Party Time

We plan another 34km day today. At the start of the day Jon is slow with his bandaged knee. We cross a long bridge into Portomarin. Here a dam has submerged the old town which is partly visible as the water is low.

After our first coffee the pace picks up. The group chalks a birthday message to someone who is now half a day behind us. All the farms we pass have strangely ornate narrow, high outbuildings with slatted sides. These, it turns out, are for drying maize.

We pass Spanish ladies cleaning graves and putting flowers out in the graveyard in preparation for All Souls.

We spilt into two walking groups now: myself and Nico, and the younger group, Jon, Angela, and Andreas. This gives the latter group time to plan an evening meal which is a big secret. When we arrive in our small albergues in Palas de Rei they have a lot of fun cooking this in a hopelessly inadequate kitchen. It is mashed potato, spinach, scrambled egg and fish fingers (what some former student residents -Burbs & Matt- would call, with relish, a kids' dinner). I am relieved just to lie on my bed and recover from a long day while they head out to shop for it. It is a terrific fun evening.