Media (15)
Sahagún: halfway mark, organization, and relationships in motion.
Arrival in Sahagún, a management day between heat, halfway certificate, and coordination with others.
I had agreed with Giselle to set off together early in the morning. I wrote to her at 5:30 telling her to come to my albergue (it was right on the Camino), but she replied that she would stay and sleep a little longer. I told her that was totally fine and left alone.
I did not experience it as a problem: it is exactly the spirit of the Camino. Everyone goes at their own pace, their own rhythm, and according to what the body allows that day. Sometimes you walk together, sometimes not, and both have value.
That morning, moreover, I had also solved the energy problem: at the previous day's albergue the hospitalero gave me a cable and a wall plug to recharge the powerbank. They were items left by another pilgrim. A simple gesture, but decisive.
At 9:55 I arrived in Sahagún. I spent part of the day orienting myself about the halfway card: tourism office, directions, times, costs. Then Giselle and I updated each other several times and I sent her all the correct info: pickup at Santuario de la Peregrina, time slot 18:00-20:00, cost 3 euros.
The important detail is that, in 2019, Google Maps took you to the wrong point. Both Giselle and I had to ask local people to reach the right place, not far from what was shown online.
At the albergue I took the chance to do a full wash: clothes, towel, and also windbreaker jacket. Then I had lunch there with Alicia and another pilgrim: we ate pasta, salad, and other things together, with that simple and convivial atmosphere that immediately gets you back on track.
During the afternoon I also spoke with Catherine: she was farther behind (Templaria area) and we exchanged real Camino updates, between tiredness, mosquitoes, feet holding better than expected, and pace management. At lunch I was with other pilgrims; she was writing that she had stopped alone for a beer.
In the evening I had dinner with Francesco, Laura, Joan, and Alicia, at Pensión Restaurante La Costa del Adobe. Earlier, walking in town, we had already witnessed a hilarious scene: a man ordered a caña pequeña and the bartender, as a joke, brought him a tiny tiny glass. The same scene happened to Francesco too when we went for dinner there. It was one of those stupid but irresistible moments, laughing to death. Being with Francesco was always super fun: he is really very likeable and brings incredible energy and lightness. At one point I even started giving him totally improvised guitar lessons, in a complete mess: he had found a guitar and started playing La canzone del sole.
The conversation then moved to something very concrete: timing and return flights. In that case it was mainly Catherine who had to do the math: she was planning her return flight and thought of taking it no later than July 17, so she needed to calculate well how many kilometers per day to do in order to arrive in Santiago in time.
In parallel I stayed in touch with the Orisson group and with “Pamplona Party People,” which was the name of the WhatsApp group created in Pamplona to update each other logistically on where each of us was from time to time. Messages were constantly flowing there about who had already arrived, who would pass the next day, and who wanted to understand how to get the certificate. I found myself acting as an information “hub,” between advice and useful coordinates.
Entering town with heat still on me, slow lunch break with pilgrims, phone full of crossed messages, and that strange feeling of being still but still in the middle of movement.
Stages are not made only of kilometers: some days are for realigning people, energy, goals, and direction.
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Day notes