I would normally say that 20km is a short day. The reality is that it’s just about perfect. It’s five hours of walking and allows for a few short breaks. Less than that and it seems like something is missing. More than that and you really start counting each step.

…normally. Today we had two climbs and one descent.

We have been following the river Sil and it’s valley for the last 100km. Today, we deviated from the river Sil because it creates what I can only imagine as gorges and is fairly impassible so the Camino takes us over the mountains for 2-3 days where we rejoin the river Sil.

The first climb was 6km long and just over 350m. It was constant and therefore not too bad – rather comfortable if you will. This climb brought us through a wildfire burn that they were cutting down all dead trees. Several mountains had nothing left – reminiscent of the California wildfires most reading this are familiar with.

Once we got to the top, we had a short descent and easy walk for about 3km. Then the real descent came – you know that 350m we just came up? Well, we descended more than that in about 2km. Interestingly, at the top, I was in good form and full of energy. We took a break for a snack and the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. By the time we got to the bottom of the descent, I had no energy left – completely exhausted. We had some more to eat and then headed out again.

The second climb happened immediately and brought us up 250m in 2.5km. We just put the trekking poles into low gear and put one foot in front of the other. Before we knew it, we were at the top of the ridge just cruising along.

We are staying in a town called Salcedo. It’s not actually on the Camino but several years ago, the couple that managed the albergue in Castroncelos retired and this is the next best thing. The reason is that we don’t have too deviate the 8km there and back to find a place to stay. The owner will come pick up the pilgrims and bring them back – a value add service.