Despite my exhaustion, or perhaps because of it, I didn’t sleep well last night. All the noises woke me up, and in a new room in a new town, there are a lot of new noises.
But I got up on time, got dressed, and got my keister down to breakfast and onto the trail anyways.
Each morning, when I first hit the trail, I have a lot of company. But I am one of the slower walkers, especially this morning, and soon the first group leaves me in the dust, and I can meander along contemplating life things.
The Universe is talking to me. Sadly, I haven’t had the sort of revelation I hear others talk about, perhaps because I’m still working to incorporate the life lessons it’s already brought to my attention - like learning that, sometimes, it’s ok to trust other people.
Yesterday, as I walked, I asked myself why I had my journal and iPad in my pack. It’s been drilled into my travel brain that one should NEVER leave such items in checked luggage, and leaving my suitcase behind each morning to be schlepped along certainly feels a lot like checking a bag. But did I really think these hostels were digging through bags of stinky hiking clothes, looking for treasures? Why was I insisting on carrying more weight than I needed to?
Over the course of that long day, the extra weight (around 2 lbs), which I hadn’t even noticed on the first two days, pulled at my shoulders and weighed down my steps. (I think I also had my pack straps adjusted incorrectly, adding insult to injury for my suffering upper back.) The experience was totally a physical manifestation of this aspect of my trust issues. This was necessary because???
This morning, I left the iPad and journal in my other bag. It was the right decision.
I could not have repeated yesterday’s walk today. Not if I wanted to walk on tomorrow. It took a good hour for my body parts to start complaining in earnest, but at some point I realized I had bruised the tips of my toes on all those downhills the day before. My calves weren’t locked up, which I think is the best I could have asked for, but they started speaking unkindly around 7km. Thanks to the moleskin I’d put on, the blisters on my baby toes didn’t scream too loudly until I was almost to Melide, but once they started talking, they demanded attention. With less weight to carry, my shoulders had no new complaints, though they were not completely silent; I can’t blame them for holding a grudge.
I arrived here in Melide in better shape than I deserve and was done for the day in time for rain to settle in for the afternoon. I took a nap, and woke up knowing I have the oomph I’ll need to do all this again tomorrow - it’ll be another shortish day - 13km.
I don’t know I could ask for more right now.
Photos: a determined tree root; one of the many small, ancient churches dotting the landscape; a section of trail - that probably used to be level with the surrounding fields. How many times do you have to walk across a field to dig the level down six feet??
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