Life's a Stitch

October 2 

A well earned rest day at the westernmost point of Spain. We walked the last kilometres to the ancient end of the earth. On our way we collected beach glass close to the alburgue.

 We did the pilgrim ritual of ducking under the famous healing rock.

Then another seafood lunch, this time najares, Spanish razor clams grilled with garlic and olive oil. 

 

We finished with a nap above the beach.

Took some time to compile the stats:

The combined distance of the Camino Portugues Coastal and Camino Muxia routes was 386.5k (252.9 miles). We averaged 20.34k, slightly under last year's 22k. The fact that most days we walked a half marathon in distance still surprises me. Did we really do that last year for 40+ days? Sometimes it seems unbelievable. 

There were no blisters for either of us. I think we have that figured out. Blisters are caused by rubbing and pressure. Our Injinji toe socks take care of any possibility of  toe blisters and we do a good job of padding and mole skinning our feet at the very first sign of a hotspot.

The final two weeks of last year's Camino were very painful. From the time I came out of the boot from a broken ankle, just weeks before starting our pilgrimage, I had painful swelling on top of my left foot. Finally saw a specialist just days prior to leaving for Portugal. My foot has it's very own disease: Freiburg's disease, which only attacks two of the metatarsal bones of the foot. The bone died due to injury and lack of circulation. It started in the boot and continued in my brace/shoe combination on last year's hike. The bone finally collapsed and is very clearly gone on X-rays. 

A shot of cortisone into the joint and a bar under my insole made this year's Camino possible. A more permanent fix may be necessary.

Enough of that.

Other stats: 

C lost three hats! Bryant, Dad apologizes to you for giving you a hard time in high school when you lost various items of clothing. 

We met pilgrims from 22 countries as compared to 32 on the Frances route.

Tomorrow it's goodbye to Muxia, which we preferred to Finisterre. It turns out that the pilgrim rituals at Finisterre, such as the burning of one's clothes, was a marketing ploy in recent years that they are now trying to undo. In reality,  in old times pilgrims didn't go beyond Santiago. Historically Muxia was the location where pre Romans believed souls departed for heaven.

We're going back to Santiago for two nights, where we will collect our compostelas for the Camino Portugues and partake in the post Camino rituals, then onto Bordeaux to visit friends. A few more stops in Spain and a trip to Morrocco are planned prior to returning home. The blog will continue.