Previously on Stump Speeches, Camino 2024: Jim and Chris had experienced a couple of hard days hiking, and they were looking forward to an easier day today.
“Easier” is capable of different interpretations. And there are different ways to get to easier. The miles were shorter, and the hills were lower. But there are other dimensions on the spectrum of easy-to-hard, and we found one of those today. I’m getting ahead of myself though. Back to the beginning.
Spanish people don’t seem to each much breakfast. Maybe that is because they have dinner at 11pm, so they don’t really need much food until the middle of the next day? Our hotel included breakfast, which consisted of coffee, freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice, and then your choice of a pastry. We opted for the pain au chocolate (which is called something different in Spanish… something like a neopolitan?). That was enough to get us going on the hike, which started with the only major hill climb of the day, and took us up along a stunningly beautiful ridge. Then we went down toward the coast again.
Here I’m going to go on a digression about the ways we navigate. The Camino is marked with yellow arrows at almost every intersection so you know which way to turn. So theoretically, you could just get over here and start walking and follow the signs. But in this day and age, that doesn’t seem very wise. So I have an app from which I’ve downloaded the map for the entire Northern Route we’re on, and it has a GPS function, so it puts a dot on the route where you are. This is enormously helpful for instantaneous direction and confirmation of where you are. But then you also need to plan ahead, and for this I use an old-fashioned guidebook, which I carry with me at some cost to my weight budget. It’s very nice, though, for planning purposes — which villages have different kinds of services, how far between towns, etc.
Besides the official Northern Route (don’t ask me what makes it official), there are also some alternative routes. We’ve done these a couple of times when it said there was something interesting to see, or like yesterday when one alternative took you mostly around a hill rather than over it. So it’s not usually crazy to take an alternative route. Usually.
Today’s stage in the guidebook said, “the most beautiful views of the entire Camino.” And the weather today was the most beautiful we have had: 68 degrees and sunny. It seemed like things were conspiring for our good. So it seemed best to follow the suggestions of the alternative route, which was “strongly recommended alternative route on footpaths by the coast.” We got to the junction, and it was either walking on the shoulder of a fairly busy highway for a couple of miles, or taking the strongly recommended alternative route. It didn’t seem like much of a choice.
However, the first 20 meters of the alternative route were very narrow through blackberry brambles higher than our heads. But we could see that past that it opened up into a meadow of sorts, where there were some cows grazing. And it was right next to a stunning coast line. Chris is not a huge fan of creeping vines, as she is terribly allergic to several varieties of them besides the normal poison ones. But she pushed through and we were in the meadow. It was really pretty.
But the guide book should have given us a better indication of what we were getting ourselves into. “Footpath” conjures images of a leisurely stroll through a meadow. We had cowpaths full of shoe-sucking mud and manure, and these were separated by more of the brambles you had to bush whack through. Needless to say, it was pretty rough. The two miles of this took us at least an hour and a half and ended with lots of scratches, wet soiled shoes, and reconsideration of our life choices.
Back on the busy road, we found a cafe for lunch (now almost 2pm). At the table next to us were people speaking American English, so on the way out we talked to them a bit. They now live in the village of Llanes, just up the road. We said we were hiking to the village of Cue that is next to it. They said, “Oh it has a lovely beach.”
That got us thinking. We still had about 7 miles to walk. We were dirty, stinky, and grumpy. How about we go off script?
One of the memoirs I’ve read about walking the Camino has long discussions about who is a true pilgrim. The purists are quite sure that the more you suffer the better. Chief in that regard is an absolute ban on any forms of mechanized transportation. Despite the fact that I took an elevator a couple of times yesterday, I myself tease the people who have their bags transported by saying they won’t get as much time out of Purgatory. I definitely have some purist leanings. But the response from the other perspective is to ask whether monks in the Middle Ages (who were the purest pilgrims) would accept a ride from a passing wagon? Of course they would! And the fact that we had to summon a wagon in the form of calling a taxi for those last seven miles hardly seems relevant. What is relevant is that we got to our hotel in time to enjoy most of the afternoon at the loveliest beach you’ll ever see!
Easy comes in different ways. Don’t judge us from your comfy couch.
no judgment here! Sounds like a fantastic idea after that rough patch!