5th April 2012

5th of April 2012 Laguna de Castilla to Triacastela. 32,580 Steps on my stepometer. Had a lovely night's sleep in this immaculate albergie and when I wake its snowing outside and very cold like -2 degrees so I put my waterproofs on and head up the hill towards O Cebreiro in very little visibility the track goes for about 2ks before it reaches the village here I meet many other pilgrims that obviously made it this far last night it's still snowing but the trees look amazing with their covering of white.my feet are sore today But I carry on regardless it's so cold so I keep up a good pace till I reach Hospital de la Condesa where I stop for a coffee and croissant I plod on through the snow looking like a snowman to Ponfria another 7 ks or so here I stop in the second cafe where the lovely lady makes me the best hot potato and bacon tortilla yet to eat in Spain along the Camino,the fire was on in the cafe so I take the opportunity to slip my socks off for a while and let my seriously throbbing feet have some well needed air. Ive found that all the blisters i have on my feet simply arent going so every night i take of my socks which consist of a thick speciallist made hiking sock as an outer and a very thin bamboo pair as liners,i run cotton through them with a sterlised neddle and let them drain, the next morning they are always drained but i found that by the end of the next days walking they were back again day in day out, so unfortunatley i found no cure for my blisters i could only try to just manage them every day, and also massage my aching muscles with deep heet max strength as often as they needed. After my pit stop and foot airing session, I feel very refreshed and full of energy and at about this point the path heads steeply down for another 10ks and finally leads into the pretty little town of Triacastela where I choose to stay at the albergie called Aitzenea,the sun even tries to make an appearance,the albergie here is spotlessly clean and the showers are lovely and hot,I manage to wash my well needed to be washed clothes, spin them in the spinner and hang them on the line to dry.