Day 4: A Guarda to Vigo

Five Germans were up and at it by five in the morning. I was surprised that rather than be considerate for the other pilgrims, they left the door open and turned on the bright hallway lights. They weren't packing there, but used it simply as a passage to the front room, where they were.

The amount of space we occupy as individuals, and maybe the space we grab away from others, is of interest to me. Always has been. I was raised to be considerate of others, to know that even though I might be important (to me), others were to themselves as well. And that kindness and consideration are essential. A ladle of the golden rule soup, I guess.

I fail at this all of the time, I know. But I keep trying and occasionally I succeed.

It is a balance to not diminish oneself or one’s need… to know that yours is as valid as anyone else’s. To not diminish, but also to not falsely elevate oneself above others because we feel we are better. We’re all just essentially doing the best we can.

I rose grumpy, no doubt, and so this judgment comes from that space. But it was soon gone. How could it have stayed? Riding always brings a joy to my face, and the cold morning breeze transmuted it to a soft joy.

This was the first day where I took off when it was still dark. The ride was pretty magical. All along the coast. At the start, it was easy and flowing, but it soon changed into rocks that forced me to walk and push or carry the bike over obstacles. Then it was smooth, then it was rocky. But always it was gorgeous.

It was so cool to watch the sunrise colors lighten the sky. We were on the Western shore so of course the sunrise I eventually saw was after it crested the mountain to the East. There were flowers. There were birds. There was herbal scents just filling the still air.

Eventually, the paths gave way to a paved bike path, and it was almost like that all through the remainder of the day to Baonia. What a beautiful situation it has, with a large bay that’s carved out the city to a nice half-moon. Big parks, monuments, and a lot of people just milling about.

I stopped at a farmers market to buy some fruit and ate it on the shoreline.

For this trip I had purchased an Insta360 action camera, so that I could capture some of the riding and general beauty of the trip. I was also using it as a way to comment in the moment, so I could really remember the feelings and experiences that were flooding in. In the stretch before Baonia the camera had filled up its 256GB microSD card. So I figured I’d take some time here to replace it.

I had a handy multiple battery charger that had two slots for spare microSD cards, so the swap went pretty easily. Then I shut the case and my full card fell out of its slot and into the hinge and cracked in half. I just looked at it not able to take it in, really.

I was sad about that. There was some gorgeous scenery, some details about the trail conditions, and (of course!) sterling commentary spoken with pure elegance and sophistication that no one will hear. Ah well. I load in another card.

After a rest, I took off again, climbing the big hill to get to the town of Vigo.

It was a long tough climb that for me (I had lost track of the ruta again) was on the road. It just kept going up for miles. Eventually I crested and coasted down a well-earned hill.

I looked for lodging in Vigo and struck out a couple of times, but then booking.com finally loaded for me and I found a place outside of Vigo proper that was on the ocean and even though it was a significant blow to my budget, I thought I’d stop here today and rest, as I hadn’t slept the night before and I was empty.

Another thing was that I was getting really sore in the saddle. I had been wearing bike short liners that were padded with the thoughts that extra cushioning would prevent just that. But I find that if I ride simply in underwear (and shorts, of course!) that I never have a problem. TMI and counter-intuitive, I know, but that’s what works for me. So I figured that the rest day would have that additional healing benefit.

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