León – San Martín del Camino
25 kms (total: 526 kms).
5 hours and 25 minutes (+ 50 minutes of breakfast and photo breaks).
9 – 25°C., sunny all day and a few clouds.
Favorites: leaving slightly later than usual to enjoy a delicious local potatoes omelet; meeting an old man in San Miguel del Camino who presented us with biscuits, water and grapes for the walk, advised us a hostel at destination and gave us a hug before we left; all the fun I have with Tatiana;
Downs: walking on a trail that never leaves the road side; being in 2 different hostels in San Martín because of not enough beds; my 2 blisters are between hurting and not, so I’ll just wait and see.
Stayed at Albergue San Francisco de Asís (10€/night, free laundry), Alcalde Miguel Castaño 4, in León.
Walked another day with Tatiana, we just can’t stop laughing and it feels wonderful to walk and laugh at the same time. Met up with Marlón and his Brazilian friends.
« Buen Camino! » 🙂
Les Petits Pas de Juls 
Walked another day with Tatiana, we just can’t stop laughing and it feels wonderful to walk and laugh at the same time. – It is great to have a hiking buddy… and I appreciated that I had one on the HST. But also, part of me knows that having another person means I can’t stop whenever I want to take photos or go LOL LOL For instance, when I was doing the winter hike to Mt. Baldy recently, I went alone because 1. although it was the favorite trail of mine, I had no idea about the snow condition to snowshoe, and it turned out to be a lot worse (2-3 feet deep) considering the 4,000 feet elevation gain, and 2. I was quite slow with the weight that I was carrying. So, I am super glad that I went alone, and it doesn’t necessarily apply to just a day hike. Of course, when you go on a multi-day backpacking trip, there’s a thing called itinerary, and there’s a sort of goal to reach as a team, so I can’t take as much time as I want to. However, because I was a solo hiker that day and because I was not happy with the shots I managed to take up to that point, part of me really wished that I stuck around longer and even into the dusk so that I could capture the sunset while in the mountain. Once again, it meant a long trudge down back to my car, and it took a while to get off the mountain. It was really dark (pitch black without the headlamp), although I had my headlamp on and I was quite happy with the shots I got, I would’ve never done that if I had company. It’s a photographer’s dilemma… LOL LOL LOL
I get that. I often wonder and ponder still that question. Travel alone or travel together? Travel alone means freedom of itinerary, freedom of stops, freedom to take pictures, freedom to take one’s time as one’s wishes; travel together means sharing the experience.
the photographer/traveller/hiker’s dilemma…
Yup! I did a almost 3 1/2 week road trip in late June to mid-July last year, and I drove from Cali to Banff, Canada and then back and made a bunch of stops along the way. I got a whole loop out of it. Because I did it alone, although I must say, I had a date set to meet up with my friends up in Banff to backpack together, it was quite convenient. But then again, because I traveled alone, when I got sick in Yellowstone (so cold at night), I was miserable. Not that I wanted someone to care for me or anything, but I would’ve felt less stressed about the trip because I was sick. One time I took cold medicine and Advil and the park ranger who wanted to assist me thought that I was under influence… LOL Well, I was! But under cold medicine! LOL Yeah, it is a dilemma… 🙂
Tu soignes,tu protèges, tu fais au mieux …..tu es bien courageuse et volontaire ! Et profites surtout des bons moments passés avec Tatiana et autres belles rencontres qui apportent le soleil au corps et à l’âme 💕✨
Je fais tout ça et mes petites ampoules se montrent mais ne sortent pas vraiment; je masse aux huiles.
Avec Tatiana, on passe vraiment de bons moments, c’est très drôle!
Ugh! Blisters are the very devil. A podiatrist told me they are brought on if the feet are damp 😩
The friction also creates them. But I can’t complain, compared to other pilgrims’ feet. Mine are taken care of, don’t worry 😉
Of course, I know you are well prepared, Mlle Julie.
Do my best. 😊