I’m not sleeping well. I haven’t for quite a while now,. Stress and hot flushed both impact negatively and I’ve always found falling asleep difficult. I am jealous of Husbando who seems to put his head on the pillow and be asleep almost instantly. The dorm rooms in the albergues for the last two nights have made slumber even more elusive. Cram as many bunk beds into a small room as you can, make sure the windows don’t open and don’t even think about providing a fan! Then there is the snoring and farting! I’m not exactly sure selling this am I? On the other hand it is cheap. €16 a night for a bunk. Yes the showers can be a little basic, but with the exception of one Albergue (in Portomarin when I was on the Frances) they have all been clean. That said I was thrilled to check into tonight’s Albergue, Cielito London in Salas to find a sparlklingly modern and fresh hostel with bunk beds so far apart I can’t reach the next one, the dorm window wide open and, wonder of wonders, a fan! Gustavo, the host was wonderfully welcoming, speaking excellent English having grow up in Mexico close to the US border. Fingers crossed for a better night’s sleep tonight!
I spent today as a human washing line. It seems that my tried and tested (on the Frances) method of hand washing the clothes I walked in while wearing my alternate set will not work in this humidity. It is hot and wet and nothing dries quickly! Luckily my bra and knickers were dry by the time I woke up this morning as no one needs to see those flapping around as they walk up yet another hill, but every else was, and there is no other word for it, moist. It was still a bit soggy when I finished walking, so I’ve handed everything to Gustavo to wash and dry for me. If it all comes back shrunken so that only Barbie could wear it then I may have a problem, but we’ll cross that bridge later.
This morning started with a steady climb out of Grado, 350m of elevation in the first 5km. I was hoping that I’d be rewarded with a beautiful sunrise but there was just mist! There was a fair amount of road walking, but the bits off road more than made up for it! Proper ‘one missed step and it is a quick trip to hospital to get an ankle fixed’ territory, the downhills were steep and treacherous and, horrors, the coffee shop I’d been aim for to stop for breakfast was closed. This better not become a regular occurrence.
I’d chatted early in the morning with two young (early 20s) Italian girls, but had pulled ahead on the uphills. I was surprised when they raced down a hill much later to walk with me because they were worried about a ‘creepy old guy’ who seemed to be following them. It struck me that our perception of danger changes as we get older. I’d passed this ‘old guy’ (he was 30 at most) earlier and not thought much about it. He appeared to have been rough sleeping in a stone hut just off the trail. To these girls he was scary. I was far more worried about breaking an ankle!
Today’s destination was decided because there was no bookablw accommodation in the town 3km further. Tomorrow’s destination was either going to be 20km or 32km away, there are no Albergue (not much of anything actually) between the two. Given that it is set to be scorchio tomorrow I’ve gone for the 20km option. I even ‘phoned the albergue and conducted most of the conversation in Spanish - until I had to give my telephone number!
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