There were a couple of options out of Campiello this morning, but both involved hills. One option was a little longer and a little easier, going through a town called Pola de Allande, where one can find all the amenities – bed, restaurants, and grocery store.
The other option, which I think of as the Hospital Route, climbs nearly a vertical kilometer, passing three medieval hospital ruins. This route provides no support for pilgrims. There isn’t even water available for nearly 20 kilometers. As you can imagine, I took the hospital option, primarily because all the guidebooks promised incredible views in good weather. And once the clouds cleared by mid-morning, I could see that the guidebooks were correct. The views really were beautiful, so much so that I took nearly a full hour’s break near the summit.
I especially liked climbing above the clouds early in the morning, seeing the sun for the first time in the day, and thinking that the distant Cantabrian mountain peaks poking up through the clouds looked like fork tines sticking up through a big marshmallow.
On the descent, I caught up with Daniela, a friendly 34-year-old from Slovakia, who I had initially met at the albergue in Bodenaya a couple of days ago. She walks quickly, so we hiked the remainder of the way into Berducedo, where most of the pilgrims were expected to finish for the day.
We grabbed a cold beer on this hot day and then, not having seen any of our friends come by in an hour, decided to buy some groceries and carry on for another hour of walking to La Mesa. We’ll make some pasta and veggie sauce in our albergue kitchen. But not until the Germany-Mexico World Cup game ends.
