Short day to Xunqueira

I think I set my record for sleeping in on the Camino today -- didn't wake up till 7:30. Must have been the quiet (only two other people in two huge rooms) and the steady beating of the rain. When I got up, it was still raining, but after drinking two cups of the bad instant coffee that I am carrying (which is made only slightly more palatable when I squeeze in some of the "condensed milk in a tube"), the rain had stopped. We (Herman the German) and I left at 8:30 and had a day of perfect weather. The sun even poked through a few times, and the landscape was more of the beautiful old oak tree tunnels next to stone walls, with bazillions of beautiful ferns. The shapes of some of these trees are just incredible, twisted trunks, branches shooting in all weird directions, kind of reminded me of Hansel and Gretel's forest.

It was a very short 13 km to Xunqueira, and by 12:30 we were in the albergue, and that included a long coffee stop in a bar in some isolated little hamlet and several photo ops. It's a weird looking albergue, you enter through what looks like a rusted tin can, but it is modern and clean. And in Galicia it seems that the bathrooms in the albergues are all sex-segregated. This is GREAT for me, since there are about 8-10 males for every female on this Camino. And they all have electric hand dryers, which is great for trying to dry out your boots or whatever clothes are wet.

There is a beautiful romanesque church in the village, which I will of course visit this afternoon. Plus the town has TWO little food stores, not often the case in these places, so I am hopeful I'll be able to replenish my food bag with yoghurts and fruit.

I am resisting the temptation to look at the weather; there are still black clouds in many directions and the cloud cover is total, but I think the worst is supposedly over, for this front anyway. Maybe some of my wash will dry this afternoon, that would be nice!