June 16: Santiago!

I made it to Santiago in time for the USA v Ghana World Cup game!

I am absolutely exhausted. But i made it from Zamora to here in 12 days. That was my goal to be able to  see the US play and not be caught somewhere without a tv.

June 13: Ourense

I made it to Ourense.  Basically it was mountains the entire way from Puebla de Sanabria.  The ascents were 2000-2500 ft is my guestament. I had to do one 'overdo it' walk. That was 14.5 hours from Puebla de Sanabria to A Gudina,  about 56km. I stumbled into Gudina about 9pm absolutely exhausted.  The challenge for me is doing the 56k  and then weathering the aftermath.  I am still trying to manage the second part. I managed to do 36km to Laza, 34km to some town thats name starts with an X (Xumquiera do Ambria?)and then 22km to Ourense.  This is while enduring a heat wave here. I am 100km plus away from Santiago as the area here bakes. The flies are all hatching in the heat, especially here which is a traditionally moist climate like Oregon.  The humidity index is at 90% which forces up the temp (heat index) from 90degrees to over 100degrees plus.

I have some decent photos which I will post once in Santiago.

June 9: update

Still no luck uploading photos.  Once I get to Ourense in a week, I can find a locotario where I can rent a computer.  I will probably need to start another blog page.

Meanwhile, I have been walking for the last five days since Zamora. I arrived in Puebla de Sanabria today.  The Via de la Plata splits 40km north of Zamora.  I could either continue north to Astorga where the Camino Frances is, then take the Camino Frances to Santiago;  or, I could take the Via de Sanabria which is really the traditional way to go. The Via de Sanabria goes east northeast, and comes close to the top of Portugal.  It has been an absolutely gorgeous route to walk. Tge terrain is more mountainous as I approach the province of Galicia. Galicia is very mountainous,  a lot like the Oregon Cascades.

I  had hope to reach Santiago by June 16, the night USA plays Ghana in soccer.  But I don't think I will make it. Hopefully I can find a bar that has the game.

Jun 7: update

I am having problems uploading photos lately. I don't know what the issue is.

I spent three days in Zamora resting my feet because of blisters.  I have been on the road the last three days trying to manage the blister issue. I bought two pairs of shoes in Zamora to replace the running shoes I had. The main challenge in getting the shoes was finding a size large  enough to fit me. Evidently Spaniards don't usually wear size 13 US.

So one pair I had to order through the mail within Spain.  That was a pair of Keens Newport H2 sandal that I could only find in size 12. The other pair is a size 13  Addidas hiking boot. Unfortunately it seems to run small. It is an experiment to see which is the better shoe. It is challenging to change to new shoes in the middle of the hiking 20miles a day too. Procuring the shoes took up most of my time in Zamora.  Seriously, it is not easy to do like in the USA.

I also had a bedbug run-in a week ago. I called the bar that ran the albergue that they might want to check out their beds. Plus I called the albergue the stage before Morille so that they could give a heads up to the pilgrims. Oh...life on the road for the pilgrim!

June 1: update

On May 31, I walked from Salamanca to El Cubo.  This is 33km. On June 1, I walked another 33km to Zamora.

I stopped in Zamora because I am once again having blister problems. This time it is on the other foot. My plan is to stay a few days in Zamora to let the blisters heal. Plus I will buy new shoes.

May 30: tapas with ham

May 30: tapas