Etapa 17: Marinhas

The three of us got a bit of a late start in the morning, but we only had about 20km to walk for the day, so it didn’t really set us behind at all. The beginning of the day was all along the coast but then slowly turned inwards towards a very marshy area that was all boardwalk. Alfonso was telling me that he thought the EU paid for a lot of boardwalks along the Camino which must be a nice thing for Spain.

We eventually got to a small village with a couple of restaurants. I’d been craving another Franchesinia since I had one in Porto so I had another. While we were in the restaurant, a woman doing the Camino entered and was seated at the table next to us. She was from Holland and we finished up our meal the same time as her, so the four of us all walked together for the rest of the day as we were heading to the same place.

Just before we got to the Alburgue in the evening, we stopped at a grocery store to get supplies for dinner. I asked if anyone wanted to cook, and with no interested parties, I was more than happy to cook again and not do dishes. So we all bought different things for a pasta soup to share the cost.

Saskia from Holland and I made dinner and I was hoping someone might join us because it really was a lot of food. Was a great little dinner together though!

We were talking kind of loud at the table though, so after we finished eating (around 9:30) I suggested that we take our dessert (some ripe mangos) in the kitchen which was in the basement.

While there, a couple of middle aged Spaniards joined us. We recognized that they had also been in the restaurant that day. Everyone except for Saskia and I was speaking in very rapid Spanish. Their names were Josè and Olraleigh. I mentioned that my city was called Raleigh and asked how he spelled his name. He said it was a traditional Catalan name that came from the importer Marcus Aurelius. I wonder if that’s also the root of Sir Walter Raleigh’s name?? Also the Spanish really was guard for me to follow, so I ended up going to bed before everyone else.Read more