Up and Down

... but this time it is not our health!! Now that we have gotten used to the highs and lows of health, we are going through the geographical ups and downs of Spain. Once outside of Astorga, we started entering into rocky territory. Then from there... up and up and up. The morning that we left the town of Villafranca, we walked straight up a 400 m climb (really, sometimes I think a ladder would be more effective than us trying to climb up a rock wall). But the climbs have been in such beautiful weather... we´re both looking quite tanned and we´re down to wearing just one layer (not the multitude of sweaters that I packed).

We´re pretty well past the mountains, now in the rolling hills of the countryside. We´re passing dozens of towns each day, a lot of cows, a gigantic pig, vocal roosters, chickens roaming free (scary), and little lambies. We´re really delighting in all that is around us... in the morning. Afternoons are usually a harder time for us. It´s funny that, even thought we walk different distances each day (sometimes 31, sometimes 20, sometimes somewhere in between) our bodies can tell when it´s the end of the day... things start slowing down, blisters start aching, Gillian starts whining.... So refugios are a welcome sight (especially if they have heating, hot water, and ColaCao).

Tonight we are in Portomarin and, after we update the blog and answer some emails, we´ll head over to the Supermercado... I think we´re making macaronis for supper tonight. Only four more days of walking left... Santiago, here we come!!

An arrow pointing us along the frosty Camino outside of Rabanal. Our mornings start on the chilly side... generally end on the sweaty side.

David at Cruz de Hierro... the highest point on our Camino climb. Here, pilgrims leave rocks from their homeland below the iron cross. We brought ones from Shaunavon and Oakville (not large heavy boulders... just tiny, easy-to-carry rocks).

The same day... there were a lot of ups and downs that day... we thought rather than making us climb up a mountain, then down a mountain, then up a mountain, someone should just build a large suspension bridge.

Our days are filled with views like this. Life is really rough.

(Sorry... sometimes the pictures flip and sometimes they don´t... computers.) This is the Puerta del Perdon, in Villafranca del Bierzo. A long time ago, pilgrims who couldn´t make it to Santiago (because of injury or illness) could receive the same blessings by walking through this door of the church. (If this was the Amazing Race, it would be like a Fast Forward.)

We just climbed from all the way down there to all the way up here.

Once we got to the top of this mountain, we got to eat jam and bread (little motivation tricks). We were very excited.

Past the mountains, through the chestnut groves... sounds like Peter Rabbit. Anyway, we got lost in the chestnut groves, and this woman with a rake helped us find our way.

After the mountains, come the valleys. We followed this river for a few days... little channels split off and flowed through lush, lush fields.


We´re starting to get into farm country. Past these mountains, we entered into a new province, Galicia. There is a Celtic influence in this province... in the buildings, the stone rock walls, even the music! The first town we walked into in this province was O´Cebreiro and there was Celtic music blasting out of the stereos... we wondered just how far we had walked....

Sunday morning and we arrived in Samos, a town built around a monastery (founded in the 900s). We attended Mass here with the monks. Monks don´t care too much about central heating... it was freezing in there.


After Mass, we took a tour of the inside of the monastery... equally cold, but beautiful. But the monk/tour guide spoke so quickly that Spanish David here could not understand what he was saying. So we just looked around and listened for words like Romanico (referring to the Roman period) and Infanta (which refers to the Royal Family children, but which made Gillian think of Fanta... yum).

Spring is springing all around Spain. Little flowers and lambies abound. (Sorry about the snow in Canada.)

David enjoying his Tarta de Santiago. That´s our Hungarian friend Andras looking on in the background. Perhaps he thinks Canadians are weird for taking pictures of cake.

How we start our days... get up, get dressed, get fed, get our feet ready, and then out the door. We usually start with all our jackets on, and then de-layer 15 minutes later. It´s just part of the routine.

We´re in farm country now... that´s a red tractor in the distance, not a green one.

Yayy!! That´s what we said when we saw this sign. Just 100 more km to go!!