Day of Rest or Day of Records? (to Logroño)
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2008
1
8
24
Trip End
Oct 02, 2008
Logroño,
La Rioja,
Spain and Canary Islands
Monday, September 1, 2008
After having breakfast with the best bread so far (and probably to come), I start around 7:30. As I leave Los Arcos, I plug in my earphones and listen to some Buena Vista Social Club. The atmosphere of the town and the music in my ears makes me feel exhilarated, so I grab my camera and do a first-person perspective video walking out of town. This will be the perfect intro for my Camino film, and Buena Vista will just be the perfect score.
Having a rather late start and not knowing when the effects of the drug will subside, I switch on turbo mode, walking steadily to the Cuban rhythms. The road goes on for miles straight and I am very much the only one on it. This changes after two hours when I start overtaking the first pilgrims. Today I will not rest as long as I am able to walk.
Eventually, this means that I walk for four hours straight without as much as sitting down to have even a short break. Compared to yesterday's limping, I am very fast today; maybe as fast as the mad Irish. No time for talking; this time it means pretty much reaching the next city or die on the track.
After four hours of constant fast-paced walking, I approach Viana, having done a full 20 kilometres in record time.
The track goes straight for miles
I have also listened to quite some albums and found out that Dire Straits are really good for speed-walking. At the Outskirts of Viana near a water fountain I take my first break. There I meet Max and Petra again, as well as their entourage which seems to grow every day. Now that is funny thing: Neither Max nor Petra are even remotely able to speak Spanish, but they seem to fully enjoy the Company of an Argentinian and two other Spanish guys, as they are walking with them for several days now. I really wonder how they communicate, yet it seems to happen all the time, to the greatest amusement of all involved.In Viana, I get myself medical supplies: A sturdier bandage, some anti-inflammatory pills and other medical stuff. It's also time for lunch, so I rest for some time. Viana is a nice town; it's full of life and people on the street despite the fact that it is Monday.
I would have liked to maintain the same speed on the last seven kilometres, but unfortunately, it has gotten pretty hot in the meantime and my body seems to disagree with me about the benefits of speed-walking. Well, adjusting my backpack straps for the fifth time after leaving Viana, a jolly young lass from across the Channel runs into me and introduces herself as Emma. I'm done speed-walking on drugs and music for today, so it's time to enjoy some nice company.
The Camino is not something which is just there. As much as it is a real place, it is a concept, and part of the concept are the people on and around it.
Marvellous landscape
So, in a way, the Camino moves, as you and the people around you move forward. Part of the experience is meeting the same people over and over again, staying connected and learning about them.In this case, Emma is the one who so freely gave her camera to Joe some days ago, the same Joe I happened to talk to only yesterday. And so I get to hear the story from the other end, somehow suspecting that this coincidence will not be the last one. I come to realise that exactly this thing is at least part of the motivation to carry on, to stay with the flow, to stay connected to the same loose fellowship consisting of maybe 30 to 50 people who are more or less there since the beginning in St. Jean. St. Jean, the town which is already so far away, both in distance and in memory.
At the end of the stage we enter Logroņo in a group of almost 8 people, together with Max and the gang. The albergue is very nice, although big, and we get a bed on the attic. After walking the whole day, it quite a punishment having to walk up to the third floor, but I'm getting accustomed to that too. At least we are in a bigger city, so if I decide to stay there, there's something to do. What I'm definitely going to do is send some things home, like my raincoat.
Wow, again, wouldn't have thought I'd make it there. 27 kilometres on bad knees is not bad at all, and I hope that medicine will get my body up and working again. Well, what I can say, I am in Logroņo. So far so good.
