Today was to be our shortest day on the Camino at only 10.5 kilometers so we were a little more leisurely about getting up and off - we were up at 6:50 and off at 7:30.
Today was up and down again but not as severely (we were saving the 'big one' for the next day) but more than enough to deal with. This was another day of walking through woods mainly of eucalyptus trees but the peace was shattered in a couple of places by guys cutting down some of the trees. Interestingly we saw young eucalyptuses that must have been deliberately planted as they were laid out in neat rows - I had been told on another Camino that the local government regretted having so many as they were growing out of control and their bark (which is regularly shed) is a fire hazard and yet here they were being grown on purpose.
As often happens on Camino we spent the day either behind or in front of a group of five Spanish girls, we would overtake them and then shortly after they would overtake us. Usually this is a pleasant experience with a bit of joking between walkers but this group was so loud that we did want to get away from them but could not quite seem to manage it. In the end we found a waymarker that was a little bit up a bank and sat by it to eat some of the melon from yesterday which allowed them to get ahead of us.
By 11 we had arrived at Presedo and went to the albergue - another municipal one that was not run by the Xunta with a sign on the door telling arrivals to ring the hospitelero; we were debating whether or not to do this seeing as people were already inside and so asked the father of a Spanish family who were walking (him, his wife and their two daughters who were in their early teens) and he told us it was fine - we could just grab a abed and book in later.
Both guide books told us that there was no bar in the area but a new one had opened in September so we went over for a drink and to collect sellos - we did ask about eating there but decided that we didn't fancy the meal on offer besides which we had carried our food from Betanzos and so decided we might as well eat it!
The hospitelero arrived at about four and opened another small room for some later arrivals - in here they slept on mattresses on the floor thus greatly increasing the capacity of the albergue from the advertised 18 to 23. She told us that she would return at nine to collect our money.
A group of Portuguese guys were also staying in the albergue but had brought no food with them - they decided to hitch-hike the five kilometers to the nearest supermecado and the spare paper and the sharpie pen I carry came in handy to make them a sign - they came back about an hour later with three large bags of food and made enough food for them and the group of five Spanish girls as well (they did ask if we wanted to join them as well but we had already eaten by then).
After paying the hospitelero we were pleased to get into bed after all tomorrow was the 'big one' - the hill that we had heard so much about prior to coming here with a big climb over a short distance. We wanted to get a good sleep tonight.
Image from http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/llevatela-al-camino/completa/?camino=camino-ingles
Today was up and down again but not as severely (we were saving the 'big one' for the next day) but more than enough to deal with. This was another day of walking through woods mainly of eucalyptus trees but the peace was shattered in a couple of places by guys cutting down some of the trees. Interestingly we saw young eucalyptuses that must have been deliberately planted as they were laid out in neat rows - I had been told on another Camino that the local government regretted having so many as they were growing out of control and their bark (which is regularly shed) is a fire hazard and yet here they were being grown on purpose.
As often happens on Camino we spent the day either behind or in front of a group of five Spanish girls, we would overtake them and then shortly after they would overtake us. Usually this is a pleasant experience with a bit of joking between walkers but this group was so loud that we did want to get away from them but could not quite seem to manage it. In the end we found a waymarker that was a little bit up a bank and sat by it to eat some of the melon from yesterday which allowed them to get ahead of us.
By 11 we had arrived at Presedo and went to the albergue - another municipal one that was not run by the Xunta with a sign on the door telling arrivals to ring the hospitelero; we were debating whether or not to do this seeing as people were already inside and so asked the father of a Spanish family who were walking (him, his wife and their two daughters who were in their early teens) and he told us it was fine - we could just grab a abed and book in later.
Both guide books told us that there was no bar in the area but a new one had opened in September so we went over for a drink and to collect sellos - we did ask about eating there but decided that we didn't fancy the meal on offer besides which we had carried our food from Betanzos and so decided we might as well eat it!
The hospitelero arrived at about four and opened another small room for some later arrivals - in here they slept on mattresses on the floor thus greatly increasing the capacity of the albergue from the advertised 18 to 23. She told us that she would return at nine to collect our money.
A group of Portuguese guys were also staying in the albergue but had brought no food with them - they decided to hitch-hike the five kilometers to the nearest supermecado and the spare paper and the sharpie pen I carry came in handy to make them a sign - they came back about an hour later with three large bags of food and made enough food for them and the group of five Spanish girls as well (they did ask if we wanted to join them as well but we had already eaten by then).
After paying the hospitelero we were pleased to get into bed after all tomorrow was the 'big one' - the hill that we had heard so much about prior to coming here with a big climb over a short distance. We wanted to get a good sleep tonight.
Image from http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/llevatela-al-camino/completa/?camino=camino-ingles
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