The weather forecast for today was 100% chance of rain. It was 200% correct. An all day walk in the cold rain is still better than a half day of work in a hot tire factory.
We left the Albergue by 7:45 and we were almost the last ones out. The immediate goal was to get warm and stop for lunch in Los Arcos which was 7.5 miles down the road. It started out a perfect walking day with cool temps and cloudy skies on a gravel track with a gradual decline. We could see rain ahead and behind us but it looked like we might get lucky and walk between the two rain storms. We almost made it.
About 1.5 miles before Los Arcos, the winds shifted direction and the rain caught up to us. We had left George sitting on the side of the path about 1/2 mile before the rains started with the intention of meeting up at the first restaurant in town. Pam was doing great–she even was smiling walking in the rain until the first bolt of lightening. She turned around and ran at me and grabbed my arm so hard she left bruises where her fingers dug in. I want to know what happened to her as a child to be so afraid of storms. She wanted to lie down in the ditch until the storm passed. There was a 35 second delay before the thunder made it to us so I told her I thought we could avoid the ditches for a bit.
By the time we got to the edge of town the sky was getting brighter and the rain was letting up a bit. There was a vending area right off the trail where we could get out of the rain and wait for George to catch up. He wasn’t even 5 minutes behind. When he showed up, I expected him to be in a bad mood from the rain but he was all cheerful and ready to push on to find a restaurant. We were in a cafe 10 minutes later ordering coffees. We had averaged over 2.5 miles an hour all morning. Me thinks George has been bird-dogging it up to now.
We ordered pizzas with our coffee and sat down outside. We’re in Spain, not Italy. The pizzas were OK but they refueled us. We still had almost 5 miles still to go to make it to Torres del Rio where we were planning to meet up with Shaun and Alena. As far as I know, Rob and Michele are up in Logrono tonight almost 12 miles ahead of us. Unless they take a day off, we’re not going to be seeing them for a while.
I was slow getting my pack on because I don’t like to pick it up until Pam gets ready since she can be painfully slow at times (especially if I try to make her go fast–woman thing). We could see George up ahead just as it started raining again. I stopped to take a picture. When I looked back up at George he was about 1/2 mile ahead and passing people like a madman. We spent the next hour and half trying to catch up to him. He was the energizer bunny on crack–there was no stopping him or even catching him. Just before we entered Sansol, I finally caught up. Road walking is still his Achilles Heel (the extra water weight in the boots helped, too).
We stopped in the first place we could grab a coffee. We ran into Suzy who we have been leap-frogging the last couple of days. She’d been sitting there for a few hours to get out of the rain. She’d even stripped down and ran all of her clothes through a dryer (we hope she still had a dry coat to wear while the clothes were drying). She was thinking of taking a taxi to her next Albergue.
Long distance hiking will definitely change your relationship with rain. I’m to the point where as long as I can keep the rain off my glasses, I’m fine with it. I don’t know if George is motivated by rain or if it was the pizza for lunch, but he was unstoppable today. From now on, I’m following him with a garden hose and getting him pizza every day until the end of the trail.
We stopped in the first Albergue we came to in town and got a bed and a peregrino dinner reservation for 7. Pilgrim dinners are 3 courses and wine all for just 10-12 Euros. We’re not starving on the trail.
Pam and I headed up to do some internet crap while George showered. Shaun had sent me an email and he’s already in town. We’ll catch up with him at dinner or in the morning.
Lights on motion sensors with timers are very popular here in Spain. As you walk through a hallway, the lights turn on as you move along. This is a good way to save energy in most cases–but not in a shower room. I went to take a shower and just as I would step in to punch the water valve, the lights would go out. I’d head out to wave my arms to turn the light back on in time for the water to shut off. The timers have successfully turned showers into a partner required experience; not bad for Pam and I, but poor George…