What a day. Had a wonderful night with Floris, Maggie’s grandpa Martin, Orto from Denmark and Lizzy from Dresden at a Pizza place. Not really Spanish food but it was something completely different from the pilgrims plate.
I finally said goodbye to my shoes. Walking in the sandals is just so much better, even though I know have 5 blisters on my feet.
We started our day very late. Barely got out of bed before the nuns would have kicked us out. I still felt a lingering cold and the body was aching. Evertonet was leaving, but when I saw Maggie was still sleeping two bunks over, and I knew I was not the last, I stayed in bed.
We finally got up and found Floris was in his usual morning routine, so one of the last to leave. So he said he would show us how to start a relaxed morning. We had coffee and met this girl, who had walked over 20 Camino, and was currently walking the Frances the other way around. She gave me the confidence to Dutch my tent, as she said that we are such a small group of pilgrims walking towards her, that it should not be an issue to get a bed.
Some one else had mentioned that a third of the pilgrims had already given up, too. It all felt rather loud, and before ibu kicked in, I thought I should stay and take a rest day. But we started out to the 26km walk of the day together.
When we left town, Maggie and I picked up the pace by a lot, and left Floris behind. After a good 5k of almost racing down the Camino, we got slower. Maggie said she was getting slower, and I should not wait for her, and let her slow me down. But I actually thought it was the exact opposite… so the initial ibuprofen kick started to wear of.
We made it to a food truck, and said down for breakfast. Floris joined us fairly quickly and when he left, Maggie started to look worse. She had stomach cramps and really did not look like she was up to the next 10km to the nearest village.
For what ever reason, or fate, or what ever, there was a business card of a taxi driver on our table, and only our table. I decided to take it just in case.
A few k down the road maggie had to stop, and I told her we should rest. Within 2 minutes she lay down and we both new, she would not be able to continue for today.
Within 15 minutes there were at least 25 people around us offering help. I asked some Spanish guys to oder us that taxi, and Gabriel, this Spanish angel, stayed with us, and made sure it would come. After an hour, and some freshly made tea from our on Camino angel Gabriel, the taxi arrived and took us to the place her grandpa and her had booked. She is in bed now, and I grabbed some food and am waiting for Martin to get here by foot.
The love and help we saw today on the Camino was overwhelming and despite Maggie’s break down, such a wonderful experience.