We had a good hearty meal last night of lentil and vegetable soup (I could easily have stood the spoon upright in the middle of the bowl, it was so thick) followed by home made tiramisu. We were joined at the supper table by our hosts, two Dutch ladies who hadn’t actually started their camino yet, a man from South Korea who had walked 40 km that day, and a couple who I think were the parents of our Dutch host. It was very jolly and there was much good conversation.

And although we are now in Galicia, the region that is renowned for lots of rain, today starts dry with just a little cloud, which soon disperses, leaving a blue sky and some low lying mist. It was pleasant walking albeit along steep tracks, but there were noticeably more people walking today. We are now very close to the town of Sarria which marks the shortest distance that can be walked In order to claim a Compostela in Santiago, Many people start walking at this point and clog up the camino and the albergues. Hopefully it will not be as bad as I have heard – time will tell.

We pass a sign that indicates that some people have more of a problem with tourist ‘pilgrims’ than we do.

I don’t know what this is – I saw some atop rustic gate posts yesterday, and there were two of them hung on a wall today. Any ideas?

Just asked the barman, and it is an ancient carriage wheel.

We stop for breakfast at about 10am and I order bacon and eggs, which are cooked just how I like them. Ella orders an egg and bacon bocadillo which is served in very crusty bread. And then disaster strikes. Ella breaks her front tooth on the bread. She had an accident at brownies when she was about ten or eleven and lost half a tooth and has consequently had a cap since then. She recovered the broken section hoping that it can be stuck back into place without too much trouble and we walk on to Sarria.

We are currently sitting in the dental clinic waiting for her to be seen. I have to say, you would have thought that her leg had fallen off to justify the drama caused, rather than a sliver of tooth. Hopefully it will be sorted within the hour and we can continue on our way. Watch this space…..

…….and happily, after a wait of an hour or so, Ella was seen by the dentist in what should have been his lunch break. He spent not far off 30 minutes preparing and applying the piece of cap and I was astounded when he charged 40-€. He could have charged her practically anything. What excellent value.

I feel exhausted after the visit to the dentist, not really sure why, just all the drama I suppose. Anyway Ella is now back to normal and we decide to sit in the sunshine and I take off my boots and drink a beer to revive my spirits. It seems to have worked because when we set off again I feel refreshed and my feet do not hurt any more.

I have actually realised only today that I have a low point in the late morning to early afternoon. Once I pull myself through this, I am fit for a few more kilometres.

By the time we leave the busy town, most of the pilgrims who are walking through have already passed by, and there are not too many walkers about.

The walk beyond the town, once we pass by the elevated motorway and railway line, is very pretty, on a nice soft dirt track through a chestnut wood. We come across an Italian guy in the woods offering refreshments for a donation and stop to talk for a while.

The walk is lovely with plenty of water running by.

We eventually emerge from the woods into stunning countryside, very reminiscent of good old English green and pleasant lands. Real farming country with lots of cows and their resulting trade marks about. We walk through lots of very pretty hamlets with just a farm and couple of houses. It is delightful.

Most of the properties we passed had one of these constructions in the grounds – very narrow and long and raised above the ground. Again,I have absolutely no idea what their purpose is.

(Just asked,the barman again and have been told that it is an,’hórreo’ a store for corn on the cob, typical to the area of northern Galicia and Asturias)

We also came across this lizard, which was probably dead, but looked very striking.

We walked, and walked. The sun was lovely and warm, but there was a cooling breeze. I had my legs out for the first time in a couple of weeks, just to improve on my wonderful suntan marks around my ankles and just above my knees. Very attractive!

Since we have been in Galicia there have been markers every 500 metres indicating how far remains to reach Santiago. Towards the end of our day’s walk we came across the 100 km marker, meaning that we have now walked virtually 700 km.

Since deciding to embark upon this walk It never once occurred to me that I would not be able to complete it. But every day I am a bit amazed at just what we have achieved, just like hundreds of other very ordinary people.

Today I took no painkillers and had no tape on my feet. Getting stronger every day, although I am tired and achey this evening. Because of our long stop in Sarria, we didn’t arrive at our destination until about 7pm, having walked at least 13 km without a break. There are two albergues in this tiny hamlet, one new posh one, already full when we arrived, and one crappy old one that we got the last two beds in. Horrid showers – yuk. We must do better tomorrow.