Day 16 (11 April) — Almost A Rest Day — 13 Miles

The sunrise was colored with sublime pastels. When walking alone, I have been listening to Anne Hillerman books about Navajo policemen. One character, Bernadette Manuelito runs daily before sunrise. She has said that she walks in beauty. I agree that the Camino is a walk in beauty.

I met Keith and John — late for them (8:30), just right for me. We literally blew out of town with wind gusts of 35 mph at our backs. Except for a few uphills, most of the walk was downhill — a respite from the steep climbs and declines of the past three days. We were leaving the Cantabrian Mountain.

A few miles down the road we made a brief detour to photograph the large pilgrim statue at Alto San Roque. It seems every pilgrim makes this stop.

We walked the last steep uphill hill into Alto do Polo — clearly the high point of this stage. As the photo below shows, the fans were unimpressed.

The remaining half of the walk was significantly downhill. As I have said before, every mile of the Camino is different. I have never shared the road with cows and a bull.

After descending for another hour, all signs indicated that I was in Triacastela.

I found my hotel which has private rooms as well as rooms set up as an albergue. Here is another chance for you to see the difference between a private room and the dorm like albergue. The bunk beds in this albergue were wood veneer. The example from Day 5 when John TOFTT was metal frames. Regardless, you “sleep” with groups of people with their sounds and quirks. What’s your choice?

I am into the last four days of this Camino. The remaining stages look to be less arduous and shorter than the previous ones. Nevertheless, they will be filled with new experiences as I walk in beauty.