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The next couple of hours are horrible for me. I jog on and ask myself, why I had let myself carry along with the others to walk to Astorga today. I say to myself: “You can do it, you can do it” followed by “Always further, always further”. Almost two hours I pray those sentences to myself. Sometimes in English, sometimes in German. Sometimes in my mind, but most of the time audible. Nobody can hear me, I am alone while the rain is coming down so heavy, that it floods the streets. The wind is almost blowing me away, which makes the walking uphill even harder. I clench my teeth and try to breath through the pain, that has spread through my whole body. The ground is moist and clayey. I stomp on the ground every 6 steps, to get rid of the lumps around my shoes, that make the shoes almost too heavy to lift. After what seemed like ages, suddenly a village appears. But it isn’t Astorga. So I go “always further, always further” until I finally arrive in Astorga, which is another 3.5 km away. The albergue is in the center of the village up a hill and the last couple of meters are challenging. My left shoulder had become a hard piece of wood and it feels like a knife is stuck into it. On the last step on the stairs to the village my knee squeaks and a sharp pain let’s me tear up. I am completely wet, exhausted and done with everything as I arrive at the Albergue Servias de Maria at 1 p.m.
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