What?! More Mountains?

OCTOBER 28,2016

I lost this post somewhere as there was no internet access. It was 2 days ago

There was no internet access last night so I’m late posting my blogs. We went back to the bar this morning, to find that mumma had risen early and prepared breakfast just for us! All that effort for just a few euros. What a lovely woman!

The cosy bar

We knew that today was going to be tough as it would be mostly downhill, but we only had a short 14kms today. Believe me, it was enough!!! It was a constant slog mostly on the hard tarmac but the scenery was stunning yet again, and before the descent, we watched the sunrise from the top of the mountain. I think this is something that defines this Camino for me. I look forward to it and miss it when it is overcast. Such a great way to start the day.

The scenery changed today. Aside from the sweeping views, there was so much heather, bracken turning to gold, and pine trees of several varieties covered the mountains. In fact, pine plantations were everywhere, so the scent of pine needles filled our lungs for most of the day.

We passed through several little villages, mostly deserted and crumbling, but some had a few inhabitants. Each house seems to have a cabbage patch and veggie garden, chooks and dogs. Often there are goats, which are kept under the houses away from the wolves at night. The people we meet in the streets are always so helpful and always stop and say ‘buenos Dias’ or ‘ola’. Sometimes they notice that we are wondering which direction to go, and they walk with us to the arrow or the laneway we should be on.

We are now in a lovely albergue in Laza. (We are in the ‘red’ room). We had to stop at the Protecion Civil to collect the key and register. Two extremely handsome men greeted us and showed us where to go. One of them, who shall now be known as Mr October because he was delicious enough to go into the Protecion Civil calendar, had piercing blue eyes and I found it difficult to listen to what he was saying.

We are joined at the albergue by Chris the German from yesterday, and Tim a fellow Aussie from Orange (just the 4 of us). It was so nice to talk to another Australian! Chris cooked up some more chestnuts tonight too – very yummy.