April 11, 2017
Today was rough. No sugar coating it. I awoke at 6:45am in a panic because almost everyone was gone. I usually leave around 8am but when we are hiking in the desert it is a much better idea to leave by 7am. Today I would learn this lesson.
Yesterday was an easy day, mainly because we arrived in town before the peak heat. Due to my late departure (and I got lost for the first 15 minutes) I hiked my last 10km in the hottest part of the day AND I got my first blister. I’ve had other areas of my foot that got rubbed raw but this was the first real blister that really gave me pain. I realized it was getting bad around 17km, with about 10km still to go. That was the hardest part- knowing I still had so far to go, in so much pain.
The ironic part is sometimes when I am in pain (not always) I will go faster. Today I got so angry, so fed up with the pain that I dug in my heels (literally) and sped up. I managed to go 10km in 1.5 hours.
At the 23km mark I was about ready to give up. I was crying from the pain but still going faster, convinced that I would be alright once I could just STOP.
In the midst of my tears I came across some rocks that spelled out a message– “GO ASHLEY!” You see my “little brother”, as I like to call him, Michel had a short 10km hike today so he took 30 minutes to gather rocks and form this message. It couldn’t have come at more perfect time, just as all “Camino stories” happen. I, of course, started to cry and found new motivation to get to town to say THANK YOU to him.
By the time I finished the last 3km I was so tired I could barely muster up a pathetic hug for Michel. It was such a treat to spend the evening with him (and our other photographer friend Mate from Slovenia.)
Currently it’s 9:07pm and I couldn’t be more exhausted. The heat, the miles, the wine (haha), it all makes for one tired Ashley!
The sun is BRUTAL. But so happy to have my umbrella 😍
So so happy!
People doing yoga at the albergue! Too tired to join in but was nice to see 💜
-Ashley
El Camino Chronicles 