Relatively short walk today but set off early as we had decided to take the ‘mountain route’. We were very glad we did as the views were spectacular. Once again we had the trail to ourselves until we came to the first small village and indulged in coffee and their home baked chestnut cake. Had a nice chat to a couple from Palm Springs and a French guy and his Chilean partner. The French guy did say he could talk a lot and that proved to be accurate.
On the way back down to the main route we met a lovely Croatian girl trudging up the path wondering why her guidebook said the way was flat, so she was obviously pleased, when for once, we could definitely assure her she was heading in the wrong direction.
Had a nice walk along the flat, stopping for juice and latterly beer before arriving in Herrerías (Blacksmiths) around 1pm. Lots of horses about and apparently it is quite common for people to hire one for the next days trip up to O’Cebreiro.
Usual relaxing afternoon before going next door for a beer and meeting several old friends and some new people. Talking to a nice American couple and the husband mentioned the Appalachian trail, so I asked which part had he done, and as I should have perhaps suspected, he had completed the entire 2300 miles of it in one fell swoop.
Had dinner with Rob, Judith from Germany and Mary from Australia. Also Jim, originally from Cumbernauld, now in his early 70’s. Part of the fun of the Camino is guessing people’s background / job and I would defy anybody to guess that Jim was a professional magician. He is currently vice-president of the British Magicians Society. He was explaining that people develop tricks and, and if I understood him correctly, then sell them to the highest bidder.
Anyway we finally realised after 4 weeks of walking that our very Scottish habit of offering people drinks and asking for communal bills for meals is not normal Camino behaviour. Most, not all obviously, people prefer to simply pay their own share.
Camino 2022 