Arzúa to O Amenal

We got up early and had breakfast at a quiet bakery, which featured a rough stone wall with coins pressed into it, before heading out of town. More and more pilgrims overtook us as they joined the route, particularly groups of Spanish without any backpacks, talking loudly or even listening to the radio or having loud video calls! We queued for second breakfast: tortilla and Napolitana, and headed on with the crowds. The way was good underfoot and shady, and at one point we came across an Argentinian playing quiet music displaying sayings on placards. The advantage of the throng of pilrums was that we could chat with some of them, including an American lady with an Indian grandfather who grew Darjeeling and whose dream was to set up a real tea room on the Camino. At lunch time, at a crossroads with several restaurants, we discovered a coach waiting for organised pilgrim groups and a monk in a minivan; we had seen both at an earlier coffee stop!

Suddenly everyone disappeared, and we were walking in the woods by ourselves. Well, not quite everyone there was a group of Brazilians studying their phones, and two Americans who we chatted to. One of them casually said that it was strange that we hadn't arrived at the next town. We put two and two together, and explained that everyone else had disappeared up the main road at the last crossroads, so that was probably where the town was!

After that, we walked through deserted eucalyptus groves, until we found a quiet little bar with a friendly barman who gave us coffee, tuna pie, cake and cold drinks. From there it wasn't far to our hostel, with a hundred meters on a busy road to a pleasant little hostel with a swimming pool. After Angus had a swim and we relaxed in the sun, we settled down to website/diary updating.