This was a tough one. We started at Boente, where we had hiked yesterday afternoon, by taking a taxi this morning at 7 am. It was very dark, but again, we were trying to beat the predicted heat.
But we screwed up. We drank our water bottles (and a cafe stop for coffee and OJ) but it wasn't enough. We ate snacks (dried apricots, some mixed nuts) but it wasn't enough. And we pushed on through the noisy crowds and boom boxes from the Camino Frances, chattering, singing, yelling and clogging the trail.
Even cows got in the way.
But the last 8 km of this day were a struggle. And then we found that our pension was at the far end of town, another 1km added on to the day. The only good news is that the Guardian Civil had a van in town and was stamping Camino credentials. Of course we got one.
In the end we hiked 29km at well over 5 kph, but we suffered. Our feet hurt, our knees ached, and our bodies complained. Not our finest hour.
Lunch was purchased at the nearby Eroski grocery store: salad, bread,chips, cheese, jamon serrano for me, fruit, chocolate, sun-dried tomatoes...OK, maybe we were a little hungry.
We didn't even take many photos, partly because the views were limited, as we often hiked deep tracks between trees, but also because there were too many people.
But we are in O Pedrouso. We have a decent room and took hot showers. We're fed and hydrated. While our pension is far from town, there's a supermarket right across the street, so we ate salads and empanadas for lunch and dinner
And tomorrow we have only 19 km to hike to Santiago de Compostela. We've now done more than 300km.
The end is in sight.