The second last day
before our arrival in Santiago, we walked 21 km from Caldas de Reis to Pedrone. It should have been about a six-hour
walk but we made two unexpected stops that made the day a little longer.
The first stop was at
an elementary school. It was the
second day of the school year and a teacher of a Kindergarten class invited us
in to get our passports stamped.
There were 17 children in the class and far too cute in their little
smocks. The male teacher would be
an anomaly in Canada but he clearly loved and was effective in what he was
doing. The classroom looked much
like a Canadian classroom, complete with calendar and computer centers. There was even one boy who clearly deserved
a small chair stationed nearby the teacher to ensure he paid close attention.
The second stop idea
hatched the night before we left Caldas.
We travel with a lot of skinny fit people and it is not surprising many
are interested in bicycles and bicycle racing. Phil and Cheryl can quote you names, statistics and
strategies reguarding professional bicycle racing like any Canuck hockey
fan. Phil figured out that the Vuelta
2014 (Spain’s equivalent of the Tour de France) was passing by our hiking route
in the afternoon. We packed a
picnic lunch and reached the intersection point 12 km into the walk. We settled down and waited for the
excitement to build. At about 2:20
the motorcycles and sirens burst on to the scene closely followed by a peloton
of 189 of the worlds best bicycle racers.
It was over in 9 seconds but the spectacle and the “Swoosh” sound was
unbelievable. They are so closely
packed that you could sense the trust they have in one another’s’ professional
skills, as well as understand that if one goes down, most go down. I have a short video taken with my
phone but am experiencing trouble uploading. Maybe I’ll get it into the blog later.
 |
Hope Canada's Ryder Hesjedal Saw Us |
The afternoon was
spent walking the reaming 9 km talking about the buzz we had witnessed. It was truly a great day and we
finished with a great meal at our hotel in Pedrone.
 |
Coffee Con Leche Everyday. |
 |
Nearing Pedrone |
 |
Always Tired Near End of Day. |
A short day of 24 km
to reach the cathedral in Santiago tomorrow and the completion of our goal.
