One of those days, then, yeah… The stage is 24-ish km uphill, going through places where they never heard of pilgrims, apparently. Only one place to buy food, only one public albergue with 19 beds in it (remember, first come first serve?) and one private one, booked full. Which means, you don’t only have to get there by opening time, but also ahead of hordes of pilgrims. Okay, not hordes, but definitely way more than 19.
So, ok, you might plan to wake up and leave around 7, like a good disciplined pilgrim, but whatever you’ve planned, there’s always somebody who’d get up at freaking 4:30, after which more and more people decide, okay, to hell with it, let’s go. All the while you’re there making some desperate calculations in your head: how many should leave before I can start panicking?
Haha, and you want to eat before leaving the town, because who knows when the next chance is? But nothing is open until at least 7, and even then it’s scarce.
Fortunately, there is magic of modern technology which gives us vending machines sometimes, and cleverly they would sometimes put actual food in them, so we’re fine this time: salt crackers and salchichon is the best, compared to not having anything, for sure.
On the way through Betanzos center we again pass a giant cistern parked in the main square that says “drinkable water”. What an idea it would have been to also make a little sign saying “it is here because tap water in this town shouldn’t be used for drinking now, please pour out the 2l you just put in your drinking system at the albergue and get some good water here”. But no, they didn’t put it there. I’m fine at the moment, but it’s still the same day, so, you know, we’ll see.
The quick guy was almost as quick as ourselves, but only almost. This maniac also walks, like, 60km a day or so, he says. Some people…
Alright, somebody is snoring, somebody else has their sound on and getting messages, somebody I think is talking in their sleep, should be fun! Oh, and yes, we were the first to the public albergue, yay! Mosquitoes? Yes, hello dear…
The lunch today was served in the local center of the universe, a superb place with Calda Gallego (Galician soup, nice), Chicken with potatoes, some dessert and coffee which they never brought, but still wanted to charge us for. Dinner? Yeah, kitchen is semipresent in the sense that it’s not there, actually. There’s a stove and a microwave, but absolutely nothing else, not even a knife. So after walking 2km to the tiny shop we had to get things we could tear off or bite off. Fresh bread, though, not bad.
Alright, good night!
