The Day of the Sherpa!

After getting maybe three hours of sleep we went down to the breakfast buffet! It was awesome in just about every way. Plenty of choices and all of them quality food. Our plan was to have a good breakfast and steal a few slices of bread to make peanut butter sandwiches for lunch that day. By the way Dad asked me to carry all 8 slices of bread up since I went back to the room before he did. When he came up he had stolen four more because he forgot that he had asked me to carry the first four up. We really enjoyed the food and it was also great because you could pour as much coffee as you wanted!  Of course Dad's pilgrim radar is on and he meets everyone that is walking on the Way. He was really impressed by a pilgrim named Julie. She had walked the Way several times and was doing it this time after having open heart surgery. She said she had slowed a bit but was still totally drawn to the Camino. She had walked with her husband in the past but his knees had gone bad so this time she was walking with a friend. Hopefully Dad can remember her name ha ha. Julie hmmm should be familiar! After breakfast we packed up our bikes and went on our way! For some reason finding our way out of town can be a little difficult. Today was no different. After going down a few dead ends we were on our way! Our goal for the day was Portomarin but first we would have to climb a mountain to get there. These hills were no joke. After several days of riding our energy levels were down. Every hill felt twice as steep and twice as long. Hills are what really take it out of my Dad so we decided we would have a new strategy today. More walking and less climbing on the bike. So every time we started a serious climb we got off our bikes and walked. This was a great plan but after awhile pushing the bike uphill was wearing on Dad! He would not say anything but it showed. So I finally convinced him to let me push both bikes up and let him walk.. So our new routine was any major hill consisted of me taking both bikes handing Dad his cane. I would push the bikes up the hill and wait for him to follow. I am not sure what the cars thought that sped by. They saw one rider pushing two bikes with no one else around, Then they came across an old man wearing tights and a bicycle helmet. Ha ha. Remember this is "Our Way" and we will do it however we please. Finally we made it to Portomarin! It was a very cool town that had a very cool vibe. We decided to eat lunch there and then head on. We parked our bikes in the church courtyard and proceeded to eat our peanut-butter sandwiches. As usual we talked to several people on the Camino and one man  from the USA was very impressed with us and asked to take our pictures and was going to send it to his son to inspire him to ride the Camino with him. Just as we were about to leave the couple from Virginia came up and we shared some more stories and insight on the Camino. Finally it was time to leave.  As we haeded out we came acoross a foantain. My Dad placed a shell in the fountain in honor of his friend Steve Lucas. This shell came from Steve and Beth's beach house. I placed a good luck penny that my Mom had given me in the fountain as well. We had wanted to put in some extra kilometers to insure that we would make Santiago in the allotted time. After we left Portomarin things started to get crazy steep which meant a lot of walking to us. The routine would be that we would hit a big hill and I would take the bikes to the top. Because the bikes were fully loaded I could not balance them while walking at my Dad's pace so near the end I would run the bikes to the top of the hill and then Grab Dads water bottle and head back down give him water and walk up with him and repeat when necessary. I finally figured out that my role was that of a Sherpa on this trip! Do not get me wrong I am not complaining I have always been impressed with Sherpas. They do all the hard work while the climber gets all the credit! It just dawned on me that I was Dads Sherpa. I have been all along and did not even know it. I have been carrying bags, carrying bikes and making sure we are on time at every corner. If you have ever wondered how hard it is to get a 78 year old across the mountains of Spain on a bike just keep reading it will get clearer every day. Ha Ha! Actually it is a true honor and I would not miss it for anything but it does have its challenges. Anyway this Sherpa got Dad all the way to a town called Hospital! How appropriate. We wanted a private room and the town was so small that we only had one choice. I decided to leave Dad at the top of the hill and go check it out. I went in and asked for a private room. They had one. I asked for a look just to make sure it was up to my Dads standards ha ha! (This is what Sherpas do by the way.) The room had two beds and a bathroom right down the hall. Shut up and take my money! We will take the room. I rode up and got Dad who was now hanging out with two Italian road bikers and told him we had a room. We went down and checked in. This place was simple and very cool. It had a bar and restaurant right above our room. We got cleaned up jumped on wifi had a few beers and dinner and hit the sack around 10. Great day! Looking like we are on time to finish in Santiago on Thursday! Tomorrow should be easier....hoping so anyway. Buen Camino!

Dads quote of the day! "If I had known it worked ike this I would have gotten me a Sherpa along time ago!"