April 8, 2018

Day 3 on The Camino

We slept in this morning as we “only” had 12 miles to undertake.  Also, our Wayfinding Academy comrades in the other group separated from us to walk the El Norte route.  It was bittersweet, yet we know we will join them for the last two days walking into Santiago de Compostela.

The 12 miles, though experienced with the sun shining down upon us (Praise God!), were challenging as it was mostly uphill and also through mud and river beds.  We did our best to skirt the sludge, but inevitably we lost footage, gave in and coated our shoes to unrecognizable states.  I kept reminding myself that it could have been so much worse had it been raining and at least I didn’t lose a shoe (or two).

The morning was glorious and the scenery again incredible, yet as the first hour ensued we found ourselves into the woods without much vantage point to the sky and necessary attention to our feet, the mud and the streams.  We were fortunate to skirt the raindrops until the last half hour approaching our evening accommodations.  We descended into an ethereal village with amazing vistas of rolling hills and mountain range.

We were able to scrub our shoes, shower, wash our clothing and then basically wait three hours to have dinner – it being Sunday and then the “siesta” factor (which usually results in most businesses being closed 2-5).  We had pizza and french fries – so Spanish!!

As it turns out, we have the place to ourselves.  This will make getting ready to head out in the morning a breeze since we won’t have to worry about making noise!  It’s quite an art to not only live out of a backpack but to transition with bedding and sleep clothes into walking attire soundlessly in the dark – not to mention taking turns in the limited number of bathrooms.  Most pilgrims adopt a general pattern of setting their “dop kit” of bathroom essentials and morning clothes at the ready, often slipping them into a pillowcase and sleeping with them under head .  Then when it’s time to get going everything, including bedding and backpack, are whisked into a more general area to complete the moving on process.  Also, most pilgrims choose to have several baggies in varying sizes to parcel their belongings into so that they will stay dry, and so you can imagine the cacophony of rustling plastic as multiple “perigrinos” go rooting through their bags, inconsiderate of their fellow comrades…

Today we walked from Salas to El Llanón, through Porciles, Bodenaya on to La Espina where we had a late breakfast of huevos fritos, pan, and café co leché.  Then it was on to La Pereda, Bendures, El Pedregal and San Rowue – arriving in Tineo at Albergue de Peregrinos Mather Christi de Tineo for the evening.  

It has been pouring since about 5:00 and it looks like the rain will finally be catching us tomorrow as we walk. I do feel very fortunate to have I had three (mostly) rain free days!