Stacy: Day 12 - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
We broke up this trip in a specific way. Most people walk double what we're walking in a day. And, there's this huge hill that they start in yesterday's starting city (Pontevedra), and walk straight up it. (That's crazy! I'd think you'd want fresh muscles to tackle this sucker.)
Why is it so dreaded by Peregrinos?
((Photo is not of the actual trail, but just off it)) It is a 25% grade up for the vast majority of this climb. The photo above is a sign along the Way, but leads to an area no Pilgrim should travel.
All in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. For one, the day had started cool, and by lunch, it was still a decent temperature (not hot!).
Mom had some trouble, but dad wisely stayed at the hotel, and met us later. Even with our help, he would not have been able to complete this.
Here's a 2D representation of today's hill:
Throughout the climb, we made sure to look backwards. For every bit that was daunting in front of us, there was an amazing view behind us.
This overlook was particularly gorgeous, and it is where we ate our lunch. I think we were about 2/3 up the mountain at that point.
I don't know if you can see it, but in the second photo, there are mussel farms in the middle of the water.
And, there were horses! A couple had bells around their necks. They were roaming free along the path, and were shy around people (there were a decent amount of people passing us). We saw 2 different groups of horses, and a single, malnourished horse.
But, there was always more hill...
Until there wasn't.
At one point, we heard familiar voices. Guess who!!!? John and Bill!
We walked with them for the entire way down. Kim and Bill like to walk faster, so they went on ahead (but never too far). John, mom, and I all walked much more slowly. We chatted about lots of things: getting to know each other better; what brought each of us to walk the Camino; and had some good laughs.
Kim and Bill talked Notre Dame!
Now, I brought hiking poles for this day, SPECIFICALLY. I can't use them, otherwise (not coordinated enough), but they sure were helpful both climbing up and down this steeeeeeep hill. Turns out, John lost his hiking poles. And, I didn't want them after this day.
So, I promised them to him when we reached the bottom! "The Camino Provides."
Even though that photo is of John's last descent of this hill, there's more to this story...
On the leg immediately before this photo, there was one last bit of bouldering that we all had to do. I'd say it was approximately 100 feet long.
Mom had literally 2 steps before she was at the end of it... when she fell and slid. She simply lost her footing. Now, she's perfectly fine! Her backpack caught her. But, her butt and part of her back are a bit bruised... and one of her hiking poles bit the dust! She also landed on that, and there's a curve in it that matches the curve of her butt. LOL! Bill and John had been taking a short break, so they missed witnessing the calamity.
Upon gifting my poles to John, we parted ways once again. We were now in our city for the evening, but John and Bill needed to find lodging in another city because this one was fully booked.
The trip down would have been a slog had Bill and John not been with us. We are all so grateful for their company!
Dad, mom, Kim, and I all checked in to our hotel, but our luggage wasn't there! It was 3pm. Our luggage should have arrived around noon. Turns out it was accidentally delivered to the monastery. Our hotel also has "Monastery" in its name... and the receptionist said this happens often. He personally drove down to the monastery to pick up the luggage. So kind!
Luggage finally in hand (an hour later), we cleaned up, and headed to said monastery for Vespers (prayers). It was lovely!
Everything was in Spanish except a Pilgrim prayer at the very end. They had handouts, so Kim and I attempted to sing along (in Spanish) whenever we could find the song they were singing.
During this trip, there have been a couple of times where I felt the Holy Spirit. Even though I could translate the prayer from Spanish (and, thus, knew what to expect), when the nun spoke it in English, I felt It. The Pilgrim Prayer was recited in about 6 languages, total.
After that, we ate dinner and turne in early. I was so exhausted, I finished up a single blog post, and went to bed.
Which is what I'm also doing tonight. Good night, everyone! Thanks for reading.
