melaniehyersDay 6 Tineo and the Albergue La Plaza to Campiello
What was hard to today was the heat! And of course more up-up-ups with gentle downs.
We detoured from the path to have our picnic lunch at the Monasterio Santa María real, founded in 780!!
It’s in ruins, except the main nave. Through a small peep hole in the door we could see the church and the giant Christ on the wall…it was a fun peep show!
We ate a delicious picnic of tomatoes, cucumber, left over cheese in rosemary oil from our dinner at Casa Sueño in Salas, tuna and sliced apples…
We were set to take a nap when clouds rolled in, the hot day changed to cool and the sky hung heavy and ominous!
Maybe the weather change had something to do with the hauntings that are rumored to occur there. It was, in all honesty, a bit spooky exploring around the ruins, let’s say I was happy NOT to stay the night there.
Apparently, other pilgrims have pitched a tent in the ruins and later told of a sleepless night filled with strange noises and thumps and bumps !
So, we packed up our feast and hit the road. Still 5km to go until Campiello.
A few feet from the door of our Albergue in Campiello, Casa Ricardo, cayeron 4 gotas, but as we entered the bar, those 4 drops turned into a downpour!
We treated ourselves to a nonalcoholic beer, 0,0 tostada, and watched nature spill and pound about with thunderous claps! A proper humid, summer storm!
And it’s still going on well into the night.
I hope tomorrow we have a clear day for our ascent into Los Hospitales… The views are supposed to be some of the most spectacular of any of the Caminos. It’s also one of the hardest etapas— long in km, and more up-up-up!
The Hospitales are the ruins of the original sanctuaries for pilgrims on their way to Santiago… We’re talking in the time of Alfonso II, the early middle ages, around the year 830!
I am enjoying getting to know different people from all over. The Camino, and traveling in general, makes the world feel more connected. I shared a bottle of wine with Santa, a woman from Latvia. Laughter, connection, and a dinner of olives, cheese and apple slices… I hope I don’t regret the bottle in the morning!!
She’s my age, way more of a mountaineer than I , she’s doing this route “in training” after knee surgery, for her future trip to the Himalayas!! I need to become more adventurous!
I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Off to bed early so we can actually start walking before 10 or 10:30am!
My bunk bed calls. The clapping of thunder lulls me to sleep.
