I woke my sleeping wife at 5.30 raring to go but she must have dreamt that our poles were missing. I remembered that I had put them to bed in an outside cafe and forgot to wake them up. We found them at 7.3oam where they were taken in by an empathic cafe boss, so a late start had us slowing right down as we spoke to a young New Yorker who was suffering from a sprained ankle so a lot of the enjoyment had been lost

We still had a moon when we left but the sun had now become the most dominant light in the sky. We left via yesterday’s photo of the bridge and walked up a highway, the bitumen being softened by the continual rumblings of the pretty Rio Valcarce as it criss crossed the highway in small streams, wide expanses and rocky waterfalls shaded by a configuration of shaded trees to climb a steep mountain, the views below softening any pains we may have been suffering. The three of us travelled alone moving from walker to walker as speed and time permitted. I talked with a young Korean couple who taught me how to say Buen Camino in their language. A man from L A donated money to Parkinsons and will check my blog out. A French couple found something we had dropped and we spent time with the. All these conversations offered us a new experience from our more reclusive moonlight excursions

We stopped to talk to some locals who informed us that the shapely dark leafed trees covering the steep slopes were chestnuts, his two finger rubbing indicating they are very lucrative. Back down the just as steep mountainside we reached a beautiful valley that took us just above the previous river meandering gently through rolling meadows at the foot of the mountain. Home to our quaint village nestled at the foot of tomorrow’s mountain climb

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