And rain, it did.
This is my second full day here and to quote Harry Chapin, “I spent a week there one afternoon”, so you might imagine how I’m feeling. I tried to sleep in but was unsuccessful. I spent part of the morning using the hairdryer to dry my still-damp socks. That’s an ongoing project that will meet successful completion before departure tomorrow morning.
Anyone planning to venture to Muxia should certainly visit, but allocate no more than half a day, because that’s all you need. If you want to visit some beaches and wander around, then a full day at most, but in an out same day. My extended stay was a tactical error based on misinformation.
The weather report this morning seemed to show the rest of the country bathed in sunshine, anywhere from 33-41c, except this area (+/- 50km). This seemed to be the only place where it was raining. Still, I shouldn’t complain given the luck I’ve had with the weather overall. Sunshine 36 days out of 38, 34 out of 35 hiking.
Tomorrow will be a museum day in Santiago, at least in part. Leaving at 0645, I should arrive there at about 0900 and my outbound flight to Barcelona is at 2100, so I can mooch around the sights in a leisurely manner. Journey-time from Santiago to SCQ-LEST is 14km, so 20 mins by bus or about 3 hours on foot: mode will depend on mood and weather.
I like weather forecasts, in particular those from the aviation community because they’re real-time, local and tend to be very accurate (with a 5mi radius). Here’s the METAR (current weather) report directly from the airport in Santiago: LEST 241100Z 34006KT 300V020 9999 SCT014 BKN032 21/17 Q1018 NOSIG… and at Barcelona: LEBL 241100Z 23012KT 9999 FEW025 29/20 Q1017 NOSIG.
Here’s the TAF (forecast) from SCQ-LEST for today and tomorrow morning:
LEST 241100Z 2412/2512 36009KT 9999 SCT020 SCT030 TX26/2415Z TN15/2505Z
TEMPO 2418/2509 BKN010 BKN014
TEMPO 2421/2509 3000 BR BKN005 BKN010
PROB30
TEMPO 2503/2509 1500 BR BCFG BKN002…
…and for Barcelona:
LEBL 241100Z 2412/2512 22010KT 9999 FEW025 TX30/2412Z TN21/2505Z
BECMG 2418/2420 VRB04KT
BECMG 2423/2501 34008KT
BECMG 2507/2509 10008KT
In short, in the amalgam of Adrian Cronauer/Al Roker/Willard Scott/Michael Fish: “A bit crappy today; getting crappier tomorrow. Limited prospects of less-crappy. Barcelona looking better. Thank you, and back to the news…”
It’s dreich and it’s only 1400. There are less than a handful of hardy pilgrims walking in today, at least that I can count. There have been two tour buses of less-than-enthusiastic pensioners who have been forced to disembark and get wet. Their expressions are priceless. Others are wandering around wondering “Why didn’t I bring an umbrella?” and “WTF can I do here, and when can I please leave?”. You really can read their faeces.
What else to say about the day beyond this photo?
Nada.
So lastly for today, in the quest to quantify my own relentless futility, I pulled the following statistics together, using Tuesday 22nd as a formal cut-off…
Camino Frances 779km (walking distance)
+ Camino Finisterre 86km
+ Faro extension 7km
+ Muxia extension 31km
= Total Distance 902km
Days walking: 35
Albergue stays 29 (shared dorms)
Non-Albergue Stays: 6
iPhone Steps (total) 1,358,143
iPhone Steps (avg/day) 38,804
iPhone Miles (total) 606.9 (~977km, captures more than the destinations)
iPhone Miles (avg/day) 17.3
iPhone Floors (total) 1,691 (elevation change, unit magnitude unknown)
iPhone Floors (avg/day) 48.3
Pct days sunshine 97% (I suspect London was the reciprocal of this figure)
Blog words: 34,839 (that’s a lot of complaint, cynicism, sarcasm and invective)
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.” – Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli.
These statistics, however, are all true/accurate – at least according to my legs, my iPhone (Apple never lies, it just spies…) and my maps.
Manaña. Still more to come…