Today’s long hot walk gave me a taste of what the Camino must be like in the summer – hot! tough! Not for Jan! 

Spring has been the perfect time for me. For the most part the weather has been cool and the afternoons have been breezy. 

 

 

  

Not so today. After winding through the busy city of Ponferrada much of the path this morning was on or along asphalt roads.  ¡Muy caliente!

 

 

So far I’ve been able to handle what this Camino has dished out but running around in the heat is not my superpower.  Fifteen miles done but at least five more till my destination with no shade and the temperature still rising. 

I tried to remember the symptoms of heat stroke from my first aid course but I couldn’t remember anything. Oh no!  not remembering anything — isn’t that one of the signs? 

To distract myself from the real question (do I keep my long sleeves on and bake to death or take them off and broil to death?) I thought it was time to break out the headphones.

🎶 …send lawyers, guns and money — daaaad, get me out of this!…🎶

(Ok, side note to my own dad, this is just a little joke.  Actually, money is always nice.)

Just when I thought I would truly melt, the path began heading out away from the road toward that most welcoming of landscapes — wine country. What a lovely surprise.

 

 

  

  

  

Staying tonight in a lovely little town – Villafranca del Bierzo – set on a river surrounded by mountains. Steep! It’s testing the limits of everyone’s tight calf muscles.