Tuesday, April 16

Ourense to Monasterio de Oseira, 30.8 km, 19.1 miles.

Alarms off at 5:45!!! We walked a mile to the rail station and had breakfast. Then we proceeded to encounter and conquer a KILLER HILL – steep, steep, steep and at least a mile plus!!!! All of our previous incredibly crazy elevation gain inclines from last week (not to mention the knowledge of having done it in 2017) did NOT make it any easier. But once it was behind us – we felt invincible!!! From that point on we had lovely forested strolls (with many lakes of mud to navigate) and a generally pleasant day of walking.

With 11 miles down and 8 to go, we stopped for lunch – and lost 2 hours in the abyss of poor Spanish service. We finally made it to the Monastery at 5:30. It is So Very Awesome and historic – yet bone chilling cold… Some went to the hour long Vespers conducted by resident monks. Having experienced it last year I chose to have some jamon, queso and vino tinto at one of the 2 “bars” adjacent to the Monastery and tuck under the warm sheets early!!