Rocky Mountain High

Wed 25 Sept  Villafranca to Las Herrerias  25 km

Another early start to the day, and it proved again the importance of the  three rules for navigating the Camino, particularly in the morning darkness where it is easy to miss a marker:

1) The first is to get your bearings before leaving the albergue, and even better scout out the route the day before during light

2) If you are walking and there are no way markers, either yellow arrows, sign posts, etc, stop and evaluate, and if you are not sure go back to the last marker you remember, or wait till other pilgrims go by.

3) Watch for other pilgrims either ahead or behind of where you are, and if you are alone, reevaluate. This isn't always fail safe but it does give you an opportunity to confirm.

Ignoring rule 1, we set out on the basis of Rules 2 and 3, and while technically we were on a camino route, it was the highway that would be the most dangerous and certainly the least scenic. So five minutes in we saw some lights from the pilgrims headlamps coming back at us, and could also see a number high up in the hills away from where the road was leading. Didn't make sense, until we reviewed the guidebook and there were actually three options that day: the roadway and two mountain routes, one which was the most scenic but the most difficult and longer by several km. Turning around, we chose the traditional route that was the in between option, and in the end it was the right one for our group. With a quick 5 minute walk back into town, we rounded the corned just up from our albergue and there it was, an old Roman road that looked like it went up at 45 degrees. That is how the other pilgrim lights were shining so high up the slope. Whew, what a climb it was and the entire time I was thinking " how could an army ever of navigated this and then been in any shape for a battle".

But as with much of the trip, the vistas were oh so spectacular. It is very difficult to describe the feeling one gets from being up there in the fresh air, no noise of day to day living and what seemed like an infinite line of beauty. Guess thats what John Denver meant by " A Rocky Mountain High". The first 12 km were either spent climbing up or walking along the ridges of the mountain tops through a wide variety of vegetation that ranged from scrub brush to extensive groves of chestnut trees. Nick and I were not sure at first what they were, and being the curious sort Nick decided to investigate by slicing into the fruit to see what was in the centre. One of the thorns stuck Nick's hand and he developed a tingling sensation in his arm, so that stopped the surgical investigation. Great defence system and it explained why the trees had low hanging fruit not pillaged by humans or animals. Not wanting to walk away without knowing, I took my walking stick and beat on the fruit cut by Nick until the covering came off. Yep, it was chestnuts alright.

                 

Hiking the Camino you dress in a layer system. The bottom will be the single shirt you would expect to walk in during a typical sunny day, the second a fleece layer for morning coolness and outer layer a windbreaker to deal with the breeze or rain when it showed its face.  In the mountains, particularly on a sunny day with cloudy periods, it is very difficult to figure out what layers you need at any one time. First thing in the morning when you might expect to be cold, you sometimes peel the two outer layers off as you work up a big sweat climbing. Then when you see the sun come out and you might not think you need a top, a cool mountain breeze sends you a chill. There is a lot of off and on going on...and off.

The guidebooks all show a profile of the route, vertical against horizontal, but as it is a distorted scale one cannot rely on the rendering at any particular point to get a sense of where you will be climbing, descending or walking on a flat section. You think you have started downhill, then around the bend up you go another 150 m. You know there is a big climb coming, but then in between the route drops 100 m before heading back up hill again. after a while you just learn to stop anticipating, then walk whatever comes at you. Such was the case again today.

There were a couple of amusing incidents today while skirting along the top of the hill. The first was our introduction to the singing lady who appeared to be under the influence of either some intoxicant or just the love of life. She was walking along the route dancing and singing and smiling and waving and talking to every one in short somewhat incoherent thoughts, but generally having a wonderful time. One cannot complain about that. The second was a little further down the line when she was having a somewhat animated discussion with a Spanish señora working the fields, about taking the wrong turn. What we got out of it was we were off track slightly but if you turn left at the road you will be back on the trail in a few minutes. Everyone but the happy lady turned left as she insisted she was going the right way, though she wasn't. About 200 m down the road, sure enough there was the path leading down the very steep decline. The others went ahead while I sat on the guide rail drinking some much needed water and eating an orange and peanuts before heading downhill. About 5 minutes later our very happy lady, who I later found out later was Veronica from Belgium walking the Camino with her father, came rolling down the hill singing and not even slightly distressed at her wrong turn. I offered her some peanuts which she gladly accepted. After telling her I was from Toronto she said...ahhh,  started taking pretend pictures of me, then headed downhill singing away. I sat there a few more minutes chuckling, not even bothering to try and figure out what she meant by that, then headed off myself.

It was indeed a long steep climb down the mountain, though not nearly as difficult as the descent from hell several days back. Without the added weight of the full backpack I was able to navigate down with no real problems, toes intact and knees still working. Mary Lou, Judy Nick and I all have our own pace so the time to get down varied by 15 minutes, then of course a stop for a bite and cafe con leche, and a beer for me.The mountain route connects to the highway route at this point and we could see all the pilgrims who went that way arriving into the village of Trabadelo. 

At this point the rest of the route for the day ran along the highway on for the most part flat grades. It ran through a series of small villages every two kilometers or so. They were a little different from many of the other villages long the Camino being right along a busy road and providing services to not only pilgrims, but drivers as well. All in all this last 12 km was very easy and with some decent scenery. There are churches in every village, we stop at some, others we pass by depending on any number of things. For example, in Portela de Valcarce I stopped in at a small church simply because Queens "Made in Heaven" started playing on the ipod as I walked by. So we arrived at 

In the end our 25 km took us about 8 hours of both some difficult and relatively easy walking. The day was sunny with clouds and it seemed like we were destined to get through the Camino with none of the inclement weather that it is so famous for , but then as we had learned, things change. We stopped for the night at Casa Polin reserved the night before at the foot of the mountain that would see us start the next day with a 600 m vertical climb to O Cebrerio, one of the special places on the Camino. Relaxation, drinks, dinner and bed.