Via de la Plata day 35: Asturianos to Requejo de Sanabria, 27.7 km

Yeesh, what a day. The northwest of Spain was to be battered by the remnants of hurricane Kirk, with local winds forecast to have gusts of 89 km/h. The bar in the first village was packed with all the local workers trying to avoid working in the tempest, and several fellow peregrinos decided that a taxi was a better option. I decided to tough it out (Susan’s ankle was not sufficiently better to withstand 25 km of walking). The first 9 km was beautiful, although wet, walking through the forest where the wind couldn’t penetrate. In places the trail was flooded but not so much that you couldn’t skirt the water hazards. Talking of which, the biggest hazard was the risk of being conked on the head by falling chestnuts.

Things got ugly before Pueblo de Sanabria, with the marked path going along open roads fully exposed to the west. The town of Pueblo de Sanabria, being a fortified hilltop town/castle, is a popular tourist destination. Given the storm it was hard to take any photos – wet phone and my fingers having turned into prunes it was hard to activate the screen (although navigating with my phone was a bigger concern than taking photos!). Navigation wasn’t helped by the town’s camino signs leading up to the castle entrance, at which point there were two signs with arrows which pointed at each other!

However, worse was to come. The riverside trail leaving Sanabria was flooded, so the only option was to walk on the ‘N’ road, which headed directly into the wind and rain. There were several times when I was stopped mid-stride by the wind – something like a video freeze frame. And to add insult to injury, the wind was so strong it drove the rain up my sleeves and around the hood of my poncho, so even though the poncho didn’t leak, my clothes got very damp. Nothing a cafe con leche couldn’t fix, although it was good that the cafe next to the albergue had a generator as the power was out and didn’t come on again until midnight, long past the time when a hot shower would have been appealing!