Just a lazy day. The church bells chimed at 6AM and I covered my ears and went back to sleep. When they chimed at 7AM, I figured we better get a move-on. I had planned an easy day after our butt-kicker yesterday. George was pleasantly surprised. We packed up and headed to the local hangout and ordered Cortado and Croissant. Then proceeded to order another shot of espresso.

The Camino followed the road out of town. It promised to be little up and little down, but we all know how that goes. It was a bit more up than the trail map advised and some dirty trail down. That’s what you get when you sign up to follow me!

We passed a lot of gardens today. Many of the men were tilling the soil, placing wooden sticks to help beans climb, moving soil around and just tending to their perfectly manicured plants. I love seeing what others do to maintain these garden works of art. The one thing I didn’t see was not a single raised-bed! Hmm, I guess they employ the same practices I do. I have never been sold on the raised garden theory. I just love walking on the ground and moving my toes in the soil. It’s just my thing.

The only real town, if you can call it that, was Campo, which we passed through in a blink of the eye. It had a few stone buildings, a couple of cats, two German Shepards and that was about it. Never even saw a Cafe! But it is close to town so I imagine everyone walks or drives there to get their provisions.

The morning walk was nice. The mountains we trekked over yesterday were in the foreground, disappearing the further we walked. It was a nice day, with little temperature change. We didn’t see but, a handful of Peregrino’s, as I suppose they also were have a lazy day. Most had the same idea as George and I. Sleep in, walk just a few miles, and arrive in town for lunch.

Once we arrived, short business was checking in and doing some laundry. Lucky for us, our Apartment has a washing machine and George sweet talked the maids into some laundry detergent. He has a way of doing that. Before I knew it, clothes were in and we were off to find the Train-Bus Depot.

My plan was, and we know how that goes, was to take a train to Santiago then hop on a bus to Fisterra-The End of the World. Unfortunately after walking a mile to the train station, it was fully booked. No room for us Pilgrims. Plan B, take a Bus. We walked another mile in another direction to the Bus Depot. Once there, we were told to use the machine to purchase our tickets. Okay, I guess I could’ve done that online, but we are here and we’ll use your machine. Luckily the bus was not booked and it leaves at 8:30AM rather than 6:15AM, if we had taken the train. Win for the Baraga’s. Now we’ve had a full tour of the city of Ponferrada.

We made it back to our Apartment, hung our clothes to dry and headed for lunch. There is a nice square close by. No more one mile walks! Lunch was a Shrimp Salad recommended by the Waiter, Pork Loin (the best we’ve had to date) and yellow potatoes. Oh, and of course, Beer. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to relaxing, something we have had little practice at. I’m thinking a Siesta may be in our future.

We attempted to check out the Castle but it’s closed on Mondays. I’ve found that quite a few places close down on Mondays in Spain. Everyone needs a day off including George and I. We milled around and decided that we were pretty much done too.

The next couple of days will be sightseeing Fisterra, the End of the World. It also happens to coincide with MPM 0.00 Km for the Camino. That’ll be fun for George to see. So I’ll be taking a couple of days off from blogging and will return once we get back on trail. Until then, enjoy the silence and take time to catch up on previous blogs or just, rest and relax. We definitely will be.