Camino de Santiago Day 17: Carrion de los Condos

Fast-forward!

Well today will go down as one of the hardest, if not THE hardest day on the Camino for me. I woke up in excruciating pain. I knew my blisters were far worse than I wanted to accept and wasn’t quite sure what that would mean for me. Would I need to take a day off, do I need to see a doctor, heck should we just chop off the feet and go home? Ok maybe not that last option.

I was also feeling incredibly drained. Both physically and emotionally I knew I was at the end of my rope. But, I also knew that all I had to do today was get up and walk. So I climbed out of my tree house, bandaged up my feet and hit the trail before sunrise.

I had about 3.5 miles before the first town and it was a beautiful walk beside a creek. With every step I knew that my mind and body were screaming at me to stop but I continued to press on to Frómista, our first town of the day where cafe con leche was waiting for me.

I rolled in about 15 minutes behind everyone else and just collapsed into a chair. My Camino family all just looked over at me and knew that I couldn’t go on. Physically hard days are tough enough, but when you’re also battling emotionally and/or mentally hard days it can just be too much to bare. I was so grateful to Hillary for making me feel like I had some options. I could stay a night in Frómista and not continue the 12 miles to Carrión or I could simply “fast-forward”.

This is what they call it when you take a taxi. So I made the hard but right decision to take a taxi 10 miles to the next town. It was the best decision I could have made for myself. I took the rest of the day and went to see a doctor. They drained and bandaged my blisters and told me that I’ll be good to go in the morning.

I felt the name of the town had some poetic justice, sometimes you just have to carry-on and give your body some help and grace. Tomorrow is another day!!

Buen Camino!