Long walk to Palas de Rei

Well, it was a long walk for those that walked! 23.86 kms according to Amr. And it was as usual a beautiful day, cool to start, warmed up and now cooling off in the evening….and the walk was through more Galician countryside, undulating, no huge ups and downs but quite long, and the distinct aroma of dairy farms!

I, on the other hand, met my Italian friend, Marilina, and we shared a taxi here at 11 am. For the first time an almost silent and unsmiling taxi driver…but he delivered us here and splitting the cost works well. So then Marilina and I had quite a while to wait - the hotels don’t do check in till 2pm, so we walked around, saw the church, found our hotels (and she managed to leave her bag in her hotel when a bag deliverer opened the door and she popped it in! We had a sandwich and OJ and finally it was time for check in. A new hotel for us, right in the centre and right on the camino (or very close) and fresh and perfect with a very helpful and friendly woman on reception who calls me Rosemarie every time I come and go…I think she was happy I did it in Spanish, and she spoke slowly and clearly and it was a good success. And she was excited when I reappeared with Amr…these personal things tend to make your day!

So I went up to meet the walkers as I saw they were getting close, and walked a couple of kms, and we were able to guide R and R to their accommodation which was where we had formerly stayed…if you didn’t know it was hard to find, so that was good…sort of cabins just before you get to the town itself…

So we met after a bit of downtime and they went off to the mass, and we tried to find somewhere to eat…the recommended place didn’t take reservations, but when we turned up had a wait of an hour for a table…so we found another place and had a great meal…I just had a tureen of the Caldo Gallego which is the delicious soup - cabbage, potato and white beans…so good, and it was my whole meal, instead of trying to fit in another course. Amr had pulpo, R and R shared a Spanish tortilla and we were all happy.

Tomorrow to Melide, only 15 kms…Marilina and I meet at the bus stop to get the 9.35 bus, but she is going to Arzúa where we go to the next day…her husband is walking a long way…ours is broken into 2 days…needed after the long hard days. So I will have many hours to explore Melide as will be there by 10 am…!もっと詳しく