Camino Week 1 -> The Week That Wasn’t

April 20, 2022 by libertatemamo 22 Comments

What is they say about the best-laid plans? About as good as a house made of sand, right?

Or something like that anyway.

This first week certainly played out like that. The Camino decided to test me, and in a way that I hadn’t expected at all.

Perhaps it was the exact lesson I needed to learn or just luck of the draw, but needless to say week 1 of my pilgrimage did not go as planned.

Not at all LOL.

Note/ I apologize in advance for all typos and weird-looking formats. I did this entire post on my iPhone which is a bit of a mini-miracle in itself. I will now go un-cramp my fingers and see if I can get my normal vision back.

Departure Day -2

I’m at the house and my pack is finally complete.

It’s been a long adventure for such a simple task, and today it was all about the itsy bitsy little remaining details. Do I really need to bring EarPods? No. Do I go with the 2m or 3m charging cable? 2m. Can I manage without a headlamp? Yes. Etc.

It all seems trivial but each item is an extra 100g here, 200g there and when you add it all up you’ve easily sliced (or added) another half kilo or more to your back….that you will have to carry for 800km.

Yes, read that again Nina…800 long, hard, looong km.

So I fret and think, pack and repack. In the end I manage to cut quite a bit off my weight, but little things like toothpaste and such add back on. My final weigh is 6.9kg with absolutely everything. Not exactly what I’d hoped, but I’m pretty pleased nonetheless.

So what did I pack?

Innerwear 2 pair Darn Tough socks 1 pair Injinji toe socks 2 underwear 1 merino-mix bra 1 long midweight thermal pants	Electronics + Evening 1 plug w 2 USB slots 1 2m USB cable iPhone Macks ear plugs Lightweight sleeping bag Lightweight post-hike sandals
Middlewear 1 T-shirt 1 long-sleeve shirt 1 marmot (fleece/wind-breaker) 1 light puff jacket	Toiletries Packtowel towel Hair/body soap bar Camp suds (for laundry) Deodorant Foot care (Compeed, tape, foot cream, needle/thread, nail clipper) Toothbrush + small toothpaste Small comb Tweezers Sunscreen + lip balm
Outerwear 1 Warm Hat 1 Light Sun Hat 1 buff 1 pair light gloves 1 Altus rain poncho (covers me plus my pack) Sun glasses Face masks	Misc Source hydration bladder Laundry clips + Hero Clip 3 Ziplocks Mini Swiss Army knife 1 small notepad + pen Osprey super-teeny packable daypack (for when I want to ship stuff ahead) Euroschirm trekking umbrella

Everything is packed into 4 ultra-sil stuff sacks plus an ultra-sil toiletry bag.

In addition there’s my base wearing outfit (1 T-shirt, 1 pair zip-off hiking pants, 1 underwear, 1 bra) plus my hiking poles, knee braces and my “money belt” which is a thin pack that wraps around my waist and contains my passport, pilgrims passport, credit cards and money. The latter will always be on me or with me.

That’s the brunt of it, with a few small extra bits and smidgens.

My biggest 2 luxuries in this pack are undoubtedly my body-sized towel and my trekking umbrella, and they definitely do add some unnecessary weight.

I’ll let you know in around 6 weeks time if they were worth it.

Departure Day -1

Sunday morning we say our goodbyes to dad and leave in LMB to do the 3 hour drive to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (or SJPDP, as pilgrims tend to call it).

The drive is easy and everything goes pretty much to plan. It’s a gorgeous day and I soak it all in, knowing it’ll likely be my last in a while.

The weather forecast has gone from good to pretty grim, with at least 3 solid days of rain ahead and even…possibly…snow over the high pass in the mountains. Still I’m happy, even giddy with excitement. I’m so pumped that nothing can stop me now, not even a mountain storm. I just need to get out there.

My feeling of euphoria holds steady right up until I get a text from a friend I saw Friday night.

“I’m really sorry” she starts “I just tested positive for COVID”

Oh, Crap.

My stomach drops and all my good feels dissolve in an instant. Worry takes over.

Funnily enough I had planned for this moment, or rather expected it to happen at some point during my Camino. Simple science says there’s a pretty darn high chance of catching COVID if you’re walking, mingling, and sleeping with hundreds of other strangers over a period of 6 weeks during an on-going pandemic. I mean the connection vectors are practically infinite at this point, so odds are you’re just gonna catch it.

And truly, I had made my peace with that thought.

What I hadn’t planned on however, was potentially catching it right now. Nothing in my B,C,D,E or F plan had COVID happening before I even got on the trail. That possibility, strange as it seems, just simply never occurred to me.

What the **** do I do now???

Obviously both Paul and I took a test, and breathed a sigh of relief when it came back negative. Perhaps all was ok? Then a 2nd friend from that night tested positive, and even though I didn’t want to admit it I already knew what I had to do.

Three days post-contact wasn’t enough time to be sure, and I couldn’t in good conscience party and sleep with 50 or so of my new Camino friends without being certain I wasn’t contagious. So although I may still catch COVID at some point during this trip, I knew for darn sure that I couldn’t be the one to bring it.

The answer was simple. I had to delay.

Ooooops: Departure Day -3

Groundhog Day 1. I’ve cancelled all the bookings I so carefully made back in January and we’ve retreated in LMB to a lovely little quiet campground ~40 mins away.

We walk the dog, wander around town in our masks, curse the virus, drink wine and wait.

No symptoms. COVID test negative.

Departure Day -2

Another day in la-la-land.

It’s raining heavily now and for a minute I wonder if this delay was somehow a gift in disguise? But then I check the forecast again and another 3 days of rain just tagged on to the end. Seems the rain is coming for me no matter what.

I suddenly start laughing sometime around lunch as I’m doing a mopey-walk in camp.

I’ve been planning and stressing and holding onto this whole thing so hard that the Camino obviously thought this was the first lesson I needed to learn.

Gotta let go of your need to control, Nina.

I laugh some more, feel myself relaxing and say out loud to no-one in particular “OK, I get it now”.

That afternoon all the bookings I had to cancel miraculously re-make themselves.

No symptoms. COVID test negative.

Departure Day -1

We’re full circle back to where we started several days ago.

LMB is parked once again at the Aire by SJPDP, there’s 3 days of rain forecasted ahead with possible snow in the mountains. I’ve got my Pilgrims Passport* from the Pilgrims Office in town and I’m once again ready to go.

No symptoms. COVID test negative.

Tomorrow morning I’ll do a final test and then, with a bit of luck, I’ll swing that pack on my back and take my first steps on the Camino. I vaguely wonder what lesson number 2 will be, but then realize it’s really no use trying to plan for any of it.

The Camino will figure it all out for me.

*The Pilgrims Passport or Credencial is a small book that identifies you as a pilgrim, allowing you to stay in pilgrims-only accommodations, amongst other things. Inside the booklet are spots for stamps which you can collect to mark your journey along the Camino. Not only are they a nice momento, but the stamps are proof you have completed your Camino and required if you want your Compostela or completion certificate in Santiago de Compostela at the end of it all. The book costs EUR 2.