Going the Distance
Before getting into today's travels, it's important to take a moment and reflect on tough decisions. Last night our hotel room was comfortable enough. But the air conditioning wasn't turned on, so we had the option of opening the window and hearing traffic on the main street below, or closing up the room and enduring the heat. We've stayed in so many hotels where there wasn't a single car that passed all night. Last night made up for all of that. There was a constant procession of cars passing by with radios blasting.
The ultimate decision was to keep the window closed until 4:00 in the morning, and then open it until it was time to leave. What that equated to was not the most restful night's sleep. The good news was that we anticipated a mostly level hike today of only 13 miles. Ultimately, it was a little longer and a lot more hilly than expected. A better night's sleep would have been helpful.
Everywhere we have gone in Spain, the businesses have been very sensitive to the use of energy. I'm sure the cost per kilowatt-hour is much higher here than at home. Lights come on and off automatically as you walk down a hallway. And as I noted earlier, you can't always control the temperature in your room. Most people who have traveled to Europe are also familiar with the two flush settings on the toilet. One button is for normal flush and the other is for a more dedicated flow of water when required.
The city we left today was populated by about 70,000 people. Sunday morning traffic was light. The Camino took us through some neighborhoods, past highway intersections, and then into open tracts of land. In the city area, you find yourself and others walking off the sidewalk, where the surface is smoother. Many of the sidewalk paving stones are uneven and tough on your feet. After a while you can see ruts created by all the preceding people who used this alternate option.
There are multitudes of homes in all manner of repair and disrepair, with signs posted that say "se vende" (for sale). Some look modernized and ready to move into. Others are definite fixer-uppers, and more than half would be total tear-downs.
Roofs are caved in and foundations have settled. There are times that walls are bowing out into the trail, and you wonder if and when they will finally collapse. Then you hope it isn't within the next few minutes.
Today there were wonderful fragrances in the air. I've become familiar with the scent of canola flowers wafting over the trail. Then you get the pungent odor of a freshly fertilized field. Luckily, the day finished up with a descent into the town where honeysuckle lined both sides of the route.
Birds are everywhere. There are lots of swallows, and stork nests in every steeple. If you go more than an hour without hearing a cuckoo, that is exceptional. The only wildlife I managed to get a picture of today was a single snail climbing on some stalks at the edge of the path.
A much more attractive animal was the husky with his owner in the center of town when I arrived. We have seen five or six dogs doing the Camino. This husky is probably the biggest of them. One was a golden retriever and the others were mixed breeds. Early on in the trip we actually saw a dog with a backpack carrying its own food. It seemed perfectly content to be a pack animal.
Today afforded us incredible views. There seemed to be no humidity in the air and no pollution. As far as you can see, everything is in focus. It is difficult to capture with a camera. One interesting way of looking at our journey is to see the mountains behind us that we’ve already scaled, and the mountains before us that will be the next challenge.
It was a great feeling to pass a distance marker showing less than 200 kilometers to go. Then I did the math in my head and realized that means we still have more than 100 miles of trekking. I believe at the end of tomorrow we will get down into double digits.
Tomorrow has its own challenges. It will be about 20 miles in total. The last five of those miles will be a very steep climb. It’s my understanding that this will be the last big ascent of the journey.
We plan to start a little earlier because temperatures reached the mid-80s today. Facing that climb after 15 miles of walking is a little daunting in the heat. I wonder how many lemon beers I will earn by the end of tomorrow's walk?
The population here in Villafranca del Bierzo is less than 3,000 people, down almost 25 percent since the mid-1990s. Dinner was in the city square, followed by a walk up the hill to the hotel, and into bed.
Tomorrow morning will be here in a hurry and the temperature is supposed to hit 90 degrees. The earlier we leave the hotel, the better.
