Saturday 8th May 2010 (Portomarin to Palas de Rei – total distance walked to date 601.14km)

The weather forecast continues to be dim – more rain. Without ponchos we were not able to continue with our walk, not when the rain goes right through our rain coats. So, the first thing we did in the morning was to go in to the village to get some. Today was supposed to be a 24km walk but we managed only 8km from Areixe to Palas de Rei due to time constraint. The route today was a little boring as most of the terrain was asphalt. We just found out that Li Leng is terrified of worms (of any kind) and because of the very wet weather, lots of worms are surfacing on the muddy tracks. She actually freaks out!! Today there were so many that she lost count. Steven is still suffering from his blisters and pain on his feet (reminds me of the time when I started so I know exactly how much he is suffering). Teddy is Mr Cool – no problems of any kind (the lucky man). Our accommodation at Palas de Rei was at Casa Benilde. I thought I had booked us in a Hostal but it turned out to be a Hotel. The service was excellent – best so far. At check-in the lady gave us a rundown of where the restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies etc were located. That really helped because we did not have to spend time looking for them. We went to the 8.00pm mass at the Cathedral. Although in Spanish, it is really quite easy to follow. At Church we met Ted and Diedre Braun, an American couple who is also walking the Camino. We invited them to join us for dinner and we had a very nice time exchanging stories about why we were walking the Camino, our experiences on the Camino so far, etc. One of the factors that make walking the Camino interesting is that it brings people together, people from all over the world, from all walks of life and of different ages – and in time, perhaps these acquaintances become good friends.

Sunday 9th May 2010 (Palas de Rei to Arzua – total distance walked 621.58km)

The bad weather interrupted our programme again today. Once again we had to cut the front section and started walking from Melide for 20.44km to Arzua. The route saw quite a number of up and downs with particularly sharp descents in two locations. Rain brought lots of mud to the paths and tracks and that took some joy out of the walking. Not forgetting that when the paths and tracks are muddy, it is very difficult to differentiate dung from mud and I really do not relish stepping on poo! Since Sarria we have noticed an enormous increase of dung on the route. Along with it comes the smell of it too. We were fortunate that we missed the section that many have described that “it stings to high heaven”, but ... we did pass it in the taxi on the way to our start at Melide and it really did stink to high heaven. Well, it is not always foul smelling, we walked through a plantation of eucalyptus trees and the air was filled with beautiful eucalyptus scent. As I had mentioned before, the landscape changed when we crossed over to Galicia. The land is very green due to the often wet weather and as a result there is a greater variety of flora and fauna. This makes walking more interesting and of course the pace slows because of more photo opportunities. I was told that from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela the route is easy. We are now 3 days into this route and we are still faced with steep ups and downs. Poor Steven, the steep downs really do not do his blisters and aching feet any good. Arzua has a population of 6,633 so it is a town. Being Sunday, almost all the shops are closed. We booked ourselves into an Albergue but they put us up in an apartment instead. That was nice because we were able to cook dinner without having to queue up to use the kitchen BUT, the apartment had no heating. The weather has not only been wet, it has also been very cold and windy. It was so cold that we decided to move all the beds into one room, so the five of us were in one room instead of two. That helped. Warmth was also generated by a huge laughing session we had when Joy decided to use her sleeping bag as well (she brought along a sleeping bag for -10 weather conditions!) and zipped herself in very securely. One minute she looked like a huge black worm (that scared Li Leng of course) and another minute she looked like an Egyptian Mummy! I started writing my blog but the cold got to me and I had to get under the blankets. So I logged off and went to bed.

Monday 10th May 2010 (Arzua to Pedrouzo/Arca – total distance walked 642.53km)

Today we were determined to beat the weather at all cost. Before we went to bed last night we said that we would walk the entire distance of 20.95km no matter what the weather would be. We started off with a light drizzle and did the first 8km in very good pace despite encountering four steep ascents within the first 4km. The continuous rain over the past few days has created not only soggy muddy paths and tracks but today we were faced with long flooded stretches. We had to resort to acrobatics of all sorts to twinkle toe our way through. Not as bad as the ankle deep mud sections we encountered soon after Burgos but it was quite an experience for Li Leng, Steven and Teddy. At one point on this flooded section, Li Leng spotted a worm and froze because she imagined that there could be lots more that she cannot see for the mud and water that is surrounding her, and dared not put her foot down. Quite hilarious one might think but it must have been really scary for her. If not for the muddy paths, today’s route would have been rather nice. More eucalyptus plantations and lots of country walking. We met a group of school children walking the camino to Arca. They had police escort to stop traffic when they had to cross the main roads – impressive! Tonight we are at a Pension in Arca. Once again we had the use of a kitchen so I cooked dinner again. I decided to surprise everyone with “chicken rice” (without the chicken because the supermarket did not have any), so the best I could do was to cook the flavoured rice only. Li Leng was baffled as to how I could have cooked it without chicken. Tonight is our last night before Santiago de Compostela so after dinner we spent sat and chatted. Tomorrow we will walk into Santiago de Compostela and that will mark the end of our journey on the Camino Frances. The battery on my lappie is running really low so I will end and quickly post these 3 days on the blog.