

She replied only at 8:10: she had not managed to wake up and was leaving then. I told her I was on a short break and sent my location: 42.342941,-4.680614. I was already about 12 km ahead of Villalcázar, so around two hours ahead of her. At 8:18 I wrote that I was walking again.

At 10:00 I arrived at the albergue. Perfect, because my mesetas policy was clear: do not walk past 10:00 (at most 10:30/11:00 in exceptions). After so many night kilometers, seeing that albergue with a pool really felt like arriving in paradise. In chat I called it exactly that, to convince others to reach me: “where are you?” “In paradise.”

Luck was also the hospitalero: he accepted me immediately at arrival, even though I was there very early. It was not obvious at all, because in other albergues it had never happened to me. For me it was pure joy: night walking in cool weather, only the last hour (9-10) heavier with the sun starting to hit, and then from 10 onward only relaxation.

I had orange juice and a small cake for breakfast, then a regenerating swim and hours in the shade on the lawn near the pool. I felt great. At one point I even thought about staying two nights. It cost only 5 euros: incredible.

Then I also understood why: terrible dormitory, huge shared room without air conditioning, heavy air, around twenty or maybe thirty beds. Many others in fact could not sleep there and booked the other albergue, basically attached to this one: no pool, but much better conditions and far more livable in the heat (probably with air conditioning).

But I did not care at all. Not because I did not feel the discomfort too, but because I adapt very well and do not experience it as a blocking problem. On the contrary, those are exactly the moments that make me appreciate everything else even more.

At 10:04 we spoke again with Giselle: I explained that the last 7 km were very hard already for me between 9 and 10, so with rising heat it would be even worse for her. Straight stretch, full sun, zero shade, zero trees. There were only two bars along the trail, not in villages: simple support points to refresh.

She replied that she was evaluating whether to stop where she was and leave again the next day. At 10:38 I sent her the photo of “paradise”: an albergue with pool for 5 euros. That photo was decisive: she still had about 11 km left and decided to continue precisely after seeing the pool.

Meanwhile other familiar faces arrived too: Charles (the somewhat strange Swiss guy who was trying with Catherine), Ananda, her friend/partner (I do not know for sure, but there was strong chemistry between them), Alicia, and another pilgrim whose name I do not remember.

For dinner we all went to Hostal Restaurante Camino Real. A group of 10 formed: among the familiar faces there were me, Giselle, Laura, Juan, Francesco, Ananda, Charles, and Alicia. I did not know the other two, except by sight, and had never exchanged many words with them. It was beautiful: those convivial moments that made thoughts, fatigue, blisters, and pain fade away.

At 12:00 she wrote that she had met other pilgrims and was walking with them. In fact at 15:30 I saw them arrive smiling and happy, as if they had not just crossed hell: they were Giselle, Laura, Francesco, and Juan. From there it was now clear that a new stable little group had begun to form, and it was all beautiful.