Once again an early morning for me, with breakfast some baguette and vegemite and jam made the evening before. I really do love the early morning walks, listening to the crunch of boots on the track and the wakening birds. As dawn breaks there is the gorgeous sight of the sun rising over the mountains, and then an awareness of the track and the countryside, the flowers, the fields and woods.

The track was mostly downhill and stony, quite steep in parts. An Italian guy who we have seen quite a lot over the past few weeks raced down the track at break neck speed, and I spent the next few minutes going over in my mind what I would do if I found him in a crumpled heap somewhere.
Despite the downhill, feet and legs cooperated magnificently and in no time at all I made it to Tricastela, 9 km from Fonfría. I was quite relieved to see the Italian guy and shared a table with him for morning tea

He told me he always ran down hills because his knee was bad and it was the only way he could get down. (Of course, why didn’t I think of that, all that picking my way gingerly over rocks for nothing. Because I don’t have a death wish, that’s why. ) He was taking a taxi to Sarria, 18 kms away.
Our destination for the day was Calvor, only another 9 kms to go. As I walked out of town I met up with two French ladies who told me they were heading for Sarria that day. It seemed everyone was going to Sarria. I’d already done 9 kms, but why not do another 18 kms and get to Sarria as well. I was feeling good and I knew D2 would do it.
The next part of the track was 9km between villages, and some of it was uphill, but I was still enjoying the flowers and the gentle sunshine

About halfway along I came upon a Spanish lady who was just walking slowly along the track. I so wished I could speak Spanish well enough so that I could ask her where she was going and why. I hadn’t seen any houses so she must have been walking a long way. Anyway, she was happy to have her photo taken although she found it quite amusing and walked off laughing and shaking her head.

I was so excited to see a signpost showing 125.5 kms to Santiago. How far we have come since the 790km signpost just outside of Ronscevalles, and I’m not just talking about distance!!

D2 caught up with me and we had lunch at a bar, with 8 kms to go. The afternoon wasn’t too bad, and there was some shade.

Nevertheless the final few kms was hot and tiring, and as often happens a walk into a reasonably large town can be quite depressing through industrial or run down areas. By the time we found somewhere to stay I just wanted to crawl into bed and stay there until we could get out of town in the morning!