T Minus 115km

It was delightfully cool and crisp this morning, more so than the weather app indicated it would be. The rain really cooled things down, and there was still a heavy mist hanging low over the mountains. Kathy generally prefers to wait until the first town to get coffee, but I wasn’t leaving without it, since I knew the restaurant had opened at 6 am. She said to go ahead and order her one, and she’d meet us there. Good for her we did, because our first coffee opportunity didn’t come until about seven miles in.

There are two routes out of Triacastela. One, through Samos, is longer but flatter, and has more road walking but apparently more coffee stops. Kathy and Mim planned to go via San Xil, which is hillier but shorter by about four and a half miles, so I went with them. We definitely had some climbs, but going through the forest was so beautiful. It was mostly packed dirt — basic forest floor — with a few sections of gravel, one area of rocks, and a lot of dirt-path-beside-a-country-road walking. Nothing particularly technical, although on one steep, dirt downhill we agreed that if it were raining or muddy you’d probably end up just going down it like a slide. Intentional or not.

We passed a woman sitting in the shade nursing a baby. I had seen them having dinner in O’Cebreiro but assumed they had come in on a tour bus. Nope. She carries the baby in a pack, and the husband’s pack is so big that I assume he’s carrying everything else.

The terrain worked well for wearing my Tevas. I did have to stop to pry rocks out multiple times, and towards the end my ankles were fatigued in a way they usually aren’t until many more miles while wearing actual shoes, but I will wear them again tomorrow. I can always change shoes if rocks get too annoying, but the toes did appreciate the break. Mim and Kathy have worn Chacos since day three, when their shoes became unbearable, and both are clear that they saved their Caminos.

Each time we emerged from the woods and saw roofs we got hopeful, only to discover they were barns in a non-town. We did pass a vending machine going in to one town. About a quarter of a mile later, going out of the same town, we came on a lovely walled in area that had benches and an amazing array of food and juices available. It’s a yoga retreat of some sort, it seems, and the food was ‘take what you want/pay what you can’. Alas, no coffee, so we didn’t stay.

My favorite part of the day was finally seeing a pilgrim traveling with a donkey. Boy, was that donkey loaded down, but I’m assuming it includes camping gear, since you can’t just rock up to any ol’ place and have a room for you and your donkey.

We finally reached a town with an open cafe; it was doing excellent business. (I do miss the food trucks.) The last few miles into town were fairly flat, and it feels odd being in a big city again. León didn’t seem so city-like, perhaps because we were in the more historic part, and here it’s just … city. We split up to head to our hostels, and I was half an hour too early for check-in, so beer it was.

I had hoped being in a hostel listed in the app meant it would be close to the Camino. It’s not. I’m about half mile from the old part of town, pretty much the opposite direction of what I need to walk in the morning. The appeal of the places on this end of town are that they are close to the train station, meaning there are lots of “starters” staying here tonight. They all look so fresh and shiny.

I didn’t have enough change for the laundry machine, so I threw everything in my daypack and went down the block to the laundromat, where it’d either take credit cards/bills or have a change machine. It did neither. I went in a small convenience store and bought the cheapest thing I could find to break my five Euro note (a bag of nuts), then went back to the hostel where it was cheaper anyway. Everything I own except the dress and socks I hiked in today got washed and dried. And the socks I just forgot to take off.

After that was done I went looking for food. Hadn’t thought about the grocery store, but when I passed one I decided to have a picnic by the river. Found a shady bench to sit on to eat, then looked for a good spot to sit and soak my feet. I got settled on a little concrete ledge, then realized the person in the other side having a picnic with his feet in the water was also a pilgrim.

The rest of the day was hanging in my pod. I napped, then packed every single thing I don’t need for sleeping. I want to leave early, so the idea is I’ll grab my pack and take it to the common area to deal with sorting out stuff there. We’ll see if that actually works — and if it matters with so many new people excited to be up and going in the morning. (One guy has already kicked over his metal water bottle. Twice.)Read more