Teó Sept 18

Waymarks in a little village

Padron from across the river. This is where the famous pimientos de Padron originated and are still grown. It is about sea level in Padron, but Santiago is about 900 feet in elevation, so there will be some climbing ahead.

And peppers are indeed for sale.

.Teó

Today was a lot of walking, 30 km or about 19 miles, albergue to albergue. I left the others on their way to the bus at 7:30 am and I walked off in the other direction on the camino.

I was not sure if I would walk the 13 miles to Padrón or continue on to the next albergue beyond. Most of the walk was on quiet wooded paths away from but paralleling the train tracks, the N550 highway, and the A-9 autovia (freeway). I arrived in Padrón at 11 am, which was too early for the albergue there to open and too early to stop walking. I stopped in at the Igrexa Santiago for a few minutes, this is a church dedicated to Santiago. Then I decided to continue on to the small (24 places) albergue in Teó. I had a scare when I saw a group of maybe 16 or so walkers ahead. I figured that I better pass them if I wanted to have a bed tonight in the albergue. As I started passing them I noted that they had only day packs, one grandpa was pushing a baby stroller, there were kids and other old people, too. The mystery wad solved a kilometer or so later when I saw their tour bus at the three star hotel. Then I realized they were bus pilgrims on a short hike. I suppose the bus will take them tomorrow to about 1 or 2 kilometers from the cathedral so they can complete their "pilgrimage".

Anyway, I completed the remaining 11 km. in two hours and arrived at Teó albergue at 1 pm. Gerhard and Chris, the Austrian men, were, of course, already here. By the time I finished with shower and clothes washing, the place was deserted. It is out in the country with nothing close by so I walked around to see if they were at the bar or what. I walked farther and farther to finally discover the whole group coming back from the small mercado 2 km away. I went on to the market, too, then back. I added another 6 km onto my total for the day, making it 36 km or 23 miles. My leg muscles are tired from the walking, but no other walking problems. In fact, I have not taken an ibuprofen or used a band-aid in the last 5 days. It felt really good to do that much walking and at my own pace.

Chris cooked a spaghetti in the kitchen here, adding green olives, sardines, and mussels (mejillones) to the sauce. And despite what some of you are thinking, it was actually very good. No Internet here so I am writing this up for later posting. It is about 5 pm and everyone is relaxing. The hospitaleiro just showed up to sign us in. Chris got word by text message that Marge and Iris arrived this morning at the cathedral in Santiago. I do not know any more as I can not get any email message that Marge may have sent.

Happy birthday, Greg.