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| A difficult climb |
That
was a very tough day but it was expected after the long gentle downhill we had
yesterday. We were down in a valley and had another mountain to climb. We
started the day at 451 metres and climbed to 975, much of it up a steep rocky
path, bringing to mind our climb up Benlettery some years ago. Back then there
was a note on the door of the closed hostel at the foot of the mountain, which
read, "If you have come this far you are planning to climb Benlettery.
Don't." We did and lived to tell the tale.
There
was no such notice at the bottom of today's climb but the guidebooks said it
would be difficult and it was. Unlike Benlettery there was a village at the top
of today's mountain and in the village there was a bar/cafe where we were able
to have a bocadillo. The cafe is festooned with scallop shells bearing the
names of peregrinos who dropped in. There is another there now, with the
inscription, "Liam and Pauline, Galway, Ireland 11/10/2014".
We
could actually have stayed in an albergue there but we had looked at the 7km of
downhill walking to end the day and decided that it was doable. It wasn't as
easy as we had expected as the slope was much steeper than the previous day and
instead of road we were often on a rough track.
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| Coffee and toast were very welcome |
I
should add that Amigos of the Camino have established a donativo cafe about 3km
before the start of the serious climb. As we had no proper breakfast it was
great to sit down to coffee and toast 4km into today's walk.
We have
a few more climbs ahead of us after Ourense but we have reason to believe that
today was the last of the really tough days.
All the
peregrinos we got to know are away ahead of us. Tonight we have a new set -
three men, probably Spanish, and a young couple who are cycling, possibly
Slovenian. They are all in one dormitory and we are in the other. A Basque
couple, who we met on the mountain, spent some time on the phone at the door of
the albergue. I presume they are now in a casa rural.
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