Portomarin to Palas de Rei - part one

Can you believe I had almost exactly the same boiling water interaction at 6.45am as I did at 10pm? I didn't have to pour the water this time but otherwise, uncanny. I grit my teeth and smiled and said welcome to the Camino!

It is amazing that these same people appear to be able to accommodate immense amounts of discomfort when it comes to their amateur walking set ups - I've seen corduroy and denim, I've seen sandals hanging off bags swinging to hit the back of thighs with each step, I've heard a thousand clinks and rustles that would have stopped me in my tracks. They fascinate and appal me, these people. You can't boil water in a pan but you can deal with that?

Anyway the ordeal distracted me so much I forgot my boiled eggs I was so excited about. When I realised, I stopped walking and said, urgently and forlornly, MY EGGS and then kept going. I've since laughed about that a few times and it's one of many running in jokes with myself. I assume the hospitaleros raid the fridges at the end of each morning after we all go and claim what they want. I was refrigerating them in the carton which is, on reflection, a booby trap, and they might get a surprise when they go to crack them.

The temptation to stay off stage is huge at the moment, as is the appeal of 'complementary' routes - detours that diverge from and later rejoin the historic way. I suspect most of the five-day pilgrims will find these a bit daunting/want to stick to tradition and avoid them, so naturally I've taken almost all of them.

One involved a very brief tramp, with alarmingly free will, around the site of excavated pre-Roman ruins, which I've since learned is ”one of the most important archaeological sites in the Iberian peninsula". I'm glad I didn't knock anything over.Læs mere