25k to Pais de Rei with Determination

Our walk out of Portomarin this morning was cold and foggy.  We were sustained by the hotel included breakfast of cafe con leche, orange juice, some kind of Twinkie like cake and a huge bun of which we took one and stuffed it into our pocket for lunch later.

Donning our headlamps we made our way up a steep and forested incline.  As the sun came up we came upon a quiet place where people had set up small piles of rocks and what looked like shrines to people passed on.  I grabbed one of my cards that happened to be one of Mother Teresa and her "anyway" poem on the back . I added my contribution and reading the poem aloud was a sweet moment.

There are definitely lots more pilgrims on the path now.  I knew I was going to eat up 25ks today so I set my mind to it and just burned up path.  We had done 10ks by 10 am.  I was so happy when John told me we were nearly halfway!  I just knew I could do the rest without too much grumpiness. The hamberguesa stop helped to keep my gas tank full.

We got into Pais de Rei about 2:00 and checked into a pension for 35 euro. Not bad. It was like grandmas place. Headed over to the bar/cafe after showers and as we were having a wine, checking emails and figuring our Australian friends Greg and Melody were about a day behind according to their message to John, they showed up in the doorway!  We were so surprised!  We figured out that the email had been sent the day before and we'd missed it.

This is a couple who like us have been determined to walk every single step with our backpacks on our backs.  Greg told me weeks ago that if he, for some reason needed to forward his pack or bus forward, he would just go home and finish when he could do it the way he wanted. Talk about a stubborn dedication!  When he suffered from bad shin splints and had to layover two days in Ponferrada, we thought we'd never see them again.  Drugs and ice had done their trick and they began doing 30ks a day just to catch up with their friends of who we are honored to be included as.

It was an amazing reunion and we began plotting our walk into Santiago together along with the twins, Pat and Sue. There is another couple, Tom and Katrina from Ireland, who have the same determined philosophy.  Seems we have formed a loose little group.  We had a wonderful dinner of seafood soup, chicken, pasta carbonera, pulpo (octopus) and other delicious things.