I feel better, Yipee! Had a good night, roommates nice and quiet. We let them pick the wake up time so as not to disturb them. So we got up at 6:30 and out by 7:30. There are so many walkers now you just get in line and follow along. 
Someone promised me no more rain, well they were wrong. 
Great walk anyway today, we had to be in by 2pm, as per reservation and we had to walk 25km. We passed through woodlands and farm land today. We also walked along the road, when we pasted the fertilizer plant in Toxibo, Al and I both said at the same time, ” do you smell chocolate?” I don’t know what they put in thier fertilizer, but it smells good.
We crossed back and forth across the main road all day. We chatted with different people, some we just met, from Canada, and some others we had met way back on our first day. 
I think I mentioned these two, they have done the Camino several times and they told us this will be their last. It’s just not the same. They said they hoped the movie fanfare to settle down, but now Oprah is planning a special about the Camino on her channel. The crowds have been getting bigger and bigger as the years go on and the little towns just can’t handle the numbers. And if the numbers keep rising it will only get worse. I hope not.
We stopped for breakfast finally, first cup of coffee in days, and more toast. Some of these alburgues are old, Ligonde was a former medieval stop, they say Charlemange as well as other royal personages stayed there.
Al and I have this private language that we sometimes use that no one else knows what we are talking about.
We have a few new words, “Red shirts” these are the people that race ahead, sometimes couples separate to get the last two beds in town. “Day Walkers”these are people that only walk in the day light, and only carry day packs. Just water and some snacks. I try not to judge. I know, try harder. 
After several more KM,s we pass the Church of San Tirso and entered town, Palas de Reid. We booked ahead into a private hostel but still have to share a room with 12 other people. I know, where’s my pilgrim spirt? I’m tired, Brian tells us that since we started walking from the south of France we have now traveled, drum roll please! About 440 miles, (708.5 km). And the kicker, we only have 42 miles left to go.
Okay we also have a little question to put out there, when I was feeling awful I told Al, I couldn’t face walking all the to Finis Terre. It means big days of walking, it’s 90 more KM’s in 3 days. Okay we did all that extra walking to get the 3 days, and we did. Now should we use that to just hang out and take a bus to Finis Terri ? I’m torn, I feel better now, but it would be nice to be done, but it’s only 3 more days. 
What do you guys think?

Well I thought I was better, could have been the 2nd pitcher of sangria but I don’t think so.
We had the worlds worst snorer in our room last night. The people in the next room even heard him, super bad. Kept me and several others in our room up half the night. Then there was the rain, felt like the epicenter was above our building, flashes of lighting and crashing thunder. On top of all that I was also feeling sick again, I actually volunteered for the top bunk, had to get up twice in the night to run to the bathroom. It’s no wonder I didn’t feel well. 
We left around 7am and I didn’t even know if I could walk today, got sick again on the trail. No food again, until later. I have no idea what’s going on, I can eat toast, no ill effects, bananas, no ill effects, nothing else. Al was great, we had a few hills, that took me forever, but mostly even terrain and road walking. We ended up going 9km before we even stopped for the first time. Some of the towns or even just the houses that we pass are putting out food, fruit and bread for pilgrims. They set out chairs and have a donation box nearby. By afternoon i felt a bit better, had some toast. The trails are crowded now, we are in the last 100kms to Santiago. As a pilgrim you have to do these last 100 to qualify for the compestela you get at the end. We have met people who only walk a chunk at a time, and now many more faces we haven’t seen before. All passing us. 
We walked through rural Galicia, which is wet and green. Lots of the paths have huge stepping stones made out of granite on the side, because they have either water or cow dung below. 
When we came upon Portomarin we had to cross over a huge new bridge over the mino basin. We roomed with a gentleman who is on his 4th Camino and told us that when he was here two years ago the older bridge was under water. The original bridge was of roman origin and the stair case we saw was part of this older bridge. Also the church was lower, it had to be moved, brick by brick to where it is now due to a dam being built.
I took two naps before Dinner time came but i decided not to risk eating, so I had a couple of cups of tea and a few bites of Al’s dinner. We will see. We were advised that from this point out we should book our nights stay a day ahead. A little more expensive, 10 euros versus the normal 5-8 but only 2 others in our room. They won’t let you book the municipal Albergues ahead, so it’s first in gets a bed. So if your a little slow, maybe you get one, maybe you don’t. We took the advise.
Tomorrow another 25kms
Until then,
Be well.

Ya still raining, day 24.
Ok got new batteries for the head lamp, left in the dark. All night I thought why are people taking showers in the middle of the night, it was pouring rain. Road was muck and rocks, more extreme hiking, oh and wind. Lots of wind. Al said when we were high, as in altitude, the gusts were at least 60mph. We went up two separate mountains and entered Galicia.
Lots of fog and now I know why everything is green here.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to let you know about this or not, I have had a stomach bug for a few days, today was the worst. I felt sapped of energy and Al had to carry my pack or I never would have made it. At times I had to simply run for the woods shedding my sweater as I ran. We walked 33 km and our book tells us when you adjust for the climb add a few more km to that. I was truly dragging when we got in. I didn’t really want to eat, but managed a couple of bananas then that night I had some tea and we went to the store and just made a simple salad for dinner. 
Brian has told us that so far we have come 636km, or 395miles! We are almost there, 83% of the way. 
Anyway now I’ve gotten ahead of myself, so it was dark and it was raining. We seemed to go up and up, and there would be a village! It seemed kinda nuts but there was a road and maybe village is an exaggeration, 2 or 3 houses. I have no idea how many it takes to be a village.
Then we actually crawled out of the woods onto the tarmac to huge stonewalls surrounding a thriving village. They had 2 stores, some restaurants, even a laundry service, and of course a big stone church.
Then we went down for a bit, a few more villages, then up again. The views were amazing, the mist would clear and all of a sudden you would see a quilt of green pastures as far as the eye could see. I made a few videos, sorry cant post for some reason, a picture just didn’t seem enough.
Al just reminded me, I had some toast at this fantastic albergue. It wasn’t in our guide book. The owner operator is a past caminoist, so when I ordered toast I got 4 huge pieces of toasted French bread with all kinds of jam. After some persuasion , I shared with Al.
We continued down through oak trees and these giant chestnuts on a nice sandy leafy surface. Then cement, another town and our albergue for the night. 
It has been raining so all off our clothes are damp, today I wore what I normally wear to bed. A pair of Al’s shorts and a longsleave undershirt. I just could not wear damp clothes when I already felt miserable. Al realized he left one of his shirts somewhere and My Socks! He is in charge of bringing in the laundry. Wearing our ponchos is like being in a movable sauna, Al said a wet shirt didn’t matter. 
More of the same for tomorrow.
Until then,
Be well.

Day 23, still raining.
We left late this morning, we did so much walking yesterday, we were extra tired. Also the batteries in my headlamp quit, so we would have been walking in the dark, and wet because it is still raining.
We continued up the senda beside the highway, after a few km we then moved to a dirt track besides vineyards and up and some rolling hills. Then all of a sudden you come upon cement road,

it’s weird when that happens.
The town we were walking into was Villafranca del Bierzo. There was a really pretty church here built in the 12th century, Church of Santiago. We also past the ruins of a monastery. We even found another correos and mailed a package to ourselves in Santiago. We happened upon this man carving wood on his front porch. I noticed a sign behind him that said se vende, for sale. You see for sale signs here everywhere. Half the houses are for sale. I was watching him and realized he was carving a big spoon, so I asked, se vende?
He jumps up and shows me all this stuff and runs into his house and comes it with a package and tells me 3 euros. It turns out I bought a hand carved salad set, spoon, fork, and spatula. Cool!
Anyway we wind our way through and looking back I got a picture of the town set between both hills. Then more senda, beside the highway.
We ended up in Vega de Valcarce, a nice town, actually had 2 supermarkets, a bank and several bars. Still only the one street. But the street you came in on and the same one you left on had these massive chestnut trees. Some 10 feet around at least. 
We did the usual, laundry, dinner early bed. Today we walked 26.8km. 
Tomorrow we have more big hills because we enter the next and final region, Galicia.
Until then,
Be well.

Day 22, muy mal! Very bad.
First, Ken, I dedicate this day to you, Today, because i am behind writing this is day 23, just saying, still here. 
And what a horrible day the 22nd was.
It started out with this dog, we saw this dog last night and he was fine, today he decides to attack Al. I mean ruff up, teeth barred looking for flesh to tear out. 
Al was brave, I was preparing to run, I know the worst possible thing to do, but I am terrified of strange dogs.
Then we begin our decent, our guide calls it a steep rock defile, it was wet slate, and it went on, then up, then down, always bad terrain, a lot of it had to be done single file. We have both been doing some extreme hiking between today and yesterday. 
We walked and walked and walked into a medieval city with a castle. A 12th century Templar castle, Castillo de Los Templarios. 
We think this is where we messed up and got lost, we were lost for several hours, and several KM’s.
It was horrible. Everyone was sweet and tried to help us, but language barrier kept getting in the way. Finally these two ladies tried to help us, we followed them and then decided no we need to go back to out last way mark, which we did, civilization at last. We were found!
We checked into a great hostel at a church, Capilla de las Angusti XVIII C.
It was Sunday and they had a market going on, yes I was tired but a market, with all sorts of things for sale. Yes I know I can’t buy anything but I want to see it all anyway. 
Well we had a choice, it was late, eat or to market, Al won, we went to eat.
I am enjoying the blog, and I am glad you guys are too! I read the comments to Al when we have WiFi. One of the problems we have been having is getting in late, and then I am just so tired. We have to do our laundry, by hand in the sink, then ring it out, everything is damp, no sun for days now. We hang some of it from our backpacks and hope the breeze will dry it. Then we have to eat, then blog. So as much as I like doing it, other things are a priority.
I will try to catch up more later.
Until then,
Be well.

We left kinda late today, our hostess said she would return at 8:15am for breakfast. We decided to wait even though her pilgrim meal the night before was lacking. Most of these places know your hungry, so the pilgrim meal is meant as a cheap filling meal, because more than likely, it’s the only one you get a day. I know for us it is. Her lodging was also more expensive, the last 2 nights, 5 euros a piece, she was 10. Dinner is normally under 10, she was 12, and I left the table still hungry. To her credit she did throw a coffee in at the end. 
But she never showed up the next morning we waited until 8:30, we needed her to call the service for us to see if they still had my poncho. So we had a long day ahead of us and a late start. 
4.9km later we were at a Cowboy bar for some coffee in El Ganso. He had all sorts of cowboy memorabilia and kept joking that he was Ramone. If you have seen the movie you would understand, it was a character they met in the movie ” The Way”.
Then 6.9km more, through 2 more villages and into Rabanal, then we started to climb. It’s really incredible that anyone even lives up here. 5.8km more and we are in Foncebadon. Some of these villages used to be abandoned but the Camino has brought new life to them. This one is considered the doorway into the mountain. We reach our highest point to date at 1,505m. Cruz de Ferro is 4,934 feet above sea level. It didn’t really seem like a climb to us because we have been climbing for days. Silly me i forget my rock, Al actually had 2, one was for him and one his brother. You know to be honest I’ve carried that dam rock more than half way across Spain, I’m keeping it! 
The roads/ paths today have really been horrible. It’s raining, slick and with uneven terrain. 
When we reached the top, the sun actually came out for 10 minutes, no rain. Then we started down, it started to rain again.
6.5km later we are walking, still in the rain through a gorge, Rainbow, gorgeous! The path is really horrible, I can’t say it enough, the rain just intensified it. When we finally got to Acebo, another4.7kms. I was so done. The downs really kill your knees, we went up for days and down in a few hours. 
Acebo was a disappointment, 5 Albergues, NoBeds! At this point it was 6pm and pouring. We have never walked this late. We were turned away, again and again. I couldn’t believe it, at the church, where I would have slept on the floor, we were told, ” only another3.8km, just over the hill. 
We were crushed, Al was also pretty heated, all that hill climbing, and the decent, to be sent away in the rain at 6pm. We ended up in a great place, Riego de Ambros. They had a kitchen and a washer, we were not up to cooking but we needed our laundry done. The bedrooms were also cool, one bunk on the floor and the other above and then pocket doors, so you had a room to yourself, cool. Also we used the washer, no dryer, then went to get dinner, which was fantastic. The man at the Alburge hung out all our laundry for us! He didn’t speak much English but I think I conveyed my gratitude. Lots of mucho gracias and head bowing. Also there were only 5 of us there, so it was nice. 
Tomorrow day 22, not a good day, we were jinxed, you know who you are.
Until then, 
Be well.

A colder and wet day. 
We had been blessed with good weather until today. Honestly it wasn’t too bad except that as it started raining harder and we thought maybe we should break out the rain gear. Where is my rain gear? Ahhh , no where to be found. we thought of the last place we saw it was Burgos when we had sent the bad ahead. it was attached then, but we have had good weather and didn’t notice until today . Allen had his packed inside his pack but mine was attached by buckle to my pack, I have no idea how a buckle came undone. On purpose, maybe, maybe someone didn’t have one,I don’t know. Anyway, no rain gear and its a pretty wet out. We found a store with ponchos, and I need a poncho to cover the pack. The dang thing is only made of Plastic, it has all ready split down the middle. I’m cold and wet to the bone. 
We stopped for coffee at this fantastic place, the guy who ran it has done his own Camino and he had taken pictures of bridges, and mounted them all on a poster, impressive. 
Then we went over this fantastic bridge, 19 arches, I think. Anyway it’s one of the best preserved medieval bridges in Spain from the 13th century. Just a very pretty town.
We made it to the big town at the end of our page, Astorga, I got a lovely pink plastic poncho here. I actually found a jacket on the ground which had Camino 2013 embroidered on it, I thought cool this can take the place of my poncho. People leave stuff all over the trail here. for some reason they just don’t want to carry it any more. Mostly boots, sweaters, even a sleeping bag once. I didn’t think that was the case here. I figured someone just dropped it. At the top of the hill I saw this guy, rushing back. we are all going the same way, you don’t see people walking toward you very much. Oh well, I found the owner, bummer. 
We just passed through Astorga, pop: 12,000′ lots to see, I wish we weren’t so rushed. Another walled city with lots of historic buildings. Astorga was a major crossroads since Roman times. From here we start heading up, back toward the mountains. 
We stayed in Santa Catalina, another very small town, just 50 people live here.
Tomorrow we reach La Crus de Ferro, which will be the highest point on our entire route.
Until then,
Be well.