I believe my body has decided to stop protesting this journey, and just go along with it. Everything seems to be functioning well. I seem to have enough energy and do not hurt really anywhere, however I fear that a statement like this could seem akin to shaking ones fist at the devil. Never be too glib. I believe it was a comment like “what great weather we are having, just a short rain each day”, that brought on the deluge we got hit with a few days ago. Heavy heavy rain, hail, soaked right down to the skin. Lesson learned, never be too confident or at least not out loud.

Today we walked 30 km, not totally planned, but nonetheless tolerated well. Either we calculated poorly, or the maps were wrong, irregardless, will sleep well tonite.

…..Then this note goes on……
We have left behind fields of lavender, rosemary, and wild thyme. We are climbing in altitude ever so gradually. The wild plants alongside us now are scottish broom, heather, and sadly the occasional gorse bush. My Oregon friends will relate to this. We figure we are about halfway to Santiago now. We have had two very long days of 30 km each, and my blog writing time has been usurped with walking. Today will be a shorter day 15 Kms, and then a rest day. We have had several warm days now and so I think that the snowpack is melting and there’s water everywhere. Many places along the trail are thick with mud and or flowing water. We have had to be creative trying to keep our boots dry.

Yesterday was an interesting day in that we started out to do 10 km but got to the town early and it looked like we would have to wait a long time for hotel to open so we opted to move on. There were many towns along the way, but none had Albergue, or any accommodation for that matter. At one point there was even the promise of a guest house in an old castle, but the book that promised that was sadly outdated.

We are not alone, in fact, have many fellow “peligrinos” that we meet up with some nights, and then do not see again for several days. Our group, which started as 6, is now down to 4. We began with friends Greg and Helene, their daughter Anne, and a friend of theirs, Tammy. Anne, as expected, walked with us for about 4 days (but way ahead of us), then decided she was ready for a Camino on her own, so went on ahead. Tammy, who also happens to be from Texas, so I will hereby refer to as Miss Tammy, had a knee injury in the first week. Taping and TLC got her through to Tabara, but alas the injury became too much,and from there she caught a bus to Orense, and then Santiago. She has plans to come back to complete, which by the way, is what a lot of people do for one reason or another.

There is also a group of delightful French ladies, whose ages appear to average at around 70. There are 5 of them, and what French we know and what English they know, and with a lot of sign language we feel like we understand each other. There is a British couple (say no more), an Italian couple, one man from Finland, and many Germans.

Ken and I are really having the time of our lives. I thought I needed to say that in case the point has not been made in the notes thus far.
Also not sure if it is clear, but this note has been written over a few days.
ONWARD …….to the castle…..more on that later

oh and if you are wondering what ken is wearing it is his swim trunks, today is laundry day