Wednesday, July 22: Melide to A Brea (18 mi)

CC: We had breakfast in the hotel at 7am and started out at 7:25am. This was a little later than normal for an 18 mile day, but with only two days remaining, we didn’t much care if we got in later in the day. Here’s the obligatory hill that we climbed leaving town. It was cold out, and the girls stopped to put more on.

There were several groups of pilgrims leaving at the same time.

Oops, that’s the sheep photo. Well, try this.


After reaching the top of the hill, we passed a large cementary then entered a small footpath with about 20 others. You had to jockey for space and then maintain a certain rate to keep your space. There were also many bikers. They would sneak up on you and expect you to know they were passing. After a few miles it thinned out to a reasonable density.

The miles went by quickly as we strolled through the country. On one particular hill, a tall girl passed us slowly on the left. Ana was walking next to me and asked me if that girl looked like the Spanish teacher from Iowa. You may recall back on June 14 when we were standing in the boarding line in Charlotte for our flight to Madrid, we met a girl from Iowa who was a Spanish teacher and planned to walk the Frances. We talked with her for about 20 minutes and then wished her luck. The girl passing us resembled her. So Ana says as she passes, “Are you from Iowa?” She reared around in total astonishment and yelled, “I thought I recognized you guys!” We all hugged joyously. What are the odds? Incredible. We caught up for a few minutes and took this photo.

What a sweety! We walked together for a little while, then she poured on the coals. She was staying in albergues and did not have reservations. The competition was fierce, so she was trying to get to Arzua as quickly as possible. We got to Arzua about an hour later, had lunch for an hour, and then as we were leaving we saw Lisa in line waiting for the albergue to open. It was a long line. She said it was already full and they all were hoping to get in somewhere – perhaps on the floor. We waved goodbye and moved on. Now the herd was significantly thinned out, and the route much more enjoyable. A couple things about the signage changed. First, the shell no longer had a blue background. Second, the blocks of cement holding the shell had the number of kilometers remaining to Santiago.

Nice countdown, but slightly annoying. As we walked through one town, I heard a couple approaching from behind speaking fluent Spanish. Must be some Spaniards coming by. Nope. As they were passing, the girl (a beautiful 20 something girl with an American flag type shirt draped across the back of her pack) yelled, “Hey, where ya’all from?” We said Florida. She said she was from Georgia. I said, “You look like a Georgia peach!” She laughed and said she was. Then she said, “Goodbye you Florida oranges.” You sure meet all types out here. As we continued on, we saw numerous vans transporting back packs and luggage to future stops. We’ve read about these services but didn’t notice them in operation until now.

The day wore on, we kept walking. The last mile seemed forever, and finally we came upon the sign for the pension. The place is fairly new, probably built after the 2010 movie.

Nice place, very clean and somewhat isolated.

Well, the big day is almost upon us. By ‘us’ we mean the four of us and all of you. You have been along from the beginning, shared in the exploits, and provided the necessary support that kept us going. Twenty three kilometers (about 14.4 miles) remaining to Santiago de Compostela. Everyone is clicking on all cylinders. Tomorrow will be a grand day.