Journey to Santiago - Day 19, Fifteenth Stage

Day 19 - Fromista To Carrion de los Condes

Distance walked today: 19.6 km (12.3 miles)

Total distance walked: 325.5 km (203.4 miles)

Total distance left: 404.8 km (253 miles)

Information on the stage traveled here.

Adal is halfway to Santiago de Compostela!  He's excited to have gotten this far, and his next goal is Leon, which is about 95 km away.

And he still has his other toenail!  He's been saving it by punching lots of holes in the surrounding skin and squeezing all the accumulated fluid in the toe.  This relieves the pressure that builds up under the nail, but he has to squeeze often to release that pressure.  The most important thing, I think, is that nothing has kept him from going.  He just doesn't feel the pain or the small obstacles, maybe because he wants to finish this so badly.  And of course there's the time factor; he has to finish by a certain date.

The path has been paralleling a major road and going through agricultural fields, so he saw a lot of wheat fields today.  It was relatively flat.  Tomorrow there's 17 km between one town and the next, probably the longest stretch he's walked so far without going through a town.  So logistically, he's planning to eat a hearty breakfast and maybe take some bread with him for the road.

He's thinking about checking out some lighter sleeping mats.  I had completely forgotten he was carrying a sleeping mat.  It's not really a sleeping bag, more like a mat you put on top of a hard bed.  So he's going to look for something lighter at a store in Carrion de los Condes, looking to shave a kilo or a kilo and a half from his pack.

Remember the Canarian Juan?  He's about a stage ahead, and his family wants to meet him in Leon.  I'm sure it will be a cool time.

N and I are doing well.  Looks like we avoided the cold crud going around school and the Embassy by drinking lots of Vitamin C fizzies.  We've settled into a comfortable temporary routine, but this week is sure to be stressful, with lots of work stuff (three projects at the same time and counting), the Embassy fourth of July celebration (I'm on the food committee for 1000 people), and a friend's concert (Stockholm's Gay Choir).  But I have a looong relaxing weekend to look forward to!