The 2024 camino Day 4

Is it only Day 4? It seems that I've been walking forever and I mean that in a good way. 

Well, even if one has a room to themselves, it doesn't mean a good night's sleep. I was over the kitchen on the place or close to it, so the staff was banging and clanging for a long time. I fell asleep, but I think it was the SILENCE that woke me up. We were out in the country or at least the edge of town, so it was quiet when everyone stopped banging. 

But let's not forget the dogs -- I swear every house has two dogs - a great big one and a little one and they like to talk to each other. And this morning? A cat SCREAMING like I've never heard in my life. I'm not sure what happened there, but I spotted a cat as I left the place, so let's hope that was the same cat. 

Last night I had a crazy surprise. In the bar of the albergue, I ran into a man and his daughter that I met last year. They are from Ireland and joined the Camino the same day and place that I did. How wild. Unfortunately, the dad has already had to leave the Camino for health reasons, so what are the chances that we would meet on his last night. I swear, there are strange things that happen on the Camino. 

The albergue was beautiful, but very werid in that it was like a resort, but only hosted pilgrims overnight. The restaurant and the pool were for the local people wanting to escape the heat of the city!!!

Some of us sat on the patio last night and watched the sunset. It was glorious. 

 So today was one of those days with wonderful descents and while yesterday was steep, today was still steep in places and very rocky. You had to be very vigulent or you'd haeve a misstep which would not be very fun in a very remote place. 

My knees were not very happy about that descent, but we managed. It's Sunay today and I know how things shut down in Spain. Even the large grocery stores are NOT open. So I stopped to have a small snack from my snack supply and then two minutes later, I spy a restaurant where I could get my warm chocolat pastry. 

I hardly saw anyone on the trail today. Pilgrims and otherwise. It's very quiet here on the Camino. 

We walked through several small towns and I was aiming to go for 25 KM. Which usually wouldn't be a big deal, but with that major descent lasting for KMs, it slowed down the pace. I made it to the small town Cacabelos that I wanted to reach. But it took much longer than planned. 

Someone told me several years ago, don't go for the first alberque you spot. Well, tehnically I didn't. I went for the first small hotel. It's the most bizarre little place and wasn't cheap - well compared to the alberques. But I have a real bed with sheets and a towel. I'm worth that every once in a while. 

I have my own bathroom and I think there are three of us staying here tonight. It's weird and since it's Sunday, the plae is pretty much shut down now but we have a code to get out if we need. I thought ahead and got lunch and dinner at the same time, so I won't go hungry. 

As I sat outside having my lunch, Rosie from Ireland stopped by and had lunch and explained about her dad. Then she and others that we knew walked to the end of the town to get a real albergue. 

Why did I stop? My knee was tired and I was hot!!! I didn't want to walk any further, although the albergues are probably just .5 down the road. Sigh........

At one point, I'm about 3 KM from this town and there is zero shade and it's getting hot. So I said to the Camino gods that I would love a shady 1 KM. Before you knew it, I found a shady rest area and then about .5 KM of shady trail!!!!!

Those of you who follow me on Facebook get to see some of the many pictures I take along the way, but there are so many more!!!! And of couse, You get to read the blog. But what I canˋt share with you are the smells. The flowers, the bushes and so many other things. I wish I knew what they all were.  I swear I could smell wax or honeycomb when we were in the mountains. 

And then are the temperature changes. When walking some of those mountain paths, you can feel some areas that are suddenly colder or hotter than the surround air. Colder I get from a stream as Iˋve experienced in the Rocky mountains on bicycle trips. But warmer? It must be the rocks holding more heat than others. Anyway -- itˋs quite a cool experience. 

And then there are the mind games that one plays to get through the day. Yes, I talk to myself and OH MY - I actually responded today. It must be the heat!!!!! 

I know some people who are trying to incorporate tourist things into their agenda. This is NOT a trip about cramming as much into the day as I can. I'm here to relax and walk the walk. If I want to come back and be a tourist - I will, but this is about chilling out!!!

Now I think all the hotel/restaurant staff are gone for the day. I sure hope the radio goes out at some time!!!! If so, I think it's going to be a very quiet night!!!!

And that's it for me. OH WAIT -- the last trail marker I passed today was 198.5. Yeah ---- the end is coming!!!!! I'm sad for that, but I'm enjoying the walk, It's perfert!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Those of you who follow me on Facebook can see some of the pictures I take each day