Mombuey to Puebla de Sanabria

I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by the worst thunder and lightning storm I have ever experienced. The rain was torrential and continued for hours. I was very glad the albergue was a solid stone building. Also, Jan's phone kept buzzing all night because she didn't seem to know how to put it on silent.

The rain was still pouring down when we left. In fact, it rained all day except for about one hour in the afternoon. A lot of the path was very flooded. We had to navigate our way around some of the floods, which meant walking through bushes and trees. By the time we got to Asturianos, our feet were very wet. Jonathan had been walking all day in running trainers rather than walking shoes, so his feet had been wet within minutes of setting off this morning. My walking shoes were GoreTex, and they worked well for a while, but eventually, I could feel my feet getting wet.

We arrived in Asturianos at 11am, all the cafes were closed, the albergue didn't officially open until 1400, but the door wasn't locked. So, we went in, dried off, changed our socks, and then made ourselves some lunch. Jonathan suggested going on to Puebla de Sanabria. It was another 15km on top of the 16km we had already done. On the plus side it was a bigger town with supermarkets and all the cafes and bars would be open. So, I agreed, and we packed our stuff and set off.

Once again we had to navigate a lot of flooded areas, and the rain was still pouring down, so we checked the map and took to the road, although it was exposed to the wind and the rain it wasn't flooded.

We had decided not to go to the municipal albergue but to a hostal, and as it turned out, the municipal albergue was temporarily closed anyway. The hostal was €50 for a twin room with an en suite, which wasn't too bad. It was basic but clean.

The plan for tomorrow is that Jonathan and I will part company. He is heading back to Zamora and getting a train to Santiago as he now heads home to Texas. I will walk on to Requejo, which I remember as an absolute dump, but the private albergue was good. It is only 12km, but after a couple of long days, one in constant rain, I am ok with a short day.Read more