After the dramas of yesterday evening the three remaining pilgrims; Tony, Davin and Richard were quite pleased to leave Campobecerros, a tiny village with only two bars, each competing for “The worst bar in the world award “.

We set off on a bright but chilly morning and walked for two hours before stopping for a welcome breakfast. 

Richard had the dubious responsibility of carrying Mark’s staff and at one point stopped to take a photograph of a large cross covered in Spanish moss and of course left it behind – luckily he only had to return a short distance to recover it.

Today’s walk found us high in the Galician hills walking along woodland paths with spectacular views. At one point the view was dominated by the brand new high speed railway line crossing a bridge and entering a tunnel. One could argue that this spoilt the view but we actually agreed there was a beauty to this modern feat of engineering in an ancient landscape.

The afternoon clouded over which was lucky because we were challenged by one of the toughest hills we have had to climb. Several kilometres of a steep rocky path which would have been murder in hot sun. As it was, Davin ran out of steam about 75% of the way up and even considered turning back. Tony was ahead like a “whippet up a drainpipe” so Richard heroically carried two rucksacks up the rest of the way in relay and force fed Davin Polo mints to give him energy. We all made it and trudged into our destination village.

The village had only one bar and an albergue opposite, both run by the same guy. Both establishments were festooned with scallop shells signed by passing pilgrims,  so much so you couldn’t see walls or ceiling- over 14,000 apparently!

Despite the decor, scallops weren’t on the menu that evening, in fact there was precious little food. We made do with beer, cider, olives and tortilla.