Palais De Rei

Portomarin – Palais De Rei 25km

Got up early and got out of town about 7:15am. I liked Portomarin. A nice little town with lots of restaurants and albergues. But the mission is on to finish in Santiago on the tenth of June.

It was pouring outside for the first two hours of walking. I had a long-sleeve travel shirt on with a poncho over. It was so hot also and by the time I got to my first stop of the day for breakfast, my shirt was soaked through with sweat and rain. I had to change this to a technical shirt for the rest of the day.

My breakfast was a bit strange to say the least. It was a fry on the menu but I got two fried eggs, five frankfurters and a half plate of chips- at 9:30 in the morning?? My good ol friend Mr Cholesterol will be grinding things to a halt. But it was delicious and set me in the right mood to plough on at this miserable day.

I met up with Bengt after about 13km and walked with him to Palais de Rei. We stopped for a large freshly squeezed orange juice at a cafe and took the shoes off to let our feet breathe. Everyones feet at this stage are constantly hurting. I had applaused myself for only taking two paracetamol this whole journey so far, but I had to take some today as I wasn’t sure if I could manage the walk today. Well, the paracetamol may well have been magic mushrooms as they done squat all for the pain in my feet. I guess I’ll just have to get through this little pain tunnel for the next few days. Despite massaging my feet every night and applying muscle rub when they got extra sore, I guess there is only so many miles you can walk before you have to mentally block out the pain. This Camino challenge does hurt in many ways and you gotta take the rough with the smooth. Luckily the smooth outweighs the rough by far.

Arrived at my albergue Zendoira and got my bunk for the night. My bed support was creaking away so I waited til closing time to ask for another bed and got one.

Got my washing done in the laundrette and had a beer in the bar next door while the machine was spinning.

Then I met up with Bengt and Jonathan again for dinner. I decided to try the Galician delicacy Pulpo (Octopus). I had bits of octopus before in a paella but never had the dish on its own. It was really nice. Delivered in slices on a spicy olive oil and with freshly made bread. We had a couple more pints and called it a night. Tomorrow’s walk to Arzua is 2km longer than todays, so gotta get up early again to get the km done in a decent time.

Thats all for tonight I’m afraid. Wish me a pain free journey tomorrow 🙏🏻