27.4k from 9 to 5

Today was tough. We came off a rest day, and the mileage just came slowly (what, we’ve only gone 3km?!? But it feels like we’ve been walking forEVER….). Plus, we (ok, *I*) totally babied my poor swollen ankles, probably a little too much. I think I changed my gait to keep from hurting my arches & ankles, only to stress out my knees. Oy vey.

But thank Buddha for Drew–he’s always there to lend a supporting arm, suggest a nap (on a gorgeous seaside picnic table, no less), offer to massage my aching feet, and to point out every cute baby goat and piece of cool graffiti. This would be such an awful trip without him.

Some high points from today.

• An unexpected bakery on the way out of Ribadesella, just opened and loading their trucks for delivery, with a baker who welcomed us in and sold us a baguette and two yummy croissants (mmmmmm, breeeeead….)
• Some of the most beautiful oceanside trails we’ve seen yet.
• A great nap on a picnic bench, complete with a pre-nap nutella spread baguette
• Surprisingly good cups of coffee and hot chocolate from a machine (in Vega!)
• Many beautiful Hórreos, traditionally designed granaries unique to Asturia
• A humdinger of a fight, and good walking and talking to get through it
• A welcome seaside café with a good lunch (copied to the last detail by the German peregrinos who sat at the next table), and a waiter from Brazil who spoke more than five languages
• A woman who stopped us on the road and asked
  • where we were from
  • how our Camino was going
  • then gave us a walnut as a present
• A toothless biker peregrino who had lost his bag with all of his papers along the way back to Bilbao
• A hilarious filthy cat rolling around and begging to be pet
• A few really tasty figs, and one walnut that Lis loved and Drew did not
• A very cute pension for the night, where the proprietor is also mom to a tween girl studying, and also the chef who prepared our dinners and served them