solo walking

it wasn't uncommon for me to branch off from my fellow pilgrims for the day, and on occasion the night. there was one day, however, that stretched into a night that stretched into a morning, afternoon and eventually an epic mission up a misty mountain side in the setting sun. i had never been so happy to see my comrades that evening as i pulled into a foggy tresviso to be greeted by world famous blue cheese, excellent wine and three smiling faces. 

sometimes the solo walking was nice, but more often than not, coming together at the end of the day was a highlight! ...and i'll save details about the beauty of tresviso, the mountain village for another post.

this particular mission started when we boarded the ferry over to santander, as we filled tim (who had mysteriously failed to meet up with us the night before but miraculously met us on the streets of santander the next morning) in on the latest desired mission: tresviso.

upon reaching santander, my incessant need to walk had kicked in (despite the early rise and kilometers already covered that day), so after a quick lunch in the park and the arranging of plans, alternate plans and alternate alternate plans (aka we'll meet in santiago in two weeks), i was off with the idea that we would meet up again that evening.

it was a gorgeous walk hitting the coast...

and following the yellow arrows as per usual...

and when we failed to congregate that evening, i left early the next morning through agricultural fields to head to the alternate planned meeting point where we would catch the bus together to the trailhead of tresviso.

 

when i arrived at the next destination, i had just missed the bus that my fellow pilgrims had caught, leaving me with 5 hours until the next departure. naturally i kept walking...

i finally caught the last bus into the heart of the picos de europa from a town further along the way at 6pm that night.

7pm saw me at the tresviso trailhead with an estimated 2 hour climb to the summit and final destination where my friends awaited me (i hoped).

 

as i climbed, the fog rolled in...

and an hour later, i stumbled into the one and only local tavern to find my family with freshly ordered meals and of course a newly opened bottle of wine. man was it a fantastic feeling to see their smiling faces!!

it's a good thing we always made alternate and alternate alternate plans or else i don't know how we would've stayed together the whole time...