Today was a 20 kilometre walk from Bandeira to just past Outeiro to a small place called Lestedo. I booked into a casa rural. It was a very good day, which was nice because it was my birthday today. And it started off well by a strange coincidence, I delayed my breakfast until 7:30, which meant that I met a German guy by the name of Bernt. Bernt and I had a very interesting conversation over breakfast, and it was only after 30 minutes or so we realised that we had met before, and we established that it was about a month ago just outside Salamanca. So, what are the chances? And breakfast was indeed a very nice breakfast because for once, and I don’t know how many days or weeks, we were able to get eggs and toast. It was a great breakfast to have on my birthday and a great start to my penultimate day on the Camino.

And the walk was very relaxing, not too hot. It was quite overcast but has some lovely countryside. Galicia just has some of the most wonderful countryside to walk through. And I planned to stop in Ponte Ulla for lunch. As the place that I was staying in tonight doesn’t provide lunch, only dinner. Sadly, I forgot that on Mondays most places in Spain are closed. And so too everything in Ponte Ulla was closed. The recommended restaurant, the local shop, everything. So not only no food, but no ability to top up on drinks either. And it started to warm up during the day. So, I realized that my water supply was going to leave me a little bit dehydrated. But funnily enough, just outside the tower Outeiro I came across an albergue, the San Pedro albergue, and I dropped in there to top up my water bottle. The hospitalera was a delightful guy, very helpful. Not only he topped up my water bottle, but gave me a stamp for the day because now, of course, I’m within 100 kilometres of Santiago, I have to get 2 stamps per day.

So, with that done, I was able then to continue on to Lestado to my stop for tonight. And found that it was a small tourist hotel converted from a wonderful old Spanish house, which apparently has been in the eldest family for over 200 years. I’m just relaxing with a gin and tonic looking out over the garden and dinner will be in a couple of hours. What a wonderful birthday it has been. And tomorrow I’ll be in Santiago.