Camino de San Salvador Day 3

May 28, 2023

I was the first to leave again this morning and had the mountains to myself for the first few hours. After leaving Poladura, the trail quickly began climbing through some pastures, a tractor trail, and eventually onto a single-track path. I was taking my time and taking lots of photos!  It was just after sunrise and the views were absolutely stunning! It was like walking through a watercolor painting with green grass, heather, and yellow flowers with the mountains in the distance. This takes the prize for the most beautiful place I’ve ever been so far!

After another steep climb, I arrived at the first landmark of the day, the Cruz de San Salvador, a cross high on the rocky mountaintop. After crossing a meadow and climbing some more, I passed the angel cairn and eventually another cross before starting the long descent. The descent was following cow or goat tracks along the side of a steep grassy field. The path was very narrow and deeply dug into the earth. I did manage to trip and fall at one point but nothing too serious. After crossing a creek, the way turned onto a dirt road that went up and over another hill.

I came to a spot where I saw a Camino sign on the right but it was partially covered by a bush and tilted away from the path we were on. I went to look at it more closely and sure enough, the trail turned to the right onto a narrow tract thru a lot of prickly brush. I’m so thankful I chose to wear long pants!  We finally came down a steep grassy path near a building and I missed the arrow pointing to go thru the gate. After walking further along the muddy cow path I realized my mistake and turned around.

At this point, I met up with Antonio and we both walked over to the (locked) Colegiata de Santa Maria de Arbas and refilled our water.  We headed back on the Camino which was now alongside the highway. The arrows pointed to the right up a hill. I followed it but there was some road construction on an adjacent road and the trail just dropped off. I turned around and shrugged my shoulders to Antonio so we went an alternative route that entailed following some rather treacherous and muddy cow paths on the side of a steep hill. Antonio was nice and waited for me. We came upon a mare and a fairly young colt right below us so that was one positive of our diversion. We were now at the point where the trail splits. If you are staying in Pajeres (I was) then you go to the right otherwise you go to the left. So I parted ways with Antonio and headed thru the rocks and scrub brush towards Pajeres. 

The trail had good markers at the beginning but then it got confusing with all of the different cow paths. I passed one marker and ended up in an open field with no markers in sight. I was also feeling my blood sugar level rapidly declining so that didn’t help my decision-making. I went across the pasture into the woods following cow paths but still saw no markers. I retraced my steps back to the last marker I saw just to be sure I hadn’t missed something. Nope. Back in the pasture, I saw another path going in a different direction and there was some kind of advertisement on a tree but still no markers.
I took a chance and kept following this path made up of mud, cow dung, rocks, and leaves while trying not to slide downhill. I could hear the creek down below and knew we crossed it at some point so that was encouraging. I could also hear the thunder starting!  About this time, I see the Frenchman Marcel making his way down the muddy hill too. Once we got over the creek we finally saw another Camino sign!  Then the heavens opened up!

We quickly donned our rain gear and continued on what was now a paved road. Thank god!  It took about another 20 minutes until we entered Pajeres (which is an absolutely cute little village) and made it to the Albergue. We were the first to arrive. After a shower and snacks, I realized they had WiFi!  They also had a machine that makes coffee, tea, and hot chocolate! 
For dinner, we went to a nearby cafe and had bread and lentil soup. It had turned very cold and was still raining when we got back to the Albergue.