Day 8 – Camino
Day 8 was a hard one. It was my hardest day since Day 1. That said I made it to Santiago de Compostela :)
The first 1.5 hours of the ride were on state road and asphalt which I don’t love. And, since it was Monday trucks were going by fast. And, then it started raining :). My character was def improved that morning.
Why so hard?
Food. I always forget that things will be closed on Sunday and I underestimated my food needs. I ended up hitting a pretty hard wall on energy as I didn’t get enough to eat the night before and the day of. I also found out the bar had Havana Club and I had two of those with a coke which was quite nice :). I haven’t had rum in a year I think… and props to Laura for introducing me to that rum in Peru many years ago.
Maps, Komoot, and altitude. Komoot routed me up a HUGE mountain that was super steep… I get to the top and it looks suspect as a route… I try it and I hit this, which Komoot swears is a road I can go through.
Yes, that is a 9-foot high fence that is locked with barb wire. No way to climb this. So I had to go down to the bottom, around a bit more, and then climb back to the top and past this barrier to the route (it was pretty).
Then I was at the almost top of the next mountain and it looked like it had a cool Church on top. So I said “screw it” and started going up that because the day was already hard. And, once you start that you can’t turn around.
It turns out I was very far from the top and had a long way to go… I get there, eat a carrot and apple, and just sit as every article of clothing is just drenched in sweat. Then, I walk another 100+ steps to the top, it was a beautiful view, but the little pilgrimage site is full of tends of thousands of bugs mating in a huge bug dance/column so then I ran away. Oh and also it is the tallest point in Galacia…
Stats…
56km in 3 hours and 42 minutes of moving time. 1,014m of elevation gain which is my 2nd highest. My total time was a little over 5 hours, I had to stop quite a few times to take a break.
Pictures…
Notes
- Komoot is my mapping app and I really wish they would offer choices. Like, bike 10km more but you are on Gravel roads for 75% of the time. As well as altitude choices to avoid gradients of 12% or more as much as possible.
- Next tour I want to mount two water bottle holders on the front instead of bags, and stick with 2 bags on the back. I like that better and don’t need all these bags. I also need a super light throw bag.
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