Day 9 of the Camino

Stage 9 Palas de Rei to Santiago de Compostela

Today was a short day. We had breakfast at 8 and were on the road at about 9. The general direction of the profile was down hill and that is how the day started. But there was still lots of up. I don’t think there was 100 meters of flat all day. I did pretty well until about 20 kms out. After that my legs were tired and I was getting to the point where I didn’t want to see another hill. (However, since I have returned to my usual routes, what I used to consider a hill now just seem like a bump in the road. I no longer avoid hills or wind. Karin could turn that into an illustration for something.)

Today was cool and cloudy much of the time. Unfortunately I made the mistake of washing my long sleeved t-shirt the night before and it wasn’t dry so the only option was to put on my rain gear. That kept me warm but by the time I took it off I was dripping wet. At one point we did stop to put on our rain gear because rain threatened. We did drive on some wet roads but we didn’t get rained on.

The sun peaked through about the time we arrived in Santiago.

After stopping to take some pictures next to the Santiago signs we went on all the way down to the cathedral. Since it was Sunday the streets of the old town were packed. Terri Lynn led us down the cobble stone streets ringing her bell as we went. Since I was behind her I caught the nasty look of more than one elderly woman as we went by. We ended up having to walk and get our bikes down some stairs. That is not an easy task with the extra weight from the panniers. The square in front of the church was full of people. What was missing were some people to congratulate us as we arrived. It was no problem to find someone to take our picture.

It wasn’t long before we were thinking about food. There didn’t seem to be anything with available outside seating in the old part of the city so we headed back the way we came (while avoiding the stairs.) We found an Italian restaurant where we could sit outside in the sun and keep an eye on our trusty bikes. The worst problem we had with them was chains that liked to come off at the most inopportune times.

As we waited for our food, Terri Lynn sent the daily text message to her sister who would have loved to have been with us. (Next time Toni Lynn!) We enjoyed a great meal of salad, pizza and pasta. What more could a group of bikers ask for? We also enjoyed cheering on the bikers and other pilgrims who came by.

We ride to eat

Once our stomachs were full we headed back out to the hotel. It was on a hill overlooking the city so we had one final climb that was short but very steep. Once I started going up I had no choice but to finish because there was no way I could clip out to stop without falling over. Sheri had found us a four star hotel at a great discount price. The outdoor pool we had been hoping to enjoy was closed because of the bad weather so after a shower I took a nap.

At supper time we walked to a restaurant where we had our worst meal of the trip. I wasn’t very hungry so I just had soup and bread. Even that wasn’t very good. The others ordered meat that was to be well done but most of it wasn’t edible. Fortunately we had had a good meal earlier in the day and we were happy to get some ice cream across the street.

Back at the hotel Sheri, Terri Lynn and I watched part of a Real Madrid soccer game on the wide screen TV while Karin soaked in the tub “that is as big as a swimming pool!!!”

Vital stats for the day:
71.21 kms
4h02 riding time
17.2 average speed