Tell me who you walk with, and I will tell you who you are – Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

Date: 10th June, 2024

Section: Serdio to Pendueles

Region: Austurias

Staying: Pendueles

Bar Castiellu – Private Albergue right on the camino way €45 for a private double room with breakfast (dorms available). Clean, comfortable. Option to join a community home cooked dinner. Small supermarket next door.

Recommend, yes ✅.

Instagram: Link to extra photos and daily caption.

Today:

Today I walked into a new region of Spain. The Asturias. The home of the Picos de Europa, one of my favourite mountain ranges and of vast dramatic coastlines – another one of my favourite things! It is not hard to enjoy a long day’s walk amongst this kind of landscape. Even when it involves a river of cow shit. Ha ha that was a doozy, grab a cuppa and settle in I’ll get to that a bit later.

The albergue I stayed at serves breakfast, it is nice to start today with a cup of coffee and some toast. It all feels very relaxed really, no pressure to move fast and to check out. This is the luxury of the private albergues, no hurry. Also the weather is not heatwave like so no need to get off early. This suits me today as there is not a long distance to cover. I prefer to take my time a little in the morning. On the trail I am walking my usual hiker pace so I never worry about getting in too late. If I leave organised my brain is ready for the day to unfold and I’m open to whatever the flow is. At breakfast I see Ted and Bobby and we chat a little.

There is no supermarket in Pendueles so I plan to pick up some supplies when I pass by one. At some point in the morning I walk into Jan from Belgium. We walk together for a while and start chatting. Initially, I plan to keep walking as it is a bit slower than my usual pace but the conversation holds me back. He is on an interesting camino, he started from his home in Belgium. He has been walking for 3 months and is camping along the way. We chat a lot about hiking and hiking with kids. He and his partner have lived some very interesting chapters in their lives having taken the kids out of school for various long adventures in the world.

After a few hours we hit the first town and I bid a ‘buen camino’ to Jan as I need to stop for some supplies. This camino I am focussing a lot on how I fuel and the quality of said fuel. I have in the past stopped in cafes along the way but this past year I have become quite conscious about my own health and nutrition. Once entering the midlife phase – things change. It fitness and nutrition become have non negotiable in feeling good and being able to do all the things I love. Recovery and energy need not only sleep but also good fuel. I like to be able to feel strong and to bounce back in the morning.

Once again I find myself attune to myself and choosing what I need and this feels good. Sometimes it is a challenge along a camino to walk on without feeling some sort of guilt. Not everyone understands that walking alone or off solo is not a reflection on them. They are not mutually exclusive.

At various times I have been questioned about my need to walk on, faster or alone. Silly what we get questioned about isn’t it? I would never question someone about their need to walk with someone as though it is weird – we are all just different. There is a harmony in accepting the differences in others rather than presuming there is a correct way don’t you think? How simpler it would be if we released others from our own expectations of how to ‘be’. (obviously I am not talking about crazy war mongers here or those who hurt people, we should have expectations of people being decent and moral humans.)

I ponder some of these thoughts while I treat myself to a picnic lunch on a bench seat after climbing up and out of pretty picturesque town. I wonder about something else. Every time I walk people ask me ‘who looks after the kids or how do you get away for weeks to walk’? Do you think I asked Jan this? Spoiler: I didn’t. He has young kids. He is not the first man I have met that is walking for months on end. Women though, we are held to a different account. Even if the intention is not a judgement, it is still (always) asked and why is it only asked of women? No wonder we have to work so hard to learn to ‘drop’ guilt as a response to our choices. Always, we are expected to defend or answer to our choices if they are a bit different to what has been normalised for women. Bugger that.

There is an alternate walk today that is along the coast. I decide to take this walk as the coastline here is just so wild and beautiful. Really ‘WOW, breath this in kind of scenery’. As I am walking I see a pilgrim in the distance. I snap some shots to share with him later when I catch up. I recognised him as an Irish pilgrim lets call him Liam. (sometimes I rename people for privacy.) I had briefly chatted with him at a rest stop earlier. He was also one of the internationals at La Gloria the night before. I always love chatting with Irish hikers. We lived in Ireland for 6 months at one time and it was one of my favourite life experiences. So many warm hearts.

As I catch up we begin to try to navigate the path together as it is somewhat hidden by brambles. As it is not an actual trail there are no way markers. At one point we climb back up the hill and attempt to walk along the railway line but both of us feel a bit nervous of this as it is an actual working rail line. We again navigate a wired fence with our packs and climb back down to try to find the coastal path amongst the cows. As we are walking we talk a lot. Liam tells me about his reasons for walking and I am humbled by this experience. We never know someone until we talk to them. I have walked enough caminos now to know that I can never prejudge someone or presume to know them by making up a story in my head about who they are.

The thing about caminos is that you never know who you will get to know, walk with or meet over dinner! Age is never a limiting factor on a camino and I meet people from all over the world with such different life experiences and stories. It feels rich. Today, I realise that being interesting and staying interested is a real type of wealth. In a world focussed on acquiring and collecting things – this thing (interesting) is a currency that I want to focus on and collect.

At one point the path is not visible at all. Liam has shorts on so I volunteer to try what looks like a possible path that is muddy and bramble covered. My legs won’t get scratched in trying it. One foot in and I sink, second foot in and I am up to my ankles in mud. WAIT! Or am I? Is it .. oh GOD it is! It is a river of cow shit. A literal river of shit and I am fecking ankle deep. At this point we are both laughing so hard I think I will cry. Needless to say Liam didn’t follow me and I backtracked out. Well, this a moment I will not forget.

After navigating the coastal path we meet up with some others that Liam knows from previous days. Pilgrims from Germany and Canada. We all walk into Pendueles where I have pre booked a private room at another private albergue. The pilgrims all decide to check in here as there is dorm style accommodation.

I did have ambitions of blogging this camino live but that idea has been thrown out the window. I will walk this walk fully present and also use my evenings to unfold as they do. If I was to commit to blogging each night I wouldn’t be able to relax or eat, sleep and do what is needed. So a few journal notes and an instagram post each night will keep my thoughts secure until I return home to write up my camino experience up in full.

Another day under my belt and my toes are happy. I am walking with a kind of plastic toe wedge between my big and first toe. I don’t want to share a photo for your sake 🙂 Also I am using a toe cover in the places I got a blister last time. There is no friction between my toes. Foot care is real and vital to a good experience. We all have different rituals. And while on this camino this is how I managed the hot spot where I have become prone to a blister I have since upgraded to toe socks. No additional extra precautions required. I wish I had know about toe socks earlier. Live and learn. Always something to learn.

Highlight:

Definitely just the feeling that since the last camino I have really embedded some of the lessons from the women I met into how I do things now. This has been a gift of walking this camino in stages. Walk, reflect, live, walk again a little wiser.

Ho hum:

Life with throw you shit! The choice is how you react.