Lubian to A Gudina (15 miles / 24.10 k)

Today was one of the shortest days I have had on the Plata. I retrospect, I might have started a hour earlier even though it was dark as I took the road and the way was clearly visible on the Google Maps program and I wouldn’t have gotten lost. Well, at least I don’t think I would have? 

There was some breakfast food at the place and that made it a little easier to get going. I started at my usual eight and walked through the dark street to the highway where I stayed all day. The scenery was very beautiful, especially in the morning with the low hanging clouds. 

The road started with a few ups and downs, then a long down, and then a steep uphill for almost three miles. It was shorter than yesterday’s long grade, but steeper in a shorter distance. 

It looked like it was going to rain and I had dressed for it and yet it never rained. 

I was about a half mile from Lubian when I stopped on the shoulder to tighten the bolts on the Wheelie. I was kneeling down and stood up and stood up and there was Mikio. All he said was, “having problems?” I told me no and he passed me, only to have him walk back to ten minutes later to ask if this was the right way? The road is of course but not on the so called dedicated Camino path.

I use the word Camino to describe the actual marked trail, path, dirt road, gravel road, asphalt road, etc., that is in some of the guides, but the Camino de Santiago is the Way to Santiago no matter which way you go. Bicyclist sometimes travel on the actual designate path and they are on the Camino de Santiago. Sometimes they ride completely on the asphalt roads and highways of their own choice and they are on the Camino de Santiago. It’s the same with trekkers or any mode of transportation. And over the years the Caminos has been rerouted, so it is sometimes an arbitrary statement to say you were on the Camino. So, no matter how you get there, you are still walking, riding, skating, etc., the Camino de Santiago. There is no right way or wrong way to get there.

At the top of the summit there was another tunnel, and this one was even longer. It finally dawned on me what those signs in the tunnel are. They must be for emergencies in the tunnel so you know which way is the closest way out? 

Once out of the tunnel there was a beautiful view of the valley below. Most of it was downhill and I was surprised that I got to A Gidina by 1:30.

I stopped at the first hotel in town and they were full. I went to the next one and booked a room hoping it would have a tub, but it didn’t. For 20€ ($22) it wasn’t a bad room, clean and with a nice bathroom. 

I got here early enough to go to the super mercado and buy some food, and I had time to relax. I went to diner with Michael again and met with the Italians, Bruno and Maria. She is suffering through heel spurs and feels like me, that we are so close that nothing can stop us now.

I didn’t take the time to really look at the distance left to Santiago, but it is around one hundred miles. Apparently because of the mountains the last stages will not be easy ones. 

Other than the surprise appearance of Mikio, and maybe the tunnel, it was an uneventful day. Overall it was a good day as it was short. 

Tomorrow will be a longer day at about twenty-one miles and through some rough terrain. But on the positive side, at the end of the day I’ll have less than one hundred miles to go.

Best wishes,

Ted 

Passing the city center and church at sunrise

Looking down the canyon and river that flows to Lubian 

What else, the tunnel

There are those signs again

In an energency which way do you run or walk? The shortest way of course.

View coming out of the tunnel looking towards A Gudina 

A Gudina with the new highway in the foreground 

My home for the night, Hotel Oscar.

My room of course

The chart that shows the grade. The mileage and time is way off because the big gap through the tunnel.