Palas de REI to Castaneda. Distance 23.2 km (14.4 mi. / 15.9). to go46.4 km

Despite an ever increasing number of peregrinos on the Camino, today was rather quiet, as far as activity goes.

First, I must correct myself. I am terrible with names and I am not a Harry Potter fan, so I erroneously stated that a group of peregrinos had nick named me Gonandorf, when it should have been Dumbledore:

I found that Richard Harris ( A Man Called Horse) played the part in "the first two movies", but an actor named Michael Gambon played the part in whatever other movies have been made. Ironically, I talked to a "Michael" yesterday and had Gambon for lunch!

The heavy traffic has its drawbacks. The bars are very crowded and it is easy to end up with a gaggle of millennials behind you that prefer to praddle on and on instead of listening to their soul, or nature. The newer pilgrims are, it seems almost entirely, younger people who walk the Camino in loud groups with cell phone in hand, not mindful of blocking The Way for others.

The advantage to gathering mobs of hormone infested youth is that there are spaces between them where it is possible to walk for an hour and hear the rustle of the wind in the trees, and a chorus of frogs in a bog alongside an ancient bridge. Bliss.

There really was, in my view, only one story today. I had blogged yesterday about a Spaniard who walked the Camino bare foot, and pined for his story. I saw him again today, and this time I was able to catch up with him.

It turns out that he is not a Spaniard at all. His name is Father Stephan and he is a Catholic priest. He walked the entire Camino in 2012, and again last year. This year he walks barefoot from Sarria to Santiago to ask blessings for his small congregation from near Frankfurt, Germany. He graciously accepted one of Betty's rosaries and will give it to just the right person in his church back in Germany. He said he would say a rosary today for Betty and pass the story along with the rosary. 

I saw him later this morning in a Melide, rosary still in hand. He asked again if I was sure I wanted to give it to him and I nodded in the affirmative. By the way, he said he walks bare foot so he can "feel the earth"!

And I complained about my sore feet...

I managed to eventually find the hostel today, about 2 km beyond the town it was listed in. Spain has virtually no street signs, so addresses are virtually useless outside the cities. They likewise have an apparent disdain for signs on their buildings. In this case, it is basically a house with a sign on the fence out front that has raised letters but no contrasting colors to make them visible. The sign on the Camino served only to detour me down a side street which ended in a quarter mile or so at a Provincial Highway. No further sign was seen to indicate where the business was located; up the hill, back toward town, in one of the houses along the side road. I tried calling but there was no answer. GPS could not locate it.

I decided to walk up the hill to the next house, which appeared large enough to house several people. There was no sign  to be seen anywhere, but there was a car, parked in front of the next house, so I walked another 20 yards where I spotted the sign.

The place was only slightly easier to find than if we had not discovered last night that Alicia had erroneously booked a hotel in a city 200 miles away! No sign would have helped me then!

So I am in another pretty little room with a nice view

This one comes complete with a dog (I wonder if Alicia knew that?)

I am at mile post, er, kilometer post 44, which means I am about 27 miles from my destination. I am two days away and anxious to see the journey's end. Keep your left elbow bent my dear, we can almost taste Santiago from here!

Bonus materials:

I love the old bridges!

I thought this looked nice

I'm still not real keen on Spanish food!