Camino Primitivo - Sep 21, 2022 Day 6 Grandas de Salime to Fonsegrada

This may be repetitive…maybe even boring but the summary of today is music 🎶 to my ears! We are halfway to Santiago de Compostela…unreal!

Fantastic walking day…brilliant sunshine…walking strongly…met some new people…good food…mostly (not all) good walking paths…tiring but a good 👍 tired feeling…superb countryside views. 🙂

Today we walked 26 kms at a average walking speed of 4.6 kms per hour over 5 hrs 41 minutes. Elevation gain of 823 meters and elevation loss of 447 meters for a combined G/L of 1,270 meters. 

There were some rough ascents early and at the very last coming into Fonsegrada where I met Pierre from Belgium (kept crossing paths over the day) at the side of the trail. I blurted out “This isn’t fair making us work so hard at the end of the day!” Pierre laughed and agreed…then Paulo arrived and I suggested taking a taxi 🚕 for the last 150 meters…I was overruled!

Back to last night where we had a very very good supper! Finally some vegetables!!! Beef medallions and the very famous Tarta de Santiago…delicious!!!

So good I ate a piece before the picture

I often mention ascents in blog postings as they really tire you out however there are little techniques which I find quite helpful. Note others will have different approaches.

   - Try to keep my stride cadence (number of strides per X time period) the same

   - Shorten the stride length 

   - Focus on breathing 😮‍💨 Deep breaths in/out and really slow down breathing so that you are aware of simply relaxing breathing

   - Focus on taking as few stops as possible before reaching the top…stopping for a rest is nice…restarting not so much!

   - When terrain permits walk in a switchback manner…side to side which can really save the knees

When we left this morning it was a little chilly 9C , foggy and somewhat dark out 🙂

Along the way we briefly met Patricia (Japanese documentary). She had a small amount of water left and the Bar cafe was closed so Paulo very nicely offered her some of his water. 

A nice gesture however I did manage to briefly chat with Patricia…first acknowledging Paulo’s gesture AND nicely letting her know that I hoped this would not influence any decisions she would make about who would be in the final cut of the documentary…I think she laughed…well I hope so

I deserve (don’t have a solid reason for saying this…I just  know) and want to be in the Japanese Camino Documentary. It’s my only chance at fleeting fame. I will definitely consider going to Japan for the premiere showing!

We met fewer new pilgrim walkers today however had some meaningful exchanges.

Chris - Germany 2nd Camino. She was going to walk only 5 kms due to a late start 

Brad & Andrea - Boston United States

Don & Leslie - California United States Don thought I was same age as Paulo mid forties 😂 even with all the grey in my beard (so Don is a good guy) I had a great chat on the environment, US politics which is a subject I approach very delicately based on my read of the person 

Raphaela & Constantino - Italy

Early this afternoon we entered Galicia which is really superb area of Spain known for greenery, pulpo (octopus) and rain 🌧!

That’s basically it for the day…tomorrow 24 kms to O  Cadavo without as much ascent and descent…here’s hoping it’s as good a day.

Some other pictures from the day.