Robin and I decided to walk from door to door today. We had 23 kms to walk to get to our destination for the night in the village of A Pobre de Brollon. There were a couple of climbs that dragged on a bit but never amounted to more than a moderate grade. We did have a couple of steep, but short, climbs around mid day, but that was the worst of it. We walked strongly, without a break for 5.25 hours. Full disclosure. there was no place to stop and rest even if we wanted to. But the day passed by as we moved inland away from the river and into the forest. These were our paths for today, beautiful forest logging roads that made for easy traveling.
Even though the elevation gain was not breathtaking the length of the climbs and the steep descents reminded us how challenging this route can be. Yes, we are in good shape, and yes we can handle the varied terrain, but at the end of the day we were tired and ready for a break. In short, today’s walk was doable, but not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Such were the thoughts Robin and I shared as we stepped through the door of the Hostal As Viñas at 2:00, looking for a place to lay our heads.
Once again good fortune was with us, our room was ready, lunch was still being served, and most importantly, we discovered that the hostal now has both a washer and a dryer. So after a quick shower we handed over our laundry and headed for the dining room. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing. Bruno, the son of the owners of the hostal, speaks good English, and has been very helpful. So all in all it was another very good day.
