Cuarto día - lunes el 19 del mayo

In view of the relatively short day today, we took our time getting off. We had breakfast (coffee and crescent rolls) in the hotel's café before packing our still-slightly wet clothes and strolling out about 09:00. With the stop at the farmacía for more substantial bandages for my heel, and with checking out the city center, it was about 10:00 by the time we really got out of town, after walking through a very nice subdivision and experiencing an embarrassment of riches in the way of waymarks (I think you can count 13 arrows in this picture). Almost immediately on leaving the city we were in vineyards, and ended up walking through them most of the rest of the day.

I was guessing that the Stanley Gilbert Weight Loss Plan ("eat as little as I do, walk as fast as I do") probably works, but I sure found it tough to keep up with - today was a bit of an exception, in that we had breakfast, then even stopped at a little grocery in some town along the way to buy a sandwich apiece for lunch, which we ate while walking.

By 13:15 we had gotten to Cacabelos, and I was whipped, so we took a 45-minute break in a plaza there, then headed out again. Things got harder for me in the afternoon, for reasons not clear to me, other than that I was eating less than half of what I normally do (oh, well, I was hoping to lose weight here!). I had to slog my way the last dozen km, which took us some 4 hours, well off our pace of even this morning. We actually walked farther than our plan, once we discovered the existence of an albergue 4 or 5 km beyond Villafranca del Bierzo. The morrow was to be a fairly tough day, a climb of 700 m in 15 km after a straight walk of about that length from Villafranca, and cutting 5 km off the front end of that is a GOOD THING. It did mean that we walked another hour in the heat, though. As the afternoon progressed, we began to see the mountains ahead - our next day's walk.

When we entered the albergue in Pereje we were warmly greeted by the hospitalero Manuelo. His hostel is only 5 years old and very nicely appointed, with 2 bedrooms of a dozen beds each (not bunks!), and at the time of our arrival occupied by only 5 guests, 2 Basques, a French couple, and a Belgian named Theo. We sat out on the lawn enjoying the pleasant weather. Within a couple of hours we were joined by 3 others, Sabrina from France, Sylvia from Brazil, and Benoit from Canada. The ten of us spent the evening sitting out on the lawn, rehydrating and getting to know one another.

We got to know each other a bit more at supper, which Manuelo prepared for a fee, well worth it, and which saved any of us the trouble of going to a town to get supper. We all sat around a single table in his attic, and enjoyed a wonderful 'pilgrim's meal': tomatoes and olives for appetizers, then hearty lentil soup with crusty bread, then chorizo and boiled potatoes, with apples for dessert. Yum!

This evening was for me the high point of the walk - it was very enjoyable to sit around a table of friendly, happy people holding conversations in mixed English, Spanish, and French. We were all racked out by 22:00, though - gemütlichkeit is no substitute for sleep when you've been walking like we have!

Today's walk: 27 km (17 mi). Four-day total: 127 km (79 mi).

• This is a glorious time of year to walk in Europe, apparently. Both of the other long walks I have done there were at this time of year, and the flowers are in full bloom everywhere. In Belgium, it was rhododendrons and hydrangea; here it was roses. Simply beautiful!
• One absolutely fascinating aspect of the Camino is the waymarking. Ever since we left from León, and I'm sure along the earlier parts of the way, there are yellow arrows pointing the way. They are painted on the street, on buildings, on stones, even trees and light poles. They are set in tiles, and stamped on official street signs with the stylized shell design. There does not appear to be a "Ministry of Yellow Arrows", but whenever there is some question about which way to take (and, as in the case above, sometimes even when there is little question), somewhere there is a yellow arrow. We did in fact use a map a bit for planning out our day's walks, but not for navigation - whenever it is needed, there is a yellow arrow.
• This was a stretch of the walk I was not looking forward to: the last piece of the way today and about half of tomorrow's runs beside a major highway. There are pictures still on the web of people walking on the shoulders, just centimeters away from trucks zooming by. I was very gratified to find that the new high-speed divided highway bypass has been opened since those pictures were taken, which has taken almost all the traffic from the old road. In addition, barriers have been placed continuously along the shoulder of the old road, and it has been restriped, making a smooth, flat, safe walkway for pilgrims. Super, even if not as picturesque as the dirt trails!

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