Rain, Rain, Go Away

• October 17, 2014
• Antoinette Bodeau
• Activities
• Tags: Camino de Santiago, The Camino

You can’t change the weather but you can change your attitude about it. After two solid days of torrential rain, I really had to work on my attitude!

The first morning of the rain I promptly dressed for the weather and set out prepared physically and mentally. After about 6 hours of non-stop rain and 1800 feet of climbing, I truly had enough. I was wet, cold and tired. My hip muscle decided to go into spasm and refuse to go any further. After some stretching and mental talk, I willed myself the last 5 km (the longest 3 miles ever!) to the Albergue. I took a long hot shower (not feeling the least bit guilty about the water usage) and felt instantly revived.

The trouble with staying in the Albergues is getting your wet clothes to dry. They do have dryers but there is often a long wait so you string your clothes along the rails of your bunk bed and pray your socks dry by morning….doubtful in the damp weather.

Day two of the rain: I set out once again in my damp clothes along with a good attitude reminding myself of the quote I had read by Dolly Parton “If you want the rainbow, you’ve gotta put up with the rain”

I have to say that it was quite beautiful walking in the rain. It would let up just long enough to let me pull off my rain hood to have a better look before it would start again. I had to forget trying to take photos because it was just too wet and hard to capture the beauty that was there. I took a lot of mental shots.

We stopped to warm up with a cup of tea or a “cordado” (espresso with just a small bit of steamed milk) which would help for the next number of kilometers. When we were close to our designated stopping point for the day, it seemed as if the sky literally opened up and dumped buckets on us. We arrived feeling like drowned rats and decided the past two days warranted a private room.

The next day was beautiful and the paths and villages had a magical quality about them. We met a local woman who had an outdoor café and nine dogs! I ate the best lentil soup while a lovely cat insisted on napping on my lap.

We hit the officially 100 km marker yesterday as well. I am planning to arrive to Santiago on Tuesday.