April 12, 2018

Day 7 on the Camino

Today we headed out from Berducedo before sun up and tried to get a bite to eat in town, but no one was serving food and so we finally set out around 7:00.  

It was a gorgeous morning in terms of visibility and dryness and we really enjoyed seeing the sky brighten as the sun came up.  The 360° view we had made it seem like we were on top of the world!!  In one direction, fog was clinging to the rolling hills and it was an ethereal sight to behold! 

After walking for about an hour we were able to stop for some hot huevos fritos and pan (eggs and bread) at Albergue de Peregrinos in La Mesa.  Had I known the length and extreme of the hill we had to climb immediately thereafter, I probably would have skipped the bread… 

It was 2.2 kilometers and  ridiculously steep!  I wanted to quit several times, and it really seemed impossible.  But I managed to get to the top, as well as several other hills today that fell nearly as impossible.  One foot in front the other as they say… 

We were in the woods much of the day today,  it reminded me again so much of home. Really lovely trails to walk upon. After trapsing through Buspoland we had a lengthy walk through some crazy cool shale ledges and a patch of forest which burned last April. 

We had quite a bit of highway to get to Embalse de Salina where we had lunch at the beautiful Hotel Las Grandes, perched over the Rio Navia, which we had seen much of the morning as we made our way down the mountainside.

By then the weather was nice enough to sit out on the patio between sprinkles of rain…. Prior to arriving at this gorgeous hotel restaurant, we crossed over the river by quite a large dam which was interesting to observe.

Today was day seven and my feet, well my whole body, are/is still holding up! Two people have minor blisters in our group but overall, there are absolutely no complainers in our fivesome. 

We have seen very few pilgrims along the way although yesterday and today we have seen more. We have a couple of people we keep running into so that is fun! Luckily, several of them speak a bit of English, but they are all from other countries. 

Tonight our albergue in Grandas de Saline is quite large – two rooms upstairs with five bunkbeds (we have one to ourselves and a group of three Italian guys have the other) and a room downstairs with four beds that have two occupants – one from Brazil and the other Spanish.  There is a kitchen, washer and dryer, and a nice living room with couches! And the shower sprays all over and gets the floors all wet, plus it’s freezing here! As usual. Every place we have stayed in has been freezing!!!  The heat was supposed to come on at 5 PM but 40 minutes later it is still not on. And one of the pilgrims downstairs in the living room area is enjoying having the front door open…

I guess it’s a small price to pay for such a wonderful opportunity,  an amazing experience and epic journey!!  I sure wish I had more warm clothes!