Days 7 and 8: Tineo to Borres and Borres to Berducedo

I ran out of data and didn't have any wifi to purchase more so I haven't had internet for a couple days. It's been nice for me! The last 2 days have held some of the best and worst moments of the trip. I want to go to bed so we'll see how much detail I can get into.

Tineo to Borres was a shorter day of 12 miles. We enjoyed the hike very much and felt great after. We had to check in at the bar for the municipal albergue and saw a couple familiar faces. We ended up staying for a couple beers and a few hours. When we decided we should go shower it was about 6. As we walked up to check out our 5 euro accommodation we found a crowded room and all eyes on us. It was super strange. The 4 of us changed, showered, dropped our bags and headed right back to the bar to be far away from our top bunks. There was even a triple decker bunk bed.

Once back at the bar the owner prepared for our meal. They pushed together multiple tables and all the pilgrims in town gathered around one table. It was my favorite part of the whole trip. There was new faces and familiar faces and conversations happening in all kinds of languages. Everyone enjoyed eachothers company and laughed and ate and drank. What a beautiful experience to share.

We finally decided to head back to our top bunks and I had a terrible nights sleep. I woke up so early and couldn't fall back asleep. Then at about 6:30 someone flipped the lights on and gave everyone an unwanted wake up call. Not a popular guy today.

Today we had a long day of 17 miles. We chose a challenging route, the most challenging of any Camino, the hospitales route. If done with ideal weather the hike rewards you with beautiful Mountain Views. We expected a partially sunny day with no rain. That is not what we got.

Already starting the day with very little sleep was hard enough. Immediately as we started hiking horrible winds and rain/mist started blasting us. It was absolutely miserable. Everything was cold and wet and windy and steep uphill. I was humbled very quickly.

There's no services or towns for the whole 17 miles so once you start there's no turning back. I knew I wouldn't make it on my own. My prayer for the brutal conditions was that of abandonment and humility. That I may decrease and the Lord increase. If it wasn't for this prayer I know I would've had a mental breakdown. Each step was the Lord's doing.

I wept from being miserable. I wept again when we summited the ridge and abandoned myself further. I wept for the 3rd time when a sweet young girl who must've done the whole journey alone saw us while she was resting and said "we're almost there." I thought we still had 4 miles left. Turns out we were only a mile away from where I'm laying right now. It was glorious.

It was a bummer as we didn't get to see any mountain views. I could barely see my mom walking 10 meters in front of me. This was all part of the journey and was a profound prayer that lasted all day. I gave thanks and raised all your intentions up in unison with my struggling and United with the cross of our Lord, Jesus. My heavy backpack, sore shoulders, and aching feet are constantly offered for something greater.

This was my prayer Sunday, to constantly focus and ponder higher things. The things that are above.

Woof, so much joy and so much misery. What a beautiful journey! We are so tired from the day and shared a meal and a beer in solidarity of a hard day with our fellow pilgrims.

Keep praying for my feet as your prayers are keeping my blisters at bay! But after today my feet are SORE! I pray I wake up tomorrow and they're good as new :) here's some photos from the last two days! Also two people are already snoring, pray I get some good rest!

Random dog that kept guard as we ate a lunch. We gave him a treat. I have a soft spot as yesterday we got news that we lost our childhood dog, Buddy.