LIVE from the Camino Bad weather and muddy trails

It is THE CAMINO! Mud happens...sometimes for weeks on end.

Personally, I detest mud more than the cold, rain, or even snow. But, it is a factor in most Caminos, except perhaps during the brutal, hot & dry summer months. You need to just accept, cope, and figure out how to minimize it.

The all-time worst mud situation I ever experienced was this April, walking out of Hospital de Orbigo. Some pinhead in the local government evidently determined that the 1,000 year old farm road that is also the main Camino route for centuries needed " improvement" for farm machinery use. So two stretches, the first about two kilometers, then another six kilometers, broken by a small village, were bulldozed, graded, and left as a wet, slick, gummy red clay-based mud. One supposes that gravel or cinders would be added, eventually. But that did not help the pilgrims. For us, the stretch was simply treacherous.

There was no good way to avoid it. The few pilgrims out there just sucked it up and soldiered on. After a time, the lugs of my Keen boots and both of my boots, were encased in several kilograms of this slimy mud. I fell several times, once bruising an already sore knee. On another fall, I bruised a hip and twisted a wrist.

But, this is the Camino. Mud is simply part of the experience . You deal with it, or go home...

..and this is why I profusely thanked those Romans every time the Camino coincided with a Roman trade road/calzada!! Those roads were so well leveled, smartly drained, and just the perfect use of stones to withstand rain, erosion, and use. Best example after Cirauqui, after Sahagun, before El Burgo Ranero. Gosh, GENIUS!!

Come to the Via de la Plata. After a day of mud, it's just been water!!