This stage is an ass kicking 35 kilometer slog. I can do 20 kilometers and have something left in the tank at the end. I can do 25 kilometers and it won’t kill me. When I do 30 kilometers I am a broken man at up the end of the day. I have no interest in doing a 35 kilometer day at this stage in my Camino journey.
How do you magically turn a 35 kilometer stage into a 20 kilometer stage? You call a cab. Yesterday I arranged for a cab to pick me up at my hotel this morning and drive me 15 kilometers along the Camino and drop me off. As one of my bosses at the UP used to tell people: “Don’t underestimate Mark. He isn’t as dumb as he looks.”
The flowers are really putting on a show.
Did you know that most homes in this area don’t have natural gas service.
Instead of doing the Camino de Santiago I am doing the Camino de Spatiago. For my spa adventure this afternoon I spent 30 minutes in the steam room and 30 minutes in the jacuzzi. They will need to drain and disinfect that jacuzzi.
Now it is off to dinner.
My mother cooked for a family of five kids on a limited budget and one of her favorite budget meals was beef stew. When I got home from school I would always ask her what’s for dinner. When it was beef stew I would grumble because I was not a big fan of her beef stew. When I grumbled she would always say: “Buster, there are two things on the menu for supper tonight, take it or leave it, your choice.” When I graduated from law school Mom gave me a beautiful antique recipe box with one recipe card inside, the recipe for Mom’s beef stew.
That’s it from Ponte de Lima, Portugal. I hope you are having a great day wherever you are.
Steps walked – 27,306
Kilometers walked – 22.3
Flights of stairs climbed – 12
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 