El Camino cambia (the way changes)

By Allison C. - May 09, 2019

              Crunch. Crunch. Scuff. Crunch. The sound of four pairs of feet hiking along the gravel path between Palas de Rei and Castaneda cut through the otherwise quiet Camino. While the group had fallen silent, the gentle sounds of the Camino continued to play. The occasional bird song. The whoosh of a car passing by. The water coming out of one of the fountains. And of course, the sound of footsteps. As I listened to the gravel crunching under my blue hiking boots, I thought about how much the trail has changed in just a few days. On day one, the trail seemed smoother, or was at least more dirt than gravel. On day two, parts of the path were a little rockier, but it still felt like the majority was packed dirt. Today was a different story. Most of the path was gravel, which dug into the soles of my boots and put pressure on the balls of my feet. There was sweet relief for a few brief minutes when the Camino would go through a town or through a wooded area with packed dirt. But then it was back to the sharp gravel. It is possible, and very probable, that the path didn’t really change as much as I think it did and that the soreness of my feet made me pay more attention to the path I was walking on.

              Trying not to think about the pain in my feet, I turned my thoughts to the changing landscape. Cars whizzed by on the right as what appeared to be a car dealership popped up on the left. This was in stark contrast to the magical forest with tall eucalyptus trees that we passed through earlier in the day, and even more in contrast with the views on day one. On day one, the views of the Spanish countryside and the low, rolling mountains were breathtaking. Small homes with Spanish-style roofs dotted the landscape. The shades of green blended together to make a view that was like watercolor. Now on day three, I found myself longing for more of those rural, countryside views. Yes, there were a few times on the path today that were similar, but it was definitely more of an urban route than the previous days because we spent a lot of time close to some main roads. However, there were some areas on the Camino today that had amazing trees that canopied the path. Once again, it is possible that I found the views so amazing on day one because everything was new and I had the adrenaline of starting a long and challenging journey.

              It astounds me how much the path and the landscape seemed to change within only a few days of walking. Some of the differences are slight and others more obvious. I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings!

Day 1 - rolling mountains and a smooth(er) path

Day 2 - similar to day one with more wooded areas

Day 3 - I have mixed reviews. Some parts were beautiful, others a little monotonous. I didn't like being close to some of the roads and there were a lot of villages that we passed through. The trees were really nice and smelled good, though! You can see the gravel path in the bottom right corner of the third picture.