32km (427.3 km)

Wednesday 21 June 2017
I/we had a terrible night’s sleep last night, care of a noisy revelling pilgrim. He came staggering into the dormitory at midnight , proceeded to go straight to sleep, snore like a train (well it sounded like a train) then woke up and started shouting at the poor French lady in the bunk above him who was breathing too loudly for his liking 😱…no one had much sleep and I’m sure he complained to the French lady for interrupting his sleep in the morning! I was up and out by 5:30am, along with Marianne and an Irish lady, Marcella. Another day of temperatures in the 30s called for as many kilometres to be covered before the sun was high in the sky. The sun coming up over the sea was a great way to start the day, once again I tried my best to take some photos, once again I wished I knew something about photography…

From the start of the day it was very clear that all was not well with Marianne; having had next to no sleep last night she was tired, in a lot of pain and suffering from a heat rash. Things went down hill when village after village we passed was asleep, so no chance to have a break for breakfast and coffee. At 9:30am, having been walking for around 4 hours, we came to a village with a bar but although the staff were setting up it didn’t open and they were deaf to out pleas for coffee. Marcella then went back to a nearby hotel and pleaded with them and as luck would have it they agreed to give us some coffee as long as we sat in the court yard away from the residents (who were eyeing us with something verging on contempt; three sweaty pilgrims  interrupting their breakfast on the terrace looking out to sea 😜).
By 11:30 we found another bar and stopped for a long overdue breakfast, probably too little too late and Marianne was becoming more and more upset. We were sitting having our breakfast when I noticed a train station, a quick check ascertained that there was a train to Ribadesella at 3pm. I stayed around till 12 and then continued assuring Marianne I’d be at the train station in Ribadesella. So my plan to be up and out and done before the sun was at its strongest went awry. I eventually staggered into Ribadesella at 3pm, having left at 5:30 making for a long, hot day. I passed the train station just as Marianne alighted from the train. She was looking even more distraught as she had discovered no trains ran from the station, that we’d been having coffee at, on a Wednesday to Ribadesella . She had started crying at the train station and the station master had made some phone calls and managed to have a through train stop to pick her up!
Tomorrow Marianne is taking a bus to the start of the Primitivo, another Camino, and I’ll continue on The Norte. If my feet had been in better shape I would have swapped onto the Primitivo as it is apparently the most impressive and picturesque route….there’s always next year…

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