Negreira → Lago
Distance: 17.2 miles / 27.8km
Elevation: +2568ft, -2011ft
I woke up around 8am this morning and laid in bed a little until my alarm went off. I check on Tovin and he was still sound alseep above me, so I went to gather our laundry from the window drying rack, and when I came back he was awake. While gathering our laundry, I had accidentally dropped a sock out the window, but thankfully Tovin jumped out of bed and went outside and crawled through some ditches to go find it behind the building (we were staying up on the second floor). Once he came back, we got dressed, and then went out to have breakfast. Almost all the other people had already left except another couple, so we had our simple breakfast of lemon flavored yogurt and it was pretty good.
We started out hiking out of town, and it was immediately a lot of uphill, which we were not happy about. We got about a half mile in, and then I let Tovin carry my pack for me which helped a lot. Eventually we got to a café where I got a tortilla and a café con leche, and Tovin got an orange juice and a big piece of toast with oil and pureed tomato and ham on top. Both were good, and then we used the bathroom before setting out again.
Even if we were unhappy about the elevation, there were some beautiful spots along the way, including a field that looked like it was straight out of "The Sound of Music" and also a little wayside rest with a super friendly orange cat who loved being pet so much! He was a little dirty because he had accidentally stepped in some mud, but was so friendly and we stayed with him for a long time.
It was getting really difficult, and the day was getting pretty long. There was a kind of long stretch between cafés again, and so we stopped right before it, but they only took cash and only served lentil soup which we weren't super in the mood for, so we just rested and Tovin rubbed my feet a little because they were really starting to hurt. I used the bathroom and then we kept walking to another café where we got a sandwich to share and a Coca-Cola, before our final big push uphill.
It was about 3km of straight uphill, and was extremely difficult. Tovin was carrying my bag, and we thought we were almost to the top, when we realized that it was a false summit and actually went so much higher. He just laid down on the ground and gave up for awhile, and I did too because we were just so sick of hiking. Today was our longest day together, at almost 28 kilometers. But we were only about 1 km from the hostel at this point, so we pushed up the last big hill and then it was downhill all the rest of the way. We finally made it to hostel and got checked in, and then we both showered and Tovin did laundry while I took some alone time to just unwind.
By the time Tovin finished with laundry, I felt better, and then he gave me a foot massage with the fancy lotion I had gotten last week, and it felt really nice. We went down to the common area and opened a bottle of wine we had carried since last night thinking we would find a spot to drink it along the trail, but never did. Tovin also ordered us some ice cream, a scoop of lemon and a scoop of Ferraro Rocher flavor, and it actually went SO good together. It was very yummy.
We made some plans for our visit to Switzerland in two weeks, and then went into the restaurant and ordered supper. Tovin got the pork chop steak with peas and ham, and I got the fried fish with eggs and spinach, and it came with another bottle of wine and bread. It was all very yummy, and then for desert we had flan and rice pudding. Whenever we go out to eat, I order one thing and then Tovin orders something else that sounds good, and we split both of them so that we get to try twice as much food than if we both ordered the same thing.
After supper we went for a walk and met the most perfect and cute cat ever!! He was so sweet and nice and wanted so much attention, and so we pet him for almost half an hour, before going back to the hostel, getting ready for bed, and finally going to sleep around 10:30pm. We are sharing a room with about 25 or 30 other people, and so hopefully we can sleep okay.
