Yesterday evening ended very tranquilly. I spent some time praying in the romanesque fortress church in teh centre of town. Interestingly, this 12th century church was moved brick-by-brick and rebuilt in its present location when they dammed the local river. What an amazing feat, expecially in 1960. At around 7pm, I met my friend and we ate a not exceptionally good meal in a cafe, drank a refreshing beverage, and watched the people walk past. I was back in the hostel rather early and spent some time just reading.
Rather early this morning, we set out on our way. The day was not as pleasant, walking-wise, as yesterday. The vast majority of the day was spent walking on purpose-built tracks near the road. There were no lovely and shaded village paths until right near the end. The views were nowhere near as spectacular, either, as yesterday.
It is interesting how quickly the climate seems to change. Yesterday was very lush and green; today was drier and browner. For this reason, there were not very many photo opportunities.
Of the 25kms or more that we walked today, 15kms were uphill. The first stretch was a very steep and challenging climb, the rest was but a gentle rise for most of the day.
The highlight was our final rest-stop for the day (the third actual stop). We paused in a very small village at a lovely looking cafe/bar - we had decided that we would have a refreshing beverage to provide the necessary sustenance for the final 4 or 5 kms. While we sat in a lovely shaded terrace, enjoying our refreshing beverage, the owner of the bar wandered around offering to each of us a piece of toasted bread topped with a beautiful cheese drizzled in oil. What a magnificent way to regain one's energies.
One of the great difficulties for me is not looking down on the newest walkers with "smug superiority". There are so many walking without backpacks, so many whose clothes and backpacks are shining new. The biggest difference is that they are feeling the pain of a couple of days walking, whereas I have walked my way through most of that pain (those blisters and muscle problems) during the first 20 or 25 days.
Not much else to report - a fairly ordinary day on the Way.
Adios!
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