How far I´ve come and how far yet to go!

Day 8 of the walk is finally over. Actually, I shouldn´t complain today as I ended up only doing about 10 kms and decided to stay in Viana rather than push on to Logroño. I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs that I had met some mad Australians who had adopted me. Well, whilst having a break in Viana and a well earned cup of tea, they walked past. I had thought they would be far ahead of me, but Jo had some blister trouble and wanted to have a short day. As Logroño is the final destination for Moira and Pam, my travelling companions up to now, we all decided to stay in Viana to have a final celebration of camino friendship. My feet are very happy to have stopped for the day! Overall, I´ve done over 100 kms in the past 8 days and have felt every rock, ascent and descent on the way. Whilst I have found the experience gruelling at times and have wondered about my sanity, I believe I can still continue. All in all, it´s been fun, despite lack of sleep (snorers beware!), physically challenging days and lack of variety in the food offered to pilgrims. If you like potato chips every day, you would probably have a lot of fun. But for me, lack of vegetables and available fruit are taking a toll and as most small towns don´t have a supermarket or shop, relying of travelling vans etc, it can be a tricky business finding what you want. Tea is also a doubtful commodity but I have generally managed to find a bar or cafe selling tea at least once per day (even if only peppermint tea). Last night we staying in a lovely little village called Torres del Rio. However, we arrived in the middle of their local fiesta. I told Pam and Moira that we wouldn´t get any sleep as the Spanish party all night (they didn´t believe me then). This morning they know first hand about the Spanish ability to party. The final revellers were heading home when we were heading off at 8 am this morning. Fireworks, loud music, dancing and singing are not conducive to a good night´s sleep, no matter how tired you are. Most of us went back downstairs to join in for a while. Lots of fun was had even if no sleep occurred afterwards. Anyway, I´m still walking, still upright and meeting very interesting people. Yesterday afternoon and last night over dinner I got to speak Spanish for over 3 hours. I´m getting better and feeling more comfortable having general conversations all the time. Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I´m sure it will be interesting and probably challenging. 36 days to go and 675 kms yet to walk!!