Day Two Obanos – Lorca – 15km

Albergue

€7

Pilgrim dinner €9.50 (the meal was horrible and best avoided)

Gorgeous albergue with rooms that had double beds for a higher price.

Free internet use

Kitchen facilities with washing machines

Blankets and earplugs provided and towels available for €2

Excellent hot water and bathrooms like you would find at home.

Weather

Extremely hot – t-shirts, singlet and shorts. If we could have walked naked we probably would have.

Aargh – we woke this morning to suspect that Panadol & Ibuprofen could be our sponsors for the Camino. Naturally this was to be expected after such a climb on the first day. Our feet, shoulders and butt muscles were well and truly informing us they were awake -and they were not happy about it!!

Aurelia on the other hand had no aching muscles since she was carried and (unlike us on being woken)was full of energy and smiles for Jock our roommate.

We had planned a shorter walk today (only 15km) as people had warned us to pace ourselves for the first 3 days and ease our feet in gradually to avoid blisters.

We slowly started packing up our gear ready for another day of walking. Apart from Jock and Rob, and one other lady we were the only ones left in the albergue. People who were walking longer distances had started their days earlier and would have most likely left at 6am. We on the other hand,allowing Aurelia to sleep as long as possible only just scraped out the door minutes before the 8am boot out the door occurred.

As we stood on the doorstep of the albergue and wished Jock and Rob safe travels all four of us noticed for the first time that the weather was less than desirable. We just looked at each other – rain! Straight back into our packs for rain jackets, ponchos and gortex gear. Now I was glad that I hadn't been up earlier walking in the rain like the other pilgrims would have been.

We knew now that the path would be muddy and slippery now broken up by all the other walkers but there was nothing we could do so we chose to focus on covering the first 3km as quickly as possible so we could grab a coffee and croissant.

Arriving in Puente la Reina we found a gorgeous bakery along the camino path and ordered breakfast. A friendly Italian at the bar told Nick he looked like Hugh Jackman when Nick stood beside him at the counter – not in the handsome Hugh kind of way – in the Hugh Jackman “Wolverine' character kind of way – Nick's hair really needed a cut and was looking particularly wild this morning. I almost laughed my coffee all over the table. Raya happily read the morning newspaper

Lingering over our coffees we faced the fact we were just dragging our feet and so we hauled on our packs and began the walk. Leaving the town we crossed the impressive medieval bridge to walk on through crop fields. Here we met an elderly man who was photographing the bridge. He told us he had walked the camino many times but never seen a pilgrim as young as Aurelia. He asked to take her photo and now explained he was driving the camino and was only there for the 'romance' of the camino – not the challenges. I suspect any 'romance' in an albergue would be a bit of a 'challenge'!

The path continued up through vineyards and we were passed by several locals on horseback who looked at us with incredulous looks on their faces. The rain had given way to sunshine -loads of it and the ground underfoot was steaming at the water evaporated under the baking sun.

Today we would learn that occasionally our guide maps did not give descriptions which we felt reflected the nature of the path. Today ours read “the path continues up' and you bet it certainly continued up!!!

This was a climb not even worthy of mention on the guide maps -just a little surprise the camino had thrown us for morning tea. What an absolute killer – very short but 200m elevation on a fine,pebbly,slippery road. 

When we made it to the top we added a stone to the monument at the top and remembered the words of an Irish pilgrim we had met on the first night “there are no tears on the camino – you must offer them up for your sins' Oh dear, we would then be having a lot of hills to climb and that was working off Nick's sins alone!!

The path continued along through vineyards and the scenery was gorgeous. We met one pilgrim who was walking towards us. People in front of us shouted to her “you're going the wrong way' to which she replied with a smile on her face and spring in her step 'No I finished, I'm walking back from Santiago”!!!

We spent most of the day walking near a German man named Wolfgang. I have a little German and he spoke a little English so we made basic communication and filled in the gaps with nods and smiles .As it would turn out we would come to be very friendly with Wolfgang as he was one of the few pilgrims keeping a similar pace to us.

Wolfgang was in his late seventies and we first me him when we were walking out of Pamplona on the first morning. We remember spying him walking ahead of us. An elderly man in dress slacks, a grey short sleeve T.- shirt with a yellow bandana tied around his neck and a soft material cap on his head. On his feet were mens dress shoes – no Teva sandals or hiking boots. He had a 60L pack(which he wore without using the hip belt) and a pillow case he carried over his shoulder full of possessions. He had snowy white hair which only accented his florid complexion.

We saw him walking slowly and puffing along and we had both slowed our pace to walk near him convinced he was moments away from a heart attack and we would both need to give him CPR.

How wrong first impressions can be! We found out Wolfgang,who saw no need for technical equipment, just 'a want to walk and listen' had begun his pilgrimage in Northern France. His credential when opened was full of hundreds of stamps and he was probably one of the fittest pilgrims of his age. He would beat us to most albergues and the heat didn't seem to alter his slow but steady pace along the path.

The heat continued to increase and Aurelia played happily in the carrier. When we had food stops she refused to eat, too busy exploring her surroundings. Once back in the carrier there were frequent taps on the shoulder to stop and “juice juice' demands to be met as there was nothing to distract her from feeling hungry. As a result our pace was slow.

After eating Aurelia was lulled back to sleep by the rhythm of the carrier and I got desperate to cool myself down. My body was reasonably warm however my head was boiling. Out of desperation I ended up soaking a pair of black undies in water and wearing them on

my head. I said the camino wasn't glamorous and for once I was glad to have a slow pace and to not have this witnessed by other pilgrims. Nick politely kept his laughter to a dull roar.

Only 1km short of Lorca the Camino threw us her second surprise of the day – this one slightly more welcomed than the first. A cool stream flowing under the bridge we had to cross.

We scurried down the side of the bank and whipped off our boots. Aaah to be able to soak our feet in the cool water was bliss. We had a picnic here and Nick taught Aurelia to skim stones on the water which resulted in pearls of laughter. While we numbed our feet Aurelia splashed in the water. Nick and I looked at each other and again spoke of how lucky we were to be here as a family sharing this moment.

When the water finally threatened to turn us into prunes we gathered our gear and walked the 1km incline up into Lorca. We discussed a new family game plan. With the heat being so extreme (we were being repeatedly told by locals how unusual the heat was) we were going to have to rise earlier in the morning to escape walking in the heat of the day.

Arriving in the albergue we sought out our beds and hot showers. My shoulders ached from the 14kgs I was carrying and I had absolutely no idea how Nick was managing his pack which was well over 20kgs. I was not surprised when several germans who had walked past Nick today had looked at him and said “respect man”.

We were tucked up in our sleeping bag liners by 8.30pm knowing the hardest day lay ahead of us tomorrow but comforted by the fact that if we did survive the experience, our extra luggage and clean clothes were awaiting us in Santiago.