Camino Day 8: Campiello to Pola de Allende

I awoke shivering with all my blankets on the floor. I had dreamed I was in the Big Bang Theory.  I was getting ready to travel to Japan with Sheldon and Leonard, but for some reason the girls had been replaced with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I was worried I couldn't get to the airport on time all my things. Cat dreamed of being a child and a house being moved down a road on a truck. She was worried it was moving to far away from her home.

The day's journey was somewhere between 14-17 km to Pola de Allende (measurements vary, for some reason).

I had developed a bit of a cough, probably from constantly inhaling Cathleen and Sophie's cigarette smoke.

We went over to the Casa Herminina for coffee, and were rewarded with gigantic coffees (mine, a decaf!).  I had learned to ask for both "sin (without) caffeine" and "desacaffeiné" because some waitresses understood one, and some the other.

When Cathleen went outside smoke, I spent more time pondering the "slow morning" issue. I had already noticed that her being so slow in the morning made her "the boss" of our timing. I wondered if it was in response to her feeling like I was setting the pace too quickly for walking. Her trying to gain control/power. But then I thought that she was already like this before we started walking, and her comment about always being called "slow," and that being a trigger for her since childhood, made me think it was not about our trip specifically, even if it were a power play. It was a much older pattern.

I guess for me, if I wasn't ready by the time my dad was ready, he would just leave without me. I wondered what her family dynamic was, but by the time I went out to ask her, Sophie had arrived and I didn't feel right bringing it up.

Sophie wanted to do the Hospitales route today, but the weather was poor, so it wasn't advised. The route is only safe under perfect weather conditions, and that morning the fog was so thick that one could barely see across the street. Benjamin decided to try the route anyway. We wished him safe passage and hoped he would make it OK.

At bar Le Barin in Borres, which had a beautiful sello, we ran into another family who had no idea that the Hospitales route could be dangerous in this weather. The father frowned, we will have to discuss this with the family.

Due to the poor visibility, Cathleen and I stuck pretty close together. Fortunately, after leaving town, we were off the highway.

We interpreted our dreams from last night. We discussed our own "family stories," which ones we had bought into, and about how different perspectives in life bring different meaning to it.

I got around to asking about fast/slow patterns in her family, and she immediately connected it to herding her kids around, pushing them to get ready, to stop dawdling. "Now I'm the one dilly dallying!" She exclaimed. "There's surely a direct link there. I'm so tired of trying to push everyone. There's why I wanted this Camino to not be rushed."

She was getting naturally faster at walking though, and we both felt like our packs were getting lighter. In my case, I had only eaten one sesame bar and some vitamins, whereas I had gathered a number of stones. So maybe we're just getting stronger.

We passed the junction for the Hospitales route. The fog was no lighter.

I finally pulled ahead of Cathleen as the fog lifted. I went through a really great path that ran alongside a wall. In the wall were doors that led to little stone rooms. I figured they were shelters for shepherds or pilgrims.

When the path reached the highway, a couple of pilgrims saw me come onto the highway right after them, but not follow them, as the path was unclear so I  waited for Cathleen. After about 10 mins I started to worry: she couldn't be THAT far behind...

I decided it would be just as fast to run both possible trails, and set off. Both trails came out in the same place. I was gratified to see that the pilgrims had waited for me at the next turnoff. Are soon as they saw me, they started walking again. So considerate!! When I got to where they were, I heard "Jen! Jen!" Cathleen was coming from the other direction!

She had missed the turn and ended up walking through Colinas de Abayo while I waited for her on the Camino! She got reoriented by an old local lady, who pointed here back in the right direction.

Again, I forged ahead, and stopped to wait at Bar San Roque in Porciles. I downed two lemonades and part of a bottled water and larger a new word: itself (to get lost).

Soon, I was joined by a British couple who had taken a wrong turn off the Norte and ended up on the Primitvo by mistake. I suppose After walking 40km in the wrong direction, they didn't have the heart to retrace their route. They had done the Frances last year, and mentioned the deplorable condition of many of the albergues. After Cathleen arrived and ordered her own water, I left them all to go visit the nearby church. It was so foggy that from the church, a mere few metres away, I could barely see the bar!

I zoomed ahead into the forest, pausing to make arrows here and there, when suddenly Cat and the English couple appeared on a path to my right! I must have taken the scenic route! But what confused me was that I had yellow arrows on my route too.

There was a scary little dog just shy of the summit of Lavadoira. I stomped at it and yelled NO! Which mostly worked. Cathleen used her poles to ward him off.

The last bit of the path was very steep, up then down. The sun was beating hot on us by then, and we were sweating a lot.

We saw a path on a mountain range to our left and wondered if it was the Hospitales route. Right then, a pheasant flew from right beside me into the trees above.

Heading into Pola de Allende, there was a beautiful house. I saw arrows for the city albergue, and continued onward into town. Then I got cat-called by three men working up on a roof. still got it.  ;) I passed some lovely smelling cedar and considered picking a sprig.

At the centre of town, I stopped to wait for Cat. She had paused for a water break just as we exited Ferroy, so I didn't expect her to be too far behind.

After quite a while of waiting, I went ahead and located our hotel around the corner, then returned to the bar where I could see Cat when she came by. I was soon joined by the English couple, who had already stopped for one beer elsewhere in town, and were ready for another. ;)

I ordered a pastry, which I thought was banana, but turned out to be custard. It was good. Then, it was like my body realized it was hungry, and I ordered a croissant... then a tortilla... >.<

When I whispered "Shhhhhhhhh!" to the barmaid at ordering a third food item, a man at the bar said I'd "need it tomorrow," and indicated a steep incline.

By then, Cat had arrived and ordered her own tortilla. We sat in the shade at the bar for nearly an hour. A dire wolf from Game of Thrones wandered by. ;)

We checked in to our hotel, and got a lovely sello. Cat tried plugging in her phone, and for the second day had issues. I have her my extra adapter, and said, "Try this  and at least we'll know whether it's the adapter or the phone." It worked great. I told her to take her old adapter and THROW IT ON THE GROUND!!

After settling in to our room (Room 313-- just like my birthday!!), we toured around the turn a bit and visited the churches and the palacio. Well, I should say *I* toured all those, while Cat bought new slip-on shoes and then only visited the last church. She had taken one look the hill up to churches and said no. lol. I was excited that the palacio sported #13!  It was my day!!

I bought a little faux-aquamarine ring to celebrate "my" birthday falling on Cathleen's day. ;)

Arriving back at the hotel, were asked what time supper would be served. The host eyed us and asked, "Where are you from?!" He laughed when we answered Canada. 8pm came his answer. Cat wondered if he would have given a different answer if we had answered a different country.

We ordered a bottle of Rosé wine and the menu de Peregrino for 15€:
- a typical Asturias farmer soup
- Pastel de Borduras, which we think was cauliflower
- Pulled pork cabbage rolls
- Sweet cake with coconut, custard, and chocolate

It was all amazing!!! The waiter explained each dish to us. When the staff found out it was Cathleen's birthday the next day, try bright the with "40" candles and two complimentary digestifs (they tasted licoricey).

When Cat went out for a smoke, I had an entire conversation in Spanish with the waiter!!

I asked if we could take the rest of the bottle of wine to our room. He said, "no problem!" I asked about the bill. He said we could pay tomorrow, after breakfast, which would be at 7am!! I felt like a champ!!

And all that after two glasses of wine and a digestif!  Lolololololol Maybe later I'll find out I actually said nothing or totally gibberish... like Homer Simpson at a fancy party, dreaming he just pulled "the most whimsical jape of the season"...

We checked Cathleen's blisters, and they seemed to be healing well.

It was a really great day all around.