Overnight - Albergue Pequeno Potala
A sleep-in today for the first of three unbooked days before getting to Sarria. The distance before then should really only take two days, but for some reason, I've scheduled three, averaging around 15 kilometres a day. And even though there's a long climb in amongst that, there will be some sleep-ins. Starting today!
I'm not totally sure where I'll get to today, but most likely somewhere at the foot of the steep climb to O Cebreiro, which I can then start on tomorrow morning.
When I finally stepped outside my Villafranca hotel, I was greeted with coldest morning of the trip so far. It stayed that way for an hour or more but after that normal service was resumed.
The track for much of the day was alongside minor roads, and mostly protected from what traffic there was by concrete barriers. The walk was through a long valley and was fitting of another superb Camino traverse.
At the first outdoor cafe I came to (in Pereje), I popped yesterday's thought-bubble about not eating along the way and had a very nice tortilla slice and pot of tea.
Further along at Vega de Valcarce, I stopped for another tea and decided to finish my day’s work at the foothills of the climb at Ruitelan. The Brierley summary of the albergue Pequeno Potala sounded good, so I landed there shortly afterwards and waited in the garden for its advertised opening time of 1:00pm.
I took advantage of the washing machine option at check-in and got all my clothes freshly laundered. Up until then, I had just been hand washing the odd item of clothing when they needed it but it was refreshing to have the lot done all at once.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at a local cafe and back at the albergue sorting my washing and waiting for the albergue’s communal dinner at 7:30pm. The few I've been to have been great value and my hopes were high for this one. They were not disappointed, although it was a bit lonely being the only English speaker at a table of Spaniards whose English was rudimentary at best. No matter.
Tomorrow morning's climb out of the valley is clearly visible from this village and it looks very imposing. Time for sleep.
Weather - The cold start had me thinking seriously about pulling out and dusting off my rain/wind jacket. But of course, this is Spain in summer, there were no clouds in the sky, and I was just being silly. And sure enough, as the morning warmed up, any thoughts of a jacket were long gone.
Health - All good. I did manage to use up some more of my anti-blister wool (which I haven't bothered using since the first week because my feet have been so resilient), but it was done through giving it to a fellow pilgrim out on the track who had stopped for a break because of blister problems. This was just her second day.
Food - Slice tortilla + pot of tea at Pereje cafe; Pot of tea at Vega de Valcarce cafe; Magnum-type white chocolate ice-cream + pots of tea x2 + mixed salad at Ruitelan cafe; Almond magnum ice-cream; Communal dinner at albergue (cold soup, mixed salad, spaghetti, rice pudding)
Expenses – Accommodation - 5.00; Food/Drink - 21.90; Other (bag wash at albergue - 4.00) Total - 30.90
Walking time - 4 hours, 5 minutes (start 8:30am, arrive at accommodation 12:35pm)
Brierley distance - 19.3km (total 609.5km)
Daily Steps - 26,864
Total Camino steps - 966,534
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