Viduedo

As planned a shorter distance today, only 17km. But that involved a couple of climbs as well, first the remaining 130m on the Castille side of the mountain, then down a bit, then up again to the Alto de Poio at 1335m (just a few metres short of the height of Ben Nevis). 

 In fact the three of us then walking together chose an alternative route immediately after the top, which avoided the road and took us about 45m higher, so we ended up higher than Ben Nevis.

Yesterday afternoon after the early arrival at La Laguna I had time to relax, get washing done, and see several people I'd seen before passing through, including Francesco whom I'd met way back in León and had thought was well ahead by now. Patrick (from Australia), whom I met in Astorga and was also staying at La Laguna last night. New faces were Steve, originally from London but now living in Portugal, and Stephen (confusingly) from Macau, who studied for 4 years in London. Also passing by were horses - it seems you can go by (hired) horse from Las Herrerías to O Cebreiro. If I'd known that yesterday I might have tried it!

I also spent time yesterday afternoon trying to sort out a plan to get to Palas de Rei or thereabouts for when Ben joins me on the evening of the 27th. It's surprisingly tricky to get reasonably even mileage days to places that have bookable accomodation.

This morning was wet. We woke up to rain, and despite waiting for a fairly leisurely breakfast it was still wet. So Steve, Patrick and I donned anoraks and backpack rain covers - or in Steve's case a poncho which covered both - and walked on in the rain. Sometimes it stopped for a bit, but it was a continuing feature of the walk today. Much of it actually felt like a pretty typical rainy Peak District walk! 

There were occasional breaks in the rain, and occasional views.

Then we reached Viduedo - or O Biduedo; we're now into Galician language territory and dual naming appears on signs as it did in the Basque country. And this is where I stop for today. The other two went on to Triacastela, but I'll see Patrick again tomorrow as we're both staying at the Monastery of Samos.

And the three of us started naming places after animals. at first because one of us (I don't know which) forgot the place name Triacastela and called it Triceratops.  Then Steve suggested Rhinoceros for Roncesvalles, and we got Zebra for Zubiri, Rabbit for Rabanal, Lion for León, A Stork for Astorga, and Beluga for Burgos...   Slightly silly but fun on a rainy walk.  Any other offers? It's still raining!