HikeAcrossSpain

Day 30  Melide to Arzua Miles today:  9.4 Elevation gain:  846’ Descent:  1070’ Walking miles:  367.2 Total Camino miles:  481.7 Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell not stuff to show – Anonymous It has been 30 days since we started our adventure from St Jean, France. That includes 24 days of walking, 4 days of biking, and two rest days. What an adventure so far! The time has passed quickly, the memories are many; yet some things are just a blur. The passage of time and reviewing our photos will help sort out many of the blurs...we hope! Today begins with a stroll through the streets of Melide (pop 7000 and declining, as are most rural villages and towns in Spain—the youth are moving to the cities and the rural population is steadily declining). We soon leave the city streets and enter into lush farmland interspersed with dense forests of eucalyptus, oak, and chestnut trees. An hour or so into ...

Day 29  Palas de Rei to Melide Miles today:  9.7 Elevation gain:  711’ Descent:  1098’ Walking miles:  357.8 Total Camino miles:  472.3 Moving speed:  2.5 mph Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.                Daniel Burnham 1907 Today is Labor Day in Spain. This is a major holiday and it appears that the schools have the entire week off. Good for the kids but not so good for us! This was a “slacker” day for the five of us. Our walk today is the shortest of our entire Camino thus far. Therefore we sleep in a bit, have a later breakfast, and set out from town at about 9 am after a visit to the local church. To our surprise the square around the local church is packed with people. A couple of hundred teenagers gather, wearing backpacks and trekking poles, full of excitement. Clearly they plan to hike with us today. As we begin our walk, the crowds of teenage...

Day 28  Portomarin to Palas de Rei Miles today:  15.9 Elevation gain: 1581’ Descent:  965’ Walking miles: 348.1 Total Camino miles:  462.6 He who would travel happily must travel light – Antoine de St. Exupery This second day pilgrim is walking with one shoe untied, talking on his cell phone, smoking a cigarette, and carrying an absolutely huge backpack. He will not make it to Santiago! This was an easy hiking day. Not too much uphill nor too much downhill, and the path was mostly dirt or gravel and thus easy on the feet. The five of us get an early and fast start. It is colder than anticipated at first, so our pace is brisk to match the temperature and to try to stay warm. An initial step climb warms us quickly as we walk in the fog and clouds. It will remain foggy for most of the morning. From the beginning we are surrounded by other pilgrims. Blaze, Chum, and I are having a hard time accepting this new Camino reality. No l...

Day 27  Sarria to Portomarin Miles today:  14.5 Elevation gain:  1260’ Descent:  1423’ Walking miles:  332.2 Total Camino miles:  446.7 As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen – Winnie the Pooh In digestion , a bolus (from Latin bolus , "ball") is a ball-like mixture of food and saliva that forms in the mouth during the process of chewing . The bolus is swallowed , and travels down the esophagus to the stomach for digestion. Once the bolus reaches the stomach, it mixes with gastric juices and then travels through the intestines for further digestion and absorption, and eventual discharge. The “Camino Bolus”. Since day one of our Camino, we have noticed that Pilgrims tend to travel in groups, whether they know each other or not. It seems to be a human trait to want to travel with other humans, to travel in herds. Whenever we notice a large number of pilgrims walking in tight bunches we joking r...

Day 26  Triacastela to Sarria Miles today:  11.0 Elevation gain:  910’ Descent;  1639’ Walking miles:  317.7 Total Camino miles:  432.2 Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret – Oscar Wilde The day starts with breakfast at 7 and on the road by 7:40. Today we head a relatively short distance—11 miles—into Sarria where we meet Judy and Eileen. It is a chilly 39 degrees as we set out, just a couple hundred yards through the edge of town and we hit a narrow country road that soon becomes a dirt path. We are in the fog along a small rushing stream. Numerous pilgrims are behind and in front of us. The path is bordered with ferns and moss. We quickly climb 800’ vertical feet, the path is steep but not too muddy today. Soon we level off and the view is spectacular. We gaze at what looks like a huge lake...it’s is a sea of clouds in the distant valleys.. Hills appear as islands in a sea.  Soon we begin down...

Day 25  Herrerias to Triacastela via O’Cebreiro Miles today:  19.4 Elevation gain:  2951’ Descent:  2917’ Walking miles:  306.7 Total Camino miles:  421.2 Wherever you go, go with all your heart! – Confucius Concern began at breakfast time. Breakfast is not available until a starting time of 8 am, which means a late start for walking...we prefer a 7 am or 7:30 am breakfast at the latest. But we have no other option since the two attempts at a “picnic” breakfast have proven to be both lacking and unsatisfactory.  We are ready for breakfast when the door is unlocked at 8 am. But we are the only ones eating for some time. Where is everyone else? Why is no one else eager to get walking? We soon learn why.  All the other pilgrims are walking from Herrerías to O’Cebreiro today, a distance of only 6 miles BUT with an elevation gain of over 2000’. That is how the main guidebook is set up. Each day is a “stage”. Today’s stage i...