Walking Blues

My first walking experience was similar to my first biking trip - I got it all wrong. I´ve been in the company of walkers for the past month and am full of admiration of how they cross countries, if not continents, effortlessly. There are three tricks to walking: the first week you should only average 25km a day, you only carry 10% of your body weight and there is no need to carry three day´s supply of food when you pass through a village every three hours. I did over 40km the first (and only day) which left me knackered. My error was compounded in that many of the cheap pilgrim alburgues are closed for winter, the weather is bad and their is nobody else on the trail to commisserate with. I missed the advantage of the bike and the ability to cook and camp anywhere. The bike still works, although we both know 3,500km has taken its toll. I´m only a day´s ride from Sandander, the departure point for the ferry to the UK. Tomorrow I leave the bike here and take a bus to Madrid, the following ten days are a mystry.