Running water, hidden beauty

Saturday May 25

With only two more - yes I said two more - walking days to our incredible adventure, I find myself looking back. One of my go-to lines was always “ooh! Running water!” Whenever I saw a lovely little stream, creek or similar feeder of water during our walking - I found myself stopping and and taking it in for a moment. Just the moving water, maybe coming down from a hillside or another water source, and making its way to the sea or assorted little pools throughout the countryside. The shape of the waterway,  the calming, burbling sound. It’s like a little tranquility hit.  Like these:

And up to today these were mostly one-offs, a stream here or there…then we walk by and it’s gone. Until today.

Yesterday was a big vertical climb of 270 meters to the summit, before a little descent into Armenteria. This morning, we pushed off for a substantial segment and all the guidebooks told us we’d get rewarded today for yesterday’s  big climb.  And they were so right.

Welcome to Ruta de la Piedra y del Agua. Almost 1.5 kilometers of what can only be described as a real life fairly tale forest. Besides lush greenery which forms a perfect canopy, the centerpiece is a hearty stream that is cascading down the mountain. The pilgrim trail directly to the right keeps you  intertwined with the stream thanks to a series of historic long-idled mill houses - many with the center millstone still present. The sound of the rushing stream and sets of waterfalls is  hypnotic, as is the sun speckling in through the canopy.  And that’s not always good because the trail is narrow and exposed tree roots and stones make for challenging footing. But it was all worth it. Michelle and I agreed it was the best single 90 minute segment of our entire journey. Enjoy the pics: