To Muxia and the Sea

Wednesday, November 18 – Day 66

The bed was quite lovely! I didn’t wake up much during the night, so when it was time to get up, I wasn’t really awake yet. I had a simple breakfast, and was out the door sometime after 8. I’m not really sure what time it was. It was, however, raining. I had hoped maybe it wouldn’t rain, or rain much, or at least, not as badly as it did yesterday. I think today was worse. Or maybe it just seemed worse, because I started out already wet from the day before. My clothes were still wet. Not damp. Wet. Do you know how disgusting it is to put on wet clothes? I am really, really, really looking forward to being able to put on clean, dry clothes every day. What a simple blessing that most of us take for granted.

As I was heading out the door to start walking, I ran into Hanne (Hannah) from Denmark, who was also just starting to walk. We just naturally fell in together and had a lovely morning and walking and talking together. We had such a lovely time that we completely walked the wrong way and didn’t notice. We walked along the river until we came to a bridge where construction was being done, and it was completely roped off. There was no way to get across. Then we realized that maybe it wasn’t actually the way we were supposed to go. Not a great start to an already long day.

We had to be very careful, because when we got talking, neither of us was paying attention to where we were supposed to be going. Luckily, because we had gone the wrong way, that put us behind Cory from Italy, so we caught up with him and he kept us on the right path for the rest of the day.

We stopped at a bar to get bocadillos around 11. We still had 19k to go, and my feet were already hurting pretty badly. The sandwich was delicious, though. We also stopped in the little shop and got some more cookies and chocolate, which were also delicious.

Usually the password is something like “camino”

The Galician countryside is beautiful. I wish it hadn’t been raining so much so I could have take more pictures.

At some point we caught up with Aldo’s group, but we were walking faster, so we passed them. It was good to see them in passing.

Shortly after we saw them, we saw the ocean for the first time! Hanne saw it and said, “oh, look!” And there it was! But it was a cruel joke, because we could see the ocean, but were still an hour and a half from our destination.

I stopped to inspect a bush, so I got behind.

One of the ways you can get into Muxia is along the beach. it was wonderful, even though it was raining. I am very glad I’m staying here tomorrow so I will have time to spend exploring the beach. It would also be nice if it didn’t rain, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I caught up with Hanne and Cory as they were trying to find an albergue to go to. I went to go check into my hotel. The sign on the door said the hotel was open but the restaurant was closed, and the door was locked. I had to call a number for someone to come and let me in.

They do have laundry facilities here, but I decided to have my laundry done tomorrow, in case I decide to go swimming and get things wet.

I took a shower and got clean and dry, and then headed out into the rain again to find a place to get my Muxiana, the certificate for walking to Muxia. I went to the albergue that Hanne and Cory went to, but she said I needed my credencial and my passport. I had left my passport at the hotel! I had to walk all the way back to get it. At this point I’ve already walked closed to 1800 kilometers. What’s a few more? I went back to the same place and got my certificate.

Hanne asked if I wanted to go to dinner with them, and yes I did! She really wanted fish, since we’re by the ocean. We went to a place at 7, and there was a bit of confusion about whether we could get the pilgrim menu before 8 or not. It turned out we could, though. I got a chickpea soup type thing for my starter, and it was absolutely delicious. There was enough given to me for 4 bowls, and I ate almost all of it. I was pretty full by the time the main course came, and that was highly unfortunate.

This is what happens at this restaurant when all 4 people at your table order the fish.