Pilgrims

So today is finally the day! We are starting our Camino! It is also the 1st day we have ever ridden bikes with 30 lbs of luggage strapped to a bike. Can you say nervous? Well we can. We really had no idea what to expect today. We had seen a few videos and read a few blogs but at the end of the day we really had no idea. We got up around 8 went for breakfast and finally our time had come. Time to start our Camino! We took our time making last minute packing decisions and finally put our packs on our bike. Then we headed out of town on the Santiago Camino! We rode through neighborhoods and small towns on mostly paved roads. Awesome! We passed many walkers and shouted Hola, Buenas Dias or Buena Camino and everyone responded the same way. Even the locals would yell out Buen camino! We finally made it! We felt like true Pilgrims on our Camino. This was not going to be bad at all. I mean paved roads beautiful scenery what could go wrong.?!?!? Well after about 3 or 4 miles the trail started to look more like a trail then an actual road. We crossed gravel, small streams, and just plain mud. Still it was beautiful! But then it started to get hilly and more gravely. Next thing I know we were walking and a few of the walkers that we had passed were passing us. Some how Buen Camino does not sound as sweet when spoken by piligrims that we had passed a bit earlier! We kept going and literally walked up several hills that made us wonder if we had any idea what we were doing. The country was beautiful but we did not feel we were making much headway. Just when you doubt yourself the camino has a way of rewarding you. It may be a bit of path that is downhill or maybe a bit of paved road. After about 4 hours of doubting ourselves we came to the town of Villafranca del Bierzo! This town was awesome in every way. We loved the cool vibe and we loved being on paved roads. We stopped for lunch and split a pizza and salad. I was not even hungry when we stopped but when I took the first bite all of my hunger came back. It was delicious. After relaxing for over an hour we decided to head back out. We wanted to try to get close to the base of our big nemesis O'Cebreiro. This part of the Camino was strangely easy, yet a little on the boring side. Instead of going through fields of grapes we were following a highway. We plugged along following the Camino signs and finally decided we had had enough. We started looking for a place to sleep. After checking out a few possibilities we came across a cool looking place called El Rincon del Apsostol. I went in while my Dad watched the bikes. The lady was super nice and spoke no english but was very good at being understood. I figured out that it would be $20 a night for each of us and a breakfast buffet was included. After further discussion I could add $12 more dollars per person and get a full meal with wine. I worked out fish for my Dad and chicken for me. I went outside and watched the bikes and My dad checked the room. After thumbs up all around we had a room! The proprietor was very helpful and helped us lock our bikes in their own room for the night. My Dad found a guest that spoke english and was in heaven swapping stories with him. I unloaded our bikes and took a shower! What can a say. Heaven!!! After that my Dad got cleaned up and it was time for dinner. We had dinner with two ladies from Germany. Neither one of us spoke each others language so we made do with google translate and just did the best we could. They were walking the Camino and seemed to be really enjoying themselves. After dinner I heard a commotion outside and looked out the window to see a heard of cows going by. Ha Ha ! I love it! After dinner we made a few calls and went to bed. My Dad wanted me to say that I was having trouble staying up with him today and he was right! On one hill he let me push up both bikes and he took his cane and went on ahead! Tomorrow the mountain is calling and I think it is calling our name! We shall see! Buen Camino!