I slept great in my little room and headed out just before dawn with B, from Oregon. The misty rain felt refreshing and the black sky turned dark blue and then lighter still. We carefully followed the shells.
We settled into our own paces and I walked ahead. We met again at a home in La Mesa, the family opened it up to pilgrims for breakfast and coffee in exchange for a donation. This kind of generosity is common on the Camino. The second cup of strong coffee helped propel me up a hill and soon there was a diversion. My app recommended I take it, so I did. I felt like I was looking down at a sea of clouds.
Somehow I caught up with M (or she caught up with me?) and we walked together for a bit. She took this shot of me!
There are very hard parts of walking each day. The downhill today was long and brutal. The beauty of the Primitivo is you get distracted by how amazing your surroundings are! I feel so fortunate to be here.
From the top I could see a dam below and the path slowly snaked its way down.
I walked over it!
And the Camino took us back up... The sun contributed its part - gorgeous light sparkling through the leaves to the shade or an extra hot challenge boiling down... depending on which section of the path you were on. ;)
The beauty of fall is here on the Primitivo.
I guess I should get to the big decision of today. Last night the family/tribe/group of us that had been coinciding called ahead to reserve in Castro. I arrived here just about 3, hot, tired and ready to rest (and still 5-8 k from Castro depending which map you look at). I decided to stay. It was a tough call because I will miss my friends, but one of the most important lessons (to me) of the Camino is that we all must walk our own way. I decided to stay in this lovely town and I made new friends from France and Italy. We are all cooking and sharing dinner (well, M, the Italian is taking charge, but how perfect that there will be gluten-free vegan pasta?). I helped prep some veggies.
I also met another gluten-free blogger from France. Check out her voyage on the Camino del Norte and then Primitivo here: https://www.myatlas.com/colinejardin/go-to-camino-del-norte
It's a nice, clean and modern albergue and I know I made the right call to have a shorter day today. I hope I'll see old friends and stay in touch with new ones tomorrow.
Kilometers walked: 25.54 (Fitbit), 20.08 (Buen Camino app). This time Fitbit wins! I read that the diversion I took added 4 k.
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