Travel Day

Our 8 hour train ride is underway. The first leg was a regional train to Vitoria. That's a city I've never visited but we only had an hour layover so there was no time to leave the station. 

Now we're on the second train, which will soon arrive in Burgos and then trace the Camino Francés, through León, Astorga and finally Ponferrada. 

My knee is "talking to me."  I can walk but there is something going on, no doubt from some of the awful descents we had in the last week or so. The plan is to start taking Diclofenaco, which Lee has used for knee pain in the past. I'll also buy a good knee brace to stabilize things and keep fingers crossed. Since we have dropped our previous plan to walk in the gorgeous Valle del Silencio as we did last year, that opens up some days. That means I can shorten a few of the monster stages I did last time I walked the Camino de Invierno. 

But basically this means it's just time to play it by ear. Lee will have a tough decision to make. Should she slow down with me and hope I make it?  But what if I have to stop a few days in on the Invierno?  She definitely doesn't want to walk alone and this is such a solitary camino, she might find herself stranded. So she is just going to have to decide which camino to take in Ponferrada. Gimpy old me just doesn't have to make a choice--just start walking and hope for the best. 

If my addition is correct I have walked more than 825 kms in 27 days. That's about a 30 km average, which I now know is pretty close to my limit. From now on I will be less ambitious in my stages. Live and learn. 

So end the musings of this peregrina.