26 February 2016: Ponferrada to Las Medulas
Up, refreshed, and ready to go about 06:30. Time to go out and check the weather!
Here’s what the plaza looked like after a cleansing rain. Hmmm. Okay, time to go back in for breakfast. While enjoying a sumptuous meal, I reviewed Laurie Reynolds excellent guide and committed items to memory so that I wouldn’t destroy my copy in the rain.
I set out into a steady drizzle under a hat, rain jacket, and rain paints pulled down over the tops of waterproof boots. A couple hours later near Toral de Merayo was the last time that day that I pulled out the camera. (The bar in Toral, btw, was very friendly and served a great coffee and croissant.) From there on? Rain....an uninterrupted deluge that Noah might recognize for the rest of the walk to Las Medulas. Visibility rarely exceeded 15-20 meters for the next 6 hours. In the prior fifty years of hiking/walking, I had never seen anything like this…and have not again.
My new, though inexpensive, woolen gloves disintegrated to balls of wet yarn within two hours. Then it was time for a change-out from sodden socks. Two hours later and it was time for another sock change. One more change near Borrenes where I could find a little protection from the rain. Oh, and there was NOTHING open between Toral and Medulas as I walked…I saw one other soul the entire time, they were bringing in the cat.
The only lodgings available at Las Medulas were with Casa Socorro - - a lovely couple who were clearly astonished that anyone was out in the weather. So there I was, all socks completely soaked, boots sodden, and clothes distinctly moist.
Pre-shower, a foot exam revealed stage 1 Trench Foot. Double-plus ungood. A review with the couple revealed a lack of drying facilities…not just in Medulas but, by their reckoning, for the planned next two stages. Hmmm.
I went down to the only open bar for
Lentejas, Fritas and
Tinto to ponder my situation. Upon my return to Socorro the owners and I discussed ordering up a taxi for a trip back to Ponferrada the next morning. The gentleman was adamant that I accompany him as he was going anyway. “Breakfast at 08:00 and then we go, okay?”
Not much else that I could do considering the circumstances. I needed to be off my feet for at least a day and I really needed dry socks/boots, if nothing else. “Okay, Invierno – you win this round!”
B
