When I wanted to get up at around 7 to get a fresh weather forecast it just started raining again. So I snoozed and was preparing for a rest day with food, coffee and beer. I must admit I was a bit hoping to get some rest today. So when I went inside at 8 finally the guy from the Refugio came towards me with a big smile: “No thunderstorm and sun again from 14 o’clock!”. Shit, I guess there was no exception anymore to start hiking now…
Packed up and left. But it felt like yesterday – “same, same but different”:
Besides this there is not much to tell about the hike. The classical thing – 1.200m up a hill, a bit of traversing, up and down and at the end 1.200m down again plus about 30km further east. I am almost half way already…
The title of today was “on, off”. The weather changed every five minutes between no wind and ok, heavy rain from either the top, front, back, side, bottom or all at the same time, mist with or without wind and everything in between. So most of the day I was either to hot in rain gear or to cold and wet without. Whenever I stopped to change I could be sure that five minutes later I would need to change again. These are the days… The only thing you can do is to put your head down and keep moving. Or to phrase it with my favorite quote from the Huber brothers (famous Austrian climbers) when they were asked by a reporter what they would do when the weather gets bad – (thick Austrian accent) “If de wähder gäts bäht we djust dörn ob se bauer!” (Translated: “If the weather gets bad we just turn up the power!”). 🤣💪
I didn’t get much views from the surroundings today but sometimes the clouds cleared for a moment. A few impressions:
Coming down in the valley I ran into a shepherd. Since I had just crossed back into Spain again and with that was able to communicate with the locals again we of course talked a bit the stuff you talk about when you meet. He asked me if I had seen his cows and I told him how many where hanging/laying out where and he was happy he didn’t have to look for them everywhere. Mountain-Business-Talk 🤣
And then I came across this fellow. I hope you will become a bad-ass-butterfly looking like this now 😳
5.5km of road walking 🤮
To get to hikers heaven – el supermercado 😍😍😍. Never let a hungry hiker into a supermarket to make his resupply. Wanted food for 4 days, now probably carrying 7… 🙈
At least I won’t lose more weight the next days. And then I had dinner right in front of the supermarket. You get all of these funny looks – from people who look at you and know what’s going on since they have hiked themselves before over people who feel sorry for you eating in a parking lot to the ones who look at you being disgusted by the entire scenery – your look, the way you shuffle food into you and where. I love it!! What did I have? A can of sweet corn, a big bag of olives, a box of raspberries, an Aquarius and a Coke and a full loaf of bread with 200g Salami and 200g of goat cheese.
