Day 7: Here Come The Clampetts — Glenn's Walking Adventures

Today started out with a lovely breakfast at my accommodation where I was able to visit with the rest of the walkers staying there. It’s been a really diverse group of people I’ve met along the way and today was a prime example of that. There were two Slovenians, one Brazilian and a Romanian. The trail was right on the coast and followed it almost the entire time.

I spent most of the day in the company of the gentleman from Romania that I met at breakfast (Alexandru). He is a fascinating person who is currently a high end custom furniture builder and painter. His paintings are amazing! He was also a sharpshooter in the army in his youth. We spoke about everything from politics to dogs and the time flew by. Michele and I plan to visit Romania next year and now I know a lot more about the country and have someone to visit when we go. As we were walking he looked off to the side of road and from about 6’ away (and no, I’m not exaggerating) he said, “oh” and trotted over and grabbed this:

This must’ve worked since it’s the first day I had to walk through some rock fields and didn’t fall on my ass

Yeah, he spotted the 4 leaf clover in a bed of clover from 6’ away. And it was in the shade. I was stunned and he said, “I told you I was a sniper in the past”. That’s the beauty of these trips, you meet people you likely wouldn’t meet otherwise and have these interactions. It also reinforces that we are all much more the same than we are different. Oh, and everyone loves dogs. If you don’t you’re weird. That’s right, I said it.

We parted ways in Baiona and I headed to my hotel. I’m virtually always pleased with the accommodations provided by my trip company. They are mostly local owned, simple and always clean. When I booked this trip there was an optional upgrade for todays hotel. I decided to go ahead and book it to see what it was like. Well, it’s a fucking castle.

Yeah, it’s a little outside of my comfort zone

Ii knew it would be nice but I guess I didn’t expect this level of nice. I honestly didn’t spend that much on the upgrade so I was shocked. It’s a beautiful place that had a bar/cafe and I was starving after todays 10 miles (I know that isn’t that long but it was hot and there were hills so save the distance shaming) so I decided to just go get some food now and then check in. I headed into the “bar” area and was confronted with dozens of tables full of casual but still very well dressed, very clean people. Now at any given point on any given day I can best be described as “slovenly”. At the end of one of these hikes in the heat I’m an absolute shit show. Sweat pouring off of my hat, the sun shirt soaked through, the shorts wet and riding low, you get the point. I’m also still wearing my full pack with walking sticks rattling around and a water bottle swaying back and forth. I was pretty sure they saw me and thought this:

For those of you who don’t know, that picture is the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies. That was a television show I watched in my youth (and it was old even then) about a very rural family that got rich and moved to Beverly Hills. They didn’t fit in and hilarity ensued. For the truly young, a television is the monitor we used to watch content on before there was the internet.

To say I was self conscious is an understatement. Of course as I took my pack off the water bottle came loose (carabiner fail!) and clanked to the ground where it rolled across the entire patio with me (and a well intentioned waiter) chasing it. Not a subtle entrance by the unwashed pilgrim. I sat quietly, had a ham and tomato sandwich (the tomatoes hit different here and I get them on anything and everything) and water while I tried to cool down. I finished the sandwich and decided to order a beer. When I attempted to pay for the beer the waiter told me someone had paid for it. I looked down the patio and a man (in slacks and a fitted dress shirt) gave me a wave as he left. Then the ladies at the next table asked if I was walking the Camino (they were Brits). We started talking and another nearby table joined in as well and it became really pleasant. I think I made some assumptions about the people on the patio that maybe I shouldn’t have. We enjoyed our chat but I think that also might be because they weren’t close enough to smell me.

I’m now off to explore the castle a little bit. I’m having dinner at the same bar/cafe because I’m too lazy to walk into town and because now I’ve at least showered (although slovenly would absolutely still apply). Tomorrow is a long one. I hope I don’t have trouble adjusting to life as a commoner again.