Today I looked out before I got dressed and saw a clear sky that looked as if it would be a perfect day and that is how it worked out. The sun was not yet up when we left the albergue at about 6:45 and it was cool. We had planned to get breakfast at a café close to the labergue which we had seen a notice in the window the night before which said it opened for breakfast at 6:00 am. We got there and it was closed and shuttered. Just then someone arrived and started to open the shutters but told us they opened at 7:30. Our protests in English and German did not help so we started out without anything except the water we take every day.
It was more than 2 hours before we finally found a café open and the coffee tasted delicious. Unfortunately the bread delivery had not arrived yet but his promise it would be there in 10 minutes which made our mouths water for fresh baked bread turned out to be in vain and we had to manage with pre-packaged muffins.
The weather was lovely, blue sky, sun and an easy trail across fields with the mountains to the north in view. The cuckoo was back to greet us and there was no sound of traffic since we were well away from roads and any towns.
We passed through a couple of villages and after about 14 km we reached a village where the local Spar market was just opening at 10:00am. Perfect timing. We bought a baguette made into 3 boccadillos with wurst. We will eat it within about 2 hours so we are not worried about the meat and chose something to make a change from the Serrano ham or salami that would last a day or two.
We set off again across the flat plateau, still at close to 900 meters 3,000 ft elevation that has been our standard for about the last week. The sun is hot and the air cool so very comfortable for walking.
Both Christa and my dermatologist will be pleased to see that I have my sleeves rolled down, my sun hat on and my collar up!
Don't look at the shorts! The sun is getting higher and the shadows shorter.
We had chosen to take a longer alternative route today since the traditional route spent all day next to the highway and we were glad we did. It was peaceful and pretty and we saw very few other people.
We stopped for lunch by the side of the trail and enjoyed our boccadillos. It was the first substantial food we had today since we missed breakfast and the baker had not yet arrived at our coffee stop.
Back on the trail and soon we came to civilization again. The outskirts of Hospital de Óbrigo with some small factories and houses. However it was not long before we came round a corner and saw the bridge which is a feature of this town,
Truly a great surprise. It is the longest bridge on the Camino. The river is also very pretty
We had seen a sign along the way for an albergue called albergue Verde and we had decided to try it. It was a bit on the edge of town but we found it and it seems to be a "hippie hostel" with incense and all kinds of tea except black tea. We settled in with lower bunks, did our washing (not much), showered and bought some beer at the local gas station to quench our thirst. There is a nice garden and the other people are very friendly. There were two young men from Holland and I asked them what the smelly stuff was since I suspected it might have been something that is legal in Holland but illegal in USA. I was relieved when they told me that it was harmless incense sticks.
We spent time in the garden, had a bottle of wine and some snacks we had bought at a local supermarket and dinner at 8:00 pm. Of course it was vegetarian. We started with a prayer sung by the
Hostaliero with his 4 year old son beating a drum but not in any way could we identify it being related to the singing. The singing was in Spanish and I am not sure what the prayer was about since there were Buddha statues in the room!
We had a practice show before the real thing with Werner and Josef but they were soon thrown out for the real thing.
The meal was quite good, First a salad and then a kind of small macaroni with a creamy garlic sauce and carrot cake for dessert. It filled me up. By the time we had finished it was time to get ready for bed.
But one more incident before we went to sleep. As we were getting ready for bed Werner noticed a man in the bed next to him whom we had seen about 2 weeks before. He is traveling to Santiago on foot with his dog. He had spent the night with us in Mañeru and had snored so loudly all night that sleep was a challenge. Werner went to the Hostaliero who came and told the man that he could have a room to himself. He was rather insulted and after a lot of coaxing was persuaded to move to the other room. Those of us who had experienced the night in Mañeru were all relieved.
Today we travelled 30 km (19 miles). 254 km (158 miles) to Santiago
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