Tineo September 18

Here is one of the effects of the economic slowdown in Spain- A half finished freeway, with all work on it stopped.

The lattter half of our walk today was in the rain.

Tineo is not a flat city



The first two hours of walking today was a continuous upgrade of 500 km in 8 km of walking. Not all of it horribly steep but all of it up. And there was a cold wind blowing near the tops of the mountains. I guess there should have been a wind as all the eolicos (wind generator turbines) on the ridges were spinning. Our stop at a bar/café in La Espina was a welcome break for our morning pick-me-ups of café con leche and tortilla.

We were just back on the trail when a light drizzle started, so we stopped to put on our pack covers. Twenty minutes later, the rain increased to a steady shower, so another stop to take off the pack cover and cover up completely with the rain parka. It rained off and on for the rest of the walk and the parka never cane off again.

We also got our wish for country paths, which we were on for 95% of the walk. Only problem is that this is dairy country and all those country paths are also used to move the cattle. The wet ground and not much gravel made for muddy walking and our clothes were a mess when we arrived at the albergue around 2 pm.  After a shower and clothes washing, we are feeling better, but the next problem will be drying those clothes in the still cool and damp conditions. It is just under 60 degrees right now.

We are not complaining. We knew that the northern and mountainous camino routes would be cooler and wetter. And so they are! We had an afternoon menu del dia at the hotel restaurant. It is now 4 pm and most people here are reading or relaxing, many including Greg are taking naps.