Follow Your Arrow

Today’s walk tested me. It took longer than I anticipated and the town that I had relied on for a refueling spot was closed. And I mean, closed. Not a single store, bar, cafe, or church was open. Even the Albergue was closed. I had a banana for breakfast, and skipped coffee because none of the cafes were open when I left Sangüesa. Good thing I had three apricots and a power bar to serve as lunch. By the time I reached Ruesta – 8 hours later – I was out of water and very hungry.

The terrain was a lot of UP and DOWN. After leaving the town that was closed, I walked about 2 hours up, followed by about 3 hours down. And when I was not climbing, I was bushwhacking through narrow pathways which included wild rose bushes (ouch).

Thankfully the weather gods were with me. The big puffy clouds held onto their rain.

I encountered 7 other pilgrims today on my walk – a Dutch woman on her e-bike who had ridden all the way from Holland, a German couple, one Spanish guy from Barcelona, and three French men who tried to shame me for being Canadian and not being able to speak French. The fellow pilgrims were all a bit amused that I was waking in the “wrong” direction to Santiago. So I had to explain to them that I was not lost, just on my way to a volunteer gig. Walking to work.

At last, I reached Ruesta, an abandoned village with the remnants of a Muslim castle. And in the middle of the ruins sits an albergue where I will sleep tonight. For 21 extra euros I also had dinner and will have breakfast tomorrow morning, which is a very good thing because there is nothing else in this town that was open.