5 - 8 April 2017

What a lot of crazy and amazing days! I met a lot of people and cycled a lot, even by night ;p

On Wednesday I met four other cyclists a little while after Astorga. They were Spanish colleagues on the way to Santiago. They had also started in León and wanted to cycle all the way to Ponferrada (about 100 km). I decided to join them, because I liked it to have some companionship. We climbed a mountain of 1555 meters high and I saw a lot of amazing views. The best part of the day was going downhill from that top: high speed and a wonderful view! We arrived a little bit late at the albergue, but it was a nice one and I shared dinner with an Italian.

The next day we separated ways, because they wanted to do 100 km again and I wanted to take it easy. But I wasn't that long alone, because soon I met Alberto, also a Spanish guy. We cycled together and after a short time, we met Sheldon from the United States, and with the three of us we cycled along the rest of the day. I lost them when there was a big mountain to climb (again), because it was to hot and to steep. But I met them again in the albergue where we were staying.

On Wednesday we also stayed together. Alberto wanted to follow the real Camino path, what ended in a terrible road with a lot of loose rocks and steep hills. I regretted the moment when I wanted to stay with them, but they are good companions, so I stayed with them. Later Sheldon and I took the road to Sarria, while Alberto took the off road path, but we met again for a lunch with a typical Galician bread filled with vegetables and meat. Shortly after lunch we cycled on a road and Alberto didn't feel safe, while Sheldon and I wanted to stay on the road, so that was were we separated. I really enjoyed the company of Alberto! Sheldon and I cycled along and talked about a lot of different subjects. He also told me that he would like to cycle by night once, and that was exactly what I was thinking about a couple days ago, so we decided to cycle all the way on to Santiago de Compostela. After a good dinner at an albergue it already started to turn dark. The trip by night was exiting, scaring and exhausting with a lot of hills, stars, chocolate, cookies and peanuts. I liked it! We arrived exactly at 5 AM at the albergue in Santiago, but of course it wasn't open yet. With our last strength we went to find a warm place to fill the time. We went to the McDonald's, but only the Drive was open, so we used our bikes as a car ;p. After that we drank some coffee and tea at a café and when the albergue finally opened we took a nice warm shower and went to sleep.

At 3 PM I woke up and after breakfast I went for a walk through the centre. I got the certificate of reaching Santiago and visited the cathedral. I didn't feel very well today, but I think that was because of the crazy night :D.

And now on to Portugal!

All the nights I stayed in albergues and I cycled 100,3 km on Wednesday, 57,8 km on Thursday and the most I ever did and probably will do: 169,5 km on Friday.