Day12, Camino Walk, Combarro to Armenteria

 Miles- 7.5, Time-3.5hrs, Weather-cloudy w/ lite misty rain, Temp- 50’s-low 60’s. Elevation- 1460ft. Today was our big hike up to the Monastery at Armenteria. This is the section that most people talk about on the Spiritual Variant route because of the elevation gain. The day started off with a very lite misty drizzle, not enough to put on our rain poncho’s but we did cover our packs with the rain covers, just in case. The actual steepest was just getting out of Combarro, since the village is built on the side of a the mountain. Once we reach the road it turned into a gradual up hill walk, not bad at all. Then we started up the dirt road portion,  which also was just a nice gradual climb. It was very peaceful and beautiful scenery, only crossing a handful of people the whole trip. We reached the top in a little over 2 hrs, then a nice easy walk down to Armenteria. We arrived at a local cafe, had our Coffee & OJ. Friends we meet a couple days ago joined us at our table and we just talked and drank coffee😂. We did go visit the Monastery. Finished in 1129, it is a massive structure for sure and it is still a working Monastery, still holding a pilgrims mass every evening. Then we walked, over a mile, to our place where we are spending the night. Very nice modern accommodations. No actual working staff is here, everything is done by email communication. The one draw back to where we are staying, no restaurants or cafe’s, so we bought a couple things from the cafe prior to coming up here. Tomorrow is our last walking day on the Spiritual Variant, the next day we take a boat, then it’s back on the main Camino route. It’s picture time, enjoy.