Punta de Penas Brancas

Camino Del Norte - Day 21

La Caridad to Ribadeo
Distance 23 km (5 hours)
Total ascent 70m

Last it 16 peregrinos settled down in our little Albergue located at the edge of the village. Nine of us went to a local restaurant for an evening meal. The Albergue hospilardo also worked in the restaurant. Before I even sat down, he handed me a bottle of Guiness! Hooray....
We had a pleasant meal but found out that the Albergue in Vilela is shut. This was 5km past Ribadeo. There are only twelve beds in a tiny Albergue in Ribadeo. We decided to get up at 5am and set off at 5.30am.
Overnight, the weather was shocking. You could hear torrents of water running off the roof. I woke before 5am and checked my guidebook. I made the decision to walk the road to Ribadeo as the Camino would be treacherous in terms of mud, flooding and the general awful terrain. The rest were in agreement.
We set off but only got 100m before we found a cafe open which is really unusual. We all piled into the cafe for coffee.
We set off a short time later in the downpour and set off at a pace. Three hours later, we were 7 kilometers from Ribadeo after I set a cracking pace for our group.
By now, we needed breakfast and luckily found a truck stop where we took a short break.
The rain continued lashing down. We just wanted to get to the Albergue and hope that the hospilardo would let us in early. We crossed the Ria de Ribadeo and saw the town ahead. We are in Galicia. We couldn't believe we had covered the distance so quickly.
The Albergue was open. No one was there. We quickly showered and changed. Bepe, one of the Italians, had to leave us to catch a bus further along the Camino in order to catch a flight later next week. Our little band is now three, Claudia (German), Andreas (Italian) and l.

Tomorrow, we leave the coast to walk to Santiago. It is a week away. ........

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