Day 10 - Samblismo to Berducedo

Today can be summed up as “Wow” and “Incredible”. The Hospitales Route was one of the main things that inspired me to do this route; man, it did not disappoint. 

As of 7:30 this morning, it was still touch-and-go as to whether or not we should even attempt it as storms were forecast. The last place you want to be in a storm is high upon a hilltop with two metal poles in hand. At the very last minute, I decided to just go for it, and I’m so glad that I did, as the rain was very light and lasted for only the first hour. After that, the sun peeked through the clouds and put on one hell of a show.

The ruins of the pilgrim hospitals after which the trail was named served more as waypoints than anything else. The real star was the scenery, with valleys falling away to either side of the trail, mountain range stacked upon mountain range fading into the distance, cows and horses grazing, and shafts of light illuminating everything below. It was a tough trail, but this beauty was worth every grueling bit of elevation gain and knee-wrecking elevation loss.

At the junction between the Hospitales Route and the low road, there is a large rest area by the side of the road. As I was enjoying the serenity, thirty motorcycles decided to roar in. It turns out that this was an organised motorcycle tour and the tour guide took a moment to explain to his group that this was a Camino trail and that these very tired and possibly smelly people conga-lining down the hill were pilgrims walking to Santiago. At this point, one of the group piped up and said “Why would you want to do that?!” I could have retorted by asking them the same question about their preferred mode of transport, however, I only said “Because we love it”. And after today’s walk, it is easy to see why. 

Distance - 22.5Km 

Difficulty - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half/5

Camin-oh no! - I honestly can’t think of one today. It was incredible. 

Camin-oh hell yeah! - The weather gods playing nice today.

@caminoagogo