Santiago to A Pena, 18.64 miles

I went to bed last night wondering why I ever decided to continue past Santiago. Finesterre was still 62 miles away and I was feeling very tired. I treated myself to a real breakfast in a real restaurant this morning before getting started, hoping a full stomach would spur me on.

As usual, the Camino had plans for me. I ended up walking for the first hour with a father and his daughter, both very nice people. The daughter had just flown in from the East Coast and met her dad, who had started in St Jean (where I started) in Santiago, and they had plans to walk to Finisterre together. Very sweet. The dad was having problems with shin splints so was walking very slowly. I said my goodbyes and walked ahead.

No sooner had I left them than I met Eddie from Ireland. Eddie and I hit it off right away and we talked and walked and laughed for the next 4 hours, which made the walk seem much easier than I had anticipated last night. I still had a couple of hours left after leaving Eddie, but I was feeling much better by then.

The day was sunny from the start with no chance of rain at all, so that brightened my mood as well. The routes are all very similar these days—lots of rolling hills, but the ascents equal the descents overall and none of it is unmanageable.

I am staying in an old rectoral house (a priest's residence) tonight that has been converted to an albergue. Rectoral houses in Galicia can be centuries old and often have thick stone walls, traditional Galician architecture, and a close relationship with the local church. Pilgrims sometimes mistake them for monasteries because they have that quiet, religious, old-stone atmosphere. I was one of those pilgrims that thought it was a monastery.

Now that I have left Santiago I am walking the Camino Fisterra-Muxia, which is the only traditional Camino route that begins in Santiago rather than ending there. By the way, Muxia is pronounced moo-SHEE-ah. I had to look that up.

As I'm sitting in my room writing this, my window is open and I'm listening to cows mooing and cuckoo birds, the simple sounds of the Camino. It's the kind of noise that is very soothing—just nature doing what it does best.

I have had my shower, done my wash, eaten dinner and wish it were time for bed. I will read until I can justify going to sleep. Sunset is set for 9:56 tonight.