9. Day 7 to Mérida

New day, new luck.

My alarm went off at 6 AM and I would have liked to stay in bed a bit longer, but the road calls. I set off at 6:15. Out of the city and then almost immediately got lost. Luckily, I still saw the arrow. Then it was back into the woods. It wasn't as cold as yesterday. I only had my shirt and poncho on, but it was perfectly fine. I still had my sweater and long shirt with me. I always think too much. The trail is initially paved, but then the road gets increasingly muddy. I was already warned in the travel guide, which said that the path then consists only of clay, and if it has rained a bit, you literally leave footprints. It rained two days ago, and there were still big puddles, and the whole path is challenging, but that's how it is sometimes. Then there was a flooded area where I wanted to walk past on the right. So far, so good, that was the plan. But unfortunately, the ground there was softer than expected. I sank completely and thought that was it, and I would fall, but I just managed to prevent that. But my shoes were full of mud. But I had to keep going. It got light, and I encountered a dog that was wandering around a bit aimlessly. After 3 minutes, the owner arrived with the car. Apparently, the dog had run away from home. Then the sun came out. The stage to the next larger town is a total of 25 kilometers, and the book says many shorten the route and take a taxi, but for me, it’s a matter of principle. I want to walk this path. Of course, there are exceptions; if I injure myself or if there are no accommodations after 45 kilometers, I would also take a taxi, or if there is only a path on foot and it’s flooded for several days, but aside from that, I want to walk the entire way. The Camino de Santiago that I’m walking is over 1000 kilometers long, and since I'm going back to Germany a bit earlier, I probably won’t manage the whole way, especially since the first days of bad weather caused my first stages to be shorter than expected. But I’m not stressing at all. I’ve been considering that I will walk the remaining distance next year, so I am not putting myself under any time pressure. Also, I will see how the rest days look like. Last year on the Camino Francés, I think I had an off day every week, where I stayed at one place for 2 days. So far, this hasn’t been necessary, and I’m full of motivation. So far, neither my legs nor my calves hurt. I think, however, that I will soon shorten my stages again. Including today, I’ve had stages of 40-50 kilometers, and that is physically manageable, but I think 30-35 kilometers is my favorite distance, but I always have to adjust to the places and accommodations, and I can mention again that this path is not comparable to the Camino Francés. There, there seem to be accommodations every 10 kilometers, wells for water, and benches to rest on. But that’s why this route is not recommended as a starter Camino.

Back to the path. Then I met two other pilgrims. They were my first on the way. But they were brief and moved on quickly. They had a good speed. But the two made me pick up my pace a bit. And thus, I managed to reach the next town. At the town entrance, there were still two dogs that ran with me a bit. But they both had collars and thus owners. They have a cool life here and can just move freely. They were neither malnourished nor rundown. In the village, I briefly stopped by the supermarket and got something to drink and a yogurt and then took a half-hour break. It felt great.

Refreshed, I continued. I still had 16 kilometers ahead of me, and first, you walk past the highway and then run briefly on the right against it. There isn't a proper path, which also means that suddenly you stand in front of a ditch and don’t know where to go next. I then turned back and walked along the highway.

In between, it rained a bit. I didn’t find that cool, especially since no rain was forecast. But the weather does what it wants. Luckily, it didn’t rain for long, and the sun did peek through occasionally. Then I felt like I walked 5 kilometers along the highway, and unfortunately, there was no path behind the guardrail, only in front of it. That was quite adventurous when a truck went by. But I survived. And luckily, the road wasn't too busy. Then I went a bit off the beaten track and had to cross tracks and a construction site. The normal path went that way, and I didn’t see an alternative route. And since there were no workers around, I zipped through the construction site. Then the path got muddier again, and I’m so glad it didn’t rain the last 2 days; otherwise, the path would have been impossible to walk. So it was more or less a heavy slip-and-slide, where I almost fell again, but I managed to pull through. Then I saw Mérida, the destination city; however, that doesn’t mean much. You can see the city and still need 10 kilometers to get there. I then walked along the water and after 45 minutes reached the bridge I still had to cross, and I was there. Then I went to my hotel, where I booked a room for 30€. And that was a good decision. The room is really great, everything is clean, and I even have a large rooftop terrace. The bed is comfortable. I went to shower and cleaned my shoes. After resting a bit in bed, I went out. I initially planned to visit the amphitheater, but once I got outside, I felt cold, and I wasn’t really in the mood to explore the city. I wandered around a bit and then went to the supermarket. And then back to the hotel room. I definitely want to use my expensive room :) I ate and then chilled in bed. For tomorrow, I’m planning 36 kilometers, and there’s accommodation in a former orphanage, but you can’t book there. I’m curious, and I will report if I finally meet other pilgrims there and how it feels for me to share accommodation again. I will report back.

Have a nice evening.