Down the hill to Triacastela...

Well today was another beautiful day in Spain. With the exceptions of a few steep climbs (nothing like yesterday though), today's venture was pretty much downhill. Again today, I still prefer the down part over the up part. I know some people have knee problems but I don't and going down doesn't take my breath away. For the most part, I walked almost entirely alone. Again today, the scenery was breathtaking. One might think I would get bored with another view of a valley or of a mountainside as I walk past but that hasn't happemed yet and I don't expect it to. At times today, all I could hear was the sound of the wind whistling through the heather alongside the track, the birds singing and the sound of my own boots crunching on the gravel path. To add to the delight of another sunny day, there was a great breeze which made the walk so much more pleasant.
Coming into Triacastela, I had to share the path with a herd of cattle being moved from one pasture to another by the farmer. Of course there was the mandatory dog (a huge German shepherd who kept getting distracted by one smell or another and had to then run to catch up to the herd) helping to keep the herd on the straight and narrow. For me, aside from the dust the beasts stiired up, there was the incessant smell of the cow patties. Of course along with smell came the "cow pattie shuffle". It seems like doing this shuffle has become a constant on this journey. Don't get me wrong, it's not just cow patties, there is also sheep droppings that one needs to step around too. I wouldn't want to be accused of picking on cows. As for the one smell that will forever remind me of Spain, it will be the smell of a barnyard. It's sad but true. The smell can come at anytime, anyplace...without the warning of actually being near a barnyard. I have to say that today was particularly bad which is probably why it is so fresh in my mind. As bad as it was sometimes (very bad), it didn't deter this from being one of the best walk days I think so far.
In only 6 days, I will be walking into Santiago de Compostella. I have mixed feelings about it. I will miss the excitement of watching the different landscapes unfold in front of me each day, and sometimes at every corner. What I won't miss is not having different clothes to wear each day. There is something to be said to putting on fresh laundered clothes. Washing them out in the bathroom sink, hoping they will dry for the next day is not the same thing as clothes that gave been washed and dried in a machine.
Adios for today.