Distance traveled: 25.4 km

This was my least favorite day of walking on the Camino. But take heart: it involves a choice of routes, and I chose wrong! You can avoid my experience on your own Camino.

Adam and I headed out of town at the usual starting time. There was quite a bit of the city to get through on the way out; we passed this statue of a pilgrim in a plaza:

And then got treated to this view as we crossed the river:

During the short stretches when the Camino goes through big cities like this, it’s inevitably not going to look as romantic as it does 95% of the time. The picture below is a good illustration (though we did get a rainbow!).

About 90 minutes out of town, the route forks, and pilgrims can choose to follow the original Camino route (what I did) or to follow a more modern route (which Adam did). I’d followed the original route all this time and felt that it was worth continuing; Adam had gone the original route on his first Camino and wanted to see what the other way was like. Saying good-bye to each other after having spent so much time together was strange, even though we were pretty certain we’d reunite again soon!

With the brief exception of 10 minutes walking through a wooded area, the rest of my walk that day was right on a main highway. Sometimes we walked on a sidewalk; sometimes we walked on the actual side of the road. It never felt dangerous but definitely wasn’t pleasant, particularly when trucks drove past. This was the first time I attempted to listen to music and podcasts to tune out my surrounding environment.

When I arrived in San Martín del Camino, I saw that once again the cast of Camino characters had been mostly reshuffled in León. Mark stayed at my albergue that night, but his was the only familiar face. I met a Brazilian girl named Lila, a British guy named Peter, and a young American named Chad, all of whom would reappear along the rest of the route. We had a pleasant communal meal in our albergue that evening and then went to bed a bit earlier than usual. Rain was forecast for the next day, starting around mid-morning, so I decided it was worth getting an early start.