Today was much shorter than yesterday at 12.8 miles. We did that in about six and a half hours including breaks. Out time is becoming more predictable, and that makes a lot of things easier.
Today, we had one major hill--everything is a "hill" after our first day! You can see the signs for the distances and the grades for each side. Going up, it was 1050 meters (about two thirds of a mile) at a 12% grade. Going down was 350 meters at an 18% grade. I asked Keith to take a picture because that grade sounded so ridiculous BEFORE I walked it.
The picture of Keith here is at the top of the hill. We were so high I felt like I could touch the clouds!
You can see what the Camino looks like from a long way off in another picture. When I see it like that, I always wonder why it hasn't gotten straighter over time. It seems to me that 500 years of pilgrims would have become more efficient, but it keeps turning!
My bus finally came at a time that Keith could get his camera out, AND it was headed in the right direction!
Today, we were introduced to a phenomenon that is new to us but common on the Camino: tourist groups on buses. Twice today, a bus pulled up close to us, and a number of people got off. I can't bring myself to call them pilgrims, but their trip is probably just enough walking to get the certificate in Santiago! Everyone who walks 100 km, or about 65 miles, is eligible. A Camino friend of ours said two days ago that some tourists took pictures of her because she is a real pilgrim! Today, one group had a variety of people, including one nun who was wearing high top boots! She was our favorite person in that group! They passed us walking, but we lost track of them later in the day.
Someone asked if we notice ourselves losing weight with all of our walking. I guess we really don't notice as much as we expected or hoped we would lose. One way pilgrims break up the walking is in all of the little cafes along the way. There are also grocery stores in most towns. We refuse to diet while we do this, so we eat what we want. Breakfast is usually from the grocery store the night before and consists of bread, fruit, and maybe some sort of meat that can handle being out of refrigeration. We don't really eat lunch, but we stop and eat cookies that we carry or a sandwich that we buy. More that it's warmer, we might buy a Coke to go with it. After we get settled from showers and laundry, we might eat another snack of cookies, nuts, or a sandwich. Dinner has been a pilgrim-intended meal of two plates of food, bread, wine, and dessert or sometimes totally different like pizza. Our highlight the other day was Burger King in a mall!
Well, we're off to see the town.
More walking tomorrow!
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