Day 2: Portomarin to Palas de Rei 26km

I didn’t sleep well despite top notch accommodation as I was a bit worried about the long mileage day ahead. Surprised it was raining out and rolling thunder delayed my start; a bit disorganized finding umbrella etc. On the other side of the the bridge it rained heavily and I found walking with an umbrella in one hand and poles in the other quite effective. A lot of people seem to have left the same time so jockeying around to allow a steady pace. The rain and crowds eventually settled out. Decided to have soup for lunch as I enjoyed it so much last evening and an Asian man asked me to point it out on the menu. I offered him half my jamon sandwich as it was huge do he sat down with me after insisting he pay for half. Grant is 69 and decided to do this walk as the tour company feels 70 is too old to take the risks of the walk. He was two hours ahead of the rest of his group he says: they are the group that were at breakfast at my hotel and are from Taiwan. We had an engaging chat and he shared his canned white asparagus with me before I had to get on my way. The town of Monterey was particularly memorable with neat as a pin houses next to farm machinery and the barn; in fact the shepherd and his trusty dog herded them out to pasture as I walked through. A lovely day but I was feeling very tired and on arrival in Palas de Rei I passed the town church as I descended to find my hotel.Read more