I slept great in my little pod. There was a decent breakfast and no rush to leave. I rolled out about 8:30. The streets were empty.

I walked up to the cathedral before leaving.

As I walked from town I passed two elderly woman pilgrims that commented on my long legs. We laughed about my speed and I continued on. There were markers on the sidewalk showing the way. After a bit I realized I wasn’t seeing markers, I was off track. I spun around looking for pilgrims and saw some off in the distance. I turned and headed toward them. Back on track but then I had to pass the two women who chuckled that I was not making as good of time after all. Very quickly the city sidewalks gave way to paths through farmland. In the distance huge windmills were on the horizon. From my book I knew this was the halfway mark for the day (zoom in on the picture to see them).

As I continued I saw what looked like huge buildings but were actually stacks of hay bales. It reminded me of the scene in The Way where they meet the Irishman.

The trail continued to climb with the windmills getting closer.

Finally I reached the top of Alto de Pedrón. There is a art piece there representing pilgrims.

But don’t think I was there alone. It was Sunday afternoon and it was a popular place.

Down the other side the trail continued through farmland. I took a detour to an old church out in the country. It had a octagonal cloister around it.

I then walked into the next small town and found an albergue for the night. 18 bunks in one room.

I had a beer with an interesting British couple. The woman is retired from IBM and the man is self employed. We went to a pilgrims dinner and the table was very fun. A mother/daughter from Edmonton Canada, the British couple, two elderly French guys, and a graduate student from Montreal. We had a barley broth, a good bean and vegetable soup, fish in a good tomato sauce, potatoes, cake and wine. All good for 12€. The French guy kept referring to how big I was and seemed to be saying I had been well fed as a child (which I guess is right). I get breakfast in the morning and I’ll try to leave around 7:30 when it is cool. Today was rather hot by 3:00 so maybe I can stop earlier tomorrow.