Raindrops keep falling on my head.....

Song from BJ Thomas...1969. Long time ago....

Quote for the day:  

Dolly Parton: If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

Lots of pictures and maybe a few typos. I hope not too many.....

It rained last night. The forecast for today was for five percent precipitation. We got the whole five percent. Not a torrential downpour but a steady drip, sprinkle, drip, sprinkle. Which meant that the rocks we walked on were wet. (You may remember that I consider “rock” to be a four letter word!). We walked up over 1000 feet today and descended over 2000 feet. 11.5 miles completed today.  Less than 69 to go.  Over 431 completed.  

A pilgrim walking in the rain in front of us.  

Before I go further, if you remember the movie Forest Gump, you probably remember Bubba (Benjamin Buford Blue) describing how many ways he can prepare shrimp....shrimp po boy, shrimp ettoufee, shrimp creole, etc.  

I feel like I can do that with rocks...I started yesterday with rock descriptions.  After last night’s rain (and the rain this morning), here are further descriptions. Wet rocks, wet big rocks with dry leaves, with wet leaves, rocks on top of mud. Slippery rocks. Rocks just asking for you to put your foot down the wrong way and slide all the way down the hill.  

Before we left the hotel, we suited up for cool weather and for rain with our ponchos.  It’s the Hunchback look.  Except we were hot. Really hot. So, we stopped and took off the ponchos and put on our rain jackets and we covered our packs. Then we began the climb. It was still too hot. So, off with the rain jackets and down to a tee shirt. Then it started raining more. And getting cold. So back to the rain jacket. Because even when it wasn't raining, the wind blew though and knocked last nights rain off the trees and on to us. We were hardly making any progress. Four costume changes in the first two miles.  Gonna be a long day.  

It was not a pretty day unless you like JMW Turner, the 19th century British painter. Here’s a picture he painted and a couple of my photographs. You’ll see why I thought of him.  I kept trying to think of his name all morning (my UNC Art History professor would not like it that I couldn’t remember his name!). When we stopped for coffee, I was describing him and someone remembered his name. A very nice lady from Seattle. 

Back to the roads and I’ll be brief.  If you remember the description from yesterday of all the animal byproducts on the roads, just add water. 

I tried to take some pictures of the agricultural production equipment today.  Here are a few pictures.  

Steve got a hair cut today.  Same barber as last year.  Aqua Velva is making a come back in Spain.  

There are many lessons learned when you spend this much time away from your normal life, walking, and simply being outside. One big lesson for me is to try to remember that everyone, everyone is walking through life with some sort of disappointment and heart ache or heart break. (Their pool of tears). Most keep it to themselves. But if I can remember that one simple thing every day, it will all have been worth it.

Finally, here are some pictures I just thought were interesting.  I’ve commented where appropriate.  

Pilgrims must have worn down the path.  

 Steps up to the town after a ten to eleven mile hike.  

 This toilet paper roll is outside the stalls.  Better hope you see it before you enter the stall.  

Off to Portomarin tomorrow.  It’s quite a hike, so wish us luck. Only 15 miles or so but hilly....