Day 9

Morning After...

Seems to be something about 39 and raining in the morning... And hung over this morning.

Long range weather forecast shows warming trend over next week into upper 60's. All celebrating that news.

Away we go,

Buen Camino

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Very Interesting Morning....

We are hiking through a large valley of vineyards. On each side are hills about 300 to 500 feet higher elevation. The hills are being covered with snow, the snow is falling toward us, but melting just before getting to our lower elevation

And my coat is still too hot. Somewhere I will find a decent windbreaker and my insulated coat will reside in the bottom of the pack!

Margaret, If you want to get Kuhl pants I believe the quality is good. For rain, the frog tog pants over shorts is working fine for me or they could be worn over long pants. Yesterday, when the rain had cleared, I removed frog togs, wore shorts only and used poncho as windbreaker over light long sleeve shirt at 50 degrees.

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I will send photo of breakfast bar. It's packed in more than one way😁

Buen Camino

Packed Breakfast Bar

I hope this goes into the list as the toughest day. 

41,180 steps, 18.9 miles, 195 flights

Started out at 39 and raining this morning.  The temperature went down from there on. As we hiked through the valley, you could see the snow flurries on the hillsides. What reached us was"just melted" raindrops😊. Then we hiked up into the snowline! Temperature continued dropping. The last 6 kilometers was face into 30 mph headwind and the temperature display on the edge of town read 0 c. That's just plan old FREEZING folks!  For the first time, my jacket was not too hot. 

The old saying goes "keep the engine running and the heat will stay on" That requires also not running out of fuel. I almost ran out of fuel today. Missed a food stop and paid for it later. Won't do that again.

Staying tonight in a small private albergue in a small town, with only a fireplace in the "great room".  Lee says we are getting the true medieval pilgrim experience! Tonight I will be wearing everything I have inside my bedroll😎  We are all huddled around the fire in blankets for now. The alternative is a church where you sleep on the floor. The girls are making a jump to get to next town. 4 kilometers away and temperature is below freezing now. With no guarantee of warmer bed, I'm staying here.

The locals say this is extremely cold for them as well.

Buen Camino

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Moved....

Couldn't take the cold. Moved over to sleep on the floor in the warm church. Tried to bury down and get warm at place with beds, but fully dressed, in bedroll and liner, I was shivering.  Wasn't going to be a reasonable night.

Hard effort in the cold. Will take easy day tomorrow.