Walking sucks! (Title by Rory)

Note that this post is from Thursday 5/11. Had internet problems last night.

​We woke to a very foggy morning, perfect weather for a 16 mile hike! We started with a strong uphill on a dirt track shaded by the trees. There were two options for leaving Portomarin. Most of the pilgrims followed the main road. We opted for the quieter, more pastoral route which was a good decision. I loved the quiet, meditative time before reconnecting with the hordes of other pilgrims. As with yesterday, the pilgrims are fairly packed on the trail first thing in the morning, but they spread out throughout the day as people find their own pace.

We were a good hour on the trail before we came up on a tractor tilling the fields, and the smell of cow dung once again assaulted my nostrils. Dear God, make it go away! At least my coffee and breakfast were well digested by then.

I noticed The Judge was back today. Many of the new pilgrims seemed to be traveling in groups of 5 to 10 people and did not have the trail etiquette down. Like moving to the side of the trail when stopping to take a picture, get some water or peel off a layer of clothing. They just stopped (and often walked) several people wide, taking up the whole trail. It seems like that should be unacceptable behavior in any culture. I tried to counter The Judge by coming up with a different way of looking at this. Nothing yet.

Side note… Weirdly enough, my Apple Watch decided to start working again. Equally weirdly, my iPhone camera decided to stop working. WTF? Maybe they both just needed a couple of days off! Don’t we all?

We stopped in Gonsar (I know, funny name) for coffee and second breakfast, which was about halfway up the hill we had to climb today. Again there were lines of pilgrims for coffee and the restrooms. We saw a “Tortilla Francesa” (French tortilla?) on the menu so we decided to try it. Turns out it is basically an omelette sandwich. So “tortilla” means totally different things in the US, Spain and France. Go figure. But it was really good!

We took another rest and snack stop at the top of the hill at Ventas de Naron. We were trying to pace ourselves for the longer mileage day. It was a bit windy and chilly up there, but we were more than halfway and the rest of the day was mostly flat - just a couple little ups and downs. (If only life were that way!) we had one more stop at A Paso de Formiga for crepes mid afternoon because, why not? Cute little place with an ant motif. Almost makes ants endearing. Almost.

Today felt longer than it should have. The distance we walked was a bit more than we had calculated at 26.6 km (16.2 mi), and there was a respectable climb. But it really felt longer. Kinda kicked Rory’s butt. But the hotel we were in for the night was a little slice of heaven. It’s situated on a country lane with no other hotels or businesses around for a least a kilometer. Rustic elegance all around, from the owner who greeted us to the embroidered towels to our choice of dinner time. The food was delicious, and our waiter Miguel was such a character. He showed us “the paper of happiness” which showed the profile of our walk today - much more rigorous than we thought - and the flip side showed the next stage which is much more reasonable.

Hoping this stay at a lovely haven brings some rest and rejuvenation for the even longer 18-mile day tomorrow!