Vinsman

Today was a difficult day. Not because it was hard but because we walked 33 km on mostly asphalt roads.  The road walking really is hard on your body.  

Our morning started out in Lugo as we walked out of town we crossed a Roman bridge and then followed the Roman road for a bit.  Today was about up’s and downs but not mountain ups and downs just regular what goes up must go down.  So we would walk along and then spend a half an hour our an hour going steadily up hill only to then spend the next half an hour going down. This pattern repeated itself many times today.  

We are walking through very small villages.  Today we walked through many that had zero services and a few that might of had a bar but no grocery store at all.  The town that we are staying in literally has two albergues and a bar.  Not much else.  Remember a bar in Spain is a restaurant with food and alcohol but it is normal to go into a bar for breakfast, lunch or dinner or just to have a beer.  

Tomorrow I walk into Melide.  I am sad to say goodby to my waking friends Fernando Silva from Porto, Portugal and Huyun Soon from South Korea.  We have been walking together for the past week or more and have become friends.  They will walk to Arzua tomorrow and Santiago on Monday.  I will be in Santiago on Tuesday.  We hope to have lunch together on Tuesday.  Tomorrow I am having lunch with Kelli Field and her Husband Jeff.  Kelli writes a blog that I have been reading for the past 3 or 4 years about moving to Spain.  They originally moved to Valencia and then thought that they would move to Portugal but that fell though and now are happy relocated to Galicia in a little village just outside of Melide.  We are meeting for lunch so that is a big treat for me.  

Today started out as most other days, up at around 6 out of the albergue around 7 and off to find breakfast a quickly as possible.  Fortunately, in Castroverde there was a bar open so in we went for the traditional breakfast of tostada (toast with butter and jam) and coffee con leche.  

This was an easy day and we knew it as we had walked an extra 8 km yesterday to allow us to get to Lugo earlier.  It was an easy walk with a bonus in that I got to meet a Camino legend by the name of Sylvia Nilsen. She is a 75 year old pilgrim, from South Africa who has walked more camino’s than almost anyone I have ever met.  It was so fun to walk along with her and talk about the Camino.  She has walked since 2002 and has walked in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.  She has covered them all.  Another very cool thing is that she knows my friend Kerri Daniels and has mentored her in working as a volunteer at San Anton and also knows Martha Lopez, although not personally she could tell me all about her and the fact that she walked from Canterberry.  Very cool.

One we got to Lugo I headed for my albergue, or actually casa rural.  I am staying in a room that has 3 beds but it is only me.  So that is a win.  My friends Fernando and Hyun Soon went out for a delicous steak lunch at a restaurant called España and then walked to walls of the city ending at the Cathedral.  I think that Lugo is a beautiful city and really enjoyed the sights.  

Last night my camino group decided that we should walk to Castroverde which was an extra 8 km past the traditional stopping point on the stage.  The idea was that it would make the walk into Lugo shorter, now only 22 km tomorrow as opposed to 30 km and the last 8 km that we needed to walk today was mostly downhill.  I agreed to go and plannned accordingly.

This morning we got up at 6 so we could have breakfast in the bar that opened at 6:30 and we could be on the road by 7.  All that was great except usually I wake up when I wake up on the Camino so last night I woke up a bunch of times to see if it was time to get up.  

The walk today was up and down mountains.  Not hills MOUNTAINS! The up part is very tough.  These are steep climbs that seem to go on for ever.  To say that anything I had clogging my pours is gone would be an understatement.  The sweat just poured from my body as we climbed up these hills.  When we got to the top there might have been a little flat up there but then it was down and that is a long 2, 3 or even 5 km down the hill.  Some will tell you that the up is the hardest but those of us who walk Caminos know that the down is the most treacherous.  Today I was fortunate in that the down was on nicely manicured trails where you could cruise down with a little extra speed without having to worrry about slipping or breaking something.  

By the time I got to the normal stopping point O’Cadavo I was asking myself what I had gottten myself into.  But, after a nice lunch off I went.  The last 8 km’s turned out to be about 3 km’s up and 5 km’s down.  Not terrrible but my longest day yet about 8 hours of walking. I prefer to get to the albergue by between 1 and 2 for a nice leisurely afternoon of cold beer and conversation.  Today only a few of us crazies went forward to tomorrow we will catch up with the rest of the crew.  On a bright note tomorrow we will be in Lugo which is supposed to be a beautiful walled city.  Crazy enough in 3 more days I will be in Melide which is on the Camino Frances and will join the hords of pilgrims traveling to Santiago.