Day 3 - Stairway to Heaven (Salas to Campiello - 35 km)
Today was a glorious day for looking at the scenery - unbelievably beautiful.
Because the distance was long, we started out well before sunrise and before anyone else was awake. Under the glow of our headlamps, we departed the peaceful town and entered the pitch black forest, being careful with our footing as we had a steep slope leading to the river on our right side. We steadily climbed up the forest trail for at least 45 minutes. I stopped several times whenever I saw a break in the canopy to indulge in the incredible view of the night sky. With no artificial light pollution and with sunrise still at least an hour away, the stars were stunning and mesmerizing. I love the night sky so I was in heaven with the Big and Little Dipper, Polaris, Casiopa and Orion watching over us.
Second breakfast occurred after almost 10 km of walking from darkness to twilight to dawn in a chilly mist that provided that ghostly look once again.
We met up with Rado as we continued our climb. In fact, most of the day was climbing - some gradual and some steep. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that we reached the apex of our journey and began our descent.
Throughout the day we were privileged to have incredible vistas and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was a stunning day with perfect weather.
At various times of the day, we also ran into fellow pilgrims Jarrod and Laura, Natalie and Becky, Marine and Erlind and several familiar faces with no names yet. We met Cristina, a new addition to the list of our pilgrim family, who has been on a path of self-discovery for a while. Originally from Spain, she now lives in Amsterdam and is planning to walk a Camino for a period of time yet to be determined. We had an interesting conversation about life and how rewarding it can be to live in the moment and not have expectations. I'm sure that we will see more of her as we continue along the path.
The day ended with dinner at the restaurant next to the albergue. I strolled to the darkness at the edge of town (only meters away) and enjoyed another look at the brilliant sky. Always stunning.
Tomorrow will be a shorter day however with some significant climbs/descents and we're told, more incredible views.
