Caldas de Reis to Picarãna de Cruce – 29 km

We were planing on stopping in Padron today. Meaning our walk would have been 19.1 km. Instead, we fell back into old routines, walking without stopping and nearly made it into Padron before taking our first break. Part of the problem is that there are so many your groups walking we want to bypass them. I love the pilgrims but the tour groups are loud.

Once we arrived in Padron we decided the day was young, why not walk further. This way we’ll have a jump start on tomorrow and the walk into Santiago will be shorter. Perhaps we’ll be able to make it for mass.

When we left Padron the weather was nice, kind of cool even. By the time we had walked a kilometre out of the city I was dripping in sweat and also nauseous. A combination of not drinking enough and the heat. But, we trekked on.

Today was the day we also met Ucas and 2 other people from Poland. These poor men had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Badly equipped, the wrong bags, the wrong socks, the wrong shoes. We offered them some of our liquid gold, fisiocream, they were very thankful. Somehow they were planing on walking the same distance as us today. I still don’t entirely understand how that’s possible. But I suppose, where there is a will there is a way.

We decided to stop in Picarãna de Cruce at, an off the Camino trail, B&B which we found online. And it’s perfect. Diego and his wife are delightful. My room, with cathedral ceiling and old stone walls is enchanting.

They served us a lovely dinner, which we shared with other pilgrims. Oddly enough, we were 4 Canadians and 4 Germans.

After dinner we had roasted chestnuts on the fire, this made for the perfect way to end the evening.

My eyes are closing; I am going check that our socks, hanging in the bathroom, are drying and bid goodnight but before I go…. Today marks the last official night before arriving at our destination in Santiago. I can not believe how quickly this pilgrimage has past. I have mixed feelings about finishing, but mostly, I have to say, I don’t want to. It would be great to continue on to Finisterra. Alas, that will be for another time.