Day 28 - Morgade to Gonzar

    A recovery day, of sorts.  only 18.3km (10 miles).  392m up, 496m down.

    Today's gamut was along farmland, across a river, through forest, and along a highway.  One highlight was passing the 100km sign - a clear signal that the end is approaching.

    Both of us felt pretty good today, but were lagging near the end.  It seems that, no matter the distance for the day, when your body knows it has exactly 5km left, it rebels a bit.
    Spirits are good.  But it does feel different here.  Post Sarria, there is a more commercial aspect.  And knowing that you are nearing the end has a bittersweet feel.

    We are still mostly between the Sarria waves, but we are seeing more college kids with bright white shoes, clean backpacks, and perfect hair. We expect to remain between the bulk of folks by starting/stopping outside of the 'standard' spots, but that will end in a couple days.  One disadvantage is that the stores/restaurants seem to be basing their hours on when the bulk of the waves pass through - so when we come through, we are walking through ghost towns, and there are no restaurants and no supermarkets and no bars.

    One of our friends who is a day ahead, and embedded in the mix, wrote to Jana that a bunch of the Sarria starters are falling prey to issues that we all had near the start (soreness, overestimation on how much one can carry, blisters).
    Unfortunately, we are also hearing some stories from within our 'cohort', of folks who have gone 28-ish days, that are now having serious issues at the very end (infected blisters, muscle injuries that are not clearing up, etc).  It is sobering.

    At our current pace, we should reach Santigo in 4 more days - which effectively includes an 'extra' day to shorten the distance each day.  About 20km per day until the end.  
    That will also put us on the same schedule as some of our friends (who we passed when we spent 3 days on bikes). 
    We will also likely be spending an extra day in Santiago to arrange a bus/train to Madrid(?) and to figure out next steps.  Our schedule is that we have to be in Rotterdam on 6/26 - but we have spent zero time thinking about what we will do during this gap - we have just been focusing on what needs to happen in the next 24-48 hours.

    The birds today were good.  But they mostly maintained distance.  Lighting was poor in the first part of the day as it threatened to rain, but never really did.  And we were among some very old/tall trees, some farther from the path, so camera shots were not as good today.  32 species.  None new.

    Week 4 stats:
        Completed 668.3km (84km remaining): 85% complete.
        103 new-to-us bird species identified in Spain (+14 over last week)

    Now for some photos!

    First look outside this morning.  We had a bit of a later start, 6:50AM.  The trough to the right is a stone laundry washing facility, where the women in the village would gather to do their laundry as a kind of social event, up until the 1900s.

    Jana out in front on the downhill stretch.  The first segment was on flagstone paths along a small stream, and through farmland.

    Out in the distance, through the fog and on the next series of hills were some turbine windmills.  I never realized that they had flashing lights at the center, that would pulse every few seconds.  Not sure if that is for pilots or for birds.

    Every descent means another climb.  Much of the Camino is shaded by old trees that were planted next to the path generations ago.

    A lot of cows lazing in the grass in the early morning.

    A European Robin, silhouetted in the early morning light:

    This was typical this morning.  We approach a town.  Find a cafe.  See Sign #1, go around to the door, and see Sign #2.  Those Abierto signs never, ever, ever come down.

    At the next town, another cafe, another sign.  Door locked.  Not Abierto.

    The day kept threatening to rain, but never did.  Some wildflowers and grassy plains, and a hill partially obscured by a misty rain that never reached us.

    Obligatory 100km photos:

    A Serin at about 8AM.  With the overcast, lighting remains a challenge:

    Here was a good find - with some good lighting.  A Red-Backed Shrike:

    A European Stonechat with a 180 degree swivel head.

    Some of those older trees planted along the Camino to provide shade:

    Gray Wagtail.  Bad light:

    The Paseo de Tortuga (also Abierto, but Cerrado), had a witch standing guard (to middle of the building).  We couldn't figure out why...

    More meadows and hills:

    And now a view into the steep descent into Portomarín:

    Daring to be different, this cow chooses to not be grass-fed:

    A Meadow Brown Butterfly.  There were few butterflies today, but the weather was generally good for photos.  It was the right temperature for them to flit, and land.

    More walking along farmland.

    Not as many wildflowers here.  but there are patches.  Some Lady's Glove:

    And again, some Spotted Dead-Nettle, which look like tiny orchids.  And a reminder on how tiny these flowers are:

    Today was a day for Black Kites.  We saw a dozen of them at various points today:

    And another Black Kite seen (picture taken with zoom) through the window where we FINALLY found some food (the Abierto chalkboard was being put into the street as we were walking up).  Looks like the Kite was also looking for breakfast in the field below, and didn't want to do the Kite hovering-in-place thing.  Instead, it sidled up and down the wire, would drop to the field, and then back up to the wire - 4th drop to the field appeared to be successful (it did not fly back up to the wire).

    VIDEO:  Over a field we were walking by, a Kite in the distance did do the Kite hovering-in-place thing. 

    Not many bees/insects/butterflies today.  But we did see this wasp.  I believe this is a German Yellowjacket.

    More farmland descent:

    And patches of wildflowers:

    A lot of the stone walls that line the Camino are very, very old:

    This one had an ancient staircase:

    Another Kite:

    And a contortionist European Greenfinch hiding in the scrub:

    And a European Robin tepidly approaching the end of the diving board:

    The Camino is not always a single-path.  Sometimes it branches and rejoins.  Today, we took an alternate path rather than walking along the street.  That kept us away from the crowds and blessed us with a forest walk.

    At the top of the climb through the forest, we again came out on grassy farmland plains.  With trees along the Camino path for shade.

    A look into the distance between two of the trees:

    And then a walk along a semi-busy road, that sometimes diverged into the woods:

    A European Goldfinch:

    One more pair of looks at the rolling plains:

    The path is clearly getting busier (but nothing like what we expect to see in coming days):

    Last milepost of the day (in case you cannot read it: 85.466km)

    My lunch, and how it arrived.  It looks displeased.  I suppose I was, too.  I was given a giant menu with something like 24 options, but when I tried to order, was kindly told "No.  You may pick #1, #2, #3, #4 or #6."  This was a #2.

    More tomorrow!