Camino Primitivo

Salas to Tinoe

September 6 2023

This morning we had a major climb of 450 meters over the first 7 kms.  It was a good thing that the morning was cool has it was hard work.  The climb was made even harder by the fact that the trail was very steep in sections and was all loose rock.  We left at 8:40 and it took almost 3 hours to reach the top.  This climb took up to the top of a ridge which we then followed for the rest of the day.  

The views to the south of the valley below and the mountains in the far distance were absolutely spectacular.  Even though I did say top of the ridge it was by no means level.  It was constantly up and down.   The up was brutal because of the loose rock and unevenness of the trail.  The down was almost worse as the loose rock was like climbing down on marbles.   The saving grace of the trail was that it was in this beautifully treed area.  The trees formed a wonderful shaded canopy and protected us from the sun.  Without the shade we would have roasted in the 30C temperatures.

At about the 17.0 km mark we came upon a herd of goats which were foraging right be side the trail.  They ranged from little tiny babies to elder statesmen who were managing the flock.  We babies were very friendly and came up to get scratches.

A short 3 kms remained in the day and we rolled in with a 20 kms day.  

In the hotel I found that Camino Ways had put Ken Teague's name on my reservation and so there was a lot of confusion over who was checking in.  I have talked to them before about this issue and have been assured that everything is correct but clearly it is not.  I phoned again and yes they will check it out.  I then phoned tomorrow's hotel and it seems to be right..   They have put us in very nice hotels so I hate to say something bad about Camino Ways but this is clearly a black mark.  I guess you should have come with us Ken.

Terry