Puebla de Sanabria to Requejo

I had a really good night's sleep in a proper bed with a duvet, I had been very tired after the long wet walk yesterday. Jonathan broke the bedside lamp, which I guessed we would need to pay for. As he was leaving the camino, he gave me some gear - first aid stuff etc - that he wouldn't need. My fitbit wasn't working well, it keeps switching off, and then display keeps flashing, but I had messaged JP and he told me what to do and it seemed to work.

Since I was only doing 12km today I decided to have a lie in bed until 0700, and Jonathan was staying here another day as we were now a day ahead of schedule. We went downstairs to the owner's cafe for breakfast and Jonathan confessed to breaking the lamp and I offered to pay for it but the guy wouldn't take any money for the damage.

After breakfast we headed into the town centre, I needed to top up my cash and there was a bank there, Jonathan had a hotel booked for tonight so he headed there. We said our goodbyes and I set off. Within 15 minutes I wished I had taken the road. Today's stage is in roughly three equal parts, with the middle section on tarmac and the others off road. The grass in the first section was very wet and parts of the path were still flooded from yesterday's rain. I had to navigate my way around them. When I reached the final section, I decided to stay on the road, i think it was very slightly longer but it was flat and dry. I reached Requejo in just over two hours, not bad for an old guy.
The private albergue was closed for the day, what a shock, so I had to go to the municipal one, it didn't get good reports but i really didn't want to to do another 16km, especially as there is a 5km incline up the main road to the pass at Padornelo, and the rain had returned.

The negative reports about the municipal albergues were if anything under playing how bad it is. Unusually for an albergue there was nowhere to wash or dry clothes, there were too many beds and the mattresses were somewhat thin, and nowhere to sit and socialise. The toilets and showers were ok, as in not terrible. I was regretting my choice but then it was absolutely pouring with rain, so I made the best of it.

The albergue slowly filled up, a guy who made it clear he was Basque nor Spanish, an Italian, a Spanish guy, a french guy, and the German guy who got turned away from the albergue at Calzadilla de Tera because it was full, his name was Mike, he was Vegan, carried cooking utensils and food with him, his backpack was twice the size of min. He arrived barefoot in the rain to save his boots and socks from getting wet.

I think that the next few days could be quite difficult, the weather forecast for the next few days isn't great, and there have been an increasing number of albergue closures, and some of the distances are longer, which could be problematic if albergues are closed.Read more