Day 28 - Morgade to Ventas de Narón

We had a good night with only 6 people in the room and all in normal beds. Breakfast at the Albergue doesn't start until 8:00 so we head out at about 6:45 hoping to find something on the way. It was a beautiful morning with a clear sky and the sky just starting to light up with interesting colors on the horizon. We were still high at about 700 meters (2,300 ft) and we could see the fog in the valleys below us. Very pretty. After more than a week we also heard the cuckoo again along with other birds all waking up. It was very welcoming to the new day.
The path was also very interesting with stones arranged beside the track to keep the water running down the side and keep a dry place for us to walk.

After a while the path started to go down and soon we were in the fog and it got much colder. Finally after about an hour we found a place where they served breakfast and had our usual coffee and toast. Then back onto the trail and again past interesting little villages and buildings towards Portomarín
These are our backpacks, left outside while we have breakfast.

We had decided to limit our walk today to about 23 km to try and not stress Werner's leg more than necessary so we were not in a hurry. We reached Portomarín at about 9:30. The town is a new town built up on a hill to replace an old one that was covered by a reservoir when a dam was built and the valley where it had been was flooded. We did not spend much time there but kept going across the river and back up a hill the other side going west. It was still cold and foggy but we knew the weather above the fog would be nice and hoped we would soon be out of the fog.

The entrance to Portomarin

As we started up the hill a bus pulled up and a lot of people got out with light backpacks or hand bags and set off up the hill ahead of us. The bus was marked "Camino de Santiago Organisatoro" or similar. We don't know where they came from but they had certainly not walked to where they got off the bus. Later we saw the same bus picking them up again about 8 miles further along. From then on the Camino changed completely from what we were used to. Crowds of people, lots of young Spanish people all talking excitedly at the top of their voices and many talking loudly on their cell phones. Totally different from the quiet meditative atmosphere we have been used to for the past 4 weeks. Yes today is the 28th day of our journey and we have nor covered about 450 miles on foot. Today is Tuesday and we expect to arrive in Santiago on Saturday, only 4 days from now.
We pressed on with the others, overtaking many of them because we seemed to be walking faster than them despite our much heavier backpacks, but we are now so used to them that they have almost become part of us when we are walking.

Finally we came out of the fog and into the sunshine. The cuckoo was back singing to us and we stopped to take off our jackets. We passed lots of these little houses on stilts. They are used to store grain for the people who live on the farm, designed so mice and other rodents can't get in. Some are new and others look as if they are very old. They are called "Horreos"

One more stop for a beer and a snack and then on to the place we had selected for the night. We arrived at about 1:30. Werner's leg had become painful again and we are still not sure what the problem is. We checked in to the albergue, got our beds assigned showered and all felt better. I had some washing to do but first I had to get them to find the hose with water. As you will see, washing clothes is still a rather primitive experience unless there is a washing machine when where we put all our dirty clothes together and pay the €3 or so for washing and if we are lucky and there is a dryer for that too. But we had done a big wash a couple of days ago so we didn't have much today and hand wash was good enough. Then hang it out in the sun and hope it is dry before tonight. The Camino was first personal experience with a washboard but it was widely used when I was a child.

Then we ordered a beer and sat together on the terrace planning for tomorrow. While we were doing this I got talking to a lady sitting alone at the next table. She is from California and it turns out she is an intensive care specialist doctor. She saw Werner rubbing his leg and asked what his problem was. After examining it and asking him a lot of queations she said it is not related to bones or joints. The swelling of both legs is typical of a heart or kidney function issue. After questioning him further she said it appeared to be related to kidney function. She suspected he was not drinking enough water and that his albumen level had dropped too low leading to water retention problems in his blood and water building up in his legs while he is walking. She told him to keep his legs elevated when he is not walking and to drink a lot of water and reduce alcohol and caffeine intake as much as possible. Also to see his family doctor when he gets home and have his kidney function checked.
We were very interested since we had no idea this could be the cause and were convinced it was a bone or tendon issue. Since none of the ankle or leg joints were painful she said we could rule that out as a probable cause. We knew Werner did not drink much water when we are walking because he doesn't feel thirsty. We never thought it could be the cause of leg pains and swelling. So we have put Werner on a water diet with only one glass of wine for dinner and established a rule of stopping every hour to drink when we are walking. It may take a few days for the problem to improve but at least we can now hope that we can stop it getting worse. In the meantime we will keep our daily distance to less than 25 km so we don't stress it too much and wait for the improvement. Lets hope she knows what she is talking about but it seemed to make sense to us, especially since we don't know anything about the blood or kidney system. We have heard and experienced that when there is a problem "the Camino will provide" and it seems to have once again proved to be true.
They sell Magnums here at the Albergue. I have seen them before but always when the weather was cold. Today I treated myself and sat in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well no wifi at our albergue but there is good wifi at the restaurant across the street so I am sitting there catching up with the blog while the photos transfer (slowly) from iPhone to iPad. It takes a long time so I still have to wait. We will come here for dinner and give it another chance later.
Well we didn't go there for dinner since it was warmer at our albergue so it will get uploaded tomorrow.
Today we covered 23 km, 14 miles. Below our average but we are giving Werner's leg a chance to heal and still expect or be in Santiago at the end of the week. For pilgrims, time is not a critical decision factor. Only 77 km (48 miles) left to Santiago.

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