Cea - A Laxe 35 km

We were up early and left our bags packed and tagged for collection and set off for the bus stop (next to the bar-estanco Paxariño) with our day packs. When we arrived there was a man waiting for the bus, he spoke great English, he had lived in the USA for a while, and he confirmed that the bus would be there at 0630, which it was. It seemed like just a few minutes later we were in Castro Dozón, unfortunately we were there too early for any cafés to be open, but whilst we were pondering this calamitous event, the Repsol station opened and we were able to buy a few snacks before setting off.

Once again the path was good, a mixture of tarmac and off road and we were enjoying one another's company. We did get split up a little as we all walked at different paces, so those of us ahead stopped for a rest at a nice seating area where there was a fountain for peregrinos. One of the ladies went behind a wall for a pee and just at that exact moment around 40 elderly hikers on a guided walk came slowly trooping past! Fortunately, none of them looked over the wall.

It didn't take us long to get to A Laxe, which we couldn't pronounce, and Kathleen came up with the idea of calling it Alexa, and that worked. We had to wait 30 minutes before it opened, but we got all of our washing done in the machine and got it hung out. Our bags had been delivered to Ma. Jose bar further along the road so we went to collect them and stayed for drinks. We came back later for dinner and it was excellent, the lady owner was lovely.

We were fortunate enough to get a dorm to ourselves and it was clean and tidy. I know you want to know about the toilets and showers - they were ok, not great but not terrible either. In the afternoon during siesta Kathleen and I walked along the road to the petrol station/café/shop and bought a few things and sat and had ice cream. It was one of my most enjoyable moments on the camino, she is a very special lady and spending some quality time with her on her own was a real blessing.

It was hard to believe that we only had two full days of walking left before we reached Santiago. As I looked around the dorm later that evening, I think we were all feeling the same, excited that we were almost there and yet at the same time not wanting it to end.Read more