Onward to Triacastela

We left our cozy hotel late this morning, not getting out until almost 9. It's so hard getting up and walking each day, every day. Especially when you have to get out of a cozy bed with soft sheets and pillows.  We would walk 21k or 13 miles today. Another light day...yeah right.

 We have been in touch with our Ozzie friends Greg and Melody by email and he is back on the road again after a days rest in Ponferrada, nursing shin splints. They hope to catch up.

It was mostly downhill today with stupendous views all around.  The fog was very low laying with us up above it in the emerging sun just like at home.  Makes me miss home but I know too that we are almost at the end of this amazing journey.

I start the mornings very full of energy and can hardly feel my pack anymore.  That is not how the day ends.  I'm sure if you would have stuck a knife in my right shoulder, it would not have hurt any worse than it did at the end of this day.

John ran with the bulls again today, just less officially. This time about eight of them were being driven down a skinny country lane straight towards us,  that also happened to be the Camino, where we had to give them as wide a berth as we could. The kindly farmer and his little dog passed us by giving us a buenas Dias and a happy smile.

When we reached our destination of the town of Triacastela, our journey of finding a place to stay was just beginning.  We always want to ask at the albergues if they have a private room for dos personas like we could get easily at the beginning but not so much now.  Checked a pension, she showed us the room, we said ok, she said pay tomorrow, we looked around after she left and said we cannot stay here.  John returned the keys and apologized while I walked on down the sidewalk.  We finally ended up in the albergue in a private room with private bathroom for 40 euro, only 10 more than the place we had abandoned. Not bad.

Dinner at about 5, as I was starving was an amazing grilled salmon and John had steak la plancha with two sauces!  I tell you, sauces in Spain seem to be non existent.  In our culture, we so heavily season everything that when it is not it seems bland.  We are always asking for salt and pepper here since they are never readily available on the tables.

We slept good tonight until around 5:30 in the morning when we both heard a weird noise. My first thought was a bat flying around our rafters which would not be inconceivable. John turned on the light after we figured out that it was something with long nails skittering across our wooden floor.  We couldn't find whatever it was and had no idea how whatever it was got in or was living. The walls were stone!  As I wondered if whatever it was, was now hiding in my backpack or hiking shoes, we could no longer sleep.  John was reminded of the scene in Titanic when Leonardo DeCaprios's character answers questions about the accommodations in steerage.....hardly any rats.