For the last two days we have been climbing upward into the mountains. After slogging up out of a valley, instead of going down the other side, we started climbing again. The trail in places is very rocky and difficult, more difficult than the worst parts of the Camino Frances that I walked last year. To make matters worse, it started to rain heavily yesterday. I dug my “ultra sil” poncho out of my pack that I had used for a total of two hours last year, and plodded on. To my delight, it worked very well, keeping my pack and clothes dry. Only my shoes and Tilley hat got soaked. When we reached Tineo, we trudged through town following the waymarks and looking for signs of accommodations in the pouring rain, only to find that we were heading out of town. So we had to turn around and head down into town where we got a room where we could dry out. Today we had a fairly short day of 13 kms to Campiello with only a few showers.
Tomorrow we are taking on the 27 km route over the “hospitales” section of the Camino Primitivo, so named because in Medieval times because there were several pilgrim “hospitales” along the way. These refuges for pilgrims cared for their basic needs, gave them medical attention, and ministered to them if they were dying. Our modern hospitals and hospice houses find their origins in these pilgrim refuges and there are the ruins of some of these on tomorrow’s long climb. It will be a long difficult day with no towns or services for the full 27 kms.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS: Because I do not have my email working yet, I cAnnot moderate any comments that you make on my blog. I will try to sort this out soon.