Uno Mas (Day 33)
So after today’s 15 mile hike I’ve got one more to go. Tomorrow I will leave here in the dark to meet my friends who are staying 4Km down the camino and from there we will walk to Santiago. Michele is there already and I plan to be in the cathedral square by noon. I’m still working out how I feel about finishing and will likely address it in another post.
Today’s hike was an easy one. Not too long, not hot and no rain.
Still longer than my training hikes and now a pretty short outing
Because there are no longer any flat surfaces in Spain
The day started chilly and for only about the fourth time I had to break out the jacket. It felt like fall definitely arrived today and the woods had a quiet foggy quality to them. This was aided by all of the children not being on the trail yet. Don’t worry, they eventually caught up to us.
Fogginess
We did get some spots of sunlight and had a wonderful lunch. A kind of club sandwich WITH MAYO. I didn’t realize that I missed mayonnaise. Guess what, I definitely missed mayonnaise. There’s a number of food items I miss. I’ve been eating the pilgrims menu most nights for quite a while (I had Udon noodles one night in Pamplona and I’ve had pizza twice. Also, I now eat pizza with a knife and fork and if you don’t you’re a barbarian. Sorry, I don’t make the rules). The pilgrims menu has always been good and a few times it’s been great. That said, it’s often been a slight variation of the same 8-10 items. And each of those items comes with fries. Spanish folks love those fries. I’m actually dying for vegetables. I’ve had some pretty great salads here but not enough and grilled vegetables are fairly rare. I will be okay for a few months without having any fries, veal or boiled potatoes. I will now be on the hunt for chorizo (amazing) and Estrella Galicia beer. These are my two new favorite things in the world. Oh, and rice pudding. Where has wonderful rice pudding been all my life?
A normal blogger would put a picture of at least one of the foods I mentioned above right here. I chose instead to put a picture of an old house. I’m not a conventional blogger, I’m an artist. I laugh in the face of conventional internet journaling format standards! I won’t be a slave to your expectations and what you think “fits”! Also, I never took a picture of my food for some reason.
Tomorrow morning I set off onto the trail one final time. It’s bittersweet and while I’m sure I’ll be struggling with what it means my intent is to simply enjoy the time with my friends and enjoy a walk in the woods. This walk ends with me seeing the love of my life and for that reason alone I expect it will be the favorite hike of my life. I’ve got plenty of time to sort all of the other shit out, tomorrow will be lived in the moment.
Onward.
