16.9km today
I ended up in the late starters room again and didn't wake up till after 7. That's ok not like there is another big mountain to climb or anything. Oh right. There is. It's another day of up hill! Yay!
This one is not as high as the last one but it is a steeper assent. My body and my lungs are so much stronger than that first day. I am proud of myself for surviving that day and not quitting. That was probably one of the physically toughest days of my life.
I am still slow just not as slow. I think that slow is just my pace. On the uphill parts I am not sucking wind and I don't need to stop every ten steps. So I am getting better at this hiking thing.
Right now everything feels pretty good. My feet don't really hurt. I hardly notice the weight of my pack anymore. The only think is that when I am idle for a while my angles and knees get stiff. When I get up again I walk like an old lady for like 5 minutes till they loosen up again. I am looking forward to when I can rest a few days and move normally again.
First through three small towns. In one town there was a place that had a one way trail ride on horseback up the mountain. For only €20. If I had known I so would have done that. So cool. But can you imagine the new set of muscles that would be sore after that. I'd be walking bowlegged for a few days.
Anyway, I spent the morning hiking up hill in a very lovely forest. It was lush, cool and damp. The poem: "the woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." kept playing in my head.
I cleared the forest level to the evergreen level and some beautiful views that my photography skills do poor justice to.
Sometimes on the camino you may have a goal of how far you want to walk but there is no albergue and you have to change your plans. The camino has been getting more and more crowded as we get closer to Santiago. O Cebreiro, the town with the big albergue of 100+ beds, was 5km short of what I wanted to walk today. Hospital the town with right distance has one albergue with only 20 beds. If I stop early I am garunteed to be able to get a bed in O Cebreiro. If I keep going the small albergue in Hospital might be full then is have to either walk further to the next town, with an even smaller albergue or pay more for a hotel or hostel that might have room. Decisions, decisions.
The town of O Cebreiro is rustically charming, with its stone buildings an thatched roofs. It looks like the last few hundred years just skipped over them. I wonder if the people in these little camino towns work other places or they make their living from the pilgrims that pass through.
I stopped at the store and was uninspired to eat any of the food there. So despite the chilly air at the top of the mountain, I got a lemon-lime popsicle for lunch. And decided to keep going.
The next "town" consisted of two houses and a bar/restaurant/mini-mart called Casa Jaime! Departing here leads steeply up hill to the top of San Roque. It isn't even the tallest mountain of the day but there is a big metal pilgrim statue to get your picture taken with.
Then I turned around and who did I see but Dirk and Garret. The two Welsh brothers. We greeted each other with giant bear hugs. These guys appreciate and understand a good hug like few others I've met.
We had parted ways like two weeks ago after the amazing backed potato chili meal and I though they were way ahead of me. Well they had made a three day detour to somewhere, had a few adventures along the way and were taking things slow. To see them again was like a balm to my loneliness. Our meeting didn't last long as their pace exceeded mine and they passed me again. Thats ok. The camino provided just what I needed once again and I knew then that everything was going to be alright and there would be a bed for me I the town of Hospital when I arrive there too. (There was, only three left)
I've been missing familiar faces and I haven't made much effort to get to know the new multitudes. Most of the new people are Spanish and travel in groups of friends and family. But Stene is here at this albergue and she is just delightful.
I had dinner with Stene and Pierre a guy she works with who she arranged to meet up with yesterday. I had the lentil soup to start. It was tasty, with a bunch of mixed veggies and meat (ham chicken, sausage, chorizo...). Oh look steak, again. Well if the choice is steak or trout I'm not ever going to pick the fish. And for dessert Santiago cake.
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