To Redondela

 Made it to Redondela, Spain. It took about six hours of walking. It’s very easy to stay on the right trail, as there are yellow Camino seashell signs and yellow arrows showing when to turn right or left, and a lot of arrows in between to assure that you are on the right path.

This morning, when leaving Vigo, I felt energized and happy. Walking on this “terrestrial ball” (I love that expression) it felt like the world was at my fingertips, ready to explore. And it’s so very beautiful.

After we followed the yellow arrows on a fairly level walk, Bethany and I could see that we had some hills to travel. Upward. Many hills. Seriously steep hills.

You know how it is when you are driving or walking a hill and you see that you are almost at the summit? Only to find out when you reach it, there is another hill?

That was the case today. It would not have been as brutal if we weren’t packing our life’s possessions on our backs! There were a few resting spots at various shady places – but it was tough for this old grandma, I freely admit. 

In fact dear reader, I started cussing you! Yes, YOU! 

“Have a good time, my friend!” “I’m soooo happy for you!” “What a blessing it will be for you!” “What an opportunity!”

Now, trudging up hill after hill in the blazing sun, I decided my son was right. I had asked him if he was interested in the journey and he said, “pretty much sounds like a nightmare of a way to spend two weeks!”

Wise guy.

Bethany is so sweet. So attentive to my needs. “Want some water?”  “Need a break?” “Let’s stop and rest and have some fruit.” 

Don’t get me wrong- I wasn’t DYING. It was just a little difficult. Challenging. And when old couples (say, in their eighties) and pot-bellied middle-aged travelers passed us, I stubbornly figured I could do it, too. “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other,” an old guy told me. 

Mercifully, what goes up must come down. This was a welcome relief. For a while. Until the descent got so steep that more-experienced walkers zigzagged down the road. I tried that but didn’t like it.

We finally made it into Redondela—my legs felt like rubber and I was breathing like a fat lady. I couldn’t (or didn’t want to) walk another step, and accepted Bethany’s suggestion that we call an uber to our Airbnb. Was very glad we did. It was another couple of miles and I had no desire to walk another step.

We got settled in to our rooms and I crashed for at least two hours. Dusty and sweaty and sore. After a sometimes scalding hot and sometimes bitter cold shower, I felt much better and we went to find a nice place to eat. We haven’t had a real meal today, except for the hotel breakfast fixings. And I am starved.

I think we’ll uber to the restaurant.