Today starts the climb up and over the mountain pass. From our current altitude at around 3500 feet up to around 5000 feet and then all the way down to 2000 feet.
We had a beautiful climb starting right before sunrise. A few people started before us, and a few people started after us. Including the German guy with the dog. But they all quickly passed us. The dog was happy to see us and ran up and wanted to be petted. But the guy quickly came up and called him away. Poor thing. He just wanted to be loved on. 😒
We made it to the top of the mountain where the Cruz del Fiero – the iron cross – is located. It’s the spot where one places a rock at the base of the cross that represents their burden and sorrows to be left behind in God’s hands. Both Bill and Bruce left their rocks. I didn’t have one. It’s a nice little park, but one can drive up there as it is right off the highway.
The trail up the mountain and the beginning of the downhill part was really nice. It was a soft mountain trail with grasses on either side. However, it quickly turned into hell. Big rocks that you had to scramble down and around. It went on for at least 10 miles. And our speed quickly diminished. Normally, 16 miles would have had us to the hostel at 3. We didn’t get in until 5:30pm. Our legs were jelly.
We met another pilgrim, Silvia from Brazil, for drinks right on the river and then dinner.
10 Oct 2020 ~ 39,217 steps ~ 16.1 miles ~ 65ºF ☀️
