Where there’s a will

We were prepared for a wet ride today as most weather forecasts, apart from Meteoblue, predicted steady, albeit light, rain all day. In truth, the cloud was right down on the surrounding mountains when we rose at 6 30am, but it wasn’t raining. As our readers will know yesterday was a demanding day with substantial ascent and descent. Although we plan these journeys fairly meticulously, and have a good feel for the arc of travel, we tend to take each day at a time once we start.

So, on reacquainting ourselves with the route for today, over supper last night, we were more than a little troubled to discover that the map data was greater than for yesterday.

Which brings me to a reflection on one of Ginnie’s comments a couple of days ago about the challenge of climbing these big hills. When cycle touring with load ( and ours is much reduced on this trip) one’s pace is never fast but, unlike the sports-orientated cyclist on a super light carbon-framed machine, speed and data are not of the essence.

I suppose in terms of modern thinking it is more an exercise in mindfulness. One is completely absorbed by the task in hand or should that be foot? The sounds, the smells, the wildlife all impact one’s senses, and one becomes sensitised to the smallest changes in gradient. Psychologically it is best not to think about how far it is to the summit, but rather concentrate on the way to the next turn. One becomes lost in the task.

The location of last night’s hotel meant that we started climbing immediately we left the front door. Despite its appearance when viewed from the hotel the road to Grandas de Salime was beautifully engineered and the steady 5% lift brought us quite quickly to a series of spectacular viewpoints above the hotel and the surrounding environs of the reservoir.

As we completed the first major pull into Grandas the clouds were beginning to lift with blue holes opening up. The collegiate church of San Salvador was unusual and had apparently been modified serially in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, with the unusual addition of an arcade that completely surrounded the church in order to shade pilgrims. It wasn’t needed this morning.

As we left sleepy Grandas ( in fairness, it was only about 9 30am) the landscape changed radically from the harsh and intimidating slopes of Salime to what appeared to be almost like the pasturelands of Aberdeenshire. After a few kilometres of some respite we started on the climb to the alto dividing Asturias and Galicia. And, for some reason, it seemed really hard. Whether it was because we are tired after yesterday, or maybe tired after the 17 days of cycling (!), but we both felt we were digging deep. In part, it was possibly due to the way the road was engineered. Certainly I found that I could not come out of my lowest gear for tens of minutes at a time, but there were few opportunities to rest using my hairpin trick!

Eventually the puerto del Acebo was reached and we were both much relieved. Note that the altitude reached was nearly as great as yesterday’s, but we had started 300 metres lower at the Salime reservoir! No wonder it felt gruelling.

We were excited to be back in Galicia and I even managed some celebratory photographs despite the stubborn cloud. Having had some brief joy from a modest descent we were perplexed to be officially welcomed back to Galicia. We were even more perplexed when we had to return to some more quite hard climbing.

And then all was revealed: there was a second and higher col. Note the spelling. Given that the Spanish sound a ”v” as a “b” the col effectively had the same name! We remain confused.

However, we can confirm that we are now definitely in Galicia as we are in a lovely pilgrim hostal/albergue in the Galician town of A’ Fonsagrada. The welcome was warm and very friendly which almost made up for the sting in today’s route. The road dropped us well below Fonsagrada and left us with a re-climb of 120 metres. We are still well over 3000 feet above sea level.

It is very much a pilgrim place and dedicated to supporting the surrounding agricultural economy. But the great news was that the church of Santa Maria was open and we were able to get a stamp for our credencial. On past Caminos most of our stamps have come from churches, but many have been closed on this Camino. So, we have managed a workaround. Mind you, knowing us you will not be surprised to see that we have visited every bar between Irun and Fonsagrada!

The town is perched high on a hill and the views to the Galician highlands are expansive. Lugo, tomorrow’s destination, is more than 500 metres below us. But we suspect we will have an awful lot of up tomorrow in order to go down. Off to a bar now!