- Beginning Point: Melinde
- Ending Point: Salceda
- Daily distance: 15.35 miles (24.7 km)
- Total distance: 452.65 miles (728.47 km)
It indeed was a long night. Besides snoring, the man next to me got up several times to pee, burped loudly and farted. And then as if that wasn’t enough to contend with, a man across the room started loudly sleep talking. At first, I thought he was talking on the phone until the words starting slurring together into nonsense. Another woman in the room loudly shushed him. It was a disaster. I didn’t go back to sleep until around 4 am and woke back up at 7 am to prepare for one of our longer walking days.
But once outside, the morning sky took my breath away. The irritation from the lack of sleep quickly fell away as I admired Nature’s handiwork.
As we were searching out the yellow arrows in the city streets, I hear the faint call of my name. I turn around and once again get to see my Korean friends from Day 1. They expect to arrive in Santiago on the same day we do!
We continue on through farmland most of the day. I enjoy seeing the locals in their element, herding cattle, pitching hay, picking up children from the bus stop. The rolling hills begin increasing in frequency and my legs become taxed.
I’m really starting to feel exhausted and I plug in my headphones for some motivation. The upbeat tunes help keep my feet moving. All of the sudden from my peripheral vision, I see a large object coming at me. Even through my headphones, I hear large crashing noises. I turn and see a donkey, barreling through bushes, coming directly at me. I’m quite startled at first but quickly realize the donkey is tethered to a tree. He definitely wants my attention though, so I pet him. He is a bit devilish and tries to eat my bag! A few yards down is a tent with a basket of carrots. Ahhh…now I know what the donkey wanted from me. I drop a euro in the donation basket and grab the fellow a treat.
A little further down the road we encounter “The Wall of Wisdom”. Someone posted their philosophical views on science and religion. It was a good read and I think he was pretty right on. In a nutshell, he said that we shouldn’t get so hung up on the dogma of religion or science for answers to the world’s troubles, but instead should examine our own hearts.
Tonight we had quite a humorous host and hostess at our albergue, Tia Teresa and Tío. They make jokes, tease us and keep refilling our glasses. Tia Teresa is a fabulous cook. We ordered the scallops, another speciality here in Galacia. In Europe, they serve the roe along with the scallop. I never even knew there was such a thing as scallop roe. I had to google it!
At dinner, we met Julie from Australia and chatted with a couple of fellows from Ireland. The conversation, wine and food were great. The atmosphere was light and jubilant. You can tell that all of us pilgrims are becoming giddy at the prospect of reaching our destination. Two more days until Santiago!
The Way to Land's End 