In order to blaze a trail for God’s Legions to follow we departed Portomarin under cover of darkness at 06:30hrs and in thick fog. The fog caused havoc with the light from our headtorches, with diffusion and backscatter (the result of internal reflection and refraction of light inside water droplets held in colloidal suspension with air – honestly!) blinding our progress. Nonetheless, we made steady progress, with sunrise revealing eerily beautiful landscapes draped in mist.
With legs now fully accustomed to the daily plodding ritual, and feet, shins, Achilles and knees in reasonable shape, we advanced rapidly towards our one and only stop on this stage for a hearty breakfast. We covered the 13km to this halfway point at Ventas de Naron by 09:30hrs, by which time, tummies were rumbling.
By 10:15hrs we could see The Masses descending on our position in full song, accompanied by the roar of a thousand tambourines - well so it seemed. We thus kitted up for the romp into Palas de Rei, with iPods again acting as marching metronome. A cool breeze, firm terrain and beautiful scenery enabled us to complete the day’s 25km trek at a very respectable average speed of 4.7km/hr.
Following hotel check-in and cleansing shower we were sitting down to lunch by 14:00hrs. Discussions naturally turned to the two remaining days into Santiago de Compestella, and what we would do as fitting tribute to end our physical and metaphysical journies. Or are we perhaps premature???
No comments:
Post a Comment