I left the hotel at 5:45 a.m.   It would be another two hours before breakfast would be served.  In the lobby, however, wonder of wonders was a coffee vending machine.  These are the little things that make one’s day.  I got a café con leche.  That, together with the cinnamon buns and banana I had bought the night before, made for a great breakfast.

I was leaving early to see if I could cover more distance today, beyond Palais de Rei.  I also wanted to recover the reflective atmosphere of the Camino.  This meant that I had to get ahead of the youth group and many of the other pilgrims who had started in Sarria.

Heading out of town I saw two backpacks, each lit by a small light, heading back across the river.  I filled in that they were carried by pilgrims leaving early, although their bodies were less visible.  Unlike other places where you had the town lights guiding the way for awhile, our pathway today got quickly out to a dirt road through woodland, meaning no light except our flashlights.  So I found myself following this pair of backpacks (they turned out to be carried by two women) and using my flashlight to light the path literally five yards in front of me.  Otherwise, it was pitch dark.

It was one of those memorable Camino moments — I had had several — when I asked myself what I was doing here.  A 74-year-old man n the middle of Spain, on a woodland trail, in the pitch dark — I laughed to myself at the absurdity of it.   Soon other groups came behind me — I knew them by their flashlights — and I let them pass.  The women were walking at a slow pace.  I was tempted to pass them, but resisted it.  I was comforted by having them as my guide. After more than a hour, we emerged from the wooded area, the sky became visible and it showed signs of morning light.  I quickened my pace and passed the women.

It was a good morning.  The other pilgrims who left early were similarly in a reflective mood and quiet.   I got up to the village of Gonzar,  about one-third of the way to Palais de Rei, before I began to hear any chatter.

At the small village of Ventas de Naron, I came to a small chapel, the Capela de Magdalene. A blind man was holding forth as you entered, providing a stamp for your credencial while getting everyone’s life story.  He did the stamping but you had to guide his hand to the right place on the page.  I identified myself as an Americano. “California,” he fired back in a question.  “No, Washington, DC.”  He repeated “Washington,” approvingly.  I left him to his next shout of “Brazilia!”

Sometimes, the Camino gives you an image that seems a perfect metaphor of what the Walk is about

According to plan, I walked right through Palais de Rei on up toward Melide, the next big town.  It was already 1:00 p.m.  I had rarely seen the afternoon crowd of walkers and there were more than I had realized. Most pilgrims, I think, try to get in their walk before 2:00 p.m. at the latest, to beat the heat. However, there are walkers who routinely walked the whole day, maybe covering 30km or more.  That’s what I did.  I walked until about 4:00 p.m., not quite getting to Melide, but close.  Lee and I were in touch by text and phone, and found a rendezvous place.  Together, we drove to our casa rural, which was at least five miles away off the Camino road.

The emphasis in this casa rural lodging was on the rural. The room we were shown was clean but rustic.  I had to wait until 7:00 before they served dinner, having missed the midday meal.  Dinner was another surprise.  While the lodging was just a step up from summer camp, the meals were of the quality of a gourmet restaurant.  The owner, who also served as shuttle bus driver and everything else, turned out to be an award-winning gourmet chef.   We feasted on scallop appetizers, salmon, and a desert, with a great bottle of local Galician wine.

We settled in for the night.  My walk this day had convinced me that I could shorten my itinerary by a day, and so I called, made reservations, and committed to two nights in Santiago.  I was planning to get another early start tomorrow.   Lee would drive me in the dark along the many winding rural roads to get back to the main road and pick up the Camino trail near where I had left off outside of Melide.  I slept well.