Today was always going to be a long day. 30km is not so bad – but the stage profile from Gronze.com showed a slightly more scary picture. It’s a bit like the Fan Dance on the Brecon Beacons – a lot of miles to drain your stamina and then a brutal climb at the end when your legs really have had enough.
Still the day started well and the statue of the pilgrim leaning into the wind was inspiring.
Aside from that, apart from the great scenery, the only notable discovery was the body of a snake in the road – about a yard long, I was rather glad that I didn’t come across this fellow while he was still in the land of the living. An ugly looking beast, even when missing a head.
Lunch was ok – the table hadn’t been given away, despite being two hours late. The restaurant probably thought a booking for 1pm was a mistake – who on earth would eat lunch at such a ridiculously early hour? Anyway, a pilgrim menu for 10 Euros followed by an herbias gave my legs strength and one headed off on the climb again.
One quite quickly arrived at the beautiful Romanesque church of San Paio de Diamondi. Sadly, and inevitably, locked it was nonetheless a superb piece of architecture.
San Paio
Just next to the church was a Mojon (way-marker) which said that Santiago is 100km away. I guess some souvenir hunter thought 100.0 in brass was worth stealing.
The Mino river is the valley that one has to cross. This is another old trading route now with many dams for hydro-electric power and thus immensely beautiful.
The bar at the bottom of the hill was welcome, the climb less so. A wonderfully sadistic route, one thinks one is out of the valley, one turns a corner and the hardest bit is still to come. Nonetheless I made to the hotel by 10. I had thought I would get there by 5. My estimating skills are pretty poor.
Comments