Another 22 km today over country roads mostly up hill. The route off the Camino follows the Roman road 19. We passed many road signs and mike markers placed by the Romans. We had an early start and it was still dark when we kicked off our journey for the day. It was cool and with a slight breeze. Perfect for walking. There were many pilgrims ahead of us at 7:38 AM and as usual tired legs and soreness mean a slow start. Once we got going we were making good time in spite of the climb. As this was early in a Monday morning there were no restaurants open to distract us with mundane things like eating breakfast. The result was that we essentially got where we were going just after 1100.

One of the towns we passed through was Padron just before Redondela. This tiny town is noted for its peppers. The peppers have an interesting quality due the soil here, some of the peppers on each plant are hot but most are not. Years ago as a graduate student in Madrid, Jean and I would gather friends and order a plate of peppers grilled and salted. We would stand around and eat one at a time to see who got the hot one(s). They wee one of Jean’s favorite Spanish dishes.

Walking fast has a double edge to it. The good part is that you find yourself now only 80km from Santiago but the bad part is that no albergue is open until at least 1:00PM and unless you have a reservation for a bad at an albergue, you don’t know if you will have a bed. One course of action is to keep walking – and so we did.

Tomorrow’s journey will be shorter and it includes two moderate climbs into Pontevedra. This is one of the largest cities we will pass through before Santiago.