Because of these three things, I have not been walking in the real world; thus, my virtual camino has come to a virtual standstill. Since making it to Burgos, I've walked only 18.4 km. In another two, I'll make it to Calzaldilla de los Hermanillos, in the middle of nowhere. As I walk along the side of a road that dates back to Roman times, I'm grateful for the meagre shade of newly planted trees, certainly there to attract, and protect, pilgrims along this alternate route of the Camino. It beats the other route, which lies along a more modern, and busier road.
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There's not much to this little hamlet, except for the huge church, and a few streets of terraced houses. Although I haven't been here in real life, it seems that apart from the minor pilgrim industry, grain is king around here.
Around where I live, the grain fields are ripe and ready for cutting now. In the real world, I stick to walking on the verge of the road, because the bush, though much more enticing, is full of horrible deerflies, which not only stealthily take chunks of you, but also seem to inject you with horrible itchy poison, which on me makes welts the size of silver dollars which last for weeks.
And then there's the leg. Just as my knee was finally getting back to normal, I started to feel tightness in the top end of my quads, and in hauling myself out of my brother's swimming pool the other week, I pulled the one on my so-called good leg. What a drag it is getting old.
But I've been good. I have tried to stay active and stretch, to be careful about placing my feet and strict about maintaining proper form on stairs. My feeling is that if I use my legs with the expectation that they will work properly, I'll keep them working properly longer than if I let them off easy. We'll see. Of course, all of this overthinking and underexercising is geared towards getting me back on a real Camino, either after it seems safe to do so, or when we are faced with the choice of going nowhere forever or taking a risk to see new things. Will I heal? Will there be a vaccine? Has the world changed forever? Time will tell about all of it.
