Galica - Green, lush, and never flat.

Summary of 4 days in Galicia:

• Nothing is flat. Nothing. It is green.
• I have seen a lot of beautiful places. None are more lovely than this. Each section brings a new surprising superlative. Nature, man-made, or both. It is beyond vocabulary.
• Without the Camino you would not have the support to go to these empty places. This what people hope to see but can not find in Spain.
• The pilgrims are everything. They come in every possible form and background. They do it with ease. People's insecure egos can be wearing and difficult... very little of that on the Camino.

Facts:

July 31th -  GPS - Triacastela to Villafranca del Bierzo

Distance: 35.40 mi

Time: 5:13 / Moving Time: 3:41

Avg Speed: 6.8 mph / Avg Moving Speed: 9.6 mph / Max Speed: 40.2 mph

Elevation Gain: 2,785 ft

Elevation Loss: 3,304 ft

Min Elevation: 1,667 ft

Max Elevation: 4,381 ft

Weather - Perfect. Sunny, not too hot, and light winds at the tops.

Climbs - The first climb. Up 2000 ft. in 6 miles. Hard. Followed by 10 more before downhill.

Difficulty - 7. First climb took it out of you.

Scale:
0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the marin headlands climb.
10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel -  Hotel San Francisco . 3? euros. Highly Recommended. Pepie who runs the front is helpful and always smiling.

Comments:

A.  Another great day and difficult day. Technically, this the first mountain day. Although, there has been 2-3000 ft of vertical everyday. I had to push the bike on several sections. You could not climb them with the trailer, grades, and distances.  You have to climb this a pace you can do for 4 or 5 hours of effort.
B.  Always on the roads here.

C.  These are the mountains that separate Galica from Leon. They are a palisades lifting into the air. The tops line the sky like a jagged reef´s edge in dark green outline against blue.

D.  At the top was the most unexpected thing. A woman in an electric wheelchair, sporting a Chi-Rho flag and a smile. Unbelievable and God Bless her. That is an adventurer.

E.  The valley coming down to Villafranca is lined with an invitingly clear river. The river that supplied my excellent trout dinner. There is a marked change in the land and the architecture here. This the end of Galicia and beginning of the more arid Leon.

E. Villafranca is a christian fort town protecting the entrance to Galica. Well worth a visit of the building... food and river.

Facts:

July 30th -  GPS - Portomarin to Triacastela   

Distance: 29.47 mi

Time: 5:17 / Moving Time: 3:49

Avg Speed: 5.6 mph / Avg Moving Speed: 8.4 mph / Max Speed: 39.7 mph

Elevation Gain: 2,969 ft

Elevation Loss: 2,054 ft

Min Elevation: 1,070 ft

Max Elevation: 2,136 ft

Weather - Fog in the morning. Heat after Sarria.

Climbs - The first climb. Up 1000 ft. in 5 miles. Hard. Followed by more climbing.

Difficulty - 7. First climb took it out of you. Then, another 25 miles to go.

Scale:
0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the marin headlands climb.
10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel -  FERNANDEZ TRIACASTELA . No star. 20 euros. Shared bath. Recommended.

Comments:

A.  Another great day. With each turn there is a new superlative.

B.  Another hard day. After first two climbs in 12 miles, and really the first uphill effort, you are done. Then, ony another 15 miles of uphill to do.

C.  I did not follow the camino much. It goes away from the roads.

D.  Samos has a monastery perfectly set against a clear river, walled in by green mountains. When you turn to see it, shock of something so wonderful sets you back. I didn't get to go in (everything closes for 2 hours in Spain), but I almost called a cab to take me back in the evening. It was that memorable.

E.  Without the Camino, you would not be able to access places like Triacastela. This is a one road town nestled in a green valley and the foot of a mountain range.  That road is populated with pilgrims and support for travelers. There might be 100 people living here.

F.  Again, people you meet are everything. There are really few vulgar, disagreeable, competitive, or unpleasant  personalities. I spent diner with Robert. A German I never talked to before. He asked for a seat at my table, and from that we spent the evening talking.

He works with troubled youth, and is just a brilliantly interesting person to spend a meal with.

And, that´s how is it on the Camino. All ages, body types, and backgrounds... but very little social competition and a lot of acceptance/compassion towards everyone.

The only group that seems to have a hard time with the ´´Just take people as you find them. It is not a competition for the most interesting person´´... is Americans. I love my country, but it is true. There are exceptions, but we do not do well with the unexpected. It is as if we have lost the ability to evaluate without a marketer/authority telling what to think. We tend to stay with our own.

Facts:

July 29th -  GPS - Arzua to Portomarin

Distance: 33.82 mi

Time: 5:10 / Moving Time: 3:49

Avg Speed: 6.5 mph / Avg Moving Speed: 8.8 mph / Max Speed: 42.3 mph

Elevation Gain: 3,225 ft

Elevation Loss: 3,196 ft

Min Elevation: 950 ft

Max Elevation: 2,322 ft

Weather - Perfect. Overcast to sunny and not too hot.

Climbs - The first 25 miles.

Difficulty - 7. Nothing is flat

Scale:
0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the marin headlands climb.
10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel -  Not good. Could not open the window or sleep.

Comments:

A.  The perfect day. The roads, weather, and land were the best section yet.

B.  I followed the camino after Palas da Rei which was good. Took it into the first valley and that turned into a steep uphill dirt track which took 50 mins. to walk out of. That was bad.

C.  It was super tough. After 25 miles of uphill, I don´t know if I would have made it without the 5 miles of downhill at the end. When you see people heading up, it´s not the fiendish pleasure of knowing they are going up. You feel sorry for them, and yourself, knowing there's more to come.

D.  Portomarin is a town on a lake. There´s a big church on nice plaza with one street. That is pretty much it.  

E.  The people you meet are great. These small towns are filled with friendly pilgrims.

Facts:

July 28th -  GPS - Santiago to Arzua

Distance: 25.83 mi

Time: 4:14:42 / Moving Time: 2:55:18

Avg Pace: 9:52 min/mi  / Avg Speed: 6.1 mph / Avg Moving 8.8 mph / Max: 33.3 mph

Elevation Gain: 2,215 ft

Elevation Loss: 1,778 ft

Min Elevation: 861 ft

Max Elevation: 1,364 ft

Weather - windy and cold.

Climbs - Many small ones. Nothing is flat.

Difficulty - 0.

Scale:
0 = 25 miles around San Francisco with the marin headlands climb.
10 = Next to the last day of a hell week in the military with a few hours of sleep.

Hotel - Hostal Theodora - 38 euros without breakfast. Recommended. Spotlessly Clean and good food on the menu of the day.

Comments:

A.  A short day because I was never feeling it.

B.  I followed the camino for most of the day. It was too tight to get a riding rhythm going. The larger roads where a better answer for this day.

C.  It a long time to figure out how to get out of Santiago, even with the gps.

D.  The local mass held in a small church was nice. They were welcoming to the pilgrims.

E.  A mother and her two daughters from Nebraska were particularly nasty people.