Startpoint: Ponferrada; Endpoint: Villafranca del Bierzo; Distance walked: 25.5; Steps taken: 30,924

Leaving Ponferrada this morning, there were more pilgrims than normal on the track. I didn’t recognise a lot of them. I don’t know every pilgrim, but you tend to bump into a lot of the same faces from day to day. It took me a while to figure it out, before I realised that these were new pilgrims, who had only started in Ponferrada. As I passed them by in small scared groups, huddled together for mutual protection, I began to take note of the subtle differences that marked them as newbies.

I first noticed some Peregrinos Neuvos when they loudly greeted me as I passed. They were really far too enthusiastic. “Hel….hola!”, they hailed me, realisinh halfway through that the language had changed. “Where you from?” These were newbie questions, after 27 days of walking, I no longer cared an awful lot where people were from.

Other obvious distinguishing features of Peregrinos Nuevos are the following (all may not apply at the same time):

1. Taking photos of every piece of landscape, building, plant, etc. Particularly noticeable was a couple who took pictures of each other standing in front of a 2-foot wide irrigation canal, hundreds of which I´ve passed in the last week.
2. Stamp collecting. You can collect stamps on your Pilgrim Credential in every hostel, hotel, church, museum, restaurant and bar along the Camino. In the first few days, new pilgrims (me included) go a little stamp mad and grab for stamps wherever they are on offer. One fellow pigrim filled half his credential with stamps from bars before realising after a week, that he was running short on space for the next four weeks of the walk. Today people were queuing up for stamps from an old lady standing beside a large gate wielding something she had carved from a raw potato.
3. Stealing grapes. It´s harvest season in this part of Spain and the grapes are being collected by both farmers and pilgrims. Stealing fresh fruit off the trees is sooo three weeks ago. (I did get tempted at one stage, but a farmer was looking at me, so I skulked off fruitlessly).
4. No clothes. For the past three weeks, every second piilgrim has been drying socks, underwear and towels on the outside of the rucksacks as they walk. You could spot the Peregrinos Nuevos by the lack of damp, worn and greying hiking socks hanging from them.
5. The pilgrim shuffle. Some pilgrims walk fast. Some pilgrims walk slow, but after a week, all of them either lurch, limp, lumber, stumble, shuffle or stagger. We all have a blister, sore toe, tender knee or some reason to walk a little oddly.

I lost something special today. I was feeling peckish at about 11am and went into a small shop, rucksack on my back, walking stick in my hand and ordered a Boccadillo Queso. I left a few minutes later with the largest cheese sandwich I have ever eaten (and it was a small one) and a bar of chocolate. Ten minutes later I was outside the town, carrying only indigestión and wondering why my hands were empty. I left my stick behind and was too lazy to go back and get it. Maybe it will make the first days of some Peregrino Nuevo a bit easier. I think it was worth it though, for that cheese sandwich.

Less tan 200km to go before Santiago now, but we’ll be climbing up into the mountains for the next few days. As I walked through one small town this afternoon, I passed an overweight woman in late middle age as she shaved her legs in a small bucket while sitting on the front steps of her home. As much as I am enjoying the experience, I will also be happy to complete it.

Buen Camino