It's All Uphill from Here

The second half of the day's hike was about a three mile uphill hike.  Aner said it would be difficult, but it turned out not to be at all.

After lunch we walked through town, heading up to follow a ridge. In town, we passed a small chapel where there had recently been a wedding.  Aner pointed out the confetti on the ground just outside, which was the main clue there had been a wedding.  The chapel's "coat of arms" (so to speak, not sure what the actual name of it is -- will post a picture) featured three shells.  The camino is very much inculcated throughout the entire region.

We then passed a very cool statue and sundial (photo to come) of a faceless pilgrim with a walking stick and gourd (for water).  Because of some shade, it was hard to tell from the sundial what time it was, but that's not important.

Next was a stop at the town cathedral, noted for a famed double sided outdoor cross in the parking lot.  On one side there is Jesus, whilst James is on the other side.  The cathedral itself is closed to the public (except for services).

Carol's knee was feeling problematic, so she headed down to the hotel.  She did not want it to get worse with the uphill hiking.

Two aspects made the the uphill walk very doable.  First was that the grade was never very steep.  Second was that the uphill parts were never too long.  We would hike uphill, and then hit a flat part for 200-300 yards.  That gave me a chance to recover from the ups.  It was a very consistent pattern, so I never felt winded.

The sun was fully out, so we had great views across the valley to the mountains on the other side.  It's a very green countryside, with random cows scattered around.  It's also very rolling, dotted with hills.  It's definitely not like the Shenandoah Valley; a wide flat valley with mountains on either side.

(It's 6:50 am, and we are staying in a big country manor house.  Through the open window, I can hear an owl softly hooting in the distance.)

There was nothing remarkable about the hike.  It was a grind-it-out, just keep going kind of thing.  At one point Aner stopped us and told how the comeback of eagles, falcons, and owls has led to the comeback of rabbits.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but the birds of prey pick off the sick rabbits, so whatever they have doesn't spread to the healthy rabbits and kill them.  Thus, the more predators, the more rabbits.  Nature remains remarkable.