Had a super walk this morning covering only 17.4 km (10.8 mi), but having to climb about 1,700 ft. My reward was to find the albergue that was FULL the night before and caused me to change plans was empty except for Thomas. Of course, I expected that because he and I left at 6:40 AM when it was ice cold again, in the low thirties! But today I had three layers on—only my hands complained.
After the summit, I ran into a bar/store combo for a well deserved mid-morning snack. Then came a detour that I followed blindly. It was neither my preloaded track, nor did it show up on my map. This was a first—I followed it with blind faith.
Here are some pics for the day: nearly at the top, I found a marker with boots on it—hmmm; then a glimpse of the trail up; the bar about a mile past the summit—a welcome break; this bottle fascinated me at the bar; and finally, a makeshift bridge to cross a small stream.
