Melide, Spain

I woke excited about walking on my own, taking an hour to get ready. Of course, it was still raining. I woke Norm to say goodbye, and we would meet at our hotel in Melide. He would go by taxi later with our packs. Following the Camino is pretty easy now because there are so many pilgrims here, and the trail markers are impossible to miss. I wore my rain gear, even though it was only a light rain, because it so quickly can change to heavy rain. It didn’t take me long to find Texas Dave, who I hiked with for a while, then said goodbye because he’s slow. I stopped for a simple breakfast of coffee con leche and toast. I wound up seeing Dave again at breakfast. There was a lot of mud so one has to pay attention to avoid wet feet. I always carry my sandals and dry socks just in case, but have never needed either. Weirdly, my shirt and pants can soak through, but my feet stay dry. Usually, there’s a way to traverse any soggy trail with just a bit of imagination. Sometimes someone has places stepping stones strategically. As I walked, my mind wandered too, traveling over my lifetime just as I travel this long trail. I didn’t have to worry about keeping up or slowing my pace. It was always just right for me. I stopped a second time also for a break and warm drink. I reached Melide around noon, and found it to be a pretty big city. The next challenge would be to find our hotel. I could see in our map book is was on the Camino and near a church so that helped. I walked right up to a Pension with the same name, Xaneiro, so went in to find out if Norm had checked in. They had no record of us. But then, we realized we wanted the Hotel, and this was a Pension. The clerk called our hotel, and yes, Norm was there. So with new directions I arrived at our place in about 10 minutes. Norm is feeling better. He washed all our clothes, and we found a place to get hot soup. We also bought some fruit for tomorrow. We made our reservations for the next few nights. Norm will be back on the trail tomorrow. We plan to finish our trek on Tuesday taking three days so we can go at an easy pace. We are hoping for sun tomorrow.