Today will be a long walk - 29 km - from Los Arcos to Lagrano.
Many people woke up very early and started to walk in the dark already 5:30. I got up a bit after 6 and did my pocking and morning ritual. Yesterday I had been in the supermarket and bought some incredible cheese, the hard kind that is cut as a triangle, and it was precut in slides. Together with Pedro, my Portuguese friend from the first day in the train and together with which I have walked or ate dinner with all days, we took a cup of tea and ate the remaining cheese and some crackers we both had. It was fine as a quick breakfast, and we were at the road at 7:00 where we met Colin the irishman. It had been raining in the night so road was a bit muddy.
Colin and I both have a fast pace and we soon outpaced the others. Got our first coffee after 5 km. This was a small grocery store where the owner had been smart and saw the business in opening up early to sell coffee and prepackaged donoughts to pilgrims passing by. This was the first place in town and we got our coffee and a doughnut.
Later in the town much better options came, so learning is not to take the first place - if it is not a real coffee place with a bakery.
Landscape continues to be very pretty and here are some more pictures.
We passed a place where people were laying images of loved ones. I did not know about this ritual and got sad that I had not brought a picture of my dad that passed away in February. That would have been a nice memory and act. But I will bring one picture of him on the next camino.
After 16 km the next town appeared and time for next coffee break and some lunch. Here we met several known faces including Mark the doctor, Meerel the dutch girl that I have followed since day 1 and Pedro catches up with us here.
Later we meet Rachel from California that walks really fast, and we take a break at a small shop. Some of us - not me - have started to make instagram videos, and we do a recording of us all running in slow motion.
Finally we end up in the destination town Lagrano, a quite big town. Hostels start to fill up quickly and today I had actually prebooked it, but they still had pleanty of free beds.
We got our beds, did the unpacking and took a tea with an englishman at the hostel. Then we hit for the square in the town to get a piece of tapas and a beer.
Our group is growing for every day, and now more than 12 people wants to join for dinner. All great people, so very nice, but today I felt for alone time so I left the company and am now sitting for myself and writing this blog. The interactions during the day is so great, but taking time for yourself to reflect and write is important - and I have been talking all day during the 8 hours walk and then at the squre with a drink so it is nice with some alone time now.
I have finished my glass of great local red wine and will now be walking around in the town to explore a bit before bedtime. I will jump dinner today since I ate lots of nuts and a pinchos. Instead it was icecreme.
