Ten days travels, biking and walking. Much of the walking was forced by the trail conditions: Too steep to pedal up or for the brakes to work, or too loose for traction, or too rocky to control the steering. Rocks caused two flats (fast leaks) and one slow leak.
Set out from Santiago de Compostela on Sunday. Stopped along the way to chat with a Dutch fellow in his tent in the woods. Frequent other stops to check the map when an intersection or fork wasn’t marked, or to take a photo, or get some food or drink.
Sunday night in Negreira; Monday, Ponte Olveira.
Tuesday, discovered part way that the rear tire was flat. Changed the trailer wheels to put less weight on the bike wheel and walked to Hospital. That’s the name of the village—I was not sick.
Wednesday, left Hospital and walked to Cee. Found the bike shop and got the flat fixed.
Thursday morning, I couldn’t find my thyroid medicine, so I went back to Hospital, this time on paved roads. They insisted they hadn’t found them. Went to a nearby tourist info place and got a phone number for where I had slept in Cee. They insisted they hadn’t found them. I made no stops between the two albergues—hmmm.
Well, since I had seen two different routes between Hospital and Cee, I decided to go south to Ézaro and then along the coast to Cee. Spent a lot of time climbing around on a very impressive viewpoint, then went really fast (35-58 KPH) down a 30% grade. Pulled into what I thought was another tourist info place, but it wasn’t. While I was standing there trying to figure out what it was, PSSS! the patch came loose on the tube! Another twelve kilometers walking back to Cee.
When it was close to sundown, I enabled internet on the phone and made a reservation for a bed. But when I got where the map said it was, it wasn’t there, and they didn’t respond to messages. So at nearly midnight, I checked into “Hotel Larry.” Weird name, but a nice place. Two nights, so I could not only fix the flat, but look around a bit.
Sunday, Camino again to Muxía. Two nights—Monday, left the bike in the albergue and walked around the village all day. Took lots of photos and videos of waves hitting the rocks and flying up maybe five or ten meters, but alas, most of them were lost.
Tuesday, back to Cee, part trail and part paved road. Bought two spare tubes, a patch kit, and a tool.
Total of 227 kilometers in 75 hours. That includes time stopping to take pictures, or to chat with locals, but doesn’t count some short walks in villages. Total climbing, over 5 kilometers, descending, about the same. This is the first time I used the trailer for more than a couple of hours. Me, the bike, and the trailer total 137 kilograms. It was also the roughest trails I have ever been on, so I really got a work-out.
If anyone wants to see the routes on maps or aerial photos, comment on that and I can edit in some links.
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