A change of adjectives

 Day 2 - and I’m changing my adjectives

It’s almost 11:00 pm and I should be resting, but I can tell that sleep won’t come quickly so I’ll write a few things down, but in a much shorter format than yesterday. 

Yesterday (Day 1) I used a couple of adjectives to try and describe the Primitivo, and I said I might change them later. It’s now Day 2 and it is already “later”.  

Yesterday I used the word  “strenuous”.  That was 21 km, 30,000 steps, 672 m descent, and 490 m ascent.  Strenuous 

Today I will choose the word “brutal”.  Sneaky, but brutal. “Sneaky” because it was only 18 km. The first 6.5 were fairly flat. 

The last 11.5 - not so flat. 27,000 steps today.  397 m descent, 460 m ascent. It didn’t seem like a lot when I was looking at the book last night and comparing it to Day 1. 

I was wrong. The ascents kept going up and up. Steep ascents. And just when you thought you had it made, you’d turn a corner and the steep ascent became steeper. 

It’s sneaky. It doesn’t look brutal but it is

If you are going to play around in the mountains you’ll have to learn that ascents and descents are a way of life

The descents - steep descents. And just when you thought you had it made, you’d turn a corner and the steep descent became steeper. 

To my 69 yr old legs and mind it was brutal. I’m enjoying the challenge but I have to say it was brutal. 

When we arrived at the albergue at 4:30 we were both wiped out. 23 yr old Emily rebounded a lot quicker than I did, but we were exhausted. 

So tomorrow is a short day. Probably still brutal, but only 12 km. 

On the bright side, we had a great evening with new Camino friends around the table. 

Ensalada mixta - the first course 

But tonight we won’t dwell on the bright side. 

Brutal. That’s what I want to dwell on tonight.