Friday 10 June 2016

A day in the life of a long-distance walker

Daylight creeps in to the bedroom. Rob says "Time to get up". Debby says "Noooooo".

We drag ourselves out of bed and bleary-eyed slowly swing in to the put-everything-back-into-the-packs routine; every item has its own particular place.

If it is a long day we make our own breakfast so we can leave early - no one in Spain seems to eat breakfast until 9.00am. But if breakfast is included in our booking then we ask if we can have it at 8.00am so we can hoist packs and leave by 8.30.

We find our trail, lose our trail, flail around in the undergrowth, walk up and down a dirt road looking for waymarks, Debby reads the guidebook instructions yet again,  Rob turns his phone this way and that trying to work out our position. Compass comes out for direction finding.

We find the track, cheer, and plow on. Find some shade and stop for water and a snack mid-morning. Carry on and find some shade and stop for water and a bocadillo about 1. Carry on, grumping about wiggly trails that go around or over hills when they could go straight and moaning about nettles and grass awns and blackberry that snag and scratch and hurt. Have another moan about muddy patches.

Stop for water. Debby slaps on yet more sunscreen. Move on. Stop for water. Take a photo. Move on. Pee stop.

Arrive at pueblo. Hunt high and low for hostal. Check in. Shower/collapse on bed. Drink water. Have some snacks. Clean shoes. Wash socks. Sometimes wash other things. Write diaries. Research and ring next hostal hoping we can make ourselves understood. Check the forecast. Check emails to see if anyone back home remembers us. Stagger out for a beer and a look around the pueblo. Buy supplies. Try to get dinner at 8.00pm - no one in Spain eats dinner before 9.00pm by which time we are beyond starving and utterly exhausted.

Go back to room, throw all duvets and blankets off the bed. Go to bed, try to read. Rob snoring in 5 minutes.  Try to sleep.

Next morning, daylight creeps into the bedroom and we start all over again.....

Truly insane.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice picture of you two.
    Your daily routine sounds just like a day in the office...

    ReplyDelete