Day 4: Really? More Mountains, Exhaustion, Lost, and More Police

Day 4 Camino de Santiago, Camino del Norte

Sebrayo to Gijon. 34 km + about 10 km of being lost + longer detours for the bike route = 40km/24 miles

I biked for about 8 hours including some breaks today. A ridiculously long time for such a short distance. Basically, I am SLOW!!! That lets you know that I was lost a LOT and that I pushed my bike uphill a LOT. I think I pushed it uphill with no break for about 5 km/3 miles straight…twice. And somehow I still enjoy myself. I think I am a glutton for punishment. I did feel much better about myself today knowing that all the pilgrims were pretty much lost all day. The signs were simply not good on this stretch.

This video makes me laugh at myself as I watch my slow deterioration as the day progresses. It pretty much captures the day. But what I didn´t mention in the video is below:

I washed clothes yesterday, but the sun was setting while I was hanging everything up. So, in the morning, all my clothes were still really wet and I had to hang them all over my bag, underwear and all. Note to self and others doing the Camino: don´t wash all your clothes at once!

I stopped at the post office in Villaviciosa in the morning and mailed off my laptop, misc. clothes for cold weather and anything else I could find that I don´t need in order to shed some weight. It was a glorious moment. I don´t think I would have made it today without having done that!!

Despite being lost so much today, I do actually feel like I´m finding my rhythm and am doing better at following the signs/arrows/shells. I think I´m learning how to accept myself as is…I make stupid decisions/mistakes or am slow to catch on sometimes, but in the end I get it. I am learning how to have patience with myself. Also, I thought about how excited I get to see a little yellow arrow whenever I was feeling uncertain about which way to go. I would LOVE to have some of those little signs for direction I should go with my life. Here, when I don´t see the arrows, I either find someone to ask (including knocking on doors of people´s homes), just keep going and hope for the best, or today I actually started turning around and retracing my steps to see if I missed a sign. And my German angel I menioned in my video helped a lot too!

Oh and I got stopped by the police/Guardia Civil again today (read about the first time here). I was wandering in Gijon, trying to find my way back to the albergue/campgrounds on the outskirts of town and the Guardia Civil asked if I needed help and pulled over. Thanks to their iPhones I was able to get back on track. Normally I´m told Guardia Civil are not so nice and helpful. Turns out one of the Guardias was really just interested in my bike. He was curious to find out more about it, so we chatted it up about my folding bike. By the way, I do still love my bike despite my dificulties on the Camino. So thank you Dahon bike for attracting the help of the police!

Just a few pics today as the scenery, while beautiful is pretty similar to earlier days.