All in all, the day turned out much better than we expected. We had hoped for no rain in the morning, but going out the door at 8:00 we saw the rain, so on go our ponchos. A soft but persistent rain followed us up through town and out onto the trails, but pretty soon it stopped, leaving us with overcast skies. That was good enough for us, and we walked through some pretty country. After a few miles we stopped in another mountain village for first breakfast. To our great surprise, we found Sanne whom we had not seen for quite some time. This was a great reunion for us, so we walked the rest of the day with her. She and Sara have really become friends.
The day warmed up and the clouds would threaten sometimes and then back off, but they left us dry for most of the day. Celebration: Today we hit a landmark: there are only 100 kilometers (62 miles) left until we reach Santiago. We had to wait our turn to take the photos around the landmark.
Later we stopped for a lovely lunch of sandwiches with goat cheese and honey on this wonderful bread, humus and vegetables to dip, and chips with guacamole – and Radler. It was great to share this with Sanne and to catch up with her discussing the days we had missed. We ate outside at a lovely stop along the road. The only downside were the many persistent flies, and even a few bees, often resting on our food or taking a dip in our beers. Oh well. We chose to dine in their place.
Before long we met up again with Karen and her son Riley. So the five of us walked together into Portomarin. Just before we arrived, it started raining a little, just enough to make us put on our ponchos again, as if nature was teasing us – making sure that we remembered and were grateful for the beautiful walk we had enjoyed on this day.
Sanne has the name of a good restaurant she’s read about. Sara & Evan found it just a few doors up the road from their hotel.
We were actually nine for dinner: Sanne, Karen & Riley, Andee & Tiara (a mom and daughter we’ve met before) Sara & Evan, and John & John (a father /son pair we just met tonight). Sara has been anxious to try octopus, so she did so tonight and really liked it. Evan tried it too — thought it not terrible, but not at all comparable to good shrimp or scallops. We all had a pleasant meal and visit. Then we headed back “home” to our hotels and albergues for good night’s rest.
