Rain, rain, go away, come again another day (when we’re not walking 25k through high grasses…

After an amazing day of walking yesterday - today sucked! And so began the entry in my journal for Day 11. The variation was so lovely yesterday, winding through beautiful woods along babbling streams in the sunshine. My heart soared. My mood ecstatic. But today. Oh boy. Today? Today was miserable.

The walk started well enough. It was a bit drizzly, but oh well. We were still walking along the beautiful Rio Narla, but we soon found ourselves in weeds that were knee deep. Wet weeds that soaked our shoes and socks. We traversed through acres of farmland and more wooded paths dense with mud. Gary and I were soaked through and through, our feet and moods heavy with the day’s sogginess. I don’t know about Gary, but I could barely keep my frustration in check. I slammed my poles into the ground as the weeds whipped around my legs. Mud oozed around us. A grey mood set in. At some point we got turned around. Some joker thought it would be funny to add an arrow to the already limited signage on the variant and we ended up walking in a big circle, through the same dense wet weeds we’d already walked through.

However, all “good” things must eventually come to an end as they say and we made it, finally, out of our environmental hell to the town of Mesón where we sat down for a warm bocadillo (yum) and a café con leche. Praise the lord…

Still wet but satiated, we continued on for another hour to the town of Sobrado dos Monxes. We checked into a nice hostal where the hospitalera offered to wash our clothes while we went off to see the incredible monastery across the street. It’s amazing what a shower and dry clothes can do for one’s mood. The monastery was glorious, restored to its original splendor by the Cistercian monks who live there and manage the lovely albergue inside the walls.

Dinner that night was simple. A couple of fried eggs and french fries (there’s always french fries on the Camino). A couple of cervezas con limón for me and Kaz Limón for Gary.

Tomorrow would be better. It had to be.