23 km today. Cold and cloudy but no rain. All three layers the whole day. Right now at the 13 km mark in a private albergue, 12 euros and you pay for all other drinks and food. The next available spot is either the municipal albergue half km further or expensive hotels at the 6 km mark. The German mom and daughter will be there. I think 6 km is too close as it is practically the suburbs of Santiago. The Danish mom and son came in an hour after me. Meanwhile, while resting having a drink outside Olivier passed. He said he was crying (intense joy) earlier. The Camino can sometimes do that to people. He stayed yesterday at Caldas de Reis and hated the rain, his lodging, the town. The rain yesterday was like in Brittany and I joked that he had come to Spain to get the exact weather as back home. The misty sticky kind of rain that gets in everywhere. He said he had to walk fast ahead of the other walkers, poor guy. He wants to be in Santiago today, that will be past 40 km for him. Maybe it is for the best since he is already in an emotional charged state.
For me the first 10 km to Padrón today was absolutely great. Nobody but me along the route. As long as I stayed between yesterday's and today's horde, I don't see any crowd, and just a pilgrim here and there after Padrón. In Galicia the cemetery are always with the church and stacked like multi-layer bunk beds.
Had some food at a weird establishment before Padrón. Hippie style with pressed coffee the owner was very proud of kimd of crappy for me. He said he sourced it from Brazil when he was travelling there. Just eggs, bread with some salsa type sauce and he wanted 6 euros. Too late back.off.
It was a wise strategic decision yesterday. Doesn't matter anymore tomorrow with just 13 km to go. Half of that distance will still be nice walking at least according to my map.
Padrón which I passed at noon was allegedly the place where the stone ship carrying St. James landed if you believe the legend. How his body was discovered coincidentally 700 years later in Santiago de Compostela right after Spain was overrun by the Moors and he became the inspiration of reconquest seems mighty suspicious. This is one of the disciple of Jesus we are talking about. Still, the historic, religious, cultural, political and military impact cannot be undermined.
Pretty soon this private albergue was packed (at least in my room with 12 beds) and more in the next level. Mainly Germans speaking pilgrims (they seems to know one another), the Danish mom and son William and Elsbeth and an old Dutch couple in the late afternoon. I am going to have an early dinner (just the lady who runs this place cooking) and retire.
So cold the wind and the stone building albergue, the outside temperature barely rises above 12 degrees.
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