We started out at 7:30 this morning. The idea was to find a breakfast place as we walked thru town since we were at the edge. Not one thing was open. Bill said he was very disappointed in Palas de Reí. Evidently dinner last night was not great either. That has been the worst part of this whole trip. The food has been less than spectacular this whole time. We remember the last time we were in Spain having all this amazing food. Not so much now. Very disappointing indeed.
Walking in the dark this morning – remember the sun doesn’t come out until 8:45 – was challenging. We missed a turn at one point, and saw another pilgrim, Jacque (French guy….yes his name really is Jacque) walking back toward us because he had missed the same turn off. We had to retrace our steps until we found the marker at the fountain, in a not very obvious spot, in the dark, pointing the right way. Jacque talked the whole way, in French. I know maybe one word in French. I tried talking to him in
Spanish, but he didn’t give me any indication he understood me. However, I know he speaks a little Spanish as he spoke to the guy in the restaurant we eventually found in the next town. We got lost again a little later as we were walking past a cool looking house, and missed the turn. And again, Jacque missed the turn as well.
We stopped in Melide, the half way point, for lunch. It was supposed to be this great place for pulpo (octopus) and one other dish. Meh. Not so great, and not any different that the food we’ve had. I just cannot figure out why they can’t seem to get the bones out of the fish. I had a big slab of cod. No head or tail, thank goodness, but every bite was filled with bones. I think we are all very tired of the food. No joy at all.
It was a lot of uphills and downhills today. I tried to take more photos today of some interesting things we saw. It’s all pretty much the same smells and sights of cows, corn fields, sheep, and countryside.
Today was especially long at 19 miles. My right hip flexor is starting to really bug me. I stopped and stretched a few times, but it didn’t make much difference. The next two days are around 13 miles each, which will be easy peasy lemon squeezey after today. In reading about what to expect for the next few days, we were very disappointed to find out that because of the renovations of the Cathedral in Santiago, the normal pilgrim church services are held in other churches. 😳 Bill said, “that’s like kissing your sister”.
We are all getting very tired at this point. We are ready to go home to our loved ones. Today, the long miles, missing my husband, being around my brothers too much, and the loss of Dad, hit me especially hard as I flipped out at the end of the day and yelled at everyone. Not especially proud of that, and I’m still pissed off. Only two more days. Only two more days.
Thank goodness dinner tonight was good. We had to change our accommodation reservations about a week ago because the albergue we were originally in, contacted us to say they were closing on Oct 15th. The albergue suggested 2 hotels in the next town (which is why we had to walk 19 miles today) and I found this hotel, Pazo Santa Maria. Super nice hotel, and the restaurant was great. There were two pieces of broccoli in my “wok-rice”! The only two pieces of broccoli I’ve seen in any of my food for over a month! The waiter said they are usually booked solid in October. But, everyone had to cancel this year because of the restrictions. So, we lucked out.
18 Oct 2020 ~ 44,867 steps ~ 19 miles ~ 75ºF 🌤
