To "A Gudiña"

Today we have a science lesson, prompted by the morning sky as I began my walk today (see 1st photo).

I love crepuscular rays. I love them because they are one of the great optical illusions of the human experience. If you think of the point where it seems like they originate, the sun would only be a few thousand feet above the earth's surface, zooming around the earth. For most of human history this was what was believed, partly because of this universally experienced illusion, and partly because ancient texts made it so (think Bible stories of the sun standing still, etc.). How could it possibly 150,000,000 km away?

I love that humans can be SO wrong about something. It should keep us humble about our opinions. Unfortunate, it normally doesn't.

The word "crepuscular" comes from the latin meaning twilight, because they are most commonly seen in the evening. The optical illusion happens because parallel lines often don't seem quite so parallel. Or even if we know they are parallel, it still seems like they meet at a point, usually just out of sight.  See 2nd photo. This is picture of a field which I passed on March 1st as I left Seville. (Wow, today is the 31st!!!!!!). We all know these rows are perfectly parallel, they never meet. But it certainly seems that they meet, right before they get to the buildings in the background. Crepuscular rays are a 3D version of the two demensional field photo, which makes it even more difficult for our minds to comprehend!

OK, enough of that. Today I entered the Province of Galicia. Crossing this border is where I feel like it is the begining of the end. I will continue to enjoy each momemt, and appreciate each sight, sound, and smell (well some of the smells), and be especially thankful for each person I meet. But with the long walks of the last few days, and more to come, I can't help look forward to arriving in Santiago.

Photos: Crepuscular rays. Uniquely sculpted field. A tunnel that was a bit more thought provoking than yesterday's, as it curved and I couldn't see the other end. Green pastures, still water (as in "He leadeth me beside").  Today's trail. The seemingly wild high country of Galicia Spain.

Weather: Low in the 30s, High only about 50F, with strong wind and rain late in the afternoon (after I was safely inside). We also had a very heavy rain last evening after I posted on the blog.
Distance: 24 km
Route: Once again I stayed on the highway until I made it through the tunnel. This saves about 1000 feet in elevation, both up and down. I missed a view from the top, but hey, I live in Colorado, it would have been 2nd class compared to the view from I-70 exiting the Eisenhower tunnel.
Town: The albergue here is a bit prison like, with concrete walls and stairs. The hot shower felt great!

To Lubian

Over the mountain pass today! Up, Up, Up all morning, and down in the afternoon. The guide book says tomorrow is also straight up and straight down.  I avoided some elevation by going through the highway tunnel. On my 4th long day in a row I needed to ease the pain as much as I could. The signs inside the tunnel, showing how many meters to each end, were quite interesting. They were placed every 50 meters or so. (see picture).

I caught up with Eric from France. He was in Castilloblanco way back on my second night! He seemed geniunely pleased to see me. It was definitely good for me to see a familiar face. He doesn't snore, I like that.d

My tablet locked up on my walk, so I missed several good pictures, but I got it going after I arrived. And I still have several pictures that seem to capture the flavor of the day, from before and after the lockup. The heart and coke can (from Cacares) are my only constant companions. The Camino has gone from red tile roofs and palm trees to black slate roofs and chestnut trees. Enjoy.

Weather: Low 32F High 60F with a great mix of clouds and sun.
Distance: The guide says 29 km but it was probably a little less, as the train construction forces the Camino to stick to the highway for most of the stage.
Route:  Right now the Camino is detoured due to construction. On one leg of the detour it is necessary to open a "gate" to an electric fence. Just hold the black handle and don't touch anything else.

To Puebla de Sanabria

OK, so I said I might not post every day. That's still true, but here's todays post anyway.

Dinner last night was incredible, for only about $11. See the pictures, including Teo the chef preparing the main course within view of our table. He entertained us and fed us for 90 minutes. A four course meal, including two glasses of wine, a shot of Spanish orujo, and coffee (which I declined, at 9 pm).  Most cooking in Spain is mediocre, but this was first class!

Another big day, probably 34 km. I did see two more deer, probably Roe deer. They were much smaller than yesterday's which I'm sure were Red deer. I also noticed many wolf tracks in the mud, really big feet! There have been several reports of sightings.

Weather was great. Low 30F High 62F Mostly sunny.
Distance: Yuge.
Route: Once again I imagined that the new railroad might help me out a bit. I do not recommend this for other pilgrims. There are many pitfalls, especially trying to figure out an exit stategy.
The albergue in Puebla de Sanabria is closed until April 1. I had to get a hotel room, but that will be nice for one night.

To Rionegro del Puente

First, I posted yesterday's post earlier today, so don't miss it.

Now for today's imaginary post. All of the thngs I say here, including the pictures are imaginary. This has to be the case because I would never start down 20 miles of Spanish railroad in the middle on nowhere, not to see another human for 8 hours!

I imagined that I want to make it to Santiago and I need to make up a stage or two. The Camino forms a right angle in this part, but the hypotenuse can be taken if you are willing to walk the highway for 22 miles. I couldn't do that. So I imagined that there was a partially constructed, new railway that takes an even slightly more direct route.

The follow things might have happened on this imaginary day.

I might have seen 6 european elk run across the right-of-way about 9 am. They might have been larger and darker than I expected.

I might have developed another blister, on the same right little toe that gave me trouble last year.

I might have seen any of the various images below, of what will be the sight of the new highspeed rail from NW Spain to Seville. 'Sharp' curves of 2 miles, two small tunnels, and vegetation begining while they wait for other bridges to be completed.

I might have crossed an imaginary bridge over a lake that reminded me a bit of Morrow Point, and had to bushwack down to a dirt road near the lake in order to go north to Rionegro. I KNOW this bridge is imaginary, because Google Maps satelite view shows no such bridge, only the railroad bed approaching the lake from both east and west!

Lastly, I am probably going to stop posting on the blog every day. I am trying to walk longer stages now, and I really need more rest. I'll try to post on the shorter days, when I can find an internet connection. Thanks to all the readers for the support.

Weather: Low 42F High 62F with just a few light morning showers.
Distance: Total 33 km, mostly on the imaginary railroad bed.
Route: Totally imaginary
Town: A nice albergue. The cafe across the road is supposed to be excellent. I'll try to let you know later.

To Tabara

The albergue in Tabara is one of those "traditional" albergues. The pilgrims will eat supper together tonight at 8 pm. It will be a dinner prepared by the hospitalero.  At dinner we will decide as a group when the music will come on in the morning. None of this 6:00, 6:20, 6:45, etc., etc. alarm clock business. It's a pretty 'gut' place.

Only a few folks here tonight, and none of us can translate for each other, so my understanding of the Spanish ànd Italian conversations will be limited, and T. will be clueless.

Today is where I turned west. It is now new territory for me. Several things made it tough. More than half of the stage is along the N-631 highway. There is a gravel shoulder to walk on for much of the distance, but there are also many stretches of narrow, guardrailed asphalt. And a lot of traffic. The off/on rain also meant several quick stops for raingear, too.

The toughest part of today was saying goodbye to Nina. An 18 year old with spunk. We cooked together again last evening, sharing our vegetarian pasta with Pait, the Korean. Alan and Ann would be pleased. We walked together for the first hour this morning, then I went west as she continued north to Granja. I now think of her as the daughter I never had, or more like my daughter from a parallel universe, the one where my ancestors never came to America but stayed in Germany, in which I too say Yuge when telling about something big. Thank you for the goodbye hug, I know you do not give those away easily.

Photos: The famous church above the lake near Montamarta at dawn, turning west, I saw lots of deer tracks on the dirt road through these woods, and the hospitalero with our evening meal, Spanish paella.

Weather: The thermometer was stuck at 50F all day with 4 or 5 light showers. Enough moisture to gunk up the boots on the clay country road in the afternoon.
Distance: 28 km
Route: See text above. At the small town about 8 km before Tabara, I took the country road that is about 300 meters north of the N-631. It leads right into Tabara.
Town: Saving my energy for tomorrow, I didn't leave the albergue (which doesn't have wifi, so I'll need to upload this later).

To Montamarta

We all beat the rain today. It was a shortish day of 19 km, and even the three folks who overslept arrived just before the rain. Today is the day Spain "springs forward" for daylight savings time. The deadline for leaving the refuge was 8 am, but one room did not know of the time change, and was still in bed as the rest of us gathered the last of our few belongings.

Two other events to share. I hope you find the first interesting, and the second humorous.

First, I'd been wanting to cut my toe nails for at least a week. I seemed to only think of it as I was walking. In the evening I would forget about this simple task. Yesterday I finally remembered. Unfortunately the nails were long enough that they were protecting the new skin at the tip of my toes. As I started walking this morning I almost immediately developed two blisters, one on each foot. The left one on the tip of the second toe, and the right on the third. Stop, get out the needle and thread, fix everything up, and move on - after lacing the boots a bit tighter around the ankles to minimize toe friction. Normally I leave the ankles a little looser to avoid irritation of the achiles tendon. I'll have to find the required balance for the next few days.

The second event was as I was trying to replace my 'left behind' underwear. Even that sentence sounds funny to me, but then I already know how it went. The underwear display at the highend mens shop, in downtown Zamora, was right in front of the checkout counter. It couldn't have been worse. The display indicated any two-pack for about 10 Euros ($11). I found a style that looked fine, grabbed a Medium size and was the next one to check out. First the salesman/owner/clerk tried to tell me there were many other color choices. Really? I'm a pilgrim to Santiago, I don't care what color my underwear are!!!  Then he became insistent that I had chosen the wrong size. Being the stupid American, I did not know S/M/L/XL do not mean the same here as they do at home. The line of customers grew, all watching and listening as he and I tried to overcome our language limits and find a size that would satisfy both of us. He thought 'Large' was better. I said "OK" as fast as I could, paid, and took a red faced bow for the assembled crowd. Nina was standing just inside the store entrance, trying to hide behind the dozen eggs she had purchased for the community supper that evening. She did not escape notice. We provided a good story to several locals.

Weather: Low this morning 39F. High of about 50F. Rain in the mid-afternoon on.
Distance: 19 km
Route: This is where we went wrong last year, taking a one hour detour toward Portugal. I took a few pictures of the signage along the way today, and plan to make a poster for the refuge when we return. The most important sign is shown below, with VdlP straight and Portugal to the left.
Montamarta: The refuge is closed right now, I think last year it opened April 1st.

The three amigos. The last of our great group over the past two weeks.

The sign for the split in the trail

Fresh bread for the day.

This looked more like Panama than Spain, with the stray dogs looking for breakfast.

The high speed train construction. Should I follow it tomorrow?

Even the fallow fields provide colors

I needed my Dr. Ruth or "Jan the Blister Queen". How'd I do?

To Zamora

Hospitalero - pronounced "hospital arrow". A host in a refuge for pilgrims along the Camino.

We are planning to be hospitaleros in Zamora later this year. Maybe once I've done it, I will be more understanding. I arrived in Zamora early this afternoon, only to find out the refuge doesn't open until 3:00. The guide books say it opens at 1:30. Washed laundry could be drying in the sun. I could be resting, or drinking a hot drink. Instead, several other pilgrims and I have to wait until 3 pm to start our afternoon routine.

In Salamanca it was even worse. The refuge didn't open until 4:00 pm.

Just a little frustrated right now. In over 100 days of Camino I've never seen a refuge that did not open until 3:00 pm, much less 4:00. I really try to be positive on this blog, and in 'real life', especially on the Camino, so I hope you can appreciate my feelings on this issue.

Other than that it was a beautiful day and walk, with heavy frost on everything at sunrise. Once again, this walk into a rather large city did not seem bad. Mostly through farmland until the last kilometer or so.

Finding a new group to socialize with in the evening. Su-young and Pait from South Korea, and a couple from Holland are here tonight.

Weather: Low 28F High 50F, but feeling much warmer at the times the sun broke through.
Distance: 18 km
Town: I am really looking forward to spending two weeks here. Museums, old churches, beautiful parks, and weather similar to Denver's, with lots of sun. In my two visits, it seems that this is a very wealthy city.

A few good pictures, including Juan's "Blue spanish eyes" (caught up with him when he took a day off in Zamora), frost on the cattails, the "plata colza" that will be bright yellow in 3 more weeks, a nice mural with our heart, the old bridge and city of Zomora, and a stork feeding her young out our albergue window, in a steeple-top nest, early this evening.

To Villanueva del Campean

Happy anniversary to us. I'm thankful for every one of those 9862 days. Awuvoo.

The first half of today's walk is one of the worst. It is next to a busy expressway, past a prison, and invloves annoying detours. The second half is beautiful, through farm country with nice vistas.

I am in this sort of "middle of the Camino" zone, where each day seems the same. The beginning is too long ago to talk about, and the end is not in sight. It's walk, eat, sleep, walk, eat, sleep....

I'm not complaining. A long Camino is a type of endurance test. In anything like a marathon or long swim race, there is this middle period where your focus is right in front of you and you just have to keep going. I think about folks I know who find themselves in difficult circumstances in life, where patience and perseverance is required. It must feel similar.

I am feeling very strong, quite amazed how 'easy' the 26 km felt today. Although the blister on my left heal doesn't want to die.

Things I've left behind: 1 - t-shirt  1 - small pocket knife  1 - underwear briefs. All by accident. Two days ago someone rearranged the clothes on the drying rack, and I missed my underwear when I grabbed my stuff. Can I get by with one set of boxers and one briefs?

Weather: Low about 40, High about 48, but snow flurries off and on all day. Of course, none of it stuck.
Distance: A seemingly quick 26 km.

Just a few pictures for today. The prison, the path next to the highway, the farm country, and my boots at just past 500 km.