Camino Pilgrim

The landscapes today are extremely beautiful and pictures will not do them justice.

Crossing into Ribadeo during sunrise was quite magical. Galicia is my favorite region of Spain. It has hills, beautiful small villages and tons of old forests providing shade from the sun.

At Ribadeo I said my very last goodbyes to the ocean for the Norte trail. Going inland is mainly uphill for two days in a row. Today was the warmup day. This does not mean it was easy. Tomorrow will be even harder.

The middle third of the day was only moving up at a pace that was seemingly wiping out most pilgrims. People had to stop and sit down in the dust during one of the many long forest stretches. The villages were few and far apart. In addition, the whole day had only two bars on the Camino.

Moving inland also makes the weather hotter. The daily max temperature jumped a whole two degrees when I compare my endpoint to the start. It would get at least another two degrees hotter when going near Santiago. Water rationing will become a serious issue.

Tempo was good from start to finish, but a lot of muscles were hinting that a good stretch was needed if I was going to push forward just as hard. The thing is that I think of going even harder.

The weather will play the main role in how the last few days will play out. Tomorrow is the last serious mountain day. Can’t wait to see how I will manage.

I plan to start early so the mountain part will be done before it gets too hot. It promises to rain all day tomorrow, so temperature might actually be an issue. I need to be ready for anything that gets thrown my way.