What Goes up Must Come Down

Posting this because I can’t work out how to get to yesterday’s that I ‘stored’. I’ll send yesterday’s if I can work it out but for now, here is today’s.

I ate so much yesterday that  I couldn’t eat dinner. Chris cooked up some chestnuts again and we went to the bar for a drink with Tim the Aussie from Orange. We had a dorm to ourselves again and the boys had one next to us. We were in the ‘red’ room. The albergue is really modern and clean.

After brekkie of yoghurt and banana, Colleen and I set off up the lane, not quite knowing what to expect, although we knew we had a mountain to climb. We warded off some pesky dogs and admired the fields blanketed by mist. It was cold but so hauntingly beautiful. We passed through a couple of tiny villages, again crumbling away, and watched the sun rise behind us over the other mountains from yesterday. I wondered why on earth you would want to walk from Sarria as the last 100 kms when you could have this…. No hustle and bustle, just fresh air and beautiful views of the countryside. 

We stood a while and watched a man till his rich soil, preparing for his new crops, and we saw a farmer on a bicycle steering his cattle out to the field for the day. Such a relaxed and carefree scene. 

And then we started to climb! It was REALLY steep. I mean scary steep and much harder than anything on the Frances route. It was almost vertical for about 10 kms and at one stage, even I couldn’t look up and was almost crawling to the side, as there was a dead straight drop to the bottom of the valley on the right. I couldn’t look to take photos but took one when I reached the top. I had vertigo! It reminded me of when I fell of a cliff as a child. I was terrified!

We stopped at a tiny village which is famous for its bar. Every inch of the ceiling and walls are covered with scallop shells that pilgrims have written on. We had a drink there and wrote our own shells for the barman to hang up, got a stamp in our Pilgrim Passports, and put our details in his book. We bumped into Chris outside, had a quick chat and then continued on. 

What goes up must come down and we soon found ourselves on the other side of the mountain facing a very steep path. We are so much fitter now, and we actually jogged down! (about 5 kms). We are quite exhausted this afternoon and just chilling in our albergue. No one else here tonight-just the two of us. Tomorrow we have another steep climb and then we meet up with Colleen’s husband Gerry who is joining us for the last 100 kms to Santiago!

I can’t believe I’ve done this! Nearly there now. WOW