29.3. Another test

The 27th day of walking 

de Gonzar a Portos

Book - 7.3 miles

Map My Walk - 7.63 miles, 3 1/2 hours

Fitbit - 20,920 steps, 8.92 miles

Highest elevation today 688 meter

Current 580 meters

Today I'm thankful that in 2015, I was able to have partial knee replacements on both knees. Otherwise I couldn't have walked as much as we have....since going downhill would have been very painful. 

Good deed?  This is harder. I'm sitting at a table under a sun umbrella on a patio right next to the road. A random lady comes into the area and asks me if I would take her water bottle out of an outside pouch on her pack for her. You know---they're hard to get out on your own. And my second good deed: I was walking in some ancient ruins and there was a humongous spider blocking the walkway - I did not kill it or disturb its web.  Instead I made a big detour by walking around it. 

You guys are so lucky - you get to learn, along with us, all about silage!!!!

Today in the mist we heard a rumbling tractor  come up behind us and then turn off the road. Just a few minutes later it came back. It was a Dinotruck like in the children's cartoon show. This was one of the biggest with a huge head and jaws that crush rocks with ease. But in this case the front loader looked like it was filled with barn debris - you know.....wet straw and smelly cow poop. But the debris did not emanate that distinctive manure smell. Instead is was kinda sweet and compost like and while it didn't really smell good, it wasn't bad. It was silage, the finished product!  I walked back to where the tractor had scooped up a cow's dinner delight. 

It was a big pit scoured into a hillside

And a close up of the real stuff 

We must have been walking through the Silage Capitol of Galicia cuz there were numerous storage places

These storage places were made by concrete walls

The face of the silage. 

Now I didn't find it edible, but the cows will be pleased. 

Now we just have to find a farmer who needs help feeding his cows. 

So we're walking along- having left silage behind us- and we come to this sign. Castro means a fort or a defended place

Hmmm- a fort?  That would be at the top it a high hill. Yep!

  

We didn't have to take the side trail to the castle, we could have stayed on the Camino, but we decided to "smell some roses" along the way  

The castle of Castromaior us one of the most important archaeological sites of the peninsular Northwest. There is a top enclosure that is attached to others delimited by pits, parapets, and forming a settlement of about 12 acres. It was  inhabited from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD. Recent excavations discovered up to three different occupations. The most ancient with vegetable houses and the last one strong house at the beginning of the Roman conquest. --- I copied this off of a plaque at the site. I have no idea what a vegetable house is. Probably not a greenhouse - more likely structures made of grass or Adobe with straw. A strong house likely had weapons

Here's a picture of the display

And the real thing. 

This picture is of the spider whose life I spared is the black spot by the shadow of my elbow. I named him Campion. 

Here's Dad coming down from the mound. Turn right and we're back on the Camino

We could see many peregrinos walking on the trail- they had bypassed the castle because they are so focused on getting to Santiago - probably because they have a plane to catch. There is a lesson here. If you focus too much on the destination, you'll miss out on the journey. 

Tractors for sale!!!

Very old and gnarly tree. 

This was the first warm day we've experienced in nearly four weeks so we were glad to reach our albergue. 

It was lunchtime!  

There's a decorative theme here- for some clever reason it is "ants". 

Our room. 

Interesting light switches

Washed clothes and sat outside and watched them dry.  Dad sat with his feet elevated and the offending toes getting a bit of sun. No, there are no close ups. 

You requested food pictures, so here's dinner.