And MIles to Go Before We Rest...

Day 35 Negreira to Olveiroa

Miles today:  21.9

Elevation gain:  1741’

Descent:  1383’

Walking miles:  428.5

Total Camino miles:  542.3

Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul – Jaime Lyn Beatty

Blaze and I start out early this morning. It is 7 am and just barely light enough to see due to the heavy dark cloud layer. We eat some fruit as we walk but we are traveling without coffee on board. We start out along a gorgeous rushing and cascading river on a nice gravel path. After a mile or so along the river, we veer off and begin to climb along a narrow dirt path through the woods. It is lush and green and the vegetation is wet and the overhead trees drip on us. It rained heavily overnight.

We climb on and off through ferns and dense trees. We have miles to walk before we rest. 

We push onward without stopping for almost 3 hours and 8.5 miles to meet Judy and Eileen at a cafe in Vilaserio. They have taken a taxi here to shorten their walking day a bit.

Blaze and I have our second breakfast—omelets and bacon with coffee. Refueled, we all hit the road. The farmland here is incredibly rich, the soil is the darkest I have ever seen. Farmers are spreading manure everywhere as we pass their fields. Planting time is here. 

The weather is very breezy and overcast, threatening rain at any minute. It does rain lightly a few times, but mostly it is an exercise in donning rain jackets and pants which turns out to be unneeded. There is almost no sun today. A lot of the walk is on pavement, mostly on quiet country roads, but a few times on busier highways—and the Spanish drive quite fast so caution is required.

At 16 miles we stop and sit on a rock wall out of the wind and enjoy our packed lunches.  At 17 miles I start to run out of gas, I am feeling tired and my pace slows. While my back has now improved to about 90% after a week of serious discomfort. I somehow managed to get a bad cold and am fighting a sore throat along with a nasty cough. I think my body is rebelling after 5+ weeks of walking long distances.

My legs feel like iron. We all push all solely focused on reaching our goal.

Tonight we are in the tiny village of Olveiroa in an old converted farmhouse. The rooms are nice and large. It is blowing and raining hard. We hope for another weather day tomorrow just like today. It is the best we can hope for in this multiple day storm cycle. We are very close to the Atlantic now and storms blow in on a regular basis.

Today was a PR (personal record) for me. 22 miles is the longest distance I have walked....the longest on the Camino and the longest since I did a 25 mile hike in Boy Scouts for my Hiking Merit Badge.

Tomorrow is a much shorter walk so we plan to sleep in and have a later breakfast.