Today was a pretty good day. I’m a bit tired, but in good shape. Why is it that you’re always in good shape at the end and suffer at the beginning?

Today was a 28km day -AND- we had a 794m climb. The first 8km had tule fog and we couldn’t really see anything off the Camino – we just knew we were heading up, but not significantly. We got to the bar at 0855 and were wondering if we had read the hours (0900-2200) right on Google (not reliable) but there was no signal there to check. Then two more pilgrims showed up and we jokingly suggested banging on the door, and it opened magically – fresh squeezed orange juice – WooT!

The next 5km, we had a 500m+ climb. As we climbed out of the fog, we were treated to blue skies, yellow in the broom, purple and white flowers, all with a vibrant green backdrop of lush forest.

The last 300m to the top of the mountain we gained about 100m in elevation if not 150m. That specific trail is called the “Via Crucis” – we are in Galicia so they speak Gallego here, which is very similar to Portuguese. The Via Crucis has the crosses for each of the Stations of the Cross. Carrying a backpack up that trail sure seemed like the carrying the burden of the cross…

On top at 1155m (my altimeter said 1348m – that’s a big difference, so I’ll go with mine ), we had a snack and took a break while taking in the sights. Photos don’t do it justice so I didn’t take any, I just have the memories.

Walking down, we walked down a dirt road, but it was like a highway – wide, smooth and in good condition. They use it to service the windmills on the ridge and to even transport the huge turbine blades up the mountain. I don’t know how long they are but my guess is that each blade is about 30m long, making a total height of about 80m.

On the way down the woosh-woosh-wooshing of the turbines must have lulled me to sleep because I caught myself walking with my eyes closed several times. Good thing the road was wide.

Today was important also because we made it to an important milestone – less than 100km to Santiago. That means I have walked about 650km in the last 27days – we have three days left on the Camino. This part of the trip is always a little bittersweet. Glad it’s close to being over but sad at the same time.