El Camino Day 7. Navarrete to Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Getting a private room last night was such a treat.  I was able to sleep about 9 hours and I woke up feeling like a million dollars.  As I was setting out to do a long day, I also decided to give my joints a rest and pay the $6 to ship my backpack up to my next stop.  Although I left nearly 2 hours later than I was anticipating, I managed to make up time by running the first 10 miles. In total, I covered 24.5 miles putting me at 210 kilometers and about 25% of the way there.  I’m finding that trekking too late in the afternoon gets a little miserable when it’s the hottest part of the day.  Tomorrow I’m shooting for a 5am departure trekking about 20 miles.  

Here we are crossing the 200k mark.  Emily and Gunther

Every night, I always have dinner with a random group of amazing people with fabulous stories.  Virtually everybody I cross paths with is out here doing this on their own. It’s a common practice that if you’re walking around or you sit at a table by yourself, people will ask you every time to come join them.  I find that I am commonly moving a bit faster or further than most, and pushing ahead of the previous groups. Emily, my 21 year old Danish friend is currently the only person I’ve connected with covering the same distance.  Although I might spend the better part of a day always chatting with someone new, she is so far my most consistent pilgrim friend.