I rather got the impression there would be some kind of guide and that we were going to stop at the Bodega, especially as they were advertised as one of the sponsors. 25 kms is a long way, I know that, I also know that Ponte Bibei is down a long way, which obviously meant walking back up a long way! Any way I decided to do it. When I went to enrol another lady was enrolling who looked considerably less fit than me, I anticipated that this walk was going to take a long time!
I got up at 07.30, far earlier than I like but I wanted breakfast and I needed to get to Trives for the start at 09.00. When I got up it was raining, though not heavily, this at least meant that it would, hopefully, not be too hot, but it also meant taking a waterproof. People assembled, some looking like they had no idea of what they had signed up for and some obviously very fit. I heard some people saying that the walk would take 4 hours!!! 25 kilometres in hills in 4 hours, I don't think so. When we started a group shot off at about 6 kms an hour, they certainly weren't planning to wait for stragglers, I still thought we had a guide so I started by trying to keep up, my other motive for being at the front was that, I knew, I would be very slow on the hills and I did not want to get totally left behind.
The roman bridge of Bibei
I knew it would be hard getting down to Bibei but I had no idea that the Romans built such very steep roads! How they ever got carts up or down them I can't imagine. We descended 400 metres over 3 or 4 kilometres and most of this was in the last 50 metres. There was a refreshment place set up by the bridge but, though everyone took a drink, very few, if any paused for a rest. By this time I had realised that it was every man for himself, it was not a guided tour, we followed arrows. From Bibei we went up to the Bodega, though I saw some people give up at this point and walk back on the road, about 6 kms.
The hill up from Bibei to the Bodega!
From Bibei we took a path that resembled a goat track and went up 250 metres in less than a kilometre. At the top we did not stop at the Bodega, I heard later that the owner was a little put out as he had agreed and had prepared a tasting of both his wine and his cheese, presumably it would have also been a toilet stop. Instead of stopping there there was a table set up round the corner with drinks, fruit and muesli bars. I was surprised to find I had caught up with people I never expected to see again, and also some seemed to walk off around the corner, or come from there, I thought this might be for toilet purposes but I think they were actually going to or coming from the Bodega. I thought the descent was down to Bibei and that once this was over, and we had climbed back up again, it would be relatively flat but this is Galicia!
The old Roman terraces, from the bottom!
When we got down to the bottom we had to cross over the road and climb up again, anothe 300 metres almost straight up, then we had anothe refreshment stop in the village of Sobrado.
Sobrado
Essentially we walked 10 kilometres from Trives to the Bodega, 10 from their to Sobrado and then 5 back to Trives, they said the last 5 would be flat but they weren't, they just weren't as hard as the rest. It was an interesting walk and exhausting, most of the women I had seen at the beginning and who looked unfit or ill prepared gave up, some thought it was a walk in the park. It would be good if the council repeats the idea but it needs more careful planning, a route that enables more people to participate and to finish, and a stop at a Bodega!
There was a meal at the end but I hadn't understood that bit of the information and I was far too tired to hang around for everyone to finish, I was not the last, also my brain couldn't cope with chatting in Spanish, I left, went home for a beer a bowl of gazpacho and a rest.
