A stage with so much ascent that you almost forget we’re generally descending. Like, 800+ meters. Feeling absolutely knackered, so I’m sort of half asleep (after just having been fully asleep) in a municipal albergue. We were actually aiming for a donativo in the previous village, but they were “fully booked”, which was a surprise after not having realized they could be booked at all. Not too upset, because the municipal one is nice and comfy and is completely empty around 14:00 when we come in. This is despite the road being actually very full of pilgrims. There are what seems to be hundreds, but very few with proper normal sized backpacks.
It’s also kind of convenient, as you always know where they all will be in the afternoon (at one of the big stops). So it seems that the advice to simply not hit the recommended stages works very well, especially combined with not using the albergues that have a possibility of booking.
But we’re here now, all done with showers and laundry, and this is what happiness looks like, if you wanted to know:
A couple of good things happened today. Just before the 100km in Ferreiros we reconnected with Stephen and Camille – haven’t seen them in two weeks. We walked with them until Portomarín and ate a brunch (I guess?) together. At the municipal albergue that we ended up in – who was it to take the bunk bed almost next to us, but Olga and Nikita – the couple I yesterday wrote I hoped to see again. Fun times.
A very bad thing happened, as well. Something like an hour or so out of Portomarín I saw a medical helicopter circling ahead. Then some minutes later a Guardia Civil car rushed past us with blue lights. About 20 minutes later, nearly at the top of a long climb, we passed the actual scene, with a hiker (don’t know, a pilgrim or not) prostrate on the ground, with medics in full ER mode around him, with defibrillators and all… I was asked by one of the responders if I was okay – I guess I looked a bit pale. Later we saw the ambulance again, and it wasn’t in too much hurry, so I’m afraid I can guess what had happened. It is very sad, we’re rather shaken. Update: yes, the guy has died of a heart attack. He’d been waking the Camino with his daughter and collapsed at the top of a climb. 58 y.o. Unbelievably sad.
A village dog would not shut up outside our window, let’s try to get used to that…
