Wow... 22 days! So at least I made it over three weeks so far. Crazeyyyyyy!
It rained all night but today the weather is merely gray and wet but at least we don't need rainclothes. My foot hurts again and I lost the tape to cover my wounds but it's not a dealbreaker. Another Ibuprofen and away we go đŹ.
Somewhere in the morning I lost Lili because as predicted when she's in form she's way faster than I am. I assume I'll catch up with her in the evening at our destination. I assume she prefers to walk alone today which is completely understandable and to be expected. One isn't in the same mood every day and I sometimes prefer wallking alone myself.
It was weird being alone again all of a sudden after two intense and chatty days together. But as we probably will split sooner or later anyway that's a thing I have to get used to. Such is the nature of the Trail.
The Camino today leads trough boring little forests and along the RhĂŽne following almost perfectly flat terrain - and I LOVE it!!! That's just the sort of easy peasy lemon squeezy day I need right now đŹâ€ïž.
While alone I like to listen to music and my Audiobook ("Ahasver" from Author Stefan Heym is somebody wants to know for some reason. One of my favourite Books). I let the landsacape flow beside me and I daydream while trying to ignore the pain in my foot.
And now its Trivia time!
Did you know there's a Phenomenon called "walking the pain off"? We tried it all the time back on the PCT. It's when you are in pain and have to do miles. You can lean into whatever hurts you instead of fighting it and after a while the pain helps you gain speed if you do it right. It might has to do with bloodflow or Adrenaline or it might just be psychological in nature but when you know how to do it, it does really help.
When I stopped for lunch in a Restaurant guess who I ran into again: Lili! We chatted away and suddenly an elder couple came over to our table. Turned out they are Pilgrims from Australia and hike different Trails all the time. I call those People Camino-addicts because it takes one to know one đŹ. Where are all these other Pilgrims coming from all of a sudden?!
We made the last Kilometers to Chanaz (what a charming, pittoresque town) in our own Tempos and got a nice little Pilgrim Albergue there, the kind I like most! Charming and small and cheap and clean. Ulrike and a Brazilian Guy called Raphael surprised us by coming too. It's funny because very VERY fast it's this Pilgrim group feeling again that I know from before. Where you meet People all the time again and sometimes become a "Bubble" in which you walk together.
Had an amazing dinner together and now I literally can't move anymore. AH! Good times
on the Camino...
How dare you hate on forests! They're the BEST - green and brown and nice-smelling and full of birdsong with plenty of dead mice for your dog to roll in and my favorite: very few people!
That food looks goood, big portions, I like - AJ