Day 25 – Leon to Villar de Mazarife
22k – 492k to date
How much weight is lost walking over 300 miles? What is your best guess?
Honestly, I don’t think you can lose hardly any, because you have to feed yourself enough energy to sustain your daily walk. My daily eating routine is to stop for a first breakfast after about 3 to 5k of walking. That breakfast will be orange juice and an omelet. I will then have a piece of fruit mid morning while walking. I will then stop about 11:00 to 11:30 for a second breakfast. That breakfast is pot luck, maybe another omelet, maybe a part of a sandwich. I usually arrive at my stopping point about 1:00pm to 2:30pm and after cleaning up will look for a lunch. That lunch might be a part of a pizza, a sandwich or just a put together lunch of fruit, nuts and a croissant if the town has no bar. I will also supplement during the day with a couple of energy bars. Dinner is usually eaten about 7:00pm and will be the two course meal previously discussed, a salad or pasta and a meat course. The problem with all this is that there has to be enough energy intake to let your body give back. You find yourself eating more carbs and starches to feed that energy need. I will be very honest and say that more often than not, I am hungry, which means that my body is barely getting enough fuel, maybe even deprived at times.
Do I ever have cravings? Twice I have wanted pickles or pickle juice, so I just go to the mercardo and buy a small jar of pickles and eat a couple of pickles and drink the juice. That probably means my body needs sodium. Also, I saw a bag of popcorn in one city and I had to have it. The things I miss are Mexican food and a little spice added to food. While the food is good, it does tend to be a little bland flavoring wise. My mind tells me I miss a good old American hamburger when I see a Burger King billboard, but I don’t eat them at home, so I think that just means I miss the norms of home. The meat portions over here are limited to say the least, if you get a sandwich, you get a 14″ loaf of bread, no mayo or mustard and a small slice of something good that passes for ham. The meat portions at night are thin slices of pork or beef. I have learned to stick with the pollo (chicken) to get a little more meat that is tender.
I have said before, over here, people love their white bread. Almost every town has a panderia or bakery that is usually one of the busiest stores in town, if you watch for a few minutes, people will walk in or drive up, buy a loaf and then off to their next stop. In several small towns, I have seen panderia vans pull into town, drive a few blocks, stop and honk a distinctive horn and people come out of their houses to buy bread. I guess that is one way to get fresh bread. In the bigger cities, the choices of bread and pastries at a panderia are staggering, but the offering of wheat or multigrain breads are non existence.
Oh, I forgot to talk about it, but I walked a little ways this morning. the first 8k was difficult because it was a drag through town and the related suburbs, which is really one town. It was nice to cross the last highway bridge and look back and say goodbye to the town and hello to the rural trail again. The land is gently changing again as we move closer to the Cantabrian mountains and the trail across their pass. I think we will be there in about 2 days. I ended up in a small village of about 300 people today. The services are limited, but the hostel I am staying at is nice, except the beds are real close. Ear plugs for sure tonight.
Life keeps going forward.
Ecclesiasties 3:12-13