Monday, October 19, 2015

Herrerias to Hospital de la Condesa 10/19/15

10/19/15
Early morning view of the village Herrerias  as we are preparing to leave

Loved sitting on the balcony and looking out at the meadow and listening to cow bells. Mariah in rain gear... Yes ,leaving this beautiful place in the rain!

Front view of Hotel Paraiso del Bierzo, Mariah in front of our hotel window

Horses at the roadside as we leave town,
they are for hire if you get tired of "walking" the Camino you can saddle up!

Handsome guy!

Looking back at Herrerias as we leave town for the BIG HIKE up the mountain today

A Spanish Pumpkin Patch!

Hitting the trail on an uphill tilt in the misty rain

Beautiful rolling green hills and trees

Wow, it's really raining now and check out the wet "big rock" path... Interesting to navigate! 

After a few miles we take a reprieve from the rain in the little village of La Faba...warm fire,  refreshments and fellow pilgrims to confer on weather conditions

Beauty in the mist and rain!

Even wetter and going higher into the mountains

Hard to do the breathtaking views justice in a photo and in the rain

Ok.... Mariah is officially "not happy" and soaked even with rain gear, hard to keep it out of your shoes! ... The weather prediction was 30 per cent rain and IF there was rain it would be gone by noon! Wrong on both counts!

However ..... Despite all that we have reached the peak!! Woo hoo!

Luckily we could see the view after all our climbing.... Our photo just before it got socked in with the mist, rain and wind


We are officially in the Region of Galicia which is the region of our destination place, Santiago. This part of the country's earliest known habitants were the Celts and the spirit of the local people changes a bit  and so does the weather.... more rain , wind, mist and fog!...but to balance all that ...throw in a touch of mystery, whimsy, bagpipes,celtic music and brilliant green landscapes everywhere you look!
This was a challenging hike day for both of us due to weather conditions and being one of our steepest longest climbs. The good news is that we noticed we were in better shape than we were 25 days ago when we were hiking the Pyrenees!  Yes, today we celebrated our "25th hiking day" on The Camino de Santiago! .... feels wonderful as well as cold and wet.... a little weather drama to spice up the occasion!
Our Best to All!
Mary and Mariah
Grannies on Camino

The first very cute small Galician village of O Cebreiro

Tour buses arrived and people were being blown about in the rain efforting to photograph the surroundings and socked in view

We ducked in out of the rain and enjoyed a bowl of traditional Galician Sopa ( soup) which features potatoes, onion, green collards and a light broth.... Hit the spot for 2 soaking wet pilgrims and for more fellow pilgrims that continued to pour into the bar to escape the rain. You could see Mama cooking in the kitchen and hear the Celtic music playing! We hated to leave but we had  2 more hours of hiking before we reached our hotel for the night!

Our smart Pilgrim friend Martin from Australia... he arrived the sunny day before,  spent the night and decided to call a "rain day" and stay put for another day & evening. He is toasting his coziness and our heading out in the rain!.... "Buen Camino!" he says as we hit the rainy road

2 comments:

  1. You ladies are tough! Way to brave it through the rain!

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  2. Thanks Justin! .... We were at a point of no return ..... I guess we could have just laid down in the rain and called it quits but didn't seem like an option!

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