Took the train this
morning from Santiago de Compostela this morning to Ourense, ie,
from where we will end our walk, to where we start. A 45 minute ride.
The train ride was, roughly, along the route we'll be walking for the
next several days.
The part of Spain we're
in, Galicia, is beautiful. Rolling, wooded land with farms and small
villages, and green as the dominant color in the countryside.. This
is very different from what we saw around Madrid, where the browns
that you might associate with the central and southern parts of the
country.
Taking pictures through
the window of a moving train doesn't necessarily give you the b
est
shots, but there are two things in this photo that are important.
First, the rainbow.
Beautiful, and welcoming us to our walk. But the problem with a
rainbow is that, yes, it's raining ahead. The last couple of days
have had showers early and late in the evening, with scattered clouds
and sun for the afternoon. Temperatures have been on the cool side.
The forecast is for pretty much the same the rest of the week. What
that means for us pilgrims, is that the temperatures will be great,
but we're going to have to deal with some rain. It's not like we
haven't been through that in Ireland.
The other thing you can
see in the picture is the green, rolling countryside. Green is good,
and rolling is scenic. But rolling means up and down, and that's
important to simple pilgrims like us, who have to walk the ups and
downs.
We'll start tomorrow out
of Ourense, which is in a valley surrounded by these green hills. The
elevation profile of tomorrow's walk starts off flat, then after a
couple of miles takes a sharp spike up. It looks like around 1500
feet of elevation gain over a pretty short distance. One guide book
says the grade reaches 19 percent for a ways. A 19 percent grade is
work. Marty and I are already calling it Gammy Hill, after an
earlier adventurer.
But the better news is
that after getting to the top of the grade, it's pretty level for the
rest of tomorrow's walk. Supposedly.
Gammy hill..I like it.. good luck and what are your trail names. How many miles tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteJust remember to drink a lot. Have fun on the hills.
ReplyDeleteThey need pilgrim names.
ReplyDeleteHowdy Pilgrim!
ReplyDelete