Left Polo de Allande at 9 am. Arrived Berducedo 3:30pm. Miles walked 11.78.

Yesterday you may recall I said it would be a light day for us because I saw it was a low mileage day. Let me recant that. I now know why people go back home after the fifth day.

I’ll put it into numbers for you –

(I realize this is out of sequence but I don’t post til end of day and I just get so excited with news!)

Talking to our driver who brought us back to Polo de Allande, she said the locals call this the “breaking legs route”. I’m keeping that choice information to myself. I’ll Caleb when the trail becomes less difficult…whenever that is. —update — I shared. He’s ok with it. We now both know what’s ahead.

Yesterday we burned 137calories per mile. Today, 166 calories per mile. Less distance but really steep climbs and descents.

Apparently, tomorrow is a repeat of today, but our driver said we’ll see waterfalls as well. That’s going to make all the difference, I’m sure (perhaps…I have my doubts).

This town is lovely; we’re just knackered and haven’t the will to walk around town. Staff at hotel are considerate and welcoming, very laid back.

Photos below from our walk today.

The views are spectacular as we are really climbing. I believe we’re about 3000 feet; we’re definitely in the clouds.

Today we’ve passed and been passed by other travelers regularly. We all have our own pace. Plus, we stopped pretty frequently to catch our breath. I think the elevation has affected our ability to breathe.

Since we were able to leave our luggage at the hotel, we also left our backpacks. I brought a couple nature bars and some water. Just as well, we passed NO place to eat or drink so by the time we got to Berducedo we were starving and thirsty. That beer tasted extra good.

We were rewarded with Hawaiian pizza for Caleb and a blue cheeseburger for me. When I called at 4:30 for our ride, our driver, Louisa, was actually in the bar waiting for us – just having a coffee. The ride back took half an hour. My ears popped with change in elevation as we were headed down the winding road, confirming our significant ascent.

We saw plenty of cows and lots of horses, but that’s about it on the animal side. We saw one woman in her yard, but for the most part we were in unpopulated country.

Towns passed through today – Lago, population 4; Montefurado, population 1; Berducedo, population 100.

Tomorrow we are being picked up and driven back to Berducedo where we start walking again. Can’t wait.

We’re ready for tomorrow. Good night.