8.4mi/1.5km from Tineo to Campiello
It hit the fan today… hopefully it’s our Camino nadir and there’s nowhere else to go but up. Whatever’s going around the Camino and that David was feeling yesterday, hit him like a ton of bricks today. Every step of these 8.4 miles was a struggle and yet he soldiered on as best as he could to Campiello where we mercifully found a place to stay for the night. I started off OK but worsened as the day went on. A silly stumble on the not-so-grippy terrain swelled up my ankle so I’ll need to tape that up for the foreseeable future. And, that little unease I felt in my stomach turned into a full-on case of food poisoning (minus the vomit). Who knows the cause.
It must be noted though that even on these relatively short hiking days, we did significant climbing. The last 2 days were fewer than 9 miles and the day before “only” 13ish; but our total climbs on those 3 days were respectively 3005, 978, and 1312 feet. So we’re still putting in some work.
After reaching Campiello and finding lodging, both of us were literally in bed, covered in all our layers, sleeping bags, and extra blankets throughout the day and night, trying our best to fight fever. We had brief stand-ups to use the bathroom and, in David’s case, for dinner. It was a shame too as this albergue – empty when we arrived but with plenty of other pilgrims when we woke up from our afternoon zonk-out – was the first “real Camino atmosphere” we’ve had on this somewhat solitary trip. But, I was too busy worrying about getting more sick than I was, so I kept my distance from everyone and my mask(s) on all the time, discomfort or no.
As night fell we admitted to ourselves that if we didn’t feel better by morning, then tomorrow – with a cold and rainy forecast – might be one of the first ever times we’d have to resort to taking a taxi forward on a Camino. Blargh.
