I hugged Norman and Merle good bye at the door, leaving a trail of chaos in my wake, soggy cornflakes and half drunk coffee. Getting onto the camino was unproblematic; it followed the course of the river (one of the very few attractions of Xinzo) towards Verin and cut through straight through fields for miles, uninspiring but uncomplicated......or so I thought. For some reason I lost confidence in my route. This happens on the camino, you find a camino plaque and stride with confidence for maybe a kilometre or so and then you start to get skittish....where's the next one? Surely I should have found it by now? Stop. Check map. Look up again. Walk walk walk, stop, repeat the process for several more kilometres and then, when you least expect it, it jumps out of a bush......that little shell, unaware of all the stress it's been causing you for the past hour. You feel the emotions similairly to when you find your child in tesco's after scouring the isles for ages, intense relief dogged by irritation. Anyway I decided to take the pass over to cross the main road which my route had been hugging closely so far. I continued walking for several hours, feeling the gradient upping and trying to breath through my nose. I so wanted to make it to Verin that day but as I sweated it out up the mountain, I had come to accept that I probably wouldn't achieve this aim. There were several decent sized villages near the city and I figured one of them would have hostel or something of the like. I traipsed through shuttered streets, the 'sleepy towns' described in the guide books, which inspired both relief and alienation, as I wouldn't have to explain what I was doing and yet some sign of life would be nice. When I reached the peek I muddled my way around, disappointed with the progress I'd made on the mountain paths but not wanting to walk on the hard shoulder. I found a camino sign and started crying with queasy relief and maybe heat exhaustion. I started to decend down the valley, my feet and rucksack feeling like a tonne of bricks. I asked a woman with weeping saws on the back of her feet if there was a hostel nearby and she directed me to another village. She bestowed upon me a bottle of water that had a purpley tinge, which upon sipping I was relieved to find was caused by wine.
In the next village I had a very difficult experience. I don't want to relay all the details as it's more than a week ago now and I understand and am at peace with it. It involved a man locking me in his house. My star is still shining.
When I arrived in Verin I was physically and emotionally exhausted and very shaken. I went to a cafe and openly cried over a coffee. Then I went to a bakery and bought a very large pie and bag of biscuits, took them to my room at the hostel and stuffed my face. The hostel owner had advised I get a bus to A Gudina to get out of Verin which sounded comfortable but I knew that when you fall you need to get straight back up, otherwise you're giving your fear time to grow. I decided to walk to A Gudina, which is one of the best decisions I've made so far and further proof for myself that my star is particularly shiny :) Protect the human, even the wayward ones.
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