San Esteban to Novellana - All about the walk

Today was all about the walk. I mean -  really ‘all about the walk’. The showers, the sunshine, the slippery rocks, leaves and broken  branches,  the mud, the fallen trees and the swollen streams - a walk to remember!

The day began gently- clearing sky, sunlight. . . Beware, I was walking west while the weather was moving east. Confrontation was inevitable.

All morning the weather pattern and my response went something like - 

the hills ahead of me turned misty grey, the wind blew harder, I headed to the nearest shelter as best I could before the shower  hit, then waited under a tree, behind a fence or in a freeway underpass until the weather calmed. I would then clamber out of my makeshift refuge and continue westward- until the next  act of God. I was bemused and frustrated all at once.

The destructive weather of recent days was evident.

🎸 Give me a church among the gum trees 

As long as they stay intact - hmmm 🤔 

I needed to watch the ground for rocks and mud and branches as well as the trees above - I stopped and sheltered when the wind gusted.

By far the best type of shelter. By early afternoon the weather began to clear and the vistas returned.

Too cold to swim today though.

‘Santiago- do you think the weather will improve?’

‘Mike, stop complaining, learn from your suffering!’

Thanks for that, Jim’ My spirits did  lift as I appreciated the Camino symbols on the walls and the waves of drivers as we passed each other.

But for hours - I still couldn’t find an open bar.

Around 2pm I found one and stopped for lunch, Camino friends came by shortly after and we planned to head towards Novellana - good plan! Just the right distance and the rain looked like it had stopped for the day.

Things were ‘getting better all the time’ until 

The path was washed out - it was too deep to step and too wide to jump. So off came the boots and socks. 

Across we went- me, one pole, boots and socks, and pack - barefoot through the water stepping on slippery rock by wobbly rock - phew made it!

Rebooted and stepped out once again, and shortly after. . . 

Total path blockage!  No Limbo Rock on this one - I just had to slash and scrape my way through.  I emerged close to . . .

A thoughtful person had even put out some Camino Smarties as a welcome - all I had to do now was find the albergue - the description said ‘it’s the old railway station’ 

Fine - can’t be that hard- except that I could not see a railway line anywhere 😳. Turned out that the station is a mile or so out of town - eventually found it with advice from a kind local emerging from siesta. 

It’s warm and cosy and there’s just me and one other peregrino here. 

Yes today was all about the walk, all about the walk 

‘Buen Camino’  has special significance on days like these.