The long day

Before we start on today let's go back to last night.  Tina and I landed at an absolutely wonderful albergue and when we checked in at the hospital a Taro for the best beds he could provide. He graciously put us in a small 6 bed dorm with two bunks and two singles.  I put $10 into the single and took the nearby bottom bunk.  After having sold out the second floor dorms, he sold one additional bed in our room to a very friendly person named Ben from Denmark

Later we witnessed a peregrina being dropped off in a car that a local had picked up on the side of the road, she could barely make it into the albergue.  We, as naturally good peregrinos, offer to assist her with her foot problems as much as we could.  She had literally blown out the sole on one of her boots and related or not was suffering extreme feet pain.  The hospital a terro brought out a tub of ice water and had her soak her feet for a good hour. We brought out Tina's pair of Oboz shoes to see if they would fit and offered her to take them if they did, sadly they were one a size off.

By this time her husband had caught up and met her at the albergue and called her a taxi to where they were staying in the next town and he hiked up the rest but not before we all sat down for quite some time and enjoyed some good peregrino social time.

We later sent down to a wonderful assortment of Galacian Specialties in half racion form.  Zorza, Mini-chorizos, Spanish omelette (a half ration was still more than enough for two of us), and assorted Spanish meats and cheeses.  Worth noting all of the half rations themselves we're more than enough and would easily pass in the US as a full serving.

In the table next to us was our roommate Ben (Benny), who in Tina's eyes was a dead ringer for Crocodile Dundee. We had some great social time sitting outside under the awning getting to know each other.  As bedtime neared Ben warned us that he talked in his sleep...  I'll tell you right now Ben doesn't talk in his sleep but more about that soon.

We wrapped up and got to an early bedtime at 9 p.m. looking to get an early start this morning.  Just as we were really starting to doze off Ben started his "talking in his sleep"....  Remember I just said Ben doesn't talk in his sleep, that's right he doesn't talk in his sleep, he screams in his sleep, in Danish to boot.  After the initial shock of his screaming we were able to settle down and get a good night's sleep.  at some point in the night apparently his phone rang and he shouted at it yet I did not wake up for that event.

Today we hit the trail at 7:30 walking in the pitch-black until sunrise at 8:30.  nursing Tina's feet we walked 20 km taking a full 8 and 1/2 hours to walk it as we took advantage of every bar and rest area available to us.

We landed in a wonderful spot tonight in Padrón, famous for padron peppers, and also the spot where body of St James came ashore.  As we were out looking for a place to dine we bumped into the very same couple from the night before with the foot injuries and proceeded to have a wonderful social time with them until they had to depart to get ready for tomorrow's hike.

Tina complains back at home that we can't go anywhere without somebody recognizing one of the two of us.  It's worse here...  HAHAHAHA!!!

Taking your time and being easy on Tina's feet takes us a little bit longer on the trail but allows us to enjoy the experience more.  Every time we stop we're bumping into new friends that we've made and if we're not bumping into somebody they are actively seeking us out in the Towns at the end of the day.

Tomorrow's day is looking to be shorter with Thursday being a short walk into Santiago de Compostela... The Invasion is to begin soon...

Photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/BrwX3kEc8aytbNMo9