Day 74 - Finisterre - Muxia

POSTED A DAY LATE

In Finisterre we stayed in a Casa Rural where we had one of the best breakfasts we have enjoyed on the whole Camino! The evening before we had met Felix and Francisca from Switzerland and enjoyed talking with them over a bottle of wine! This is really one of the fun things about doing this walk - the amazing number of people one meets. I have no idea what we are going to do when this walk is over!

We left the hotel at 0930hrs, the latest time we have started any day's walk, simply because we intended to do a short ten mile walk. Along the way we met a Spanish couple Antonio and Ester whom we had met before at a couple of Albergues, and a new friend Soona Kwon, from South Korea. All of them had decided to do the long 20 mile walk to Muxia, whereas we had thought of stopping in Lires, the half-way mark.

To cut a long story short, they convinced us to carry on with them to Muxia and so we ended up doing 20 miles! It was truly a fun day and we had lots of laughs on the way. At one point we knew we would have to ford a stream but were assured that the stepping stones there were above water and we would have no problems crossing.

Antonio and Ester went first and after we saw both of them sinking we decided to take

our shoes off and walk over the rather slimy stones. Soona brought up the rear and being very

small she was almost in up to her knees!

The weather throughout the day was at times overcast but mainly sunny and the path took us through woodland, roads and even the beach! At around 6.30 p.m. we staggered into the seaside town of Muxia, rather the worse for wear but happy to have done the 20 miles in one day. Ester, who is a nurse, had given me a pill to line my stomach so that I could take stronger painkillers for my foot and the combination worked well.

Antonio, Ester and the two of us decided to stay at a hostal instead of the Albergue. Mostof the establishments wanted to charge over £80 for rooms not worth more than £30! Once you arrive in Muxia there is nowehere else to go for another 15 miles and so you are caught in a trap! Thankfully we managed to find something on the edge of town where we had a very nice meal. Antonio, who runs a teaching academy and Ester had to catch a bus to Santiago very early the following morning after which they were taking a train to Ciudad Real to start work ma few days later. We have promised to go and see them when we drive back to the UK.

Tomorrow we will carry on to La Coruna. Our first stop will be Vimianzo some 15 miles away, my left foot permitting!