Still smarting from yesterday's misadventure, the girls are now picaditas de la araña (stung by the spider) and wanted to know exactly where we were going and promptly dove into their cell phones to make sure I was not taking them somewhere else. No problem, the path there is as straight as an arrow, but I didn't tell them that the arrow had to cross a pretty substantial mountain range. Once we took to the small streets the slope kept getting steeper and steeper, until suddenly the black top stopped and a rocky trail started climbing up the hill. With the confidence of a Guía de Peregrinos, and after a quick peek at the satellite image in Google Maps, I assured my fellow peregrinos that it was just a small stretch before we found the blacktop again. Up we went, huffing and puffing pushing our heavy bikes until, just at the verge of mutiny, we spotted the edge of the blacktop and three angels peering down to us from it. They were surrounded by a heavenly aura (and I could have sworn I heard the singing of the Heavenly Host) but--what is wrong with this picture--they were wearing spandex shorts and shirts, helmets, and aerodynamic sunglasses.
"Hola! Son peregrinos? Están muy lejos de El Camino." I felt the cold stares of the womenfolk piercing my back, so I hurried to assure the angels that yes, we were peregrinos but had chosen this way on purpose, to avoid the narrow byways of the hiking paths. The angels, who go by the names of Marta, Carmen, and Silvana, agreed that at the end we could get to the Monastery of Armenteira that way, but the blacktop was two windy and steep, so it would be better if we followed them through dirt tracks that ran parallel to the contours of the mountain. They were all riding regular mountain bikes and looked fabulously fit, but we were in e-bikes and thought we could keep up with them. So, thanking Santiago for sending us such help, we followed their lead through a maze of logging roads, at the same time that we engaged in happy conversation. I spoke mostly with Marta, who is a very petite woman in her 50's, but tough as tough can be. I found out that they three live in Ponferrada, that she has three children, loves books and mountain biking, and is a very chatty person. Carmen is clearly the leader of their small group and the pathfinder in all their adventures through the forest. Silvana just started riding not too long ago, and she was puffing a bit more than the others, but they helped each other with encouragement, at the same time that they guided these peregrinos with many comments about "This is where El Camino goes, but the slope is very steep and has big boulders on it", or "Make sure you don't follow this other path, because the trail turns into a creek and it would be very easy for you to tumble over". We eventually came to the Monastery of Armenteria, where we all sat around a restaurant table partaking of coffee and exchanging many stories in Spanish, English, and German. Of course we had to take any number of photos with our new friends before parting ways. They were going to continue on their mountain adventure, while we were going to visit the monastery and then head downhill toward the valley and the town of Cambados. Meeting Carmen, Marta, and Silvana was one of the best feel-good moments of the whole trip!
The downhill road eventually brought us into the Camino del Vino around Cambados, where we cycled around many small plots of albariño grapevines, from which the Albariño white wine that is the pride of all Galicia is produced. It was a lovely path through narrow corridors between vineyards, overlooking a rolling landscape of broad hills carpeted by shimmering green leaves. The weather was perfect for such a sojourn, and when we arrived to the center of town we had to conduct our own testing of Albariño wines at the local café (unfortunately they only handled two local wines, so it was a very limited taste test).
For once we arrived early to our lodgings, the top floor of a country mansion that has been decorated with great taste. Our hostess, Rosa, was very welcoming and accommodating, and after giving us some key tourist pointers sent us back into the town to get lunch and cycle around the ría. There we saw another of those dams that were built two hundred years ago to impound the water brought in by the flood of the tide, and then released through the vanes of wheat mills during the ebb of the tide. This is one of the oldest applications of the mechanical power of the tides, and is very characteristic of the Atlantic coast of both Portugal and Spain. Farther north, in France, the range of the tide is so large that a power generation station operating under the same principle has been in operation for more than 50 years at La Rance.
We came home early
because it is the big day: Spain vs England playing the final game of the
Eurocup 2024! Needless to say we are rooting for Spain, and are looking forward
to watching the game in the TV of our penthouse. Viva España!
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