Night in the Big City

I began the day on my own. It was still dark, but I didn’t use my headlamp. I could make out the path well enough. 

With each passing step, the gravel and small stones on the path gradually gained detail. 

In the cool morning air, the miles seemed to pass without notice. Sometimes, I’ll check the status of my progress on my AllTrails app and find I’ve already gone 3 or more miles though it feels I’ve only just begun. 

The changing sky lightens the ambient and awakes my body. Perhaps this is one reason the first few miles go so fast. It’s as if I’m walking partially asleep. There seems to be a distinct moment when light appears and I become fully awake and aware of my surroundings. 

Then the sky really begins to change rapidly, so fast it seems it’s easy to miss. 

It starts with a crescent of soft pale orange, like a slice of cantaloupe along the eastern horizon, while the western sky remains a faded charcoal blue. 

Then appear the hints of rose, subtle at first, and then becoming a rising orb of concentrated hot pink grading outward,  the sky a piece of wet paper and the predawn sunrays a neon highlighter whose ink spreads from a point. 

This lasts just a moment before the pink becomes orange. Then a brighter orange. And then, a burst of yellow. 

My shadow takes definition. No longer amorphous but defined, and long, and guiding me west to my destination.  

Morning arrives. 

At about 16 miles, today amounted to what really represents an average walking day for me. 

I’ve detailed more in my journal, but for now I’ll note just a handful of memories. 

• Cecina (dry aged meat) for lunch. I ended up ordering a salad and bread too.
• Gorgeous cathedral and its stained glass
• 13th century statue of Saint James with scallop shell on bag
• Tapas and beers and discussion of me borrowing Medi’s tent 
• Karaoke night!
• Spoiling myself with a real hotel room in the big city (no curfew)
• Paying the price the next morning. Nothing is free.