Saturday June 1, Villafranca de Bierzo to O'Cebreiro 20 miles

Song of the day:  River Deep, Mountain High by Tina Turner

Book of the day: A Tale of Two Cities- "...it was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

From the start if this trip, yesterday's segment was one that I most feared and looked forward to.   The total climb of almost 2000 feet was the most of any single day on the trip.  But interestingly, the climb was all done in the last 4 miles, very steep and on a relatively narrow, rocky, uneven  trail.  I am proud to say we made it, in good shape and great spirits!

We left the hotel about 7:30, as we wanted to get an early start on the hike.  Let me add, that many people arise much earlier than this, leaving at 6 am.  In spite of the fact that people want to start hiking early in the morning, the Spanish hotels and bars simply refuse to serve breakfast before 8:00.  The Spanish are very proud of their culture and traditions, and we have had the fortune of visiting several terrific festivals along the route.  However, there are some traditions to me that are sort of dumb, and the eating and shopping traditions are two of them.  Most shops continue to close from 2-4 in the afternoon for siesta.  And for eating, no breakfast before 8 or 8:30 and for the nicer restaurants, no dinner before 8:30 or 9.  This provides a real challenge out here in the trail, because you like to get started early, and of course, would like to get to bed before 11:30.  In any case, we received a very pleasant surprise from our hotel yesterday.  The night before, they asked us what time we were leaving in the morning.  Since we were leaving before they opened for breakfast, around midnight they delivered a breakfast tray to our room with a thermos of coffee, orange juice, biscuits, etc.!  This is definitely a first (and I suspect, a last).

The first 16 miles or of yesterday's hike was a very relaxing walk along a river.  The day was beautiful, around 60 degrees and sunny.  People were out working their gardens, and we saw a lot cows on the walk.  One challenge on this portion of the walk was dodging the cow shit along the path!  

We are definitely much stronger and in better shape than we were 4 weeks ago.  During that first few weeks, we were being passed by lots of people on the hike, including old ladies on crutches, one legged men, and a host of carnival acts.  Today, we are the ones doing the passing and can keep up with the best of them.

Did any of you see the article in the New York Times comparing the benefits of walking vs running?  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/is-it-better-to-walk-or-run/

The gist of this article is that you loose more weight running than walking.  The surprise though is the why?  Part of the answer is that people who walk, tend to eat a lot more after a hike than people who run.  Based on our own behavior on this trip, I can understand this!  We tend to constantly eat on hiking days.  In addition to the great breakfast in the morning, we stopped for a plate of macaroni and sausage around 11, then for a plate of bacon and eggs around 2, then we had appetizers in a bar around 5 and finally, dinner around 8!  

After about 16 miles, the trail,started to rise slightly, then very steeply.  By this time, the temperature had reached the mid 60's.   Fortunately, much of this part of the hike was in the shade, along a rocky path.   Whereas we covered the first 15 miles in about 5 hours, the last 5 miles took almost 3 hours (with a few rest stops).  We were joined by a large group from the USA that we have encountered from time to time this past several weeks.

Finally, we arrived in the charming town of O'Cebreiro ("OC") around 3:30.  The look here is very Irish like.  I almost expected leprechauns to jump out of the bushes!   OC is the first town in the Provence of Galicia, alicia is the northwest corner of Spain, and unlike the rest of Spain.  They have their own special Saturday June 1, Villafranca de Bierzo to O'Cebreiro 20 miles