Wow! Another tough day.

Last night I stayed in a small hostel with about 20 pilgrims and it was so quiet. A nice change but this morning it would have been so nice to just stay in bed and I wasn’t the only one. The temperature was 6 degrees and I didn’t bring any warmer clothes. However when I stepped outside, it was so nice. It woke me up and honestly I didn’t feel cold.

But today was very tough physically. As you can tell from the elevation map it was 3 hills with each one getting higher and higher and higher. There was a brilliant sunshine all day, but the trail went through pine and oak forests, so lots of shade. Today I didn’t walk alone. Walked the morning with Paul from Devon England, then with Ed from Oakville Ontario and then with Omer from Israel, as he said Homer without the H. We helped each other. However when we got to the end in St. Juan de Ortega there were no beds available so we continued on to Ages where we did get beds. Further than planned but makes tomorrow shorter.

There is so much to write about that I have been keeping a written journal and I have a list of future blogs!

Topics include: how to walk up a hill; why you shouldn’t know the time; interesting things I’ve seen; signs along the way…

One thing I did hear about today was about the idea behind the use of the shell as a symbol for the Camino. The ancient Celts viewed the shell as representing both the sunrise and sunset.

Not sure if this is true, but if makes a nice story.

Good night until day 13.