For having almost 40 people in our dorm last night, we slept surprisingly well. We had agreed to meet Richard and Shaun around 7:30 at the cafe and then walk on to Arzua for breakfast. We thought we were running late, but when we got there, we were the first ones. We decided to grab some cafe con leches and Napoleons (chocolate filled croissants) to have for first breakfast.
George had sent us a message last night that he was in Arzua. That means that we should catch up with him today and all of us walk into Santiago together tomorrow. It’s been a tough trip for George and I’m glad that he’ll be able to complete the Camino with us.
Shaun showed up last. This is the first time he’s overslept the whole trip. Usually he is first up and wakes us up. Maybe the 7 beers and pain meds to help him forget his knee caught up with him.
Today and tomorrow are going to be relatively easy days for us totaling only 26 miles in the two days. The trail started out on quiet roads today. Richard is a natural conversationalist and can talk to anyone. He heard an accent he recognized from his youth and started talking to a couple from Southern England now living in Wales. We also joined in when we heard Wales since we have just done the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. They have been living in Cardiff for the last 20+ years.
When we got to Arzua, we stopped for second breakfast. Surprisingly, Pam and I aren’t loosing a lot of weight on this trip even though we are carrying heavier packs than everyone else. I guess our metabolism hasn’t kicked up yet. Or possibly, it’s the two breakfasts, lunch, two snacks, huge supper, and a beer or two every day that are taking their toll on us.
The walk today was, again, nice, except for the crowds and the humidity. We kept making frequent stops and seeing people we have known for the last month. There is a feeling of melancholy that’s starting to set on us that this pilgrimage is coming to an end. In the past, it was not unusual for us to knock out 10 miles by lunch. Now we are all slowing down trying to stretch out the days to keep it from ending.
Really, the walk in Galicia has been the best part of the trail with the exception of crossing the Pyrenees. Today was almost all trails. The trails gradually morph to gravel then to blacktop as we get closer to towns. We have pretty well decided to stop at every other town at this point. The next stop is Salceda.
We actually pop up into Salceda unexpectedly. There’s an OK looking bar/cafe, but we have also taken up stopping at the second bar/cafe in a town with the thinking being that everyone stops at the first one so the second one tries harder to be nicer to draw people in. This thinking is having a >90% success rate for us.
When we passed up the first one, I had a feeling we might have made a mistake. The trail turned back to dirt. I almost wanted to turn around but decided we were going slow enough without backtracking. We did emerge onto a highway. I could see the second bar ahead on the road. It looked pretty dumpy but we stuck to our rule of seconds. When we went in, it looked like a flea market. As we looked closer, what we thought were rags everywhere were actually pilgrim shirts that people have taken off and hung from the ceiling.
The woman at the counter was very friendly and patient with us. She offered to fill Shaun’s water bottle and even put ice in it. We ordered our sandwiches and food and ended up with way more than we could eat. While Pam and I were waiting, she poured us some yellow, herbal drinks which were some kind of local brew. Maybe it was the brew, but we walked away not caring about the mess the place appeared to be.
The remainder of the way into O Pedrouza was forested track. It was only 5 miles into town. We really thought we’d run into George by now, but we figured, worst case, we catch up with him in town. It was already past 4 by the time we made town. Linda was the first to see us when we walked in. We still had no idea where we were staying so we agreed to meet up in a bit.
We went to every Albergue and every one of them was “completo”. This is the first time it looked like our not making reservations might bite us in the butts. We ran into Kat while looking and she gave us a few ideas of where to look, but everything was full. When we went back out to the Main Street, we found George.
Richard tried a pension while we talked to George. Chris came up to us and told us he thought there were rooms in the pension they were staying in. Richard came out and told us the owner had called another pension and had them holding rooms for us to check out–this turned out to be Chris’ place. When we got there, the rooms were only 30 Euros each. Pam and I got our own room right next to a bathroom for only 5 Euros a piece more than we would have paid in an Albergue–the Camino provides once again.
George finally got to meet St Louis Linda on the last night of the Camino. He had heard of her on the second day of this trip and had managed to not run into her until now. Pete, Linda, George, Shaun, Richard, Pam, and I met for a few drinks on our last night of the pilgrimage. After a couple, Pete and Linda turned in while the 5 of us headed to a different restaurant for our (hopefully) last pilgrim meal. We ran into several others we have been hiking with and we’re all in the same boat: tired from all the walking, sad to think it’s almost over, yet relieved that we can quit relying on John Brierley’s guide book.