Day Nine--finally some good weather

Hooray! We woke up to sunny skies and cool temps. After breakfasting on a few local pastries in the hotel, we were off on a series of gentle climbs that took us over 3200 feet, and then dropped us back down to a tiny cafe swarmed with peregrinos.

All of our friends were there, so we stopped as well, for food and drinks...but there were so many of us, and the place was so small, that it took an hour for us to eat, pay, and finally leave. Which meant an hour longer on the trail

The high point of the hike came a few km later, a long steep climb that seemed to go on forever. Estelle had added some new inserts for her boots, modified them, and seemed to be walking on air. I, on the other hand, was really slogging it today.

But we were counting off the km to Cadavo, where we would end today's hike, and that meant only 129 km to Santiago. Tomorrow, in Lugo, that will drop to 100. Oviedo is 190 km behind us, and the rest of the route should be much flatter.

Meanwhile, Cadavo has only two restaurants, and one was sold out for a local birthday celebration. The other had a one-hour wait. We headed to the only bar for pizza, salad and beer, along with about 25 other peregrinos.

We're tired, sore, and looking forward to a rest day in Lugo the day after tomorrow. Rest, laundry, a bit of sightseeing, all sound pretty good to us.

But that's only after we hike the last 29 km to Lugo.