Lubián - A Gudiña 27 km

Despite all the difficulties I had been through on the camino, today was unquestionably the worst day of walking so far. I left at 0530, the weather forecast was not good and there was, quite literally, a mountain to cross into Galicia. I had not gone far when it started to rain, the first real heavy rain I had walked in so far, and I was thankful that I had brought my Rohan waterproof jacket rather than a poncho, it performed beyond all expectations. I was not worried about my mochila getting wet as it had a perfectly good rain cover.

The camino turned off what had been a decent path into woodland, and continued steadily uphill, it was often flooded and muddy and always slippery. It began by following a riverbed, but the water was deep and flowing fast, in fact it was already flowing over the large granite blocks laid there to assist peregrinos and keep them dry. At one point I was walking in the river, my boots were waterproof but they could only deal with so much and I ended up walking the next 20+ km with wet feet.

All of this was being done in darkness, my path only illuminated by the circle of light from my head torch, all the while in driving rain. The longer I walked that section of the path, the more slippery and dangerous it became, and with hindsight I realised that it had not been a good idea to come on my own. The only plus was that I was able to message back details of the conditions to my friends. I was worried for the older walkers like Jeanette and Arno, and an older Spanish couple, I thought they might be safer taking the road. At one point I had to walk through some bushes that had overgrown the path, and they were so wet it was like walking through a car wash. The uphill climb was difficult and in the darkness, it felt never ending. I was tired, cold, sore and soaking wet and miserable. I felt like a Hobbit lost in Fangorn wood.

Fortunately the higher up the mountain I got the easier and less claustrophobic it became, and I was greatly relieved to reach the summit and cross over into Galicia, of course what goes up must come down and so there was a reasonably steep descent until the path levelled out. I found myself wishing I had some of Mirjam and Anne's energy. After an hour I came across a café and stopped for a hot coffee, it had just opened and I think the lady took pity on my drenched and bedraggled state because she also brought me a huge slice of tortilla as well. Once again, I had found kindness, unlooked for, on the Way.

From that point, with the exception of just a few km it was steadily and at times steeply uphill for several hours. Something had happened on the walk up the mountain, and I was feeling a lot of pain in my right hip and it was getting worse. Finally, I could see A Gudiña just a few km away down the valley, but every step of that last 2 km was agony.

I arrived at the albergue just a few minutes before the hospitalera and I was more than happy to just sit on the wall outside until she was ready, to be honest I thought if I didn't sit down I would fall down. The albergue was huge but nice with terrific toilets and showers (I know I sound like I'm obsessed...but these things matter on the camino). I picked my bed and lay down for a rest after popping some pain killers.

When the ladies arrived they were given a room together and they asked me to join them which I was very glad to do, glad too it would be Anne sleeping on top of me tonight, she doesn't move about much. The albergue had a washing machine so we put all our washing together and got that done and put my boots out to dry.

After a chat about the long walk the next day, we decided that given the distance, the weather forecast and the fact that some of us were not in the best of shape, with sore feet, bad knees and my injured hip, (and my boots were still wet), the oldies and I would go to Laza by taxi whilst Mirjam and Anne, young and fit as they were, would walk the 35 km, but we would take some of their gear with us in the taxi. So, for me it would be a rest day that would hopefully give my hip a chance to recover. With that decided, we all went to bed.Read more