Via de la Plata

There was a new building site for the new high-speed train line from Madrid to Galicia. From this building site there was a good abbreviation (- ~3 km) to the pass Padornelo, 1350m, which we arrived at 14:20 – Yatta!
15:30 lunch in Padornelo: beer+chips
We arrived to the albergue at 17:50, but it was closed.

We tried to call the number written on a sheet on the door – nobody answered. Then we met a boy on the street, he pushed the door and let us in. There were already 2 pilgrims. We took the upper (empty) room and went to the village to have a dinner. The menu in the bar we had found was quite disappointing: only meet or bacon, at least for the starter we got salads. On the way back we met the hospitalera, she recognized us as pilgrims and said she would come later to the albergue (our Spanish was getting better every day :-)). Back in albergue there was an Italian couple (Paulo+Patrcia) in “our” room. They spoke English, they started in Puebla and came from Milano. They did it already two times, Paulo said Santiago was like a drug, when you did it once you couldn’t stop.
Then came the hospitalera for the “check-in”: only 3€. Incredible coincidence: when Peter looked at the names in the pilgrims book one name catch my eye: “30.7. Olga Sklenářová, Prague.” Unbelievable!! The same women was last year in albergue Aguncheiro two days ahead! This time only one day, so maybe next year we would catch up with her :-).
Before going to bed at 10pm we played Bluetooth-chess. Peter won, so Martin wouldn’t play any more with me.Les mer